It's been mentioned that we talk about design quite alot on this blog and hey, I'm about to do it again..
I'm sure many of you are aware of the work of Jonathan Ive, the English bloke who turned Apple's profits on their head and in many ways changed peoples perceptions about how technology should look, by reinstating the truth that functionality is almost always the core of simplicity and simplicity is almost always beautiful.
I must point out that as much as I adore some of his early work, I do think he [Ive] is, like many great people, often over-praised, for example the iPod nano and iPhone in my opinion are not at all nice objects to look at.
Still, I'd be lying if I said I didn't think he was a bit of a genius.
He's also a good example of how great design almost always has very obvious influences and proves that all creativity is, is altering an existing design to fit a new need.
Have a look at these lovely designs by Ive's biggest inspiration, Dieter Rams..
Bramley, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith
The Box
The BBC have put a GPS transmitter in a cargo container (surely they always have them in?) and are watching where it goes for the next year in the hope it'll tell us a few stories about globalisation and world trade. It's like watching paint dry, to be honest, only it's shitloads more interesting. Where is it now? You tell me!
Hovis 'Epic'
Hovis ad due to run tonight at 8:45 on itv1.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2008/09/11/video-hovis-advert-charts-bread-history-115875-20732842/
I Will Like Caviar
Yesterday, I was watching The Xfactor with my flat mate
when some adverts came on. A particular advert was shown
and I aired a disparaging grunt. My flat mate (also 'in' advertising)
wanted to know "what didn't you like?".
What didn't I like I thought? Immediately psychoanalysing my
original objection, I went straight back to the line and thought about
the strategy. I questioned whether I was the intended target market and
how much of an insight about the product I had gained. I thought about
the truths in the advert and whether they were more honest and
refreshing than the brands competitors.
I even (dare I say it) considered the typeface and colour choice in the ad,
and after about 40 seconds I had my answer, the answer to thwart his
enquiring advertising brain.
"I just didn't like it"
The truth was it was all quite sound, it made sense, it was mildly pleasant
and you could understand it's uses.
I watched it for 30 seconds, heard the music, listened to the dialogue,
perved on the partially attractive thirty something woman and by 20
seconds was simply waiting for it to end.
My flat mate found this hard to swallow, here I was, a fellow 'man of
advertising' and I had no particular opinion or objection to back up
my initial reaction!
The thing is, I completely understand his point of view, it's our job to
'understand what motivates a man' to delve into the knock on effects
of certain images and words once they're swallowed up by the eyes
and the ears, it's also our job to rationalize that information and produce
a 'winning' formula that will win us black pencils and respect from our peers.
But what I think is easy to forget, especially for people like myself who
are learning the trade, the rules and the not always apparent boundaries,
is that people, in general, don't give a shit.
More to the point, we should pay as much attention to our own,
natural reaction, as we do to the formulaic reaction gained from the
rules and techniques that we are learning.
I guess this won't be hugely insightfull to a lot of you, but it's something
I find important enough to keep at the front of my mind.
