Collaboration Around the Globe- Podcast 1
Kenjiro Kirton - Hato
I really enjoyed this podcast with Kenjiro Kirton, the co-founder and creative director of Hato. I didn't know much about Hato before so it was good to get to know the work they do and how the business is going from London based to global and the reasons for this.
One of this things I have enjoyed most about the content of this course is how much it challenges my existing beliefs - the one this week was about the subject of community. I have always believed that community is very much routed in the place you are - it's the people around you regardless of their expertise. However, Kenjiro says that to Hato, community is the other people in your field - graphic designers and illustrators - as much as the geographical area. This is not how I thought of it at all so it was interesting to hear an opposing perspective that actually opens up the field to me.
This also made me wonder whether a studio has to be small to be local? Community and local often go hand in hand so they idea of a global community to me seems like a juxtaposition. Surely a global studio can't have that local community feel? Hato seem to be proving this wrong and instead growing their roots in the place they are based and growing organically from the city they are in - whether that is Hong Kong or London. This is illustrated when Kenjiro says you should always work in a space where you can add value. This would only be possible if you are rooted to that place and I think this is a beautiful thing. It also suggests that to be a successful design studio you need to understand your surroundings and have links to the area - your work will be enriched this way.
Another interesting point I took from this podcast was the idea that co-design often means opportunities lost, for example Boaty McBoatface. If there is too many cooks, often the best ideas get overlooked and you tend to end up with either something ridiculous or boring. I know this from my own experience of magazine design - it had to be checked by so many people that you ended up with a sterile A4 black and white document - all design elements were overlooked and deemed too risky to the group - many design opportunities were missed this way.
I thought the Hato Studio Society was an inspirational part of the company - wanting to help people and grow their design skills and offering free portfolio advice and printing workshops. I also liked that Kenjiro said their aim is to support students outside of traditional forms of design education which links nicely to idea for a studio that help offenders get into design. Hato will be a good case study to look at when thinking about this further.
Collaboration Around the Globe- Podcast 1
Rita Matos and Axel Peemoeller - New Studio
This case study of New Studio was interesting because a collective is the studio set up I have the least amount of experience with. It was fascinating to hear the set up and learn about how they assign projects and even pay from these projects. It also seems like a great studio model for a global studio, people bring in their own clients and the work is shared. It make sense for conducting meetings over all of the different time zones that New Studio operates in.
One thing that did strike me about the way they work is this is how many more studios and offices in general could be in the post-pandemic world. Axel mentioned that some of the designers haven't met each other but have worked on multiple projects together, this is how the world could be from now on, even living in the same city. I know people who have swapped jobs during the pandemic and never yet met their colleagues. It does make you wonder if this is the most productive way of working or is it just what everyone is used to now? I work from home currently which I like but I am looking forward to getting back into the office for a day or so a week. I think you do mis something by never meeting people you are collaborating with however the monthly meeting Axel does at New Studio seem to be a good compromise for this.
I also found it interesting that even with all of the remote working and the success of this they still meet up when they can to hash out projects that require a lot of attention. This suggests that sometimes face to face working is still the most productive route. One of the disadvantages Rita mentioned was the inability to make a quick decision sometimes - if you're working across so many time zones it must be really hard to get quick responses sometimes.
The collective way of working is a really interesting way of working and I would like to explore this more.
The Future of Graphic Design Globally
I found these interviews mostly interesting. I think it's quite clear that Adrian from Intro doesn't like the idea of remote learning and thinks we would be better learning in the same studio however, time moves on and people can't always be in the same place at the same time. Technology makes it possible to bridge this gap and when harnessed in the right way, can do wonderful things.
I think Simon Manchipp had the most interesting insights into the globalisation and advancement in technology and the affect it has on graphic design eduction. He said that technology make it easier to go out there and get stuff done which I really agree with - the tools are at our fingertips and we can access anything we want at any time. Used on the right way, surely technology opens up a world of resources and tools that can only help us become better designers?
Sarah Boris suggesting we are more connected now also rings true, with apps like instagram and facebook, we are opening up our network of people to include infinitely more and creating connections we would never usually have the opportunity to make.
After listening to these interview it has helped me realise that the main affect globalisation and technology has on education is giving us more opportunities. Opportunities to connect, to learn about different disciplines, to collaborate with someone in Australia when you are in Berlin. In a way, it completely opens up the world and all of the tools in it to us on a daily basis - that's incredible!
Mucho - A Conversation with Rob Duncan and Brett Wickers
It was great to see all of the projects undertaken by Mucho in this video and the pride they have in their work. The AbilityLab project was my personal favourite as I love the idea of rebranding the rehabilitation centre in such a modern and forward thinking way. This seemed to me like a real meeting of the minds between scientists and designers and the product that came out of this collaboration was incredibly successful. [1]
David Turner (Turner Duckworth) Interview
With the time difference between San Francisco and London is 8 hours which adds to the amazement that two studios this far apart are so successful. 55 staff members are split evenly between the two studios and they have a strict schedule for projects - a core team leads the creative project while the initial creative is explored by a wider group. [2]
They also encourage competition within the studio which is not something that has come up before - in the other collaborative environments it seems more like competition is discouraged, whereas at Turner and Duckworth they go with the concept of 'competitive collaboration'. Obviously it has worked for them as they are an extremely successful studio, however it makes me wonder if you have to be a certain kind of person to work there - one that thrives in a competitive environment. I would love to know how they foster this competitive energy and if it ever becomes too much. I also wonder if this would be best for most people or if the non- competitive collaboration is a more attractive prospect. Turner does say that they celebrate the winning concept, but what would happen if creative people were constantly losing? Would they lose confidence in their skills and is that a price a studio are willing to pay?
The idea of a distant crit I thought was a good one, not knowing the author and being able to give honest feedback just based on the creative merits of the piece. I think crits and feedback are essential to improving as a designer and I really like the model that Turner and Duckworth have set up.
A piece of advice I appreciated and will take with me beyond this course from this interview is that no design discipline exists in isolation.
Workshop Challenge
Based on some of the debates and discussion covered so far, outline a series of ideas that could help you to work in new and more exciting collaborative ways.
What media and communication platforms could help support this? (This might be to help you collaborate with new design partners, introduce yourself to a new network or culture or area of investigation.)
Present your ideas as a one minute elevator pitch video (with the aim that you will develop one of those ideas further next week).
The first thing I wanted to do was brainstorm my initial ideas before narrowing them down to three ideas for my pitch.
This was a really interesting exercise as it got me thinking outside of the box about ways to improve cross disciplinary collaboration. I had more ideas than I expected about this and while I think these are a good start I am looking forward to pushing them further and developing them more in the future.
The next step is to decide which three to go with...
Online Crit - I really like this idea, gathering feedback to improve is such an important part of design and creating an online platform to do this would break the boundaries of distance and allow people from all over the world to interact.
Skills Match - This idea is about matching experienced designers with children and young people eager to learn about Design. This is a way to create a global um of skills and experts to help people develop and educate themselves in design.
Cause Match - This is about matching people from multiple different disciplines together to create teams that are helping to tackle social issues. It would be in the form of an app that allows people to choose projects based on their interests, such as animal welfare, poverty or literacy for example.
Online Exhibition Space - This would be a gallery online that anyone can access to see the work of people from all over the world in all different disciplines. It would act like a virtual reality gallery and would in some way have a similar feel to actually being there.
Online Canvas - This is the idea that a website would have different categories like travel, animals or science and within that would be different mood boards that people could add to over time and build up incredible resources for everyone to use.
My top three choices are - Online Canvas, Cause Match and Online Crit. I think all of thee ideas have legs to be developed further and designed a speculative projects.
Final Workshop Challenge
Reflection
I really enjoyed thinking in a more creative way again this week - having no limits and being able to think speculatively and about how to improve the future of design. The content was really interesting and I enjoyed hearing about the way studio collaborate across the globe. My idea for an online crit was inspired by Kenjiro from Hato, their Studio society offers this kind of feedback for people and it's proving to be successful.
The workshop challenge this week was good and I think I came out of it with three workable ideas however if I could do something differently it would be pushing the ideas even further. I think I constrained my ideas to current possibilities and didn't push them further, thinking about new technologies and future possibilities. My conversation with Mat Greenfield in the podcast last week inspired me to think more outside the box and push it further when developing the ideas next week. For example, could the online crit be virtual reality? Or could the cause match be in a different form other than an app? Could robotics be involved?
Given more time this week I would spend longer on the elevator pitch video, possibly animating it rather than using pre-existing images. Although I do think it got my ideas across well and is understandable to everyone.
In conclusion, this kind of thinking is a part of design I find extremely exciting and I am really looking forward to developing the ideas further next week.
References
[1] Mucho(2018) A Conversation with Rob Duncan and Brett Wickers (Links to an external site.), [online video]. [Accessed 11 June 2019]
Download a transcript of this video download.
[2] Butler, A. (2012) David Turner (Turner Duckworth) Interview,DesignBoom [online]. Available at: https://www.designboom.com/design/david-turner-turner-duckworth-interview/ (Links to an external site.). [Accessed 11 June 2019]
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