London Design Week 2008: Sneek Peek at the Future?
We made the rounds at London Design Week this year, hoping to see forward into what’s next in design and branding. We weren’t disappointed, but sometimes maybe a bit confused. The festival itself is spread out across London, which gives it a very nice feeling of being a treasure hunt, but it is actually pretty hard to navigate, despite have a lot of talent roaming around who understand wayfinding, visualization and signage. Work on that, okay guys?
The Business of Design series had some great sessions on things like creative cities, the future of brands and sustainable architecture. We particularly liked Tyler Brule’s session on brands with Martin Raymond, Co-director – Future Laboratory and Marek Reichman – Head of Design at Aston Martin. There was some good, honest discussion about authenticity in brands and the importance of protecting credibility (gee, do I have to?). We loved the tough talk about market research. The consensus seemed to be that while it is good to know all about your customers, it is not good to ask them if they like your new ideas. Market research kills new ideas. I could not agree more and have been advising my clients to pass on the testing. Do the right work up front, and you don’t need the stink testing later.
We were very happy to hear about the new trend of the return of light industry to city centres. While no one is ready to let go of their creative class, planners are starting to see the re-emergence of craft, and short-run, micro production in downtowns. What could be more modern? This is an exciting idea we liked.
What we saw at the various shows and studios around London suggested that there are a lot of young new designers busying themselves with creating the most exotic martini glass set they can come up with, using new-age materials and sustainable design principles. It was all a bit odd. The new stuff at Tent London seemed to be acres and acres of chic ways to waste time lounging around on hyper-cool sofas made of graffiti covered half-melted recycled plastic bottles. Everything very precious, decorative, tough and indulgent. Not what we wanted to think the best design talent in Europe was up to.
All-in-all a good week. Worth the trip. We’ll be back next year, September 19-27, 2009.
