Week 12: Lecture 1
Case Study 1 – What are potential future definitions of design practice?
SomeOne – Simon Manchip
Simon Manchip sees the definition of branding getting broader. An example is their recent job rebranding Wolves FC. The first stop default with rebranding always tends to be to redo the logo but in this case they felt there was no need to change it just for the sake of it, so left it alone.
The re-branding involved creating extras around the logo, a new typeface referencing the shapes within the logo or using the eyes from the logo as embellishments on the players kit. It’s aim was to help the club reach a broader audience, not just the current fans, but the current fans have been involved in the process as their views are critical to it, when it involves something which people can be really passionate about it’s good to involve them and listen to their opinions.
In the case of Wolves, they’d already reached a successful position but needed a way to make a next step, looking for an for idea how to ‘get bigger’ – how can we turn spectators into fans? How to reach even more people and turn those casual watchers into the real fan who gets involved and starts to follow the club.
The way SomeOne approached this was to create ‘experiences’, by looking at every part of the club and turning it into something that people will react to, even down to the tunnels the players run through onto the pitch. Just in this one application, they can make the experience of running out before a match a rousing and inspiring event for the home players, and demoralising and intimidating for the away players.
Sam Winston
Design is a real enquiry into a problem or question, and design develops into whatever is needed to overcome whatever future problems we get.
His example is the current economy, not the money-side, but the over-awareness people have of it through ever increasing digital channels. People can only deal with certain amounts of information at a time so as things progress there’s just a small window available to grab their attention.
We see that the immediate future of design is inherently tied to technology, which, as it’s getting faster, easier and more communicative, is also making things more distractive, overloading and much harder to follow.
Regular Practice
Reg Practice feel that as boundaries get increasingly vague, they will stay open-minded and ‘surf’ across the multiple disciplines so they don’t become too specialised.
The reducing boundaries are creating a situation where everything is starting to look and work the same. The way to stand out from the over-populated and ‘churned out’ waves of information is to produce beautiful work; more physical items, pieces of print, items which show a level of skill and care over how they are delivered.
A more tangible point made is that, already, design studios who used to have large departments are decreasing due to designers becoming more able to cross over into different roles which will continue to happen as things progress.
On a kind-of positive note, these changes will ‘keep you on your toes’ as it’s vital to be able to keep up with the things which could replace you!
Sarah Boris
The description of design practice has shifted away from being a print designer, for example, to being expected to have the skills to create everything that everybody needs which has caused a shift in what the job as a graphic designer has to include, this could be a problem for existing professionals because new waves of graduates already have the skills which they might not…
Intro
Their view is also that design has become a much broader term, more generic.
Looking back to designers like Saul Bass, who as well as being known for his artistic approach to design for his posters and film titles, was also a commercial artist, in that he produced well known corporate identities.
They see the role of the graphic designer stepping further back into this multifaceted role.
Reflection
The common message here is that the designer will always need to redefine their role in design practice.
I think there is a real need to be able to approach things differently in order to stand out or to appeal to a wiser and wider audience.
We need to work smarter, stay aware of changes and keep on learning and developing new skills as well as knowing when to use them.
Case Study 2 – What are the sectors that might change or need to change?
SomeOne – Simon Manchip
The channels are what is changing fast; Facebook to Twitter, to Instagram, to Snapchat, etc. It’s all interesting and needs to be understood but it’s not the important part, the important part is making sure the ideas as designers connect with people.
If you look back at great work which is still seen as such, it’s the idea, the subject behind it that attracts people. Without a strong idea to back up a re-brand or a social media campaign, it’s just pretty pictures without meaning that are quickly forgotten.
Sam Winston
Sam’s analogy of silo’s being like categories is a good one, web designers, print designers, poets, publishers, printers, they’re each a silo.
Designers are most likely to get categorised into one of these ‘silos’ and if they want to change over to a different, sometimes you have to do it from scratch. You’ll need to build up an actual portfolio of work for that new silo, just to prove to clients that actually, it is something you can do.
Regular Practice
Their view is that things will change whether they need to or not, they see the main change being the different jobs and different positions merging together even more and therefore making the roll of the designer even broader in terms of what they might be expected to be able to do.
Sarah Boris
Her work now brings a lot of chances to work in different areas, to get involved in the marketing side or coming up with content.
Everyone is more collaborative and up to speed with different ways to do work, especially with digital.
Intro
Intro say budgets can cause the sectors to change how projects are approached and managed. A design budget will only buy you a fixed period of time, so instead of a client saying they want xyz they might not know what it actually is that they want. They are looking more to the designer for help and advice in finding different, perhaps more intelligent ways of using their budget.
Reflection
I’m not sure what sectors need to change in terms of industry sectors we might work with and I don’t think I have enough experience of different sectors to be able to compare.
My point of view comes from how other sectors need to change towards designers, not in terms of what they’re asking designers to do for them, but in what they are expecting the designer to do for them.
I’ve had a lot of experiences where the client comes up with what they think is a great idea. Usually depending on how well we know them, we say what we think and everyone gets together to work out what’s right or wrong with it, what we can do with it and where where it can lead to. As Adrian from Intro says: “It’s the blind leading the blind half the time because the world changes so fast around us”, if everyone involved in a project takes that same point of view, then the project becomes challenging in a positive way, each side helps the other to move the job along and learns something new along the way.
That’s the nice way.
The way that needs to change is when their idea is clearly a terrible one but they expect you to fix it quickly, and cheaply, because you’re the designer so you need to make it work. I’ve found this tends be people marketing departments, as Adrian again said earlier, people who have been on a training course and come away thinking they know best and that just kills the creativity.
Here’s an analogy I’ve used before; you employ a plumber because you know he’s good at plumbing. Next you say where you’d like your bath to be, if there’s a problem he’ll do his best but if it means the bath has to go along the other wall then do you accept the reason? He’s the plumber after all. Or do you demand the bath goes in the place you wanted it to go, even if it means the bathroom door doesn’t fully open.
That’s what needs to change.
Lecture 2: New Steps
Susanna Edwards in conversation with Maziar Raein
- How are ideas perceived in new environments?
- What is the impact of speculative future trends and forecasts of how we will live?
- How will graphic design change with the need to adopt to new technologies?
- Which new opportunities will arise through social and political change?
- How can graphic design help us to prepare for future need and a future world?
Looking at how ideas are perceived in new environments and speculative ideas about how we will live in the future and how design will play its part in that future.
Design is becoming more collaborative, one reason is that the designer is expected to deliver more skills than before; print, web, 3d, animation, etc., the another is the reduction of agency sizes, the middle tier reducing staff numbers due to new multi-skilled designers. To stay on a level with these new designers, we have to learn new skills or join forces with others who already have them, not was freelancers or part-time staff but as a collaborative group practice taking on a project together.
As designers, we should be considering the world around us more than ever, but some disciplines are more prone to criticism about environmental issues; product and fashion designers, architects, these professions especially have to deal with the pressure to recycle and reuse, the environment and waste materials, sustainability or pollution.
Design should be there to make something better, an improvement on what there is already, or to fill a gap which might be the causes a problem. Before beginning a project we should perhaps apply critical thinking as a first step; prepare your judgments, look into them without assuming you’re right. Look for alternative solutions, share your conclusions with others to get a different point of view: think smarter.
A positive which comes not necessarily from a lack of knowledge, more a lack of experience of new skills, can be that we approach things from a different perspective. If we are collaborating with others who are experts in their field, your tangential view of an issue could just break their traditional path and remove any possible tunnel vision.
Our values must also come in to play, it’s not just the technical skills we need to develop and apply, we need to believe that the outcome will be there right one. Even on the smallest level we can do our bit; printing on sustainable papers, using inks based on vegetable oils rather than traditional petroleum-based inks, it isn’t just groundbreaking work that can save to world.
Week 12 Workshop Challenge: How is Perception changed when Design shifts into a new Paradigm?
Take a graphic design interest that you are familiar with and investigate how the idea can be improved, disrupted or retold through a shift of application.
My starting point for week 12 is the constant stream of rubbish that comes through your letterbox and ends up going straight in the bin; flyers, leaflets, free newspapers, hundreds of tonnes of throwaway print.
How can we reuse this junk mail to do our bit for waste reduction?
‘Reuse/Remake’, ‘Upcycling’, fashionable terms we hear, particularly in the fashion industry in opposition to the ‘Fast Fashion’ outlets like Primark, H&M and C&A. So, lets join the trend and look at reusing/remaking this junk mail into high fashion: Haute Couture…
Say Haute Couture and you immediately think of classic brands like Dior or Chanel’s Little Black Dress from the 1920’s and Yves Saint Laurent’s Mondrian collection, a collection of six cocktail dresses inspired by Piet Mondrian.
Using a vintage pattern of the Mondrian dress, I’m going to disrupt the world of high-fashion by upcycling the local free newspaper, the Admag, into a desirable fashion item…
Research
‘Repurposing’ materials for clothing is a big topic, lots of fashion brands are creating programs to recycle and repurpose clothing.
Brands like Eileen Fisher, Patagonia and Raeburn, a collaborative fashion studio turning surplus fabrics into award-winning products, along with many independent designers are looking to reduce the amount of textiles we throw away. In 2019, it’s been predicted that the USA will throw away more than 35 billion pounds of textiles, according to the Council for Textile Recycling. That’s nearly double the number from 1999.
Ræburn
Ræburn
Eileen Fischer
Research
‘Repurposing’ materials for clothing is a big topic, lots of fashion brands are creating programs to recycle and repurpose clothing.
Brands like Eileen Fisher, Patagonia and Raeburn, a collaborative fashion studio turning surplus fabrics into award-winning products, along with many independent designers are looking to reduce the amount of textiles we throw away. In 2019, it’s been predicted that the USA will throw away more than 35 billion pounds of textiles, according to the Council for Textile Recycling. That’s nearly double the number from 1999.
Production
The fun bit.
The paper was spread out and joined using double sided tape, then the pattern was pinned in place to the guidelines supplied, so the there was the minimum waste of material, and then cut out.
What I did miss at first was that I was supposed to be cutting a double layer of paper from the pattern, there’s two sides to every dress…
After fixing the minor error, I carried on.
Once I had all the pieces it was a simple step by step process, following the instructions on the pattern. I used double sided tape again to join the pieces and to prevent them from tearing, I reinforced the folds with a strip of sellotape along the edges, like the double-stitched seam you get on a pair of Levis.
“It was starting to take shape…”
The intricate detail was added using indian ink and some red tissue paper I had left over from a previous assignment, it was starting to take shape.
et voilà
To push the ethos of the project further, I was able to re-purpose the off-cuts from the making of this dress into another item of clothing.
Reflection
Despite the tongue-in-cheek presentation I got quite a bit of satisfaction from this brief, things came up in the research like Eileen Fischer who take back unwanted clothing, cleaned and re-sold through their Renew Program and Raeburn, a collaborative fashion studio turning surplus fabrics into hand-crafted and award-winning products.
The ‘Fast Fashion’ brands like Primark and H&M, who’s record turnaround time for launching new lines of clothing is just two weeks, how they produce their clothing, the designers who have collaborated with them and also their ‘misjudgement’ in some items they’ve had to withdraw.
Making the dress, cutting the pattern was great. I can see the appeal and satisfaction it would bring to be able to make your own clothes, even though this is just an exercise and made from paper and tape I feel I’d like to have another go to see if I can add on some of the extra details; the collar and sleeves.
Robin
With everything you do, you can express absolute confidence in your work. Everything is thought through and implemented with passion. That’s exactly what I’m striving for and that’s why I chose to get involved with graphic design and this course. Looking forward to the next modules Tony!
admin
Hi Robin, thanks for your message it’s nice for you to say, it’s the same reason I’m here. I don’t enjoy most of the work I do for most clients, it’s mundane and lacks real ideas, so I joined up to get back some of the enthusiasm I used to have and your message has helped a lot.
Yes, see you in a few weeks!