Yesterday I attended another Design Manchester event, this time taking place at Manchester's Town Hall. The day involved a series of talks and presentations from an array of different and talented speakers, including Kate Moross and the Colophon Foundry. The theme of the festival itself has been longevity, and so the talks today were meant to provide a discussion based around design of substance and sustainability, design that lasts and building long client relationships.
It was a fantastic event to attend as each of the speakers had something different and valuable to say, and as well as that, it was well designed and we got freebies from GFSmith. What more could you want?
These are some of the notes that I made through the talks.
Andrew Shoben
Founder of Greyworld, an artists collective creating public art works that involve the interaction of people in Urban spaces.
Interactive design isn't just online. Taking urban space and creating moments of creativity.
What is public art? Why do they call it public art? Who is it talking to?
It's about breaking down the gulf.
The Clockwork Forest (2011) Audience not expecting this when they arrive at Grizedale forest, allows people to interact, and also to not interact if they don't want to.
The works are very direct - no need to explain, bringing cause and effect together. Your audience in interactive art is everybody so don't assume something about them.The audience is the centre of the work. Public art is created for the grey zones and the in between places, and it's about making random connections between strangers, social engagement. You need simplicity in projects like these, if you want work to have staying power it should have some complexity to it but with a simple route in. Nat Hunter and Mark ShaylerThe Great Recovery Project - 90% of consumer goods we buy end up in landfill within 6 months. Sophie and Mark run workshops to try and help people become aware.
Mark Shayler - 25 years in design, runs good for nothing, a charity in Manchester. The simplest way to reduce impact in design is to make things last longer. Design is powerful thing, you can either be the joker or you can be batman. Sustainable design has to be green AND, has to be everything to make it desirable or people won't buy into it. Currently there is a perfect storm of obsolescence, things are being designed to only last for a short period of time to ensure people have to buy the newest thing, Currently our resource systems are linear and fundamentally flawed. Best way to extend value of a product is to make it last longer. If we don't start making in Britain, it will be made first in China. There isn't just a carbon footprint in design, there's also a water footprint. We need to begin to manufacture again. Think about life cycles when you design things. Design builds understanding of complex systems. Kate Moross
It's not what you say you do, it's what you actually do. She's a jack of all trades, master of some. We are now entering a world where you have to be good at everything. You can do anything that you want to. The future is multi disciplinary, things aren't isolated anymore. Be active in your career and life.Approach to working - be entrepreneurial. The future - investing, learning and collaborating.Music is about illusion, as well as design. Make your own luck. No fear! Failure is most important part of creativity. Things often don't happen the way you want them to. Learn how, there are so many amazing resources now, there is a way to do anything you want. DO IT! Don't be afraid to be shit at something at first. Improvise. Be open, communicate with your clients. Connect with people, every single interaction is important. Don't be lazy! Colophon Type FoundrySplitting the tasksManifesto - Use our live/commercial projects as a testing ground. Do things the hard way. Remain autonomous. Curate an aesthetic via Colophon. Collaborate with contributors. We are NOT a reseller. Keep prices affordable. We do not design to predict trends. Some of the other talks and interviews were difficult to make notes from, but they were still interesting and valuable to listen to. I think I found Mark Shayler and Kate Moross to be the most energetic and inspiring talks to listen to. Mark Shayler just seemed incredibly passionate about the work he was doing, but not in an annoying, preachy way. He told us the facts, told us not to feel guilty, but just to think about how we design, which I liked and thought was a very successful way to get through to what was mainly a group of students. Kate Moross was very open and friendly, and seemed very approachable, and obviously very knowledgable because of her experience despite being so young. She also seemed genuinely enthused about being there and sharing her ideas and thoughts with us.
