Interlude

Today sees my official, temporary departure from my Masters programme as I begin a year out to undertake a new kind of project – that of becoming a first-time Mum. All being well, the new arrival will be greeted in about a month’s time.

I’m looking forward to finding out how such a big change to my life and my priorities impacts on my creative work. So many other Mums are quick to tell me how tired I’ll be, how little time I’ll have for myself, how hard it’ll be for me to spend time and concentrate on anything: if you ask me, that sounds like business as usual!

One of the toughest things over the past twelve months has been trying to balance the lean, efficient, commercially driven, process-heavy, full-time demands of my design business against the time-intensive, self-expressive, self-indulgent and seldom commercially viable needs of the MA; and a couple of snatched hours of sleep between the persistent early starts, late finishes and inhuman deadlines are part and parcel of being a designer, so nothing’s new there!

Call me naive but I believe the impact on my creative work is likely to be a positive one. Freed from the ties of clients, emails and project deadlines, any creative undertaking will be wholly self-motivated and for recreation… after years of pimping myself out as a designer for money, what a liberating position to be in!

And then there’s the emotional journey that comes with having a new baby; could there be a better fuel for creativity than the highs and lows that are part and parcel of such a deeply moving and life-changing experience?

So here it is: a marker, a line being drawn under my work to date. See you on the other side!

Some good books - gone but not forgotten

I’ll be reluctantly returning my stash of favourite college library books on Tuesday. I've had these for so long that I’ve become quite attached to them – they leave a hole on my bookshelf that’ll be hard to fill. Here they are listed below, in no particular order:

......................................................................

Glamour: Fashion + Industrial Design + Architecture



ROSA, Joseph (Ed). 2004.
Glamour: Fashion + Industrial Design + Architecture
USA: Yale University Press.

"This lavishly illustrated book radically revises our understanding of glamour in fashion, industrial design, and architecture. The volume traces glamour's trajectory from its historical middle-class origins to its present-day connotations of affluence and elegance. In doing so, "glamour" is established as a new critical category for design that embraces richly decorative patterns, complex layering, sumptuous materials, and sculptural forms."

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Glamour-Fashion-Design-Architecture-Rosa/dp/0300106408/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251817981&sr=1-1

I was interested in the way this book brings fashion, industrial and architectural design together through its common theme, but what drew me to it most was the examples of pattern in architecture included in the book.




Above, from to to bottom:

LUCKMAN, Charles. 1960. Parke-Davis Building, Los Angeles (pp 144, plate 54)
BECKET, Welton. 1964. Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles (pp 143, plate 53)

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Ultimate Paris Design

LLEONART, Aitana. 2007.
Ultimate Paris Design
teNeues Publishing Ltd

"This “city of light” has long been a world leader in so many ways, not least of them in design. This attractively illustrated book covers the most up-to-date Parisian design from the fields of architecture, interiors and fashion. With an in-depth round-up featuring projects for cultural, commercial, and residential spaces, we get a privileged glimpse at what’s happening in this
creative capital. We also are granted access to the latest developments in product design and other specialties. Browse this book for a whole host of designs by native Parisians and those who work or live here."

http://www.teneues.com/shop-int/books-int/single00/?no_cache=1&item=80286&cHash=53cf943921

One of the strengths of this book for me is the diversity in the examples included – the interior design included has been particularly relevant to my studies. So many great styles and ideas to get the creative juices flowing.

Above, from to to bottom:

BIECHER, Christian. 2004. Boutique Pierre Herme (pp 133)

GOMEZ, Didier. 2006. Brasserie Printemps (pp 268)

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Best Ugly: Restaurant Concepts and Architecture by AvroKO



AvroKO. 2007.

Best Ugly: Restaurant Concepts and Architecture by AvroKO

USA: Collins Design

"Since 2000, AvroKO has designed Manhattan restaurants and lounges such as Public, The Stanton Social, Odea, and Sapa, among others. In their design book, "Best Ugly", the thirtysomething design team shows readers how to integrate this idea with a sophisticated design touch. With gorgeous colour photography, "Best Ugly" also reveals the smallest details, the brilliant quirks, and the lavish decor of AvroKO's amazing restaurants."

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-Ugly-Principles-Unexpected-Connectivity/dp/006113693X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251820288&sr=1-1

This is a beautifully illustrated book, both in terms of its layout (heavy use of gold ink, large photographs, texture, typography, colour manipulation… I could go on!) and the projects included within it. The examples included are inspiring in their completeness of branding down to the finest of details.

As the book’s title eludes, there’s a certain raw eccentricity and ugliness to the style of the designs and this appeals to my own personal style and tastes.

Above, from to to bottom:

AVROKO. Light fittings at Quality Meats (pp 233)
AVROKO. “Ordering the ordinary”, double-page spread (pp 200-201)
AVROKO. Vietnamese roll bar in white onyx, Sapa (pp 106)
AVROKO. Interior detail, The Stanton Social (pp 80-81)

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Data Flow: Visualising Information in Graphic Design

KLANTEN, Robert (et al). 2008.
Data Flow: Visualising Information in Graphic Design
Germany: Gestalten

"Data Flow presents an abundant range of possibilities in visualising data and information. Today, diagrams are being applied beyond their classical fields of use. In addition to archetypical diagrams such as pie charts and histograms, there are manifold types of diagrams developed for use in distinct cases and categories. The abundant examples in Data Flow showcase the various methodologies behind information design with solutions concerning complexity, simplification, readability and the (over)production of information. This up-to-date survey provides inspiration and concrete solutions for designers, and at the same time unlocks a new field of visual codes."

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Data-Flow-Visualising-Information-Graphic/dp/3899552172/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251821020&sr=1-1

A rich collection of inspiring, innovative and beautiful examples of complex data presentation, I could spend hours pouring over this book and not get bored. It’s a rare treat to see scientific and graphic presentation bound so tightly together.

Above, from to to bottom:

PLUMMER-FERNANDEZ, Matthew. "Sound Chair" (pp 146)
KATCHADOURIAN, Nina. "Austria" (pp 99)
BARRADE, Xavier & DUPONT, Arnaud. "La représentation des statistiques", The Rain Project (pp 45)
CATALOGUETREE. "Trophy Size Matters” (pp 224)

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The Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping / Harvard Design School Project on the City 2

CHUNG, Chuihua Judy (Ed). 2002.
The Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping / Harvard Design School Project on the City 2
Taschen

"Like a favorite shopping emporium, The Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping is a browser's paradise. This second installment of the Project on the City aims to investigate "a general urban condition undergoing virulent change." A big brick of a book with hundreds of photos and a bundle of essays by prominent designers, architects, and urban scholars, it traces the evolution of the marketplace and the environments we create for the purpose of getting and spending. From the great covered arcades of the 19th century to the museum displays of grand department stores to air-conditioned suburban malls, the book examines the ecology and life cycles of retail space the world over. Dip into the book anywhere for insights into acquisitive behavior. Newspaper clippings cite retail trends; a bar chart compares retail square footage by country (the U.S. tops them all). Some of the essays are already marked in yellow highlighter so you can scan for the main points. A 2,000-year timeline tracks major developments with theme concepts: Disney Space, Three-Ring Circus, Brand Zones, Shopping Landscapes. The book makes a wonderful reference for urban planners, but it's equally accessible to those who just want to shop 'til they drop."

http://www.amazon.com/Harvard-Design-School-Shopping-Project/dp/3822860476

I fell in love with this book not for its subject matter so much as for its success as a graphic work. There’s so much information presented (799 pages of it in fact), yet every page is a unique and stylish piece of layout. Photography is used in abundance with impact of images maximized through careful grouping of relevant images together, supported with just enough information and labeling to allow the reader to pause and contemplate the point being made. There’s also abundant example of information design in the form of charts and diagrams, in a variety of styles and formats, some conventional, others less so.

The lucky people given the task of designing this book certainly had fun with it.

Margate Drawers

This piece, by Zoe Murphy, caught my eye when I saw it on the flyer for the 2009 New Designers Awards Preview.

A former printed textiles student from Loughborough University, Murphy creates imagery inspired by her seaside home town of Margate and uses it to print onto recycled interior products. For this piece, a 1950s chest of drawers has been re-veneered and adorned with drawings from the Margate seaside. Dense patterns and imagery, inspired by Formica cafés, adorn the front and the linings.

I particularly like and way Murphy uses the inspiration she takes from her home town, responding directly to a spatial environment and translating its characteristics to surface colour and pattern – translating 3D spatial features to 2D decoration.

Find out more about Murphy at http://www.zoemurphy.com/.

‘Talent Zone competition winners.’ DeZeen [online], 21/08/08. Available at http://www.dezeen.com/2008/08/21/talent-zone-competition-winners/ [accessed 13/07/09]

Come In / Go Away

A witty and attractive typographic exercise, this doormat uses a spatial concept to invite… or turn away… your visitors, depending on its orientation.

Available for purchase at:
http://www.gnr8.biz/product_info.php?products_id=599

BERNAIS, Melissa. 2009. ‘Come In / Go Away Doormat – Sam & Jude’. Covet & Want. Wearables, Hangables & Edibles: Wanted, Bought, Made [online], 01/07/09. Available at: http://icovetandwant.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/come-in-go-away-doormat-sam-jude/

Simple

An obvious, simple, elegant solution to an everyday annoyance, designed by Royal College of Art graduate Min-Kyu Choi... another of those "I wish I'd thought of that" moments!

BATES, Anna, 2009. 'RCA student radically improves the UK plug'. iconeye [online]. Available at: http://www.iconeye.com/index.php?view=article&catid=1%3Alatest-news&layout=news&id=3864%3Arca-student-radically-improves-the-uk-plug&option=com_content&Itemid=18# [accessed 02/07/09]

Quentin Newark: a graphic designer working with architects

I attended an interesting lecture yesterday by Quentin Newark, hosted by Cornwall Design Forum.

Newark is the co-founder (with two partners) of Atelier Works, positioned in Design Week’s triennial review of design awards as one of the 25 "most creative" studios in Britain. Newark himself was chosen as one of the "ten leading graphic designers in Britain" by the Independent on Sunday.

His projects include a 6 metre wide stone sundial for the Houses of Parliament, benches and Islamic screens for Tate Britain, an exhibition for the renovated Roundhouse in Camden, Tony Blair's moving card and Cherie Blair's website, and numerous books, posters and logos. He served a term as director on the board of the leading industry body, Design & Art Directors Association (D&AD). He has represented design at events at Windsor Castle, Number 10 Downing Street and the British Embassy in Paris. He has judged and chaired competitions of his peers' work and lectured and examined at numerous colleges.

His most recent project, which kicked off just two weeks ago, is for provision of the branding, graphics and signage for the extension of the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, designed by Norman Foster. This is, Newark says, the most exciting project of his career so far.

The title of last night’s lecture was, “A graphic designer working with architects – stories of humiliation and discovery”. This was an entertaining and inspiring, if somewhat opinionated, talk about his ongoing symbiotic, love/hate relationship with architects and the world of architecture.

Over the 20 or so years of his career, Newark has developed close working relationships with many leading architects including Norman Foster and David Chipperfield. His work focuses around the use of architecture as a platform for graphic communication and dialogue with its users. He strongly argues against the well-established view of architects being at the top of the design tree, and insists that architects regularly fail to focus on architecture from the everyday user’s perspective – focusing instead on self-indulgent aspects of a building’s form, light and shadow and so on.

Like many of the best design agencies, Atelier Works involves and observes end users in the early stages of the design process. Through observation, user interviews and other participative research methods, they invest much time and effort in fully understanding the relationship of users with the buildings they occupy and fully defining design problems, before committing pen to paper.

Newark’s personal stories of the ups and downs of working as a graphic designer alongside architects were amusingly presented. His argument for a much-needed shift in the attitude of architects towards the value of other design disciplines in place-making was passionately delivered. However for me, the most valuable aspect of this talk was simply hearing how a small graphic design company had managed to carve themselves a viable and highly regarded niche in the role of designing space, through passion and intuition, and by employing strong, sound design principles. Newark believes, as I do, that architecture and space play a role in communication.

Stefan Sagmeister

I can’t quite remember where or when I first heard of Sagmeister. I think Joel (my husband and unrelenting source of weird and wonderful links) sent me a link to a talk Sagmeister gave on TED (http://www.ted.com/).

I bought Sagmeister’s most recent book, Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far, not long after it came out last year and it hasn’t had much time to gather dust. I probably still look at it at least once a week!

SAGMEISTER, Stefan. 2008.
Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far
New York: Abrams

The book is based on a list of maxims made by Sagmeister on his "experimental year" in 2000, where he took time out from working on commercial projects. These quickly became incorporated into projects for clients when Sagmeister's office reopened, and it is 20 of these projects that form the book.

The book was featured on Creative Review’s blog back in February 2008. It says about the designer:

Sagmeister's work has often appeared to land on the blurred line between graphic design and art, yet he is firm in his understanding of these projects. "I see it all as graphic design," he says. "It's made by a graphic design office in mediums normally employed by design and all has a client behind it. But from a viewer's point of view it doesn't matter. The whole question of art versus design has limited interest - it comes in waves, in the 20th century there were times when art and design were embedded in each other, the Bauhaus for instance, and then they separated, and then they came back together, and then they separated... from the viewer's point of view, it's always just a question of 'is it good or not?'."

Reference: WILLIAMS, Eliza. 2008. ‘Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far’. Creative Review[online], 05/02/08. http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2008/february/things-i-have-learned-in-my-life-so-far [accessed 15/05/09]

Not everyone thinks highly of the designer – some find his work self-obsessed, vain and even dull. I am not one of them.

There are many things I find inspirational about his work; for example:

• His work crosses the boundaries of graphic design, typography and the use of space.
• His inspiration, energy and appetite for self-motivated projects seem endless. He has evolved a personal style outside of the confines of commercial restriction.
• His work includes physical manifestation at every scale (from tiny to huge).
• His ideas can be freaky, even grotesque at times – his work pushes and challenges the viewer.

I dare say I’ll be referring back to Sagmeister’s work for inspiration throughout the course of my MA.

Inspiration Office

POGADE, Daniela. 2008.
Inspiration Office: How To Design Workspaces
Germany: DOM Publishers.

This book is delightfully presented. The hardback cover is matt black, with text screenprinted in slightly raised, gloss black ink. Corners are rounded on the cover itself and on the pages throughout the book. A silky yellow ribbon page-marker is bound into the book.

Inside, all pages are printed with a grid to give the impression of squared paper – perhaps a little contrived, but fun and interesting nonetheless. Tactility and warmth are achieved through soft matt printing, using lots of superb, high-quality colour photographs on uncoated paper, the ink soaking into the paper so that the warmth and texture of the paper stock is not lost. A choice of modern, technical, condensed serifed font used throughout completes the overall effect.

Beyond the presentation of the book itself, the content is also an enjoyable and informative read. I’ve selected a few extracts from the introductory text by Pogade which I found particularly interesting or relevant:

Pp. 6

“The unique selling proposition (USP), the outstanding individual characteristic, is the ideal essence of a marketable product. And, as competition grows, a company – whether it produces heating pipes or sells PR – needs to position itself uniquely; it must be clearly identifiable at long
range; and this identification needs to use physical attributes. That is why it is becoming ever more important to make corporate identity part of a company’s physical architecture. Thus company logos – enlarged, projected or distorted – are applied to walls and furniture, CI colours dominate the colour design, and many a company suggests the form of products in the details of its office interior. In this way a company is positioning itself not only outwardly. It is using a characteristic, indicative image to raise the identification which staff feel between themselves and their employer.”

Pp. 7

“Employers – or so it seems when we look at modern planning for the workplace – want not just to maximise profit; they also want to be respected and well regarded. Now, unlike a hundred years ago, the staff are supposed to look beyond the edge of their desks; indeed, even if they do not participate in the overarching decision-making process, they are supposed to have an overview of the whole and feel they are in a democratically organised apparatus. 'Transparency' is therefore the thing which clients are constantly asking their planners to provide when it comes to designing their head offices.”

Pp. 7

“The office of the future may be expected to look less and less like an office, for the equipment which, at first sight, shows that somewhere is an office, is getting smaller all the time or being abandoned entirely. It is not just that work tools such as computers and copiers are taking up ever less space; over the long term, in an age of wireless networks, we shall no longer be tripping over cables in our offices. Robbed thus of the compulsory features of its infrastructure, the office will become increasingly more adept as a foil for the visions and self realisation of employers and architects.”

Following the introduction, the book goes on to describe several different types of office layout. They are:

- Open-plan office
- Group office
- Cellular office
- Combi-office
- Non-territorial office
- Reversible office.

[KUHFUß, Silke & PAWLITSCHKO, Roland, 2008. ‘Office Areas’. In Daniela Pogade, Inspiration Office: How To Design Workspaces. Germany: DOM Publishers, pp. 8-19]

The book then presents approximately thirty office interiors, complete with colour photographs, designed by German (and German speaking) architects and designers. Here are just a couple of examples which caught my particular attention:

Pp. 22-29
Client: Zum Goldenen Hirschen Advertising Agency, Hamburg.
Interior Designer: Büro für Gestaltungsfragen
Completed: 2006

The name of this ad agency translates as ‘Golden Deer’, and the atmosphere of the office is intended to fit the name. The client wanted to be happy with its clients here, which led the designers to aim for a higher degree of abstraction to achieve this.

The project was instigated over two floors of the building to celebrate the occasion of the agency’s tenth anniversary. Common, concentrated working places have been organised according to different spatial experiences around the central supply core, on a hexagonal floor-plan; walls are non-rectangular in their arrangement.

The lower floor is covered with a golden-fleece carpet and the upper floor entirely in silver.

The interesting combination of angular structures, natural oak, coloured panels and metallics makes for a quirky, rustic, welcoming but nonetheless glamorous overall effect.


Pp. 52-59
Client: Advertising Agency TBWA, Hamburg
Interior Designer: König & Vearncombe Architekten
Completed: 2002

This teamwork-orientated agency strives to encourage cooperation and exchange between employees but the length of the otherwise stylish, transparent, newly-built office – which stretches sixty metres – impeded this somewhat.

To make better use of this feature, the architects created a varied corridor zone on each storey which would accommodate the entire office periphery – technical equipment, archive, shelves, cupboards etc – thereby structuring the large area. Informal meeting areas, small ‘thinking cells’, libraries, storage, copier and printing rooms which double as passageways, have all been incorporated. Corridors are no longer merely passageways but also working, relaxation and communication areas. A moat filled with glass splinters separates conference rooms from corridor zone, adding a touch of glamour. Walls have been adorned with the agency’s corporate red, which is visible from far away and to the outside world, especially under artificial light in the evening.



Pp. 100-107 Client: Product Visionaries Ltd., Berlin
Interior Designer: MARTINI, MEYER
Completed: 2004

Finally, I have chosen to include a sketch (one of very few included in the book). This is relevant to my work at present, as I investigate (and indeed try to improve my own) drawing skills needed to communicate early ideas as a spatial designer.



I particularly like the roughness of the sketch, which has been overlaid on top of a computer-rendered line drawing (which I assume is of the building as it was before the project was implemented). Note the use of different weights of pencil line.

I've also included the final photograph of the interior for comparison, to see how close this sketch came to the final result, and how much of the look and feel the designer managed to portray in the original sketch.

Examples Of Architects' Sketches

KOJIMA, Kazuhiro & AKAMATSU, Kazuko. 2001. Bridge, Arts & Science College, Education City, Doha Qatar (pp. 84)

SHINOHARA, Kazuo. 1986. House in Yokohama (pp. 68)

From:

Nobuyuki Yoshida. 2004.
JA53 – The Japan Architect (Vol 53).

Redundant Technology

I’ve already mentioned Troika’s ‘Cloud’ in previous postings – the suspended black blob at Heathrow’s Terminal building, covered in computer-addressed, small silver discs that flip over to make the shape shimmer with patterns. The sculpture uses the same mechanism that was once used in the information boards in railway stations and makes the same delightful fluttering, chattering noise, which does nothing but add to its charm.

Troika’s second installation at Heathrow, ‘All the Time in the World’, (also previously mentioned), takes extremely simple and decades-old electroluminescent segmented display technology and updates it by giving it a new typography of segments, so that the display appears attractively handwritten.

[See previous post at http://workbeautifully.blogspot.com/2008/11/where-am-i-going.html]

Iconeye wrote about these and a few other choice works in its feature a while ago about how redundant technologies are being recycled by up-and-coming designers.

Other examples include:




[YOUTUBE.COM. 2009. 'PixelRoller (19/10/06)'. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4_Q4MemtaA. (Accessed: 24/04/09)]

‘Changing Cupboard’, which transforms itself at intervals using the same technology as mechanical billboards. Created by Swedish design collective Front, they deliberately chose this technology rather than the more sophisticated screen technologies available, to add to the charm of the effect.

[YOUTUBE.COM. 2009. 'PixelRoller (19/10/06)'. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4_Q4MemtaA. (Accessed: 24/04/09)]

‘Pixel Roller’, by London studio Random International. Inspired by dot-matrix printing, a paint roller paints a picture on a wall rather than a solid field of colour. There’s also ‘Light Roller’, which paints with light on a glow-in-the-dark surface.

More info can be found on the full article - http://www.iconeye.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3354


[WILES, William. 2008. ‘Design and redundant technology’. Iconeye [online], 058. Available at: http://www.iconeye.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3354 (Accessed: 24/04/09)]

Zurich Ad

This ad was on our screens around three years ago now, but it stuck in my mind. I've only been able to find the version I wanted in Spanish but the voiceover's not the bit I'm interested in.

The concept is of a commercial premises which changes around the clock - from coffee shop to clothes boutique to restaurant.

I love the idea of having a multi-purpose premises which can so easily change to suit the moment. The way the displays and furniture change with each business reminds me off a Swiss army knife; it's the ultimate in maximising valuable high-street space.

I doubt there's much commercial or marketing mileage in the idea but it would be fun to play with it a little, to see where it could lead.

YOUTUBE.COM. 'Zurich - Because change happenz - Tienda (26/04/2008)'. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XbtvrWhNK8 [Accessed 23/04/09]

Here's what I can find out about the production of the ad...

Creative Agency: Publicis / Producer: Mungo Maclagan / Director: Stylewar / TV Producer: Daniela Berther / Creative: Sacha Moser, Tim Hoppin / Production Co: Stink, Smuggler (USA) / Photography: Mungo Maclagan / Music: Spacetrain

VISIT4INFO.COM. 'Zurich Financial Services - Zurich Insurance What Happens ?' (04/03/06). Available at: http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Zurich-Insurance-What-Happens-Zurich-Financial-Services/30653/1 [Accessed: 23/04/09]

Graphic Spaces

TERSTIEGE, Gerrit. 2009.

Graphic Spaces

Switzerland: Birkhäuser Verlag AG.

My love of this book started the moment I picked it up; even the front cover caught my imagination, with its uncoated paper and glossy screen-printed relief ink. Luckily I managed to get my hands on it when it was brand new to the library… no doubt its delightful tactility will soon be lost, as the library seals it in Fablon and students give it a good trashing.

Inspired, co-developed and designed by Catrin Altenbrandt and Adrian Niessler, award-winning partners of the acclaimed Pixelgarten Design Studio in Frankfurt, the book includes examples of works ranging from small-format still life to large installation. Terstiege sets the tone in the book’s preface by explaining that its theme is,

“…the transposition of messages into three-dimensional staged scenes.”
[pp 7.]

The book comprises a selection of 3D graphic works arranged under the following headings:
- Still life comes alive
- Intricate installations
- Touching type
- Thrilling animations.

As Terstiege describes in his preface, the collection comprises works from international, predominantly young, designers. To me, the collection has a sense of vigour and newness about it that reminds me of student shows or new designer collections. The designers featured in this book are clearly hungry to explore their creativity; the work is fresh, and often (but not always) is self-directed, without the incumbent limitations of a client brief.

Within the introduction for ‘1. Still life comes alive’, one quotation stands out as being something I have found myself fighting against. It reads,

“The computer has become established as a universal tool that not only serves as office and communication unit in one piece but also makes it possible to shorten the once elaborate path from sketch to final print. Despite all these freedoms, the variety of computer programs is limited to preprogrammed options. In other words, the field of virtual options limits the design experiments to a delineated terrain.”
[MUCKLE, Sophie, 2009. ‘Still life comes alive’. In Gerrit Terstiege [Ed.] Graphic Spaces. Switzerland: Birkhäuser Verlag AG, pp. 26]

By contrast, Muckle observes that works like those included within this book allow designers,

“…to emerge from behind their computer monitors and desks, sometimes even leaving their offices. The blank screen or white sheet of paper is replaced by a space which, be it empty or occupied, now awaits tangible intervention with new design methods.” [pp. 26]

However, in Muckle's introduction to the second section, ‘2. Intricate installations’, she does point out that,

“There is no doubt that experimentation serves to further develop design standards, methods, and ways of seeing. It is important to remember, moreover, that the global exchange of ideas and digital networking serve as catalysts for this evolution. Although the computer does not play a superordinate role as a design tool in this evolution, it nevertheless enables young designers to develop a new and different idea of self.” [pp. 81]

Here is a selection of example projects taken from the book:

Multistorey developed these graphic elements for the second Super Design Market event at the Royal Festival Hall, as part of the London Design Festival. [pp. 160-161]

This piece by Benoit Lemoine uses layered sheets of coloured paper on the wall and floor. [pp. 127]

By the Dutch design studio Underware. Shopping trolleys were arranged to spell the words "Dream on". [pp. 172-173]

Self-initiated work by Valerie Sietzy. When light falls on the walls, reflectors reveal words and drawings under a highway bridge.

'Backbreaker type', created by Kalle Mattsson. I particularly like the way that the wind is turned into a prop or medium in order to create the letterforms. [pp. 131]

Self-initiated work by Florian Jenett. With letters constructed from clock-hands, a legible sentence is formed for just sixty seconds, after which a full twelve hours must pass before order is once again momentarily restored. [pp. 145]

Illusionism / Dimensionalism

In the second chapter of Graphic Spaces, entitled ‘Illusionism Meets Dimensionalism’, Steven Heller considers how visual trickery, or ‘illusionism’, from early to mid-twentieth century (citing surrealism, expressionism and Dadaism as examples) has developed over the years. [HELLER, Steven. 2009. ‘Illusionism meets dimensionalism’, In Gerrit Terstiege [Ed.] Graphic Spaces. Switzerland: Birkhäuser Verlag AG, pp. 11-15]

With the birth of new technologies in print, photography and computer-aided design, this created what he describes as “dimensional illusion multiplied”. Selected quotations from his text are as follows:

“…design illusionism…has to do with deceiving the savvy among us into perceiving that two dimensions are really three.” [pp. 11]

“…creating the illusion of three dimensions in two-dimensional space has long been one of the graphic designer’s foremost – and probably most enjoyable – challenges.” [pp. 11]

“[In the mid-nineteenth century] types with large, massive, colourful shadows and other faux sculptural elements were commonly used on store signs or display windows to suggest dimensionality and drawn the eye to the focal point of attention.” [pp. 11]

“When [the Bauhaus master László Moholy-Nagy] conceived his three-dimensional cover for 14 Bauhausbücher, where he composed type on a piece of clear plastic and photographed both the type and its shadow falling on the surface behind it, his goal was to literally add another dimension to how graphic design was employed and perceived. Moholy sought to liberate type and typography, images and imagery, from the strictures of two dimensions, even if in reality the result was still stuck on the two-dimensional printed page.” [pp. 12]

“By the late 1930s, model-making had also become a major element in the designer’s toolkit. Building structures – large and small – that were photographed and often collaged or montaged to create new realities was so common that a genre called ‘three-dimensional illustration’ emerged.” [pp. 12]

He cites Peter Blake’s cover for the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band as one of a number of major milestones from the forties to the sixties, that altered the standards and rules of dimensional design.

Heller considers dimensionalism as a spin-off movement from illusionism. He concludes his chapter thus,

“Even now, when the computer has made dimensional design, and therefore dimensionalism, so easy, the method still evokes a sense of wonder. But it is not the virtual images, but the handmade artefacts that continue to evoke the most wonder. The handmade method that makes objects seem to have volume, weight, and mass has the power to titillate the eye and mind. The designers who make these illusions are doubtless challenging the perceptions of their audiences, but they are also accomplishing what Meret Opphenheim may have had in mind when she first conceived her iconic ‘Fur Cup’: she made us look! Illusionism or dimensionalism – whatever it is officially or unofficially called – is the art forcing a second, maybe even a third look – and that’s what every designer wants to achieve.” [pp. 15]

Simply Droog

RAMAKERS, Renny. 2004.
Simply Droog: 10+1 years of creating innovation and discussion
Amsterdam: Droog.

This book appeared on the reading list for a group seminar looking at design ethnography. A retrospective of the work of Droog at the time of writing, it includes a series of short essays covering topics which explore the guiding principles of the Dutch design collective. Some of these principles have been consciously nurtured by Droog from the outset; others have evolved or solidified over time.

Extracts from the book most relevant to my work, or which I found particularly intriguing or thought-provoking, can be found below...

RAMAKERS, Renny & BAKKER, Gijs. ‘Introduction’, pp. 4.

“The activities of Droog Design have grown tremendously in the past years. We make exhibitions, we give lectures, we initiate experimental projects, we carry out commissions for companies and organizations, we produce and distribute products, we publish books, we supervise the IM Masters course at the Design Academy in Eindhoven and we have a shop cum gallery in Amsterdam.”

BETSKY, Aaron. ‘Re: Droog’, pp. 15-16.

“The core belief of Droog Design seemed to be that design was not a question if making more objects, using more materials, or even inventing new ideas or solutions to the problems we encounter in our daily lives, but one of finding more ways to experience, explore and expand the possibilities of existing objects, images, spaces and ideas. Like squatters in the history of art or the structures of mass production, they hunkered down with what they had inherited, scavenged, salvaged and maybe even stolen, turning it into communal artefacts. For that is what they did make that was new: a community. Droog is a kind of design tribe.”

WILLIAMS, Gareth. ‘Use it again’, pp. 28.

“Similar ideas lie behind Gijs Bakker’s Peepshow wallpaper that features a cut design allowing spots of the old paper underneath to show through. It regulates and heightens our perception of an older product. Rather [than] sublimating or replacing the past, history and memory are used again as core conceptual elements of the new design.”

KONINGS & BEY, 1997/99. 'Kokon furniture'. Pp 29. & 136.

These pieces were created by coating existing furniture in PVS. By wrapping the pieces together, the shape (and the perception and familiarity of it) is changed to create new and hybrid furniture pieces. I particularly like the way that the coating accentuates the new form and draws my attention to the three-dimensional form that define the bound-together pieces.

BEY, Jurgen. 2003. 'St. Petersburg Chair'. Design Boom. Available at: http://www.designboom.com/snapshots/milan04/droog.html [Accessed 21/09/2009].

Again using existing chairs, coated with foam and glass reinforced Polyester and silk-screened with a floral pattern. These were developed for the Dutch Room in St. Petersburg. I particularly like the way in which a new uniformity is achieved to previously non-matching, non-uniform chairs.

SCHOUWENBURG, Louise. ‘Inevitable ornament’, pp. 73.

“According to Jongerius, for whom decoration would become more and more important in her work, it’s mainly the small detail that stick in our minds. ‘We remember the patterns of the wallpaper in the bedroom or the stripes on the coffee cup that we held every day. Forms disappear from memory but decoration lingers.’ It seems that conceptual design and decoration are very compatible, as long as the underlying idea gives rise to it.”

HEIJDENS, Simon, 2003. 'Sugar cubes numbered 1-200'. Pp. 80.

There is something charming in the seemingly pointless simplicity of this piece. Sugar cubes are individually numbered using chocolate print. The chocolate print and board box complement each other superbly and the overall effect is one of supreme graphical order.

VAN HINTE, Ed. ‘Irony’, p. 102.

“A designer can use his creations to transfer meaning, but there is always the intriguing risk that the observer misunderstands. This can happen in two slightly tragic ways. The first kind is when a more often than not inexperienced designer, without any hidden agenda, creates something straightforward that nevertheless seems to suggest much more. Consequently observers perceive layers of meaning that were never supposed to arise. The result can be that the work of this designer has an inspirational quality that others have yet to explain to her or him.

The second is just the opposite: a designer may have attempted to express something that later is misinterpreted or not understood at all.”

The text goes on to explain,

“…Droog design was perceived as presenting ironic alternatives for a more sustainable society, especially in the beginning when many of the products incorporated used materials and familiar shapes. The designers, however, had different considerations, based mainly on aesthetics. Since irony presupposes a certain amount of knowledge, the clues offered work differently for different
audiences.”

VAN HINTE, Ed. ‘Experience’, pp. 121-129.

This essay talks about the rise of experience as part of the design outcome. It considers brand experience – how brands are no longer just symbols representing consumption but have become artificially linked to experiences that consumers can undergo. It notes that experience design has become a discipline in itself.

“The implications all depend on the way in which experience is defined. Generally it is a set of consecutive visual, but sometimes also auditive and tactile perceptions that are so memorable that it becomes a fixed association in people’s minds, whenever part of the same circumstances occur.”

“…experience is about memory.”

FARKACHE, Nina. 2001. 'Bench "Come a little bit closer" ', Nina Farkache, 2001. Pp 127.

A playful piece constructed from stainless steel, glass marbles and lacquered MDF, this bench has seats which 'float' on marbles allowing sitters to roll their seat over the marbles to move together or away from each other.

Kvadrat's new Shoreditch showroom

Danish textile company Kvadrat appointed graphic designer Peter Saville and architect David Adjaye to work together on the design of their new Shoreditch showroom which opens this month (March 2009). A 7m high space, it comprises mezzanine offices and a lower-ground retail space. The focal point is this multi-coloured glass staircase linking the space together, offset by an otherwise neutral palette of grey, black and white.

When I first read about the project in Design Week, I was immediately drawn to the simplicity of the design and its firmly graphic approach. Here is an example of spatial design undertaken in part by a graphic designer, which somehow retains the feel of two-dimensional graphic design whilst at the same time fulfilling a spatial design brief. Together, Saville and Adjaye have used colour and geometry in the same way a designer might approach the design of a piece of printed artwork. Indeed on reading the article, Saville says that his back catalogue of graphic design work played a part in forming the concept - in particular, the colour coded alphabet on his Blue Monday single cover.

Interestingly, Saville's take on the role of space as a communication tool in its own right closely follows my own view of the links between branding, communication and spatial design. He has been working with Kvadrat for nearly five years, principally as a communications consultant, and believes his involvement in the current project was a natural progression of that role. He says,

"Everything within the context of how an organisation acts is part of how it communicates. The London showroom is a significant dimension of Kvadrat's communications and, as such, the company was interested in my contributing to the aura of the new showroom."

(LORENZ, Trish, 2009. 'Double Act'. Design Week, 24(10), pp. 19)

Second image from: Rose Etherington, 2009. 'Kvadrat showroom by Peter Saville and David Adjaye'. Dezeen. Available at: http://www.dezeen.com/2009/03/20/kvadrat-showroom-by-peter-saville-and-david-adjaye/ [accessed 20/04/09]

Droga5’s Puma projection

Posted on the CR blog a few days ago, this is a great new ad for Puma, from Droga5 in New York. It uses a fascinating combination of choreography, spatial design and projection techniques to show a couple’s journey through life.

'Droga5’s Puma projection and more nice work'. CR BLOG, Centaur. Available at: http://www.creativereview.co.uk/crblog/droga5s-puma-projection-and-more-nice-work/ [accessed 19/03/09]

Inspired

By Giovanna Forte

"Three simple things inspire on a daily basis. The second is my Brompton bicycle. It transports me effortlessly and with dignity across London and beyond. It is beautiful, compact and elegant. The third is my Chanel No 5. The clean graphics, the Modernist bottle and the way the top makes a satisfying and feminine 'click' when replaced. Sublime on every level. Neither could be improved upon. This is good design at work.

But let's look at the more generic number one. The first sight which, on opening my wardrobe in the morning, gives me a frisson of pleasure is the evenly spaced regiment of identical hangers that keep my clothes perfectly placed, perfectly creased, perfectly hung. The blissful repetition of
sensuous, stainless steel curves that sit lightly on the rail, reflecting the morning light with even, perfectly positioned stars. Each a gleaming crescent of metal that slopes gently into a black, rubber-covered horizontal, from which my clothes hang so naturally.

The satisfaction of visual and sartorial order and balance is a simple pleasure, derived from an elegantly crafted, utilitarian yet decadently sexy storage accessory. Someone, somewhere designed it. Whoever you are, wherever you are - thank you."

FORTE, Giovanna. 2009. 'Inspired'. Design Week, 24(10), pp 10.

Manifesto

These images are of the work I produced in response to the Manifesto Poster design brief.

My intention was to explore both two and three-dimensional composition. Within this, I wanted to retain a clear visual link between the pieces, underpinned with a strong graphic style. I also wanted to explore both making and experimentation so as to add another layer of personal meaning and relevance to my MA.

A spatial element was introduced to the posters through cuts and folds, with the audience needing to move around in order to read the full text.

The plywood slot-together letterforms, spelling ‘branding’, ‘communication’ and ‘spatial design’, were extracted from the poster text and used the same font (FontSmith's Pele Two) as on the posters. This font was chosen not only since it lends itself well to the slot-together approach, but also because it is an up-to-date and fashionable font amongst the Graphic Design community. This enabled me to suggest a link between my previous work as a graphic designer and the new ground I will be covering through my MA studies.

I was particularly pleased with the outcome of the printing experiments I carried out. I found that, by printing on the reverse of silver card and then cutting and folding the vertical slots, it became possible to see the reflection of the text on the reverse, in these folds. The overall effect was to give an illusion of the text floating just behind the surface of the poster. This added a layer of spatial complexity to the poster. It is also in keeping with a key aim of mine over the coming months - to bring making and experimentation forward in my process so that it becomes more formative in my work.

Images clockwise from top left:
1. Manifesto posters
2. Close-up of poster constructed using silver card
3. Branding, Communication & Spatial Design
4. Close-up of slot-together letterforms

Story Pipeline

Image: RUBIN, Ben. 2002. 'Story Pipeline'. Ear Studio. Available at: http://www.earstudio.com/projects/alaska.html [accessed 18/02/09].

Bullivant, 2006, project 29:

"Ben Rubin's Story 'Pipeline' artwork (2002) is located at the BP Energy Centre in Anchorage, Alaska, a facility for use by community-based non-profit organisations. Stories told by Alaskans appear on a plasma video screen and simultaneously emerge as real-time text transcriptions on a 150-foot long LED display. The text zigzags indoors down a glass corridor, then veers out through the plate glass facade, dancing between the trees until it disappears out of sight."

Extract taken from the following book:

BULLIVANT, Lucy. 2006.

Responsive Environments: Architecture, Art and Design.

London: V&A Publications.