Volume 2
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Volume 2
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News Latest goings on at Re:design Q&A Sophie Thomas
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Freshface Showcase
University College Falmouth Kingston University
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Case study Pipeline identity by Thomas.Matthews Bookshelf essentials 4 new books
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Eco Warrior Alta - exercise never looked so crisp
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Re:design 1 Green patch square Clerkenwell road London EC1R 5BL T: +44 (0)20 7840 1111 E: Rewrite@redesign.co.uk W:www.redesign.co.uk Printed by Beacon Press using PUREPRINT enviromental print technology Printed on 100% Recycled paper ŠRe:design 2009
3 News
Latest goings on at Re:design
CALL FOR ENTRIES It’s that time of year again, as we prepare for the official launch of the Re:design awards 2009. For our first ever awards we have asked The Parners to come up with our creative concept. Though the awards are being held in London in addition Re:design will be holding call for entries screenings in London, Manchester, New york & Sydney. The final deadline for entries is 16 november 2009 but all entries recieved before 14 september will recive a 10% early bird discount. For more infomation and to enter visit: www.redesign.co.uk/awards09
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MEMBERSHIP BENIFITS LONDON GRAPHICS CENTRE: 20% OFF AT THE LONDON GRAPHICS CENTRE HAYMARKET: 15% OFF SUBSCRIPTIONS TO EYE, MARKETING DIRECT AND DIRECT RESPONCE H&G ECO PRINT SPECIALISTS: 10% OFF INK CARTRIGES
DATES FOR THE DIARY SEPTEMBER 1-4 17 26
Xchange: 4 day lecture programme for tutors and course leaders Re:design members event with Frost* - buissness opportuinities in Australia ‘Ideas, inspiration and the outdoors’talk by Tim Greywood
OCTOBER 7 23
Lecture: I want ideas and I want them now Presidents lecture: typeon trees
NOVEMBER 3
Re:design Student awards launch
A talk with
SophieThomas
8 Q&A - Sophie Thomas
SophieThomas One half of thomas.matthews & one third of a forest.
My interests have always been creative and always rooted in action. Like many designers, when I was young I was always creating posters or badges. I didn’t take a traditional route into design. I did illustration at Central Saint Martins followed by an MA in Communication at the Royal College of Art. At the RCA I met the other thomas.matthews director Kristine, and we started working together. I worked for the Body Shop for a year, doing point-of-sale and campaigns. We set up thomas.matthews in 1997. Both of us have an interest in sustainability. It is one of the reasons why we met. Both of us were concerned about the amount of waste produced by the RCA. We spent two weeks in the canteen office, collecting waste and hanging it in a gallery. It prompted change. We produced mugs sold for £2 each, which got 3p off a coffee each time they were used. It raised money to set up a recycling system through the college. thomas.matthews was set up because we like to do what we do, coming up with slight quirky solutions for things. It’s very hard to do that in an agency that already has an established way of thinking. To us it made absolute sense that sustainability was intrinsic to the make-up of thomas.matthews. We have built up 10 years of knowledge and experience in the application of the principles. I have always had a passion for communication. Communication can be done in many different ways, not just through paper, such as using three-dimensions and installations to create a message. All of our projects are done with the principles of sustainability underlying them. It’s possible to reconcile good design and sustainability. It’s not just about doing ‘hairy jumper’ design. Most people think we only have sustainability clients, but we don’t. It’s a real mix. We work with arts organisations such as Battersea Arts Centre, and have long relationships with charities such as ActionAid.
We also do a lot of work with people like Unilever, looking at their Corporate Social Responsibility programmes, helping them. For example, we might run art courses for a client, or even end up putting poetry on the walls of their buildings. We also work a lot with developers, pushing sustainable regeneration. A lot of my interests lie in materials, and I spent years screen printing. I still like printing onto different materials and getting my hands dirty. That’s why we’ve got a print room on site. It means designers can experiment and do their own work. Wednesday afternoon is usually devoted to my Three Trees Don’t Make A Forest work. It’s not funded currently, except from the goodwill of the three partners. I’m very dedicated to it. Ten ways design can help fight climate change thomas.matthews created this A6 brochure from waste make-ready sheets, french-folded and printed on the plain side. We kept the brochure compact in size, used a local printer and vegetable-based inks. Recently we have also become interested in solid ink systems, but Communication can be done in many different ways, not just through paper.
We’ve always called ourselves communication designers, we don’t always do graphics. We are known for our conceptual thinking, not just our output. We help our clients to communicate to different audiences.
Thomas.Matthews www.thomasmatthews.com
FALMOUTH VS. KINGSTON
FRESHFACE SHOWCASE Every issue we think it’s important to recognise not only the universities that present top work but also the students that produce them. This issue we have two universities that consitently produce a crop of talented graduates.
University College Falmouth
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1. Sophie Towler Many graduates demonstrated stong problem solving skills. This is a major strength of Falmouth, moving students beyond intuitive visual ideas into far more meaningful design solutions.
2. Sam Bestwick 3.
Sean Clarke
John Rushworth, Partner, Pentagram.
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We belive that design is just as much about thinking the prblem through as it is about what the solution looks like. Jon Unwin, Course Leader.
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11 FreshFace showcase
Kingston University College
Nick O’Brien The course is taught primarily through increasingly complex studio projects, with contextual studies providing a critical framework, and collaborative or interdisciplinary team projects contributing additional breadth. Tim Granger, Course Leader.
Fran Pickard
Luke Taylor
TALENT...
Sam Bestwick University College Falmouth
Well, this issue it is University College Falmouth who have taken the title with an upcoming graduate of theirs, Sam Bestwick. The project we have chosen is his response to this years RSA brief, in which he has produced a fantastic piece of infographics highlighting the concerns of the energy crisis.
RSA Stamps A series of six stamps designed to highlight concerns of the energy crisis throughout the world. Illustrative graphs show three rises and three declines in areas affected or concerned with how energy is used today to hopefully prompt thought toward using renewable/ alternative energy sources.
Sam Bestwick www.sambestwick.co.uk bestwick@hotmail.co.uk
Pipeline identity, stationery & website development
The logo refrences Venn diagram illustrations which are used to represent and analyse logical relationships, usually consisting of overlapping circles. we have created the brand mark using bright vibrant coloured rings. The interlocking shapes create the central eye visually demonstrating the search conducted by pipeline for intelligence in finance. coming up with slight quirky solutions for things. It’s very hard to do that in an agency that already has an established way of thinking.
Thomas.Matthews www.thomasmatthews.com
Case Study
Thomas.Matthews
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16 Book shelf essentials 1.
New vintage type Steven Heller Admist the world’s ever changing media and forms of communication, typography remains the bedrock of graphic design. The art of lettering is also evolving, although contemporary designers still look to the past for inspiration.
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MASSIVE CHANGE Bruce Mau ‘Massive change is not about the world of design; it’s about the design of the world.’ Every year Bruce Mau selects a small group of postgraduate students to work along side him, working as a team to research, design, and realise a public intellectual project.
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LY N ON U CA NE... O Y IF RD O AFFO
FORCAST Nozone Nozone proves yet again that design can do so much more beyond selling and promoting...And it is a gorgeous book!
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It’s not how good you are, It’s how good you want to be. Paul Arden On hearing the sad news of Paul Arden’s death last month this issue we decided to revist an older publication. Wether you are a school-leaver, self-employed or a managing director, this book is invaluable for everyone who aspires to succeed.
WARRIOR Just because we wear black doesn’t mean we can’t be green
‘Digital media will in general refer to those media, which are interactive, incorporate two-way communication and involve some form of computing as opposed to “old media” such as telephone, radio and TV. These older media, which in their own original incarnation did not require computer technology, now in their present configuration make use of computer technology as do so many other technologies, which are not necessarily communication media like refrig-
erators and motor cars. Many “new media” emerged by combining an older medium with computer chips and a hard drive’. What is the media’s role in today’s world and how does it affect us? Media is defined as: ‘A channel of communication that serves many diverse functions, such as offering a variety of entertainment with either mass or specialized appeal, communicating news and information, or displaying advertising mes-
In carrying advertisers’ messages they serve as the vital link between the seller of a product or service and the consumer. This definition of media is as true today as it was 50 years ago as is its role in today’s worldIt is understanding how the media have adapted to the changes in technology that is pertinent to understand the position of the media or mass media in today’s world.The changes in technology and the resulting changes in consumer culture are what determine the success of the media’s channels of communication. The birth of the digital revolution, opened new channels of communication for the media to adopt. As the ground changed underneath the traditional media so did its effect on the masses. For example, whereas a telephone previously was a fixed device used for speaking at a distance, Mobile phones today can take pictures, receive text messages, surf the internet, play music, buy music, broadcast video, tell you the time, warn you of up coming appointments, locate you in an emergency, light your path in the dark and in between it can also still be used to talk to people. So if all a person needs to be connected to the rest of the world and to access all
it offers is a hand held object that fits in a pocket, could the role of today’s media simply be to give companies the chance to keep up with today’s consumers? In the United States for example it took 38 years from the launch of the first radio set before the medium achieved critical mass. Camera phones however, have taken only 3 years to reach critical mass. Consumers now expect to get what they want faster. The problem companies now face is that the environment changes so quickly and unpredictably it is hard for them to keep up. By the time an optimal solution is developed, it is often obsolete. If companies are not fast enough to keep up with and even anticipate the next developments in media there is the chance their window of opportunity to connect with consumers will have gone. The digitalization of media has not merely simulated that of traditional media, but changed it. of a previous model’. Digital media is not a simulation of traditional media, it is a radical progression. The Internet is the most important driver of that progression, The Internet has been re-written and refined almost to the point
thomas.matthews created the National Maritime Museum’s first permanent exhibition made completely from reclaimed, recycled and sustainable materials.
Alta
Bikes
What is surprising about the Internet is that, while the creation of buying groups and comparative price sites may reduce cost, in some cases, prices are actually higher than through traditional channels. But customers are willing to pay a premium for ease of shopping and peace of mind; trust is one of the key criteria in defining the difference between a product and a brand.
Simon Clift is CMO of Unilever. When he was asked what is the biggest challenge and opportunity that the Internet brings Unilever (a company that turns over £36.5bn and operates in 150 countries) He said: “The net is changing things much more radically than most brand owners and advertisers realize. In the old- world of top-down, one-way communication, a company told you what it wanted you to hear, and you had the choice to take it or leave it. In the new digital world of transparency and ready access to amazing quantities of detailed information on just about how amazing this bike is and why
Poster campaign for the new models
Brands have been successfully creating this trust by attaching themselves to stories projecting, in some cases, a fantasy image of the brand. Now acting out that story is more important than ever before. With more chat rooms, blogs and social networking sites emerging consumers have the ability to shred the integrity of a brand in web speed. Whilst traditionally if bad service was provided from a company Its reputation could only be damaged at the speed of word of mouth or if it was picked up by the traditional media. A company now has to recognize that its’ impact on the world is visible to the consumer beyond the product itself. 22% of the world’s population now has access to the Internet; any consumer dissatisfied with a product that has access to the Internet can now share and discuss their dissatisfaction with millions of people over the world via the click of a mouse.
Fresh from Alta
Why buy
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But there is one seismic difference embrace the two-way relationship that the digital revolution has brought. A new way of thinking, selling and advertising has started to emerge
This is perhaps best seen via the incredible rise of YouTube So consumers can now communicate with each other, stay in touch with networks of friends, search for virtually any kind of information, With better technology, increasing speeds of obtaining information and consumers having a more important role in marketing. It is not surprising that digital media is forcing almost every company to re-examine the way it does business. That obviously includes traditional media companies such as newspaper and magazine publishers, television and radio. Content providers previously only known as publishers or television stations have found themselves operating