The Disciples Of Design » DESIGN

DETAIL ONLINE

Mark Arrowsmith — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:44:57 +0000

At Detail we’ve spent the last few months working with photographer Ben Spriggs photographing all our work ready for the new year and the new website. And we’re now very happy to announce that the old holding page is no more! Take a look at our new brand spanking new site in all it’s glory. New work will be added on a regular basis over the next weeks and months, so keep an eye on our twitter page.

Big thanks to Mike Maloney and Daniel Grimes for their ideas on placement with us last year.

Happy Friday!

Here is a brief overview of some of our recent work.

And for those who like to socialise, you can ‘like’ us too.

DALE CHIHULY AT THE HALCYON GALLERY

Mike Potts — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:47:21 +0000

Jennie Spiller and I made it down to the Halcyon Gallery on New Bond Street at the weekend to have a look at Dale Chihuly’s glass blowing exhibition.

Chihuly is widely regarded as the most exciting and spectacular artist working in contemporary glass, credited with elevating the medium from the realm of craft to groundbreaking fine art. A prodigiously prolific artist, whose work balances content with thorough investigations in to the properties of glass, Chihuly began working with the material at a time when reverence for glass-making and technique was paramount.

It’s one of the most impressive fine art exhibitions I’ve been to in a long time and the setting reflects this. Well worth a visit and on until the end of March if you are in London at any point.

IT’S NOT HOW GOOD YOU ARE, IT’S HOW GOOD YOU WANT TO BE

Mike Potts — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0000

A few books I’ve found imperative to my way of thinking in life and design were written by the late Paul Arden. As Executive Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi he oversaw some of the most well remembered advertising campaigns of the 20th century including British Airways, Silk Cut and Toyota.

In 2003 he wrote his first book ‘It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be’, followed in 2006 by ‘Whatever You Think, Think The Opposite’ describing the creative processes of good design as a metaphor for business practice.

‘It’s Not How Good You Are…’ is a concise guide to making the most of yourself – a pocket ‘bible’ for the talented and timid to make the unthinkable thinkable and the impossible possible. After decades at the top of one of the world’s most competitive industries, Paul Arden offers insights into such diverse subjects as the value of being fired and why it’s often better to be wrong than to be right.

He gives original and logical answers to everyday questions. Much of it appears obvious when you read it, but aren’t all questions easy when you know the answers? Whether you are a school-leaver, self-employed or a managing director, this book is invaluable for everyone who aspires to succeed.

I’ve included a few excerpts below;

A vital book for any designer and at 120 odd pages can be read in a few short journeys over and over again. Available from most good book stores and some rubbish ones too.

CHAMPIONS OF DESIGN

Jennie Spiller — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:57:05 +0000

Over the last year, JKR have been posting their “Champions of design” on their blog – The design Gazette

They have now turned the series into a free book, which is available to download here.

“What makes a champion of design? The latest jkr book attempts to answer this question by focusing on 25 brands; some famous, some less obvious, but all great. It’s a book about design, but also the people who create and manage it – the champions who can teach us all a lesson. Full of facts, trivia and insight, all served up in bite sized slices.”

I have followed this series and think its brilliantly written. There is something inspirational to take from each brand they have selected. I strongly recommended that any design student read though, learn what makes a good brand, and discover how design is relevant across each and every one.

Open publication – Free publishing – More jkr book

SOMEWHERETO_

Billy — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:29:16 +0000

somewhereto_ is a UK project set up to help open up spaces for young people to do the things they love in arts, sports and culture. They have been in touch with TDOD regarding a competition they are running over Christmas until January 13th, offering young digital artists the chance get their piece of .mov digital art/video animation work displayed on BT Tower’s giant LED screen. All the info about entering etc can be found here.

SAY WHAT STUDIO

Billy — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:28:42 +0000

Paris based Say What Studio contacted TDOD regarding their work. Some inspirational examples of typography / layout to be found on their site here.

MUSEUM OF THE IMAGE – PART 3

Mark Arrowsmith — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:57:39 +0000

DESIGN IT YOURSELF

The last part of the museum allowed visitors to create their own designs including T-shirts, Stop Motion Videos, Pictograms etc. (it was probably meant for children).

We had a go at creating the magazine cover where we had a time limit of 3 minutes in which we had to place large type / imagery on the floor, which after the 3 minutes would then be shot from above. Which once shot would be uploaded to their website. You can view all uploads on their site… http://www.design-it-yourself.nl/en

We also had a go a creating a stop motion video where a photograph would be taken every 10 seconds(ish) during (what we were told) was a 3 minute period. With careful planning we worked out what would be moved at each point, however when we started the clock, the time had changed to 5 minutes, so the carfeul planning pretty much went out the window. Again this was then uploaded to the website.

The long day ended with well deserved drinks and food in Amsterdam… great trip.

A DETAIL(ED) CONCLUSION

Paul Miller

“For someone who didn’t study the history of graphic design at university, it was fascinating to see things like the current trend for simple info-graphics was being applied just as effectively in the 30’s”

Ted Howell

“Though in the midst of a misguided name change (driven by the desire to acquire a MOMA-style acronym), and with one of the three main exhibitions closed, MOTI still managed to amaze. We made the trip with the expectations of visiting a well-curated space, displaying examples past and present of the very best of Dutch design. As mentioned in Part One of this series, when the automatic doors opened and formed the work ‘welkom’ we knew we may be in for something special, and from that point on it simply got better and better. The most important thing to note, for me, was that the museum is not that, not a museum. Not in a traditional sense. It is not simply a collection of pieces as expected, but the museum and its exhibitions have had thought, deep thought applied to them. The SupermArt exhibition would have stood up on its own just with the sheer breadth and quality of packaging (both iconic and below the radar) chosen. But to take it several levels above and lay it out in a spectrum of colour simply took our breath away. And this became a theme of the rest of MOTI, interactive items were not a massive letdown as they always seem to be; on the contrary they were interesting, were engaging and perhaps most importantly, were fun. Everything had thought behind it, and for that the experience was vastly enriched.

But having been taken aback, recharged and invigorated by MOTI, I couldn’t help but leave with a tinge of sadness. Not because I will never see MOTI again (we will be back when the next exhibitions are in place) but because of how we are so sorely lacking a venue of its calibre in the UK. It’s accessible, it has no elitist pretensions, it’s engaging. Speaking to the curator we were informed 80% of the visitors were under-16 school groups. Imagine if the UK had that opportunity for school aged children. How many of us took a weaving path until we finally realised through trial and error that design is what we were made for. I know if I was exposed to MOTI at the age of 13 I would have gone down considerably less blind alleys until I eventually turned up in design school. It’s clear that in the Netherlands design is woven into the culture, understood and respected from an early age – MOTI serves to enhance that further. It may be a distance, but if I was in education I would seriously consider a trip to Breda over the regulation French exchange.”

Mark Arrowsmith

“The trip was great and I really recommend any student/professional/Joe Bloggs to get themselves over there. For the same price of a Saturday night out in Preston (flight tickets), I think it would be very beneficial to anybody to get over there. The building itself was incredible with every small bit of detail around the exhibitions all having a thought process behind the designs, and why wouldn’t they. What I feel will strike most with designers is the level of consistency the Dutch have when it comes to layout and attention to detail, which really shone through in the 100 Year’s of Dutch Graphic Design Exhibition. Some of the work throughout the exhibition could really stand up against work to day, so I can’t imagine how outlandish it must have been back in the 1920′s/30′s. Excellent Xmas party.”

Mike Kirkpatrick

“As a design student, MOTI was my dream museum. I could pick out any of a number of projects that caught my imagination, but the one that has stayed in my mind the most was the interactive case study on the Dutch Police project by Studio Dumbar. The insight into the way the studio worked from research through to completion was fascinating, as you don’t normally get to see this part of design projects, you normally just see the finished, polished piece of work. And the brand looked sweet on a motorbike.”

Above. The Christmas ‘decorations’ at our hotel, someone clearly missed the opportunity to give this reindeer a red nose. Merry Xmas All!

MUSEUM OF THE IMAGE – PART 1

Mark Arrowsmith — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:31:09 +0000

Last week was Detail‘s Xmas party where we hopped on a quick flight to Holland to visit the Museum of the Image (MOTI). Located in Breda (an hour out from Amsterdam) meant an early morning and a long way from Manchester, however MOTI was well worth the trip.

As soon as we arrived at the building we were greeted with one of the most simplistic yet lovliest entrances I have seen in a long while, the automatic sliding doors, combined with the wall behind revealed the word ‘welkom’ on one side and a face on the other. The perfect way to excite 4 designers after a long journey.

100 YEARS OF DUTCH GRAPHIC DESIGN

The first exhibition we went to see was the core exhibition which is permanantly on show. The 100 years of graphic design takes up 3 large rooms in the basement of the museum, showing some of the greatest Dutch design in chronological order.

What struck us all straight away was just how contemporary the designs were as far back as the early 1920’s. Many of which could quite easily be seen on It’s Nice That or FormfiftyFive and no one would question the works age.

The second room moved slightly ahead in time, but to be honest you could only tell because of the information cards. This room showed identities and their full brandiung through out, from business cards to envelopes, with touchscreen tables where you were able to read up on each brand.

The final room shows half a dozen pieces of work and explains it all in great detail. The touch screen tables have interviews with each designer, allowing them to fully describe the highs and lows of the design process from the research to the inspiration to the reaction.

One bit of branding that seemed to strike up most discussion was the branding for the Holland Police Force which you can view more of here.

Look out for a few more posts about the other exhibitions.

BLACK & WHITE #XMAS

SteveL — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:54:18 +0000

It’s that time of year again. There’s something about the festive season that says self promotion here at ico.

Last year we designed a website that automatically turned all of the tweets with the hashtag ‘xmas’ into typographic snowflakes, and displayed them as falling digital snow. From this we could also extract individual tweets which enabled us to send unique Christmas cards to friends and clients.

The next logical step was to create a physical document of these global digital communications. With this in mind, we recorded all the Twitter messages sent on 25th December 2010. We then took the unusual route of using Processing to layout all 6651 tweets and tweetflake illustrations across the cloth bound tome’s pages. Arranged in chronological order, the book becomes a work of reference. Look closer and each tweet holds its own personal sentiment. Whether serious, touching, funny, ridiculous, or just plain rude, together the messages paint an honest picture of modern-day views and values associated with the festive season.

Are you one of the 6651? find out here.

MERRY QRISTMAS

Stuart Mitchell — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:25:26 +0000

From space hoppers to spa days, lego to lipstick, iPods to private islands their QRistmas wrapping paper links you to hundreds of gift ideas. Each code also acts as a single pixel within an overall festive picture, giving you the option to find the perfect present and then wrap it in the paper, or brighten up your office with some seasonal posters.

Recipients who scan The Chase QR code are also invited to follow them and take part in their Twitter QRistmas Quiz, with the chance to take home one of a number of gifts featured on the wrapping paper.