Contemporary Contexts Lecture Notesjh

8/22/2019 Contemporary Contexts Lecture Notesjh

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on emporary on ex s.

The creative industries NOW | Derek Yates | 30/01/10

Digital interaction

The most important recent developments in contemporary design are obviously

related to the internet and developments in new technology but their implications

are complex. An obvious starting point for our discussion would be to look at

the implications of interaction. A majority of design on the internet imitates the

principles of print design, but as the medium develops more and more designers

are truly exploring the potential of interaction. These designers have skills that lie

somewhere in between Artist/ Designer & Programmer, foremost among these

figures is John Maeda. Maeda has the advantage of being able to realise his

vision without having to rely upon an programming intermediary. His work is

highly intuitive and blends seamlessly the designer and users input into a piece

of interaction. In 1996 he set up the Aesthetics & Computation group at MIT and

believes passionately in the need for programmers to design and for designers

to programme. His design consultancy Maeda Studio still produces work that

is unique in its genuine interactivity. His way seems to point the future of web

design.

In England, Digit and Tomato were among the first designers to really explore the

potential of the internet as a truly interactive medium.

Time-based change and user input in networked media were investigated by

Tomato in the context of branding, with its Sony Connected_identity project.

Visitors to the Connected_identity site could select a word, which was then

rendered and mutated over time and presented via the web, mobile phones and

on a display in the Sony building in Tokyo. Selected clips of these animations

were also used in Sony television commercials

More recently programmers such as Karsten Schmidt have developed these

ideas further to produce visual communication that truly involves the user in its

generation. Schmidt worked on the identity for the onedotzero adventures in

motion 2009 which uses the Nokia N900 to allow the audience to input messages

which then form an ever changing logo.

Physical Interaction

Digit began to develop ideas for interaction that were not limited to the computer

screen and as they expanded designers who started at Digit began to set up their

own studios. Two such studios are AllofUs started by ex Digit employee Sankey

and Sennep started by Matt Rice.

The development of arduino circuit boards has meant that designers,

programmers and engineers can build one off bespoke interactive electronics that

with a little bit of code make genuine physical interaction possible.

http://www.maedastudio.com/1997/cal3/index.php?category=all&next=1997/cal4&prev=1997/cal2&this=flora_calendar

onedotzero interactive identity: http://www.vimeo.com/6523068

sennep/ dandelion installationhttp://www.sennep.com/installations


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Tinker It have been at the forefront of this technology sponsoring young

designers such as John Nussey to demonstrate the possibilities of the

technology through things like their toyhacking workshops.

John also works with Kin Design who combine skills in design, interaction and

environment design to create engaging pieces of physical interaction such as

their Tommy Hilfiger installation where jeans trigger music from giant cassette

tapes.

Moving Brands

Before starting Kin, one of the partners, Matt Wade was a creative director at

Moving Brands, who for the last five or six years have been at the forefront of

developments in branding and identity as applied to a world where motion and

interaction are what attract peoples attention.

Code

Much of the innovation in interaction is made possible by designers and

programmers working together. More recently designers have started to write

their own code and open source software has become available that makes this

easier than it has ever been before.

Dissatisfied with existing software more and more designers are beginning to

programme their own and by cracking open commercial software, a new breed

of graphic designers is redefining type & image at code level (David Womack,

Tools to Make or Break. Eye Magazine 60, Summer 2006)

One such piece of software is Scriptographer

Scriptographeris a Javascript plug in that Jurg Lehni started working on in 2001

and continued adapting while he was a students at ECAL. The plug in made its

public debut in 2002 as the computer programme that drives Hektor a graffiti

output device. Hektor is a small contraption that dangles from a chord and

clutches a can of spraypaint. Following the vektor paths of an Adobe Illustrator

file, Hektor bobs up and down spraying words or patterns on the wall.The home

made graphic device and the drippy but perfectly plotted images it produces

became something of a media sensation

this combination of traditional manual media and cutting edge programming is

an interesting development and suggests a move towards using computers to

engage the audience outside of the screen.

sennep/ dandelion installationhttp://www.sennep.com/installations

http://www.kin-design.com/docs/case-study-hilfiger-2009.html

http://www.movingbrands.com/?category_name=lcf-work#expressionhttp://www.movingbrands.com/?category_name=kef-work#expression

http://www.hektor.ch/Videos/Beautifull-Place.mov/


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Random International- Pixel Roller

PixelRoller is a paint roller that paints pixels, designed as a rapid response

printing tool specifically to print digital information such as imagery or text onto a

great range of surfaces. The content is applied in continuous strokes by the user.

PixelRoller can be seen as a handheld printer, based around the ergonomics of

a paintroller, that lets you create the images by your own hand.

Designers, artists, musicians and other imaginative individuals, who once

thought programming was only for nerds, are discovering new creative

possibilities thanks to new creative possibilities thanks to Processing an open

source tool that allows them to writesoftware to create images, animation and

interactive visual work with little or no experience

Key to the success of any form of interaction is the involvement of the

audience. Researchers and theorists have started to point to a radical shiftin our relationship to the culture that surrounds us. We are no longer passive

consumers but participants in the shaping of cultural experiences.

participatory culture.....

describes the way consumers interact with media content, media producers and

eachother. As they explore the the resources available to them.. consumers

become active participants in shaping the creation, circulation and interpretation

of media content, such experiences deepen the consumers investment in the

media property and expands their awareness of both content and brand.

MIT, Convergence Culture Consortium/

companies that desire to understand the consumer flow within the ever

quickening media environment need to understand how these changes are

generating a rapid movement from impressions to expressions, intellectual

property to emotional capital. Such approaches may be the key to breaking

through a cluttered and fragmented media environment, relying on consumers

themselves to help knit together information & impressions gathered from

multiple media experiences MIT, Convergence Culture Consortium/

These ideas are changing the way designers work- and there is a growing

realisation that we can no be so precious about control and ownership, rather

we have to embrace a dynamic and flexible relationship with our audience.

Australian designers Rinzen recently demonstrated the potential of these online

communities by sending images out and asking other designers to remix them,

eventually creating a book and website called Rinzen RMX.

http://random-international.squarespace.com/pixelroller-overview/

http://www.processing.org/

http://www.scriptographer.com/


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Wieden & Kennedy: Beta-7

A project produced by Wieden & Kennedy for Sega in 2003 demonstrates the

power of an open ended invitation to your audience to be part of a campaign.

They set up a website to herald the launch of ESPN NFL Football but instead

of heralding the benefits of the game, the site claimed to be a forum for games

testers who had sustained long term psychological and physical injuries from

testing this particular game. The site carried no branding and the general public

were asked to support a campaign against the evil Sega corporation. A blizzard

of press and publicity ensued and newspapers all around the world carried

stories of the mysterious Beta-7 rebels. When the public outcry reached its peak

Sega came clean and admitted it was all in fact a spoof.

T Mobile

More recently Flashmobbing has been used to great effect by T-Mobile with a

string of events which include dancing in Liverpool St Station, singing in Trafalgar

Square and the biggest band in the world.

The hype around the campaign has been so big that there has been an inevitable

backlash.

none of the t-mobile ads are real, cant you see that, Yes of course you like

them, because you are supposed to like them, T-moblie have spent vast sums of

money researching your demographic and have marketed directly at you . Every

paid extra, actor, shot and song is carefully marketed and contrived, NONE OF

IT IS REAL, The myspace page, the facebook group, the youtube channel - all

fabricated to con you into moving to t-mobile, watch the film Wag the dog to see

how you are manipulated and deceived by marketing and advertising executives,

I repeat, nothing in any of the T-moblie commercials actually happened for real,

Even most of the awesome comments are bogus , to help perpetuate the myth/

sell more phones.

A recent Dr Pepper flashmob caused Creative Review to post the ad on their blog

under the title: Brands take note: it really is time to stop with the flashmobs.

The point though is that its not about whether its a website, a flashmob, a

giant plasticine rabbit or a beautiful piece of print its that ideas that engage are

independent of media, the media simply helps deliver the idea.

A good example of this thinking in practice is the recent Stupid campaign from

Diesel. This is an idea that enables the ads and events to design themselves.

http://www.youtube.com/lifesforsharing?gl=GB&hl=en-GB

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2010/january/cringe-a-flashmob-too-far

http://www.diesel.com/be-stupid/


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Guerilla:

To implement these ideas advertisers have looked at new places and ways to

communicate with their audience. This has become called guerilla marketing

or ambient advertising. Obvious examples come from Boxfresh and Adidas,

who employ graffiti artists to spray stencil adverts around cool areas such as

Old Street and Brick Lane. BritArt.com manufactured A1 sticky art labels in the

style of those you would normally find in galleries and labelled every day objects

such as paving slabs as art. Nike allegedly sprayed all the green traffic lights in

Amsterdam with a stencil that when the light came on looked like a green tick.

The ad agency, Mother, launched in 1998 to a blaze of publicity when their

promotional mail out was called irresponsible by sports minister Tony Banks,

it also received a D&AD Award. Inspired by Japanese toy giant Tamiyas

infamously anal model kits they produced completely authentic self assembly

English Football hooligans to coincide with the new football season. They have

not looked back since and are responsible for the two boisterous Jamaican

woman who sang the patoi praises of Lilt amongst other campaigns. Just likeKesselskramer they use irreverent humour and a deep insight into contemporary

popular culture. Mother were asked to contribute to the Laurence King book

Soon in which the big names within the design world were asked to predict some

future brands. They produced Grey and style magazine aimed at the over 60s.

The End of Print?

The rise of digital media has caused people to think about the validity of print as

a medium and as a result the industry has been forced to innovate and consider

what its strengths are. Books are handled, you hold them and touch them.

New developments in technology have enabled designers to take advantage

of surface and tactility and as a result book design has gone through a bit of a

renaissance. Last year more books were published than at any other point in

history and although the mass market is definitely shrinking the production of

specialist small run books with high production values has expanded to fill the

gap. This trend has been celebrated in a whole series of books, including Roger

Fawcett Tangs New Book Design features a plethora of innovations with

binding, paper, special finishes, die cuts, heat sensitive inks and packaging from

designers such as UNA (Amsterdam), Irma Boom, Browns, Karel Martens,

Experimental Jetset & Spin.

Bespoke

An offshoot of this process is a new mindset that has led designers to seek to

create bespoke individualised pieces of design. Dan Eatock uses labels that

can be filled out by the recipient on greetings cards and video sticky labels for

a film makers identity. Designers such as Muller & Hess and Value & Service

have manipulated the print process to create pieces of work that reject uniform,

mass production in favour of the unpredictability and variation. As technology

makes perfection easier & easier to attain, imperfection and individuality becomemore & more attractive.


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the digitisation of the design process has resulted in the ironing out of many of

the inevitable imperfections of preceding craft based processes, so designers

are beginning to build flaws into their work in an attempt to counter-act the slick

look. Often they adopt methods that force unpredictable things to happen,

exaggerating errors to create a sense of authenticity.

Ann Odling Smee, New Handmade Graphics.Guerilla Marketing

Part of this process is a rediscovery of craft as illustrators and designers explore

traditional graphic mediums such as linocut, woodcut, screenprinting, letterpress

and calligraphy.

In Sweden Flag produce hand printed, limited edition posters and in Holland, the

calligrapher Job Wouters has become a design superstar.

Competition

Graphic Design and illustration have expanded massively over the last twentyyears. Shops like Magma have created a graphics sub culture and as a result

what was once a niche obscure subject has become a lifestyle choice. At the

same time technology has enable anyone with an Ibook to produce graphic

media. This has meant that illustrators and designers have needed to become

much flexible, innovative and entrepreneurial.

Max Bruinsma wrote in a 1997 issue of Eye Magazine,

within the broad province of art, design & visual communication, graphic design

will remain recognisable as a discipline for some time to come. But it will merge

more & more with other disciplines.

Collaboration

Studios like Kin, Sennep & Moving Brands have recognized the need to

collaborate to take on a wider range of projects and service the sort of industry

that demand media neutral campaigns like Stupid and Beta 7. Working with

agencies like onedotzero educational institutions have started to look at ways

that they can steer students away from the one man and his portfolio to produce

graduates who have enough flexibility to survive in this new design culture.

Collectives

Designers and illustrators have started to pool resources into co-operative groups

that have allowed them to maintain their own vision; while sharing a website &

studio space, resources, publicity and jobs. Often these designers had different

areas of specialism and collectives allowed them to come together as different

jobs required. Airside, are a good example of this and under the leadership of

Fred Deakin they operate as the band, Lemon Jelly; offering graphic design and

an online store selling clothing and accessories.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajjg3faIQ5A

Cascade: http://www.vimeo.com/6472293


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Airside took part in a recent lecture at LCC where they were described as

people who have created a living despite the worst economic climate in years.

Similar flexibility and entrepreneurship has been shown a group of Illustrators

who met at Brighton University in the late 90s. They include Miles Donovon,

Elliot Thoburn, Spencer Wilson and Andrew Rae. From their launch in 1999, they

promoted themselves strategically to establish a client list including: Absolute

Vodka; MTV; BBC; Sony; Levis and Channel 4. They now share a studio in East

London and promote themselves through an excellent website www.peepshow.

org.uk. The artist within the collective remain separate but are starting to develop

more collaborative projects such as animations for Cbbc. They recently set

themselves as a limited company and are beginning to produce more and more

moving image work. They also have a shop that sells tee-shirts and small run

publications

Self publishing

Peepshow are part of an explosion in self initiated self published work over thelast 10 years; developments in technology and the ability to publish through the

internet have made it possible for designers to publish their work cheaply and

easily, but also the competitive nature of the business have made it necessary for

illustrators and designers to supplement their income.

Illustration collectives have shops on their websites selling everything from tee-

shirts to tea towels and small publishing houses like No-Brow publish limited

edition books and magazines direct to the public.

No Brow

Nobrow (TM) was set up in the winter of 2008 by Sam Arthur and Alex Spiro to

provide an independent publishing platform for illustration and the graphic arts

that would showcase some of the best talent out there today, whether fresh out

of college or from the ranks of well seasoned veterans.

Our aim is to place a renewed focus on quality in print, using wherever possible

the best materials we can get our hands on and always trying to play with format,

color, size and design to ensure that our publications are well conceived and

individual. We work closely with locally based printers wherever possible so that

we can be involved in the creative process from start to finish and we always

try to achieve finished products that are not only filled with great work, but that

themselves are art objects, to be coveted, collected and cherished.

Design/ Writing/ Research

One last manifestation of the competitiveness of this new graphic design culture

is the blurring of the boundaries between education, research and graphic design

practice. Figures such as Rick Poynor have started to develop critical research

into Graphic Design culture. First Eye Magazine and then DotDotDot have begun

to provide a critical backbone as the subject begins to establish itself on anacademic level.


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e u c s u o e a aven s a rea y n eres ng examp e o ow s ren s

evolving.Metahaven, based in Amsterdam and Brussels, is a studio focusing on

design and research in visual identity and architecture. Its partners are Vinca

Kruk, Daniel van der Velden and Gon Zifroni.

Here is a list of Metahavens research papers which can be downloaded from

their website along with examples of their design work.

White Night Before A Manifesto - Metahaven

History vs. Future: Public Relations - Vinca Kruk

Interview with Jonas Staal - Daniel van der Velden

Symbool X - Daniel van der Velden

Facts are the Enemies of the Truth - Interview (2004)

Empire and design - Dieter Lesage

Discovery of the Fifth World - Metahaven

White Flag - Daniel van der Velden

The Network Ruin - MetahavenThe Floating Signifier - John OReilly

Research & Destroy - Daniel van der Velden

Vlaggen en symbolen - Discussion

We - Daniel van der Velden

Imagination of Engagement - Metahaven

The Museum of Conflict - Discussion

Let art save democracy! - BAVO

Specimen: Beyond Identity Politics - Metahaven

9/11s Ghost Ship - Metahaven

Conversation with Markus Miessen - Metahaven

Secret Practices - Interview (2007)

In the Name of Europe - Gon Zifroni

Crypto Logo Jihad - Daniel van der Velden

A Democratic Brand Paradox Metahaven (ed.)

Kristjan Mndmaa in conversation with Metahaven

Designers and the political - Interview (2006)

Brand States - Metahaven

Peripheral Forces - Metahaven

Branding the Superstate Abyss Interview (2009)

http://www.metahaven.net/mhSRC/t.php?p=1


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ppen ces.

Here are some interesting ideas on all of this from the Wolf Olins website

Brands started as a stamp on a product, and became a gadget designed to get people to buy,

an emotional lever. Now theyre becoming something bigger and different. Brands are becoming

platforms.

More and more, customers are invited not just to buy things but to do things. On the platforms of

eBay, Wikipedia, flickr and YouTube, people sell things, share knowledge, broadcast visual ideas.

Through Zopa, people lend to and borrow from each other. On Sellaband, you can launch your

favourite unknown band, and then share in the profits.

Sony Ericsson shows how its mobiles enable people to do what they love. Peugeot now invites

customers to become car designers, and crowdspirit gets large numbers of people to invent new

electronic products.

Newspapers like the Guardian have become less promoters of an ideology, and more a platform for a

spread of voices, including those of readers.

Across the developed world, consumers are becoming active, even activists, and brands their

platform. Its a less emotional, more practical relationship people dont love eBay, though they love

what it allows them to do.

As consumers are invited not to buy but to work, functionality really matters. Creating a brand, and

designing the service behind it, are becoming inseparable.

Its not just individual customers who use these platforms. Other organisations do too, and

brands increasingly link organisations together. The corporation of the new century is more like a

constellation, and brand is becoming the link, the multiplier.

Amazon may seem like a bookselling corporation, but actually its a constellation of retailers

of electronics, homewares, toys and more plus the wider constellation of people who review

and recommend. Creative people increasingly work in consortia, forming communities through

conferences like TED or websites like worldchanging.com. Cities like New York are creating a city

brand to connect and multiply the impact of the myriad of agencies who promote the city.

Fairtrade is a German charity whose brand is a multiplier for 600 producer companies. Companies

from Gap to American Express have created new products for (RED): a percentage of profits goes to

treat AIDS/HIV in Africa. The London 2012 brand embraces sponsor and partner organisations.

This new world of branding isnt about self-contained citadels, or force-fields that repel other brands.

Brands like (RED) embrace the organisations they work with.

As brands become less the property of an organisation and more the banner of a movement,

ownership will become even looser. Logos will be things other organisations, and individuals, can

borrow and adapt.

Red squared

(RED) visually embraces the brands it works with the device implies the mathematical power of one

brand acting on another.

As brands become platforms and links, they get used and abused. People want to make them their

own which means they may no longer be the same everywhere. Brand becomes not one tune, but a

theme with variations.

As ideologies compete, as cultures become more multi, organisations are getting much more

sensitive to context, to localness. Even Starbucks the great exponent of a repeated formula now

believes in identity, not identical.

The BBC has moved from uniformity to create distinctive channel brands. Mandarin Oriental thinks

of its hotels as a family, not a chain, so that San Francisco looks and feels different from London and

http://www.wolffolins.com/views/#142


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ong ong, oug eres a un yng orena sens y.

Brazilian telecoms company Oi has different ways of being with extreme, mass and business

customers. The London cultural venue Southbank Centre has a new logo that has an infinite number

of variations.

The new brands have many ways of doing things, many ways of speaking. They experiment and

change over time. The brand is not a perfect blueprint, and brand creators are less architects and

more inventors, learning by adapting. What unites the organisation (or constellation) isnt the surface

logo but the underlying idea.

The London 2012 brand is a theme that partners adopt and adapt. Heres sportswear partner adidas,

using the theme to connect London 2012 to its own impossible is nothing brand idea.

Amazing things happen when you combine thousands of peoples flickr pictures: see an extraordinary

demo at TED

Five marketing principles brands should embrace in 2010

Most of the marketing rules we lived by just five years ago are practically obsolete. The industry

has faced more changes in the last five years than in the previous 50. Lets face it, theres no point

in improving broken legacy models. Since necessity is the mother of invention, lets not waste this

recession and instead use it to rethink how we go about branding in this new decade. Here are five

key ways:

1. Create better realities: A Bain & Co. survey notes that 80 percent of CEOs believe their product

to be differentiated, but only 8 percent of consumers agree. And Y&Rs recent Brand Asset Valuator

found a 90 percent erosion in brand differentiation over the last 10 years. These are not just sad

examples of illusory superiority, but a staggering statement of our industrys failure to add value

in the past decade. Its critical that marketers realize that the product itself is the most powerful

brand-building tool. Weve all heard it before: innovate or die. But todays hyper-connected society

adds a sense of urgency to this broadly accepted mantra because mediocrity is getting extinguished

with increasing speed via social networks. Because reality always trumps image, marketing needs

to create real value versus just adding a perceived value. Marketers need to shape the offer -- the

product, service and experiences consumer buy -- not just communicate it. Marketing becomes the

product and the product becomes the marketing.

2. Dont be design blind: With design driving innovation, we need to challenge our understanding of

design. The Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon noted that everyone is a designer who devises courses

of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones. Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman

School of Management, equally challenged our perspective when he said, Todays businesspeople

dont need to understand designers better, they need to become a designer. The concept of design

thinking has become highly regarded and commonly understood, but it has yet to infiltrate corporate

culture. When design thinking is practiced, creative problem solving happens more successfully,

leading to truly innovative business solutions versus the incremental improvements left-brain-driven

analytical thinking leads to.

3. Be brand led: While brands need to apply the same rigor the human-centric approach design

thinking requires and while actionable insights are key, theyre only half of the equation. Being solely

consumer led does not allow you to be differentiated. Be brand led and consumer informed -- not the

other way around. Being brand led allows innovation to be true to, and guided by, the purpose of the

brand, making it more credible and in line with what the brand is capable of.

http://www.ted.com/talks/blaise_aguera_y_arcas_demos_photosynth.html


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4. Think 365 -- not 360: Shift from singular, consistent messages to multiple coherent ideas, from

simplistic, one dimensional, reduced executions to complex, multidimensional, rich executions. Stop

striving for perfection and go for progress by iteration. Join the movement shifting from campaign

thinking to conversation thinking. At the same time, a brand must build long-term platforms to become

an indispensable part of peoples daily lives by providing continued entertainment and utility. Brands

cant afford to go dark any more. Instead, stimulate brand conversations with more initiatives, more

often. Just like people, brands are a sum of their experience.

5. Be interesting: This you know -- but do you practice it? A brand that generates little or no

conversations will be killed by one that does. In a world where it s more important what people say

about your brand than what brands say about themselves, give people something to talk about.

Lets stop confusing excuses with reasons. Lets use this recession as a reset button. Lets make

business more innovative and the world a more interesting place.

18 January 2010, posted by Frank Striefler

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Contemporary Contexts Lecture Notesjh