Archive for October, 2009

The Changing Building

Sunday, October 25th, 2009

It’s been a while coming but I’ve finally found time to write my first entry to the CIN blog.

I have just got back from seeing Pixar’s latest film release ‘UP’. Great film, built on characters and their emotions rather than spectacle and effects, I thoroughly recommend it, and it is the adverts before the film have given me the theme for this post.

Over the last 20 years we have seen buildings become intelligent, utilising building management systems to control internal environments, making then more efficient and sustainable (more about this in later posts). The idea of buildings becoming physically interactive with their surroundings and altering to adapt to their environment or functional requirements have long be assessed and played with.

qashqui

The advertising industry, have also used this premise in numerous promotions recently. V waters latest campaign by London based agency 20/20, has an animated figure physically altering his environment to make his journey easier (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APEIUMKCWzc ). Nissans Qashqai advert has buildings coming to life and playing with the nimble ‘crossover’ car (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3Z5tvzoKsE).

v water advert

So the question is will this ever become a reality, will buildings be able to physically change to make our lives easier, will buildings become interactive and playful, or is it economically not viable? Well the first tentative steps would seem to have been made.

The Prada Foundation (http://www.fondazioneprada.org) has commissioned starchitect Rem Koolhaas’ practice OMA to design a multi-functional cultural building that will physically change to forefill  one of four functions. The Prada Transformer is the result. (http://www.prada-transformer.com).

transformer side

This temporary pavilion is the latest collaboration between OMA and the Prada, with OMA having designed several of there ‘Epicentre’ stores in New York and San Francisco. The transformer opened in the grounds of Seoul’s 16th-century Gyeonghui Palace in April 2009 and was open for 5 months in total. It housed art, architecture, film and fashion exhibits. Its three sided steel structure is covered with a tensile fabric which is both easy to change and translucent to allow light into the internal spaces.

prada-transformer

The idea of a building changing, and not simply being one thing, is an extremely interesting one, which has been proven by the large amount of media interest in the project. It could be the next step for cultural temporary structures, maybe the Serpentine gallery’s yearly temporary pavilion will evolve and transform in the coming years. Whether everyday buildings will become physically adaptive is the larger question, time  (and money) will tell.

There are numerous videos of the Prada Transformer on Youtube and images on Flickr if you want to see more.

Simon Foote

Simon Foote Architects Limited, 28-28a Ashbourne Road, Derby

Posted in Architecture | No Comments »

Clark’s graphic design nightmares

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

Fish + Banana = Sadness

I lose track of the amount of times I’ve been in a meeting with a client I heard the words “We’d like you to show us four or five different options.” I usually start feeling mild dread around this point. Inevitably they continue with “If we have several quite different options we can take the bits we like from each.” My dread then turns to actual horror. Allow me to explain why I am affected so, with the use of delicious metaphor…

Let’s pretend for a minute that I’m a chef rather than a graphic designer. I’ve been hired to cater for Jim’s birthday party and it’s my task to cook him and his friends the best meal they’ve ever tasted. Jim explains that although he only wants me to cook a single dish, he’d like me to give him four or five options. So he can pick the bits he likes from each. (Can you see where I’m going with this?) I suggest that my time would be better spent coming up with one meal that he and his guests will enjoy. But Jim insists that it would be terrible if he didn’t like the meal, so I must provide options for him. I return to my kitchen, a bit depressed.

One week later…

I arrive for another meeting with Jim, I have samples of five dishes: Chocolate mousse; smoked salmon; banoffee pie; crispy chilli beef; aniseed balls. I really only had enough time to create two dishes, so I had to buy in the banoffee pie and crispy beef. The aniseed balls were given to me last Christmas – but I didn’t eat them because they are awful. Jim seems pleased with the choice. He spends five minutes deciding which bits he likes and asks me to combine them. I return to my kitchen, very depressed.

A week after that…

The night of the party comes and everyone is having a good time. There’s drinking, dancing and finally it’s time for the special birthday meal. Jim has an expectant look on his face as I walk in with a large tray. I present the food to the guests. “Ladies and gentlemen, for tonight’s meal I am serving Chocolate and fish mousse with banana chilli. Sprinkled with aniseed balls.” People are glancing nervously at each other, but no one approaches the food. Eventually Jim starts eating.
After ten minutes Jim is looking queasy and very upset. None of his guests liked his special birthday meal. He just can’t understand what went wrong, he hired a chef after all! Jim convinces himself that it was my fault and refuses to pay me.

Now, that all sounds a bit ridiculous doesn’t it? But it’s the exact same thing with graphic design. I really can understand a client wanting to retain creative control, but working like this ties the designer’s hands and stops you from getting what you are paying for. Focus on your goal – do you want to end up with a piece of design work that appeals to you or your customers?

Pete Clark
Cogdon, Clark & Tranter

Posted in Graphic Design | No Comments »

All hail the (Copy) King

Monday, October 19th, 2009

I’d like to introduce you to the person I believe is the king of the design studio, the master of the creative department, the don of the digital agency. In fact, whether its brochures, direct mail, websites or any other marketing material for that matter, what’s the one thing that engages us and makes us act?

 

The photography? A little. The gorgeous graphic design and art direction? Possibly. The whizzy way the menus download on the website? Well, they’re nice. But no, the king of the jungle when it comes to all marcomms is the copy – and long live the king!

 

It staggers me when clients spend a not inconsiderable sum on market material and yet skimp on the copy and provide it themselves. The approach usually ends up with the designer dropping all the copy into six point and colouring it grey (as a creative years ago I used to even call it “the grey lines” myself), in the vain hope that the reader won’t notice that the copy is, in fact, rehashed PowerPoint that is so internally focused.

 

It may tell you how it does something but chances are it will skip the key parts, such as why and how you will benefit from this. You often find it is full of “management speak” baloney aswell.

 

I assume the issue is that everyone can actually write. Yes? No, no no! They can, of course, put sentences together and may have a vague idea on grammar and punctuation but could they write a paragraph of copy that sold me something if their kid’s life depended on it?

 

A great writer once described to me how, upon presenting some copy, which, incidentally, the client loved, he presented his bill. The client looked more than a little concerned and asked the writer: “How come it was so much for just a few lines of copy? Surely it can’t have taken you longer than an hour?” To which, and I love this, the writer replied: “No, it didn’t take me an hour, it’s taken me 22 years!”

 

Now that may sound a humorous story but when you stop and think about it, it just makes so much sense. So next time you are thinking of investing in any marketing material, please don’t skimp on the actual bit people engage with.

 

PS: I’d also like to point out that I am not, and have never professed to be, a writer!

Posted in The Creative Industries | 2 Comments »