A POSITIVE SPIN
Posted by Marcus Piper on 28th May 2010
Right now Sydney is awash with one of the greatest pieces of design this year - anywhere in the world, lucky 'us' huh! But the reaction is not so hot with some in the Sydney / Australian design community. Why? Because the work in question was created by one of the greatest designers of our time, who just happens to also be incredibly modest about his influence on the industry and world at large. What's the problem with that? He and his team are based in Britain and they have taken one of the few major cultural design gigs going, in a city where most cultural institutions have in-house design teams creating … with all due-respect … in-house design (i'll cover my tracks here in a second).
So how is seeing a great brief, amazing opportunity and what appears to be a fairly generous budget go to a foreign studio inspiring? It all depends how you look at it.
A few years back I was lucky enough to visit London's Design Museum for a retrospective of Jonathan Barnbrook's career. I'd poured over his issues of ADBUSTERS when I was at uni, used his typefaces, am constantly inspired by the depth of thinking and execution in the Identity for Tokyo's Mori Arts Centre - whilst all the time respecting the balance between political views and 'getting on with the job'. I'm going to admit I'm not a fan of 100% of his work aesthetically (and by his I'm acknowledging his studio also) but there is no question of his importance in our industry and our cultural landscape.
The exhibition was extensive and showcased the above work in detail as well as numerous political posters, typefaces and publications. A seriously inspiring glimpse into the behind the scenes of some incredible work.
And now, on the streets of sydney, we are exposed to the Barnbrook's work first hand in the form of the identity for the Sydney Biennale - it is everywhere and it is amazing. I don't live in Sydney but the first drive I took through the city drenched in hot, dirty pink was a breathe of fresh air for me. Even though we didn't get the gig…
A few years ago I was based in London, working at a great studio who was competing for all sorts of gallery and museum jobs. Some we won, some we lost. The level of competition drove creativity well into the night, and the outcomes drove it further. Seeing your work in the streets of London and in the tube stations was amazing, but you also knew the people of London were being exposed by the work of the world's top designers on a day to day(ly grind) basis.
Earlier I mentioned the lack of cultural briefs up for grabs in our industry. By that I mean those from museums, galleries, councils and the city generally. Most cultural institutions appear to have their own in-house design teams who are responsible for producing anything and everything for anything and everything their organisation puts on. A great cost saving measure, but how does that affect our visual culture? Ultimately it means organisations and events are closed to new ideas, progress and engagement with the design industry. And for the general population that translates to the same old-same old on the streets, bus stops and cafe bookstands. So why is the Biennale work, created in Britain, so inspiring to me - because it says to the marketing managers and heads of all those galleries, museums and government organisations "graphic design is important, really important - and if you don't embrace it you will be left behind, your event will go un-noticed and you will be left behind!". That message translates down to more open briefs to our industry, more creative engagement and ultimately - the opportunity to do an amazing job.
Creatively the identity for this years biennale is incredibly complex. It looks complex, it almost looks thrown together but it is a masterpiece of (typo)graphic design. Given the chance we'd all do something different, we'd all approach it our own way and we've all certainly got our own opinions on wether we could have done a better job. If you take a glance at Creative Reviews piece on the job you can see how much thought, abstraction and dimensionality went into the end result. There are few pieces of design (graphic or otherwise) I've seen that consist of this level of (successfully combined) elements.
What amazes and inspires me about the identity in question is it's look of organised chaos - and how the hell it got all the way to approved! Clearly it was incredibly well presented and the client had full faith in the team. I also get the feeling Barnbrook and his team followed my favourite rule of thumb: to avoid clients making changes - make your work indestructible from the outset. So well put together it is impossible to pick at one element without the rest falling down around it. Typographic Jenga! And another positive thing for our industry - raising the bar of expectation and possibility.
As for the question of foreign studios being awarded projects over on-shore counterparts, we see it in every part of the creative industries. The new CUB Brewery Broadway development has engaged a hand full of foreign architects and a British graphic designer (though now based here) to complete what every Australian creative wants to get their hands on - but no one made a fuss. Why? Because it doesn't matter. Do we care that a Dane designed the Sydney Opera House? No because it part of our culture, it draws tourism, provides endless inspiration for logos (… ha) and is an internationally recognised piece of incredible design.
Australia is home to some of the world's foremost creatives, and some of our foremost creatives have left our shores to work overseas.
When they succeed internationally we praise them, and when they are based here we claim their work under our nation's banner. It is all part of Australia bridging the gap we've put up with until recently. The gap of distance - and all the negatives / positives that presents. So again - it's an exciting time - the more recognised we are internationally for being a creative nation the more creative we can be on an international scale.
So to finish up… and let the discussion begin… I am sure everyone has had the experience of winning (or losing) a job only to wonder how the team before you (or after) got far more scope to be creative than you've been (were) given. Sometimes it takes an outsider to come in a shake things up and - as sad as that may be - I see the streets of Sydney as a new dawn for Australian design - an inspirational moment when our clients, audience and industry have the chance to progress.
1. By clintonduncan on 28th May 2010 @ 6.31 PM
Hi Marcus,
This is a great article and I agree - a bloody amazing identity for the Biennale. I think I might be able to add something to this discussion, as I had the pleasure of meeting and sharing lunch with Jonathan Barnbrook when he came to do a guest lecture to some of my students at UTS. I also had the (sometimes) pleasure of working with the Biennale in 2006, designing the identity and all the collateral for that festival, "Zones of Contact".
1.
The identity and a few key pieces of collateral were created by Studio Barnbrook, but from what I understand from Jonathan, the majority of the roll out was delivered by Sydney studio, Studio Trigger. Thus an interesting Anglo-Australian joint effort (collaboration it was not, but still).
2.
The intended purpose of the Biennale of Sydney, any Biennale, is to draw an array of artists from around the world and bring them to our rather distant shores, opening, as the marketing slogan says "A World of Art, Here, Now". Extending that to the design is an interesting added dimension. After all, we are a nation of immigrants and the more the merrier!
3.
Jonathan Barnbrook is actually included in the Biennale as an artist, and from what I hear, the Artistic Director was VERY involved in the direction of the Biennale's identity. Which was the same experience I had in developing the 2006 identity with Dr Charles Merewether. The identity is an extension of the curator's vision and they take it very seriously and desire their 'personal touch'. The same was of Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev - I was briefed on the pitch for the 2008 Biennale but declined - the sketches and ideas in that initial brief were very dominant in the final identity for 2008, delivered by Studio Trigger.
The point I am making is that would appear to me the reason of this very engaging and creative identity; the two fold influence of the Artistic Deirector's vision, and the credibility of being an artist allowing Mr Barnbrook to push the work through the marketing filter and retain an integrity (my experience with this aspect wasn't entirely pleasant or successful).
4.
Sydney agencies, as well as agencies from around Australia, work with overseas clients and export design to other markets. As close as Asia, as far away as Europe or the US. If we like that, and wish it to continue (which is particularly valuable to a number of big Sydney agencies that rely on it for survival), then we need to accept a few of our local briefs going O/S as well.
5.
The Biennale budget is incredibly tiny - it is by no means generous. My accountant was very unhappy with me when he did the numbers. Working at Coles would have been a more productive use of my time... It's for this reason many of our larger studios - your Frost, Moon, Landor etc - are not very active in the area.
Unfortunately, cultural work takes commitment from design companies to work at a lower than usual rate, and to work that bit extra hard to please often demanding clients. Speaking from a great deal of experience, corporate clients are much easier to work with than fellow artistic/creative types (sometimes! well mostly!!!). My challenge to the larger design and branding agencies is to drop the inflated rates, and egos, and get stuck into giving a little something back to the creative community in Sydney! Just as I see Marcus Piper doing with the Sydney Design work, just as I did, just as Trigger does!
Cheers!
2. By marcusp on 29th May 2010 @ 1.21 PM
Hey Clint, Totally agree with all you say and thanks for sheding some light on the process for us all. I love the fact we have such amazing work spread across the city - I hope this 'talk' didn't come across as me being negative towards it - more so expressing the though that we should see it as positive.
Our studio one8one7 loved working on the Sydney Design 09 identity and draw much work from off shore , so we share the same view on point 4 - that we are all part of a bigger culture and industry.
I am also amazed at the level of international speakers the Biennale has brought out - Sugimoto is truly a master of the camera and raising the bar on the entire Biennale brand only helps to secure more of this calibre of speakers. A good thing for us.
So... anyone else out there in front of their computer on a saturday and feeling like adding something?
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