Ian and I ventured to Manchester to speak at Northern Digitals' fabulous BLAB night on Thursday 18th August. Warming up the crowd for talented director Ian Wharton, we spoke long into the night and drunk even longer. Check out the (very) full-length video of the talk here, courtesy of BLAB organiser Matt Booth.
BLAB 8 talk
Rob Coke
Graduate Showcase
Workshop 2011
Dan Moore
Once again I have been invited by the folks at Computer Arts to take part in their annual Graduate Showcase, on Thursday 8th September, at Shillington College in London.
This time around it takes the form of a series of small workshops, hosted by myself, She Says and Eskimo. I'll be giving attendees the chance to learn a bit about the way that Studio Output thinks and creates, through revisiting one of our popular Ministry of Sound projects.
Tickets are available through the (newly relaunched and great looking!) Computer Arts website here. Numbers are limited and there's only a few tickets left, so get in there quick.
Angus Hyland ‘Symbol’ lecture
Rob Coke
On Wednesday, Dan & I attended a CR lecture by Angus Hyland – timed to coincide with the publication of his new book, Symbol. As well as hearing Angus share his knowledge of identity design, it gave us a chance to nose around the Pentagram offices. They're as classy as you'd expect; not only do they have their own road name, the ubiquitous Ikea Expedit bookcase was nowhere to be seen.
After a brief word from the sponsor, Angus talked us through ten instantly recognisable symbols and trade marks – from Apple to British Rail. As well as the history of the marks and the people behind them, he gave us some insight into their development – for example the use of 'modal perception' in the World Wildlife Fund logo, where the outline isn't drawn but the brain allows the eye to complete it. We also learned how to create a real-life mobius strip in the style of the woolmark and that the CND symbol uses the semaphore for 'N' and 'D' to represent nuclear disarmament – although other interpretations were raised during the following questions!
It was a response to one of these questions that was most enlightening. Asked whether symbols with personality would survive in a digital age, Angus replied: "If you go through the wind tunnel you will never end up with your quirky Pirelli logos – everything becomes anodyne … quirkiness comes about through a combination of client naivety and budget."
Youth Marketing Strategy 2011
Rob Coke
Last week, I was invited to talk at Youth Marketing Strategy 2011, a one-day conference at the University of London organised by Reach Students. The agenda was largely focused around better communication with students and young people – and the audience ranged across community management, brand marketing and graduate recruitment.
Eyecatching highlights in the line-up were Channel 4's Joe Beek and Neil Taylor summarising new findings from their invaluable UK Tribes project, Emily Kortlang of Fallon arguing that the best research starts by asking interesting questions – and idea machine Tom Scott, whose invigorating approach to creating 'viral' content closed the day on a high. (Tom's 'Effort:Awesome' ratio chart is a wonderful introduction to the power of information graphics!) But there was real interest in the common themes too, including an ongoing debate about the value of market research over gut instinct and – the full house in Julia Shalet's 'conference bingo' – the importance of actually listening to the people you're trying to engage with.
Our job was to provide some visual stimulation for a tricky late afternoon slot and talk through Studio Output projects for youth brands like BBC Radio 1, Ministry of Sound, Sony PlayStation and Gio-Goi. We'd been asked to show how design is an important tool when creating strong brands and campaigns, so the presentation was themed around three areas where I think design can help:
1. It allows you to speak in a consistent (yet flexible) voice across all media platforms.
2. It connects you with your audience by giving them a share in its ownership.
3. It adds value to your message by providing some much-needed magic in our lives.
We explored how much the world of marketing communication has changed since I entered the industry, and how that means a strong core idea is more important than ever. We looked at how creative apps like Granimator have helped us start two-way design dialogue with the clubbers at Ministry of Sound. To frame all this, we pondered why the word 'Design' seems to inspire reverence and disdain in equal measures.
It was a great opportunity to share our processes and exchange ideas with a different audience to our usual talks, so I hope everyone was able to take something useful from it.
Insight events – June 2011
Sam Allen
In the last two weeks Studio Output have hosted two more installments in our Insight series. Clients and contacts including Reiss, Net-a-Porter, Sony PlayStation, Raleigh, Nottingham Forest FC and Uniqlo all experienced great talks from some of the key companies working within the on and offline environment.
The first event – 'Get Talked About Without Trying' – was held at Nottingham's Antenna, and saw innovative digital advertisers Ocean Outdoor, retail trend & analysis specialists GDR, high-end animation studio Mainframe and search & social media specialists Tamar discuss bold strategies and campaigns being used to generate buzz, both on and offline.
The theme for the second event at the Aubin Cinema in Shoreditch – 'Leading Not Following' – explored how brands and activities should set agendas rather than follow them. To help articulate the theme we secured a star-studded line-up. YouTube focused on harnessing the power of digital, CoolBrands discussed the credentials inherent in a 'Cool Brand', FranktillTill discussed insights in tune with emerging consumer trends, and ustwo™ gave us all an unforgettable and honest look into the world of App generation.
The common strand through both events was the expert analysis from Studio Output on design, branding and digital.
We'll keep you updated on the key thoughts from the days. To find out more about upcoming events, please email sam.a@studio-output.com or sign up to our Input Bulletin.
Insight & innovations event
Nottingham, 8th June 2011
The next event in our Insight series is at Antenna, Nottingham on Wednesday 8th June. We'll be bringing together a range of industry speakers to share innovations in design, marketing and content. How can we speak effectively across multiple platforms and get talked about (without trying)? There's a fantastic line-up, including GDR, Ocean Outdoor, Tamar and Mainframe.
A couple of places have just become available. Sam Allen, our Head of Business Development, has the magic clipboard – so email sam@studio-output.com or download the PDF invite if you're interested in coming along.
‘The Studio’ Launch: final line-up
Ian Hambleton
It’s now just 1 week away from our next Glug @ Village Underground and we’ve yet more additions to the lineup for this. I'm afraid tickets are now sold out, but if you are already coming along here's what we've got in store for you:
LIVE ART
On the night we'll have live art from some of the artists involved in The Studio project. They will be bringing their work to life in a different, more analogue way.
Rexbox
Bob London
MegaMunden
Studio Output (Shahnaz Ahmed)
EXHIBITION
All around the venue will be an exhibition of some of the work from other artists involved in The Studio, as well as the opportunity to try them out and see them in action on a Sony PlayStation 3. Work on the night will include:
eBoy (GER/CAN)
Jon Burgerman
Johnathan Zawada (AUS)
Pete Fowler
Serial Cut (ESP)
Tom Hingston Studio
Craig Redman (AUS/USA)
Maharishi
Jody Barton
Hydro 74 (USA)
Happy Lovers Town (ITA)
Blind Salida (FRA)
Mr Jago
Andrew McAttee
Richard Woods
Cherry (ARG)
Sicksystems (RUS)
Magnus Voll Mathiassen MVM (NOR)
Kristian Hammerstad (NOR)
Madsberg (DEN)
Skwak (FRA)
Matthew Green
Check Morris (FRA)
Koa (FRA)
123Klan (CAN)
Cody Hudson (USA)
Bob London
Velvet Spectrum (AUS)
MegaMunden
Tom Sewell
Plus of course there will be the work from our speakers:
Jasper Goodall
Tomato
Anthony Burrill
Mr Bingo
Rex Box
And us!
D&AD President’s Lecture
Gemma Ballinger
Sam and I were lucky enough to get a last minute ticket to the sold out D&AD President's Lecture on Wednesday. With design legends and newer creatives on the line up and the ever popular Pecha Kucha format, we knew we were in for an interesting night. There were plenty of familiar agency faces in the 900 strong crowd at The Institute of Education, and the queues snaked all the way down the stairs showing how popular this line up was.
Notable talks came from Kate Moross and Mr Bingo who were both funny and impressive in their approach. On the design legends side, Andy Cameron inspired us with talks of his time in Milan and Tomato talked about the penis for the full 6 minutes. Graham Fink dressed up and regaled us with his talk while brandishing a samurai sword.
All in all an inspiring night, but it was the new-comers on the design scene that really stole the show.
Glug vs. GameCity
Nihon, Nottingham
To celebrate the GameCity videogame festival, we've created a special Granimator™ pack, designed to tweak your competitive streak. Vs. Battle™ will be showcased at a Glug event at Nihon, Nottingham on Friday 29th October, as part of GameCity 5.
Granimator™ is an intensely visual wallpaper app for the iPad, created by London-based studio ustwo™. Starting with custom graphic packs, users can drag, pinch, push and rearrange their compositions to create personalised wallpapers that can be shared online at granimator.com. Download it from the App Store now!
Inspired by 8-bit video games and rendered in stark black & white, our pack features icons, lo-fi patterns and messages – with sound from legendary Japanese producer & multimedia artist Baiyon. The binary graphics are perfect to output your designs for printing on shirts, bags – in fact, whatever you can think of!
Obviously we'll be at Glug — hosting, talking about the project and giving you a chance to challenge your mates to a head-to-head Vs. Battle™ in high-pressure timed rounds. The best screens shared over the next week will even be used to print bespoke tees on the night, courtesy of Waste. Bring your own garments along, and we can print those too!
For more info about this event, join the Glug Nottingham Meetup group.
Computer Arts Graduate Showcase 2010
Dan Moore
I recently had the pleasure and honour of speaking at the first Computer Arts Graduate Showcase Seminar on the subject of 'Living with Graphic Design'. This year saw the event expand beyond purely an exhibition to become a full day of inspiring talks and portfolio clinics from Jason Arber, John McFaul, Matt Booth and Richard Tilley. For me personally it was a great opportunity to share stories and meet some upcoming talent. The audience seemed to be very responsive and keen to speak to us all, which was very refreshing.
This was the preamble to my talk:
I'll be talking about my journey through graphic design and the creative landscape and what I've learnt along the way. I've experienced a lot of change over the course of my career and I want to explore how you can manage it and use it to your advantage. From simple things like not pigeonholing yourself too early to bigger issues like not letting technology taking over your life, I'm hoping to relate my experiences to what all of you graduates here may face.
To get an overview of the themes I explored download the PDF of the slides here, or take a look at the Computer Arts blog.
Finally, huge thanks to Computer Arts (especially Amy Hughes) for putting the event on, and D&AD for their support.
Glug