Design makes the difference by Alex Smailes
This project evolved from a few conversations with Gareth Jenkins in 2008, and developed into a program committed to educate about the importance of design in our everyday world. How do we get across the value of well thought-out design? We implement it in all our work and client projects - but as he often says, “good design should be invisible.”
Yet often when viewed from a different position, it all makes sense. What I am trying to emulate is that slightly smug satisfying ‘a-ha!’ feeling when you understand.
You certainly notice lack of it when design is not there. Signage systems in licensing office, milk carton pourers that ejaculate, a billboard with five phone numbers on it as you speed past on a highway, the list is endless. In larger competitive markets, products, services and companies that are not well designed from the core add to the high failure rate of start-ups.
Nature on the other hand takes care of this by itself - Darwinism.
I take everyday objects and construct them into a logo-mark using our corporate typeface. Using photography I capture a point-of-view that we would normally see. But by then changing that position - we see the real subject is a lot different. By using the ‘everyday’ I can utilise our wonderful vernacular, colours, cultural events and seasons.
This is an obvious departure from my normal work, but we believe in pushing ourselves to step outside from our safety zones. When taking this on, I am actually exploring another journey a photographer can take. It involves pre-visualising a subject and making drawings, researching installation art, getting dirty with hands-on construction. It’s also just a whole lot of damn fun!
Posted in BrandingDesign on 26th Jan 2009
