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]