is the name of the website where you can find the creative community of plebsville. Well, yes – another community, as if there weren’t enough in the vast web 2.0 universe.But imagine you register for the community and three days later a person called HUGO rings to call your attention to a competition. That sounds special, doesn’t it? But exactly this is what happend to ROGER when he registered at designers are wankers! So needless to say that this is quite an outstanding personal approach.What you can find at plebsville is a collection of now 1,730 people that have the possibility to show their portfolio or get into contact with the other 1,729 creatives. The profile attributes have quite a playful approach and ask for things like:

Hardest lesson to learn, still to learn, home truths, inspiration, most fruitfull collaboration, future plans are for, style of approach that works and many more.

This leaves enough space for a not too tight and open-for-interpretation description that won’t get too serious and revealing.But why are designers wankers? It’s the name of  Continue Reading »

Earlier this year, the UK capital exploded with a week of events for the London Design Festival 2007. Now in its fifth year, The London Design Festival has become a fixture on the international creative calendar. With over 200 projects and audiences of 300,000 it has quickly become one of the most important design events in the world. I spent the September Festival week flying across the UK capital to cover some of key events. This year, the London Festival was proud to establish a whole list of socially conscious and green focused events and debates:

“You cannot fail to have noticed that everyone has gone eco. From politics to design, the environment is at the top of everyone’s agenda.Of course eco or sustainable design is nothing new – designers have always returned to the theme of reusing and redesigning products. However, sustainability is now being embraced more widely as it soars up the political agenda, and is a major theme running through this year’s London Design Festival (15-25 September).”

On day one, as I sat outside the Royal Festival Hall on London’s Southbank, I watched 150 blocks of black pre-cast concrete of Zaha Hadid’s sculpture “Super Fluid Tiling” be constructed, polished and curated. Following which, it was off into the press office and then a look at Deptford Design Challenge and of course the Swarovski Installations. Continue Reading »

Early this year, a Design Week article commented on the UK Government Report; Sustainable Schools: Are we building schools for the future?, highlighting an important area of research for all undergraduate designers, teachers and practising designers to take note of; The Future of Design Education.

The UK Design Council CEO David Kester, Hilary Cottam of Participle and John Sorrell of The Sorrell Foundation, were among those giving evidence for the House of Commons Education and Skills Committee report Sustainable Schools, discussing the Building Schools for the Future programme.

With plans to rebuild and refurbish all secondary schools across England over the next fifteen years it is argued that this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity should encompass good design and good design practice to thoroughly embrace a future of better education and educational environments. Parallel to the development plans across secondary education, the design sector is under reform with concerns on the skills designers should be equipped with when they join the industry. The High Level Skills for Higher Value report addresses how the design industry is on the cusp of radical change, which although has been apparent in my eyes for many years, is a promising statement to come from the UK Government. Continue Reading »

“How do you use design to bring new order to your home or work environment (e.g. sorting socks, herding kittens, container stories)? Have you used design to enhance your economic, expressive, or social opportunities (e.g. self-branding, creative campaigning, the new corner store)?”

Graphic Designers are sure to know of Ellen Lupton’s well-known design publication Design Writing Research, however I would like to profile her project with twin sister Julia Lupton, called Design Your Life. DYL exemplifies the power of design thinking, when applied and associated to lifestyle, social situations and everyday life. This is a great project and resource from two key design voices of today. Continue Reading »

Design supersite Core77 recently reported that the RISD announced the release of HI-RES, a publication featuring student work that calls attention to key social and environmental issues.

“High-Res” is a term used to describe an image that has been brought into greater clarity — higher resolution. How can we bring the future into HI RES? The works featured here demonstrate the enormous potential artists and designers have to radically re-envision the world around us. First presented as an exhibition and publication in spring 2007, HI RES highlights RISD student work that focuses on the opportunities and imperatives in our changing world. These are the images, objects, structures and experiences that will move the world towards a better, more sustainable future.

When it comes to visually communicating Environmental and Ecological issues, Graphic Designers and Illustrators are essentially key to this process. London based illustrator Jody Barton is just one example of the power of Visual Communication, having produced a plethora of bold typographic illustrations, focused toward Environmental crisis. Using techniques of hand drawn typography Barton’s illustration’s scream thoughts and stereotypes of man’s preconceived ideas.

Educated in London at Camberwell College of Arts and The Royal College of Art, Jody has extensive experience working in animation and sound, with work featuring in the likes of Dazed And Confused, Vice, The Face, D&AD, Pantheon Architecture, Creative Review, Intersection, Viewpoint, WAD, and Wonderland Magazines.

Ben Terrett of UK based design studio, The Design Conspiracy and founder of Noisy Decent Graphics, recently posted an interesting article covering his recent talk at Campaign Magazine’s Applied Green Conference. Terrett discusses his thoughts on how valuable design thinking is and should be, in tackling the world’s greatest challenges.

Someone with a designer’s brain can spot these problems and can go about solving them. Someone with a designer’s brain can be invaluable in the fight against climate change. I keep having this thought that the best design minds in history would see Climate Change as amazing opportunity. Don’t you get the feeling Da Vinci could have knocked up an alternative fuel in his spare time? (Ben Terrett)

Marvellous commentary Ben. I really wish, as a design thinker, I was used better. Read the full article here.

The World Wildlife Federation advertising campaigns consistently utilize their existing surroundings very well.

Here is the latest example of their campaign ads, using a paper dispenser with South America cut out, and green foil to tint your view… “clearly conveying that with every piece of paper you take, you’re taking away from the greenness of South America. How multisensory and engaging beyond a simple sticker/poster.” (NotCot.com)

The second example is an amazing use of shadows on a billboard, demonstrating rising water levels. Click here for a Youtube video of the billboard in action. Both ads are designed by the prestigious Denmark based Saatchi and Saatchi.

With a people-centric design ethos, I never fail to be inspired by the contemporary outputs of London based Design Studio WIRE.

Founded in 1997, by John Corcoran, Peter Higgins and Tim Higgins, WIRE operates around the philosophy “to make a positive difference by changing the way people think and act”. The work tackles complex issues such as sustainable development, regeneration, inclusive design, community engagement, health, young people, music and the arts. See some more of their work over on Anamorphosis.

I came across a PODCAST mp3 from London’s Design Museum this month. The podcast covers an event entitiled FEEDBACK, held on 9th February earlier this year, which discussed the work of the late Graphic talent, Alan Fletcher, and “explored the history, working practice and achievements of pioneering design organisation Pentagram,” which Alan Fletcher co-founded.

Event speakers included current Pentagram Partners Harry Pearce, John Rushworth, and Paula Scher, each in conversation with Emily King, curator of the Design Museum’s Alan Fletcher exhibition. London designer Ben Terrett was in the audience, and his blog post earlier this year also profiles some thoughts and photos from the event.

For me, Pentagram remain one the most powerful design agencies, consistently producing pioneering contemporary and strategic communication design, with consistent focus to social issues. This is a design studio which all socially conscious creatives should take inspiration from.

Listen to the PODCAST