On Friday 25 September the Melbourne leg of Semi-Permanent kicked off to a flying start without a hitch. It was a lovely sunny day, even though it was indoors. Everyone was flicking through their brand new copies of the second issue of Semi-Permanent for 2011 and no-one appeared to be suffering from the opening party that was held the night before at 1000 £ Bend.
To get the creative ball rolling NZ born and CURVY favorite, artist and illustrator Kelly Thompson took to the stage. She reminisced about when she use to go along to Semi-Permanent and think how amazing all the speakers were and how would she ever be able to reach that level with her work.
Highlights from Kelly Thompson:
- • Kelly advised that there is no point in trying to produce work that is similar to another artist as you’ll never be as good as them. The best way to produce great art is to be true to yourself and practice, practice, practice.
- • She also mentioned that she found that once she had something in her portfolio then generally people would ask her to do more of it.
- • Besides for copyright reasons Kelly likes to use her own photography, as it gives her a greater connection with the models.
Next up on the Semi-Permanent stage was the talented guys from the New York and Sydney based agency Droga 5, they spoke about the importance of collaborating with a diverse group of people.
Highlights from Droga 5:
- • Their main theme was that collaboration works best when you let go of all control and let creativity run riot.
- • Droga 5 also stressed how it’s about doing things differently and being uncomfortable in the process of creativity.
- • They also discussed their view that the creative and communications landscape has changed from the 4 P’s; it’s not about product it’s about consumers, it’s not about the price it’s about the cost, it’s not about place it’s about convenience and it’ not about promotion it’s about communication.
After taking in all that creative goodness it was lunch time, after which all the punters then settle in to listen to Soren Luckins the director of Büro North, a multi-disciplinary design practice who produce evidence-based solutions that are creative, measurable and meaningful. It was intriguing seeing which clients they worked with, how they worked with their clients and how they also went about producing the work. Some of their projects where the recently refurbished Myer building in Melbourne, Falls Creek who they created signage for and the Royal Children’s Hospital.
Highlights from Büro North:
- • They feel that as a designer you need design things for yourself as well as client work, as it will help make you a better designer.
- • Where possible they have the data to back up their design.
- • They focus on more the development around the project as it results in a better the quality of design, as the design ends up being much more context driven.
After Büro North came Australian Contemporary artist Sam Leech, whose paintings are detailed studies of animals and technology, where he considers how they relate with humans. He uses modern science and technology in combination with the styling of 17th century dutch paintings.
Highlights from Sam Leech:
- • Sam found that as his profile increased the critical increased, increasing the risk of putting an artwork out there. Leading him to want to stay with the safe, by re-working ideas that have worked as successfully in past, which he found not a pleasant thing to do.
- • After wining the Metro 5 award Sam was able to take year off and focus on his works. Which he believes was beneficial to the development of his wok.
- • Sam Leech listens to audio books and podcasts while working on his works.
After a quick break Semi-Permanent hit the ground running with Patrick Clair whose works you may recall from the info graphics for Hungry Beast. He spoke about the creation and execution of animation, in particular the animation and creation of info graphics.
Highlights from Patrick Clair:
- • When he first started out at Hungry Beast he was told its not how good you are its how fast you are, which initially he was taken back by. Though now he finds that to be true, as it allows him to have time to create the fun stuff.
- • Working with others who were interested in social and news issues made it fun to be at work, as everyone wanted to create content which made a difference in society.
- • His advice for designing info graphics;start with the big picture and discuss how it all fit together. Don’t try for anything too boxy or complex, think simple yet effective shapes.
Last but not least for Day 1 was the guys from Suprb & Kurppa Hosk; Andreas Pihlstrom, Thomas Kurppa & Mans Jacobsson from Sweden (not Switzerland – they made sure everyone knew that). After a look into the lives of the people of Sweden, their own backgrounds and that of of the company, they went through their varied portfolio. Coupled with an acid techno soundtrack, they showed their works which featured regular use of bold colours, simplistic and elegantly serifed typefaces, lots of black, white and grey, lines that ran diagonal and horizontal and featured a definitive north European style.
Highlights from Suprb & Kurppa Hosk:
- • What inspires the team? Writing, problems, nature, carefully curated RSS feeds and everything else around them.
- • They spend thinking about what they are going to do before they do it. As they see design being thinking made visual.
- • Working in collaboration at the start of the project is very important to them in the initial phrase of a design project, as everyone sees things slightly different.