‘Design to Change the World’ London Design Festival 2018. Chaired by Susanna Edwards. With Morag Myerscough, Isabel Seiffart and Christoph Miller.
I really enjoyed the interviews about collaboration with Susanna this week. I especially liked the two particular projects picked to talk about as they really appeal to my interest in graphic design. I am now going to take a closer look at the two projects talked about.
Offshore - Migrant Journal
I really enjoyed the interviews about collaboration with Susanna this week. I especially liked the two particular projects picked to talk about as they really appeal to my interest in graphic design.
The Migrant Journal piqued my interest because I think it is an extremely important issue, especially in the last few years. I thought the idea of designing something that talks about all forms of migration and shows you that migration is a common and natural thing. The word migration itself has become a contentious issue over the last few years, with the refugee crisis and people more than ever needing to flee their homes because of conflict, people fall on one side of the fence - either they think it is a human right to seek a safe country or they think people should stay where they are no matter what atrocities they are facing. (Ironically these are the same people who voted for Brexit from their villa in Spain).
The Migrant Journals do a very important job of showing how integral migration is to people's existence. I love that this came into existence as a response to the media's disgusting treatment of the migrant crisis in 2015, it is something that needed to be said and it is a bonus it is being said in such a beautiful way. This links back to something I learnt about myself and my understanding of design as a whole in the last module (Contemporary Practice) - that you should use your voice in design to make a positive impact in the world and you shouldn't sit on the fence about important issues. This certainly isn't sitting on the fence and that is one of the reasons I think this is such a great project.
In the interview with Susanna I found it interesting that Chris referred to their own migrant status as further inspiration behind the project - none of the people involved have stayed in one place their whole lives, so what makes them any different to the refugees we see crossing the channel on the news? Nothing. Safety is a basic human right and with that borders should be open for people to move freely, an opinion clearly shared by myself and the team behind Migrant Journals.
Myerscough Studio - Sheffield Children's Hospital
Architecture and the effect a space can have on wellbeing has always been of interest to me. When completing my degree in Architecture my final major project was a hospice which involved a lot of research about how architecture and interior design can aide healing. I thought this project from Morag Myerscough was an inspirational use of design as a way to encourage wellbeing - from the patterns to the colours everything was considered and made with the patients in mind.
I especially loved the way Myerscough collaborated with the people who would be using the space and knows the patients - the nurses. This way of working - including people who put the patients first, not the design - seems like a great way to balance out the views on the project. Especially for a project like a children's hospital, it is imperative that the children are kept at the heart of the project and this collaborations seems like a very successful one. It also shows a high level of teamwork, especially when the nurses rejected the first round of designs because of the big patterns and stark contrast. Morag then changed the designs to add in some softer wood which was a great way to tone down the initial designs and get the much needed approval for the nurses. This just shows the power of collaboration when everyone is working towards the same goal.
‘Graphics That Engage’, London Design Festival 2018. Chaired by Susanna Edwards. With Ken Kirton, Sebastian White and Eva Kellenberger
Hato Studio
The Hato Studio have a really great theory that learning through play is extremely important, play and co creation goes hand in hand which in turn makes a more engaged society. I also found it interesting when Ken mentioned if you give an adult a bit of paper they look at it for a long time and can't decide what to write or draw whereas a child will fill up the pages quickly. I really like the way Ken linked this to how to bring out creativity in people - the more we play the easier it will be to be creative. Could this be a collaboration in its own right? The collaboration between people and play - bringing out the best in people via the medium of play. It's an interesting prospect that I plan on researching further.
The Space Bus Project was brilliant. Getting the children to design an environment for themselves is the only way to know it is exactly the way they want. The collaboration between children and designers, while not an easy one I'm sure, seems like it would produce, unique designs that will work well to educate children. This links back to the Hato Studio's main focus which is “giving people the tools to autonomously collaborate and express their ideas through design”.
I thought that the mark-making project on the D&Ad website was extremely innovative. I loved how they got the general public involved and essentially made them the designers. From this project I liked the idea that by making the public the designers, it was saying the public is at the centre of the design work at the awards, almost like a symbiotic collaboration - design needs people and people need design.
Kellenberger-White
The Middlesborough Institute of the Arts project was an interesting one, by using the print making process as a way to research how staff thought the museum should be represented, they put the industrial process back at the centre which mirrors the industrial nature of the city. I think this is a far more interesting and probably successful way of researching this as it gives a far more tactile feel to it - you can see your ideas taking shape rather than just putting them out into the ether. I also really liked the industrial materials that were used in the furniture, the perforated metal gave an authentic feel to the tables and the fact the whole colour pallet came from the bridge colours over the years was great, I feel like this whole project does an excellent job of tying together the place, people and design and seems like a beautiful collaboration between all three.
The Alphabet project I am not really sure about - I understand how the letters were designed, with the idea that they supported themselves whether it is the correct way up or not - however I don't really understand how this shows great collaboration or encourages meaningful communication. Possibly the letters are reflecting the industrial past of this part of London which nicely links them to the area however it's not my favourite project from the lectures this week.
Havana Club 3 and Jameson Ltd Edition collaborative projects by Pearlfisher London
I don't think I could love this branding anymore! It's so bright and vibrant and really gives you the feeling of a festival in Cuba. I think you can tell the Pearlfisher team travelled to Cuba as research, because they had to immerse themselves in the culture in order to truly understand where their product should be placed.
I think the collaboration between culture and design is so important for products like this, cultural appropriation is an issue all designers need to be aware of when using imagery from a culture other than their own. It is so important to use authentic voices and not try and replicate something without appropriate research. I think Pearlfisher did a really good job of thoroughly researching the cuban culture and using cuban artists for all of the artwork.
This got me thinking about all of the products that have missed the mark and been accused of cultural appropriation.
"Michael B Jordan renames rum after accusations of cultural appropriation"
In June 2021 Michael B Jordan announced he was changing the name of his rum [1] because he called it J’Ouvert.
The term signals the start of carnival in the Caribbean and is a cornerstone of tradition in Trinidad and Tobago, a place where Jordan has no links, heritage or family ties. He has been accused of cultural appropriation because of this and has since announced the name change. Nicky Minaj who is from Trinidad and Tobago, heavily criticised the name of the rum, leading to Jordan giving the following apology “I just wanna say on behalf of myself & my partners, our intention was never to offend or hurt a culture (we love & respect) & hoped to celebrate & shine a positive light on,” he wrote. “Last few days has been a lot of listening. A lot of learning & engaging in countless community conversations ...”.
I think there is a very interesting conversation to be had around cultural appropriation. For example can there ever be enough research done in order for it not to be? In my eyes, the collaboration between culture and design is an extremely important one and one I want to do right in my career. To me, it is important to have the input of people from that culture every step of the way, this is something Jordan clearly hadn't done which is why his rum was so badly received.
Riposte Magazine - Danielle Pender
I love where Danielle's idea for Riposte Magazine [2] came from - we have all felt that stomach dropping feeling where you see models half the size of any normal woman being called fat in a magazine - so I think a magazine like this is really needed. I love the idea that instead of celebrating how women look, there finally is a glossy magazine that celebrates women's achievements instead. I hadn't heard of this magazine before but I will be looking to buy it now!
A really sensible response to life and the human condition is to gave a laugh, otherwise you're really fucked. - Es Devlin
In the magazine, there is no retouching which is also fresh image for magazines, especially now. It actually makes me pretty gutted that this magazine is the exception rather than the rule, this should be the standard for women - to think about goals and achievements rather than bodies and skin.
Riposte magazine is such a great collaboration between inspirational women who are concerned with what women actually want to read about not what stereotypically women are supposed to care about. By using a text based cover it was such a bold way of saying this magazine is about the content, not about what the women look like. The advertising policy also plays into the whole idea - rather than putting adverts on the back of beauty products most women can't afford or just won't use, they put beautiful portraits of inspirational women, a much better use of space in my opinion.
Anna Lomax and Jess Bonham
I like the fact that Anna and Jess were friends before they started collaborating in a work capacity, it made me wonder if working with a friend would be easier or harder than working with someone who is just a colleague (I'm hoping so as my partner and I are planning on writing and illustrating a children's book!) [3]
I found it interesting how they say they are both completely different illustrators with different styles and ethos - in this way a collaboration can surely only be enriched by this diversity?
Photographer Trevor Keys album sleeves go on show
I saw this exhibition - my mum and stepdad live in Hull and he's a massive music fan so we went to see this at the Hull School of Art and Design in 2017. It was a pretty impressive body of work! I am really intrigued by the relationship between design and music - it seems to be a constant thing. I think probably because both are creative and expressive subjects that collaborate a lot. I really like these sleeves because I think the way the colours are looks melodic, like they're singing the images - that's what happens in a successful collaboration, you can't tell where one element ends and the other begins.
Workshop Challenge
What are the essential components of the collaborative mix?
Find one example of collaboration past or present that has led to an exemplary and historically significant piece of work.
Analyse the relationship of the collaborators and the roles they played;
Research any documented history of the challenges they faced and the outcome they produced;
Explore and analyse any specific approaches they took to their creative process or recording of their ideas that facilitated a successful outcome.
Design as an editorial piece (300 words), along with accompanying imagery.
For this workshop challenge one collaboration immediately popped into my head - the Greenpeace and Iceland 2018 collaboration ‘Rang-tan’. I was so moved by this advert when I saw it and it has stuck in my head ever since. [5].
Research
The animated video was initially made by Greenpeace to highlight the destruction of the rainforest. Iceland then brokered a deal to collaborate with Greenpeace to advertise this as a Christmas campaign and raise even more awareness of the cause. I think this is a really interesting collaboration because it isn't a creative collaboration, it is a collaboration after the creativity in order to highlight the creative product and the cause it is highlighting.
This collaboration between supermarket chain Iceland and environmental campaigning organisation Greenpeace actually started in 1990 when Greenpeace endorsed Iceland's Kyoto range of environmentally friendly fridges and freezers and advised them on their pioneering ban on genetically modified ingredients. From there the founder of Iceland Sir Malcolm Walker and Greenpeace Director Peter Melchett struck up a career long friendship with Iceland frequently seeking advice from Greenpeace. (When Peter was arrested for destroying a field of genetically modified maize, Malcolm even sent him an Iceland cake to prison). [6]
In 2018 Malcolm's son Richard showed him the Greenpeace animation and Malcolm described it as the most moving thing he had seen and if they could collaborate with Greenpeace, they could not only bring attention to Greenpeace and the Palm Oil trade but also "blow the John Lewis Christmas advert out of the water." The only problem was, with the Greenpeace logo on the animation it wouldn't be cleared for broadcast because it would breach political advertising rules. So, together with Greenpeace, Iceland decided to remove the Greenpeace logo from the advert but continue referring to Greenpeace on their website and materials. As part of this collaboration, Iceland also removed all products from their stores that included palm oil - a big undertaking considering how many products it is in.
However, even after taking the Greenpeace logo off, the Christmas campaign was pulled from TV because was deemed to breach political advertising rules. [7] This did not stop the advert being viewed over 80 million times and the Rang-tan merchandise selling out in hours. This collaboration may not sound successful - it ended up with no air time at all - but there was an onslaught of public adoration for the video so in a way, it is more successful than it may have been if was aired. The campaign smashed all its targets. Some 1.2 million people signed Greenpeace’s palm oil petition, businesses committed to taking the issue more seriously and it raised awareness among the general public about palm oil’s devastating consequences. [8]
The collaboration did exactly what it set out to do - brought attention to the horrendous palm oil trade, increase awareness of and donations to Greenpeace and made Iceland have their most successful Christmas to date.
Creative Process
The challenge for Greenpeace was telling an extremely complex story in a a simple and understandable way. It was decided that an emotional approach would be better and more effective than an aggressive one - after all, orang-utans are so close to humans that you can really put yourself in their position. The creative team looked to Pixar and Disney as inspiration for how to cater to large audiences because they needed to touch so many people all over the world - the story can appeal to children but will be a rich experience for adults.
The most impactful line according to the team was "There's a human in my forest" and coupled with the brutalist black and white imagery it really gives you the feel of the dire situation at hand.
One thing they did differently when making the animation was create 3D VR environments rather than illustrating each frame. This was t make it more consistent, easier to animate and also easier to give feedback on. [9]
Final 300 words
This collaboration between supermarket chain Iceland and environmental campaigning organisation Greenpeace actually started in 1990 when Greenpeace endorsed Iceland's Kyoto range of environmentally friendly fridges and advised them on their pioneering ban on genetically modified ingredients. From there the founder of Iceland Sir Malcolm Walker and Greenpeace Director Peter Melchett struck up a career long friendship with Iceland frequently seeking advice from Greenpeace.
In 2018 Malcolm saw the Greenpeace animation and described it as the most moving thing he had seen and if they could collaborate with Greenpeace, they could not only bring attention to Greenpeace and the Palm Oil trade but also "blow the John Lewis Christmas advert out of the water." The emotional approach taken by Greenpeace was the main reason Iceland wanted to collaborate - after all, orang-utans are so close to humans that you can put yourself in their position. Greenpeace told an extremely complex story in a simple and understandable way. The creative team looked to Pixar and Disney as inspiration, they wanted the story to appeal to children but also be a rich experience for adults.
The only problem was the Greenpeace logo meant it wouldn't be cleared for broadcast because it would breach political advertising rules. So, together with Greenpeace, Iceland decided to remove the Greenpeace logo from the advert but continue referring to Greenpeace on their website. As part of this collaboration, Iceland also removed all products from their stores that included palm oil - a big undertaking considering how many products it is in.
Even after taking the Greenpeace logo off, the Christmas campaign was pulled from TV because was deemed to breach political advertising rules. However, the advert was still viewed over 80 million times, the Rang-tan merchandise sold out in hours, 1.2 million people signed Greenpeace’s palm oil petition, and it raised awareness among the general public.
Not bad for an advert that was never actually aired.
The next step is to design the spread. I really want it to focus on the emotive incredible animation style used in the video and veer away from overly commercial design - the message should be in the centre, much like in they collaboration.
I don't like the style of numbers 1 and two - I think it lacks the creative colour used in the original animation and instead looks like extracts from a children's book. I really like the 4th spread as the colours are so vibrant and it really reflects the style of the animation. However, I think it needs to be more emotive to really get across the message intended.
I like number 3 because it really gives the sense of impending doom about palm oil. However I think I could have a more emotive spread if I used the face of the 'Rang-tan' more, as someone from the Greenpeace creative team said, it's easy for people to sympathise with a creature who looks so much like a human child. This is what I will develop.
This has been the image that has stuck with me throughout my research so I thought it was only fitting to include this. I think this is a successful spread. 'Rang-tan' looks haunted in this still, and the half opacity text adds to this feeling. The typeface I used is the Greenpeace one, which I thought was a more subtle nod than using the logos.
Final Workshop Challenge
Reflection
This was the most interesting week of this module so far for me, I really enjoyed researching different collaborators and the impact they have had on the world of design. I decided to go for a slightly different collaboration for my main piece; a collaboration that resulted in being banned from TV, controversy in the media and over 80 million views. I also found it really interesting that the collaboration came after the animation was already made, but none the less it was a collaboration to raise awareness of the palm oil trade. The fact that the Iceland and Greenpeace collaboration actually started in the 1990's was interesting - it just shows the importance of creating strong relationships and carrying them throughout your career.
References
[1] Guardian Film. (2021). Michael B Jordan renames rum after accusations of cultural appropriation. Available: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jun/23/michael-b-jordan-renames-rum-after-accusations-of-cultural-appropriation. Last accessed 27/6/21.
[2] It's Nice That, Danielle Pender (2019) Nicer Tuesdays: Riposte magazine, [online video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOWyVOy7JwMM (Links to an external site.). [Accessed 4 June 2019]
[3] It's Nice That, Anna Lomax and Jess Bonham (2016). Nicer Tuesdays,[online video]. Available at: Nicer Tuesdays: Anna Lomax and Jess Bonham (Links to an external site.).[Accessed 11 June 2019]
[4] BBC. (2017). Photographer Trevor Keys album sleeves go on show. Available: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-41331715. Last accessed 27/6/21.
[5] Rang-tan: the story of dirty palm oil (2015). [Online video]. Available at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQQXstNh45g. Last accessed: 4/07/21.
[6] Retail Week. (2018). How we made the most successful Christmas ad ever. Available: https://about.iceland.co.uk/2018/12/14/how-we-made-the-most-successful-christmas-ad-ever/. Last accessed 4/7/21.
[7] Butler, S, Sweeney, M. (2018). Iceland's Christmas TV advert rejected for being political. Available: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/nov/09/iceland-christmas-tv-ad-banned-political-greenpeace-orangutan. Last accessed 4/7/21.
[8] Fleming, M. (2020). How Greenpeace’s campaign helped make palm oil as toxic as plastic. Available: https://www.marketingweek.com/how-greenpeaces-campaign-helped-make-palm-oil-as-toxic-as-plastic/. Last accessed 4/7/21.
[9] The making of the ad: Greenpeace's Rang-tan campaign (2018) Campaign. [online video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUCh_xyDiHY. Last accessed: 4/7/21.
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