1508 havde i denne uge besøg af Anna fra Bordings Friskole. Anna var i erhvervspraktik som grafisk designer og lavede en fin plakat til Østre Gasværk - i punk stil…

Foreign language can sometimes be a barrier for a vivid debate. From today we’ll be mostly writing in danish and sometimes english. Det håber vi er ok med jer!

Seid nett zu einander.
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The national identity of countries can shift radically and at a speed that leaves their inhabitants gasping. As the United States continues to suffer from low approval ratings all over the world, Paula Scher, one of the world’s leading graphic designers and a principal at Pentagram in New York, talks to Monocle editor-in-chief Tyler Brûlé about how the US needs to overhaul its image, brand promise, name and messaging.

Watch it here

This important and rather comprehensive question is raised in a newly published report by FORA

The answer in the report is ‘concept design’ - a new discipline that combines social science, business and design.

In the past most questions for consultancies has been ‘HOW? How do we develop a new product? How should it be designed?
Concept design is viewed as the means to answer the questions that a lot of companies are facing today: WHAT? What should we focus on? What problems should our products solve?

The FORA-report is based on an international study identifying a small number of ‘design hubs’ where companies working with concept design are located. The report concludes that San Francisco, New York, Chicago, London, Munich and Denmark are leading hubs - and 1508 is among the consultancies identified as a “concept design” company. Examples of other companies are Frog Design, IDEO, ReD Associates, LiveWork and Philips Design.

If you have read the publication, we would like to know your view on concept design. Is this really a new field? Do you see its potential? What are the potential (business) barriers of concept design?

The report is available for download in PDF.

There has always been an intensive debate about defining the subject “design”. The traditional way of defining design has focused on design as aesthetics, forms, plans etc. A very material and more simple way of thinking. This way of thinking – or defining – design has often resulted in a product like a chair, a poster or a dress.

Business and society is rapidly changing: things are getting more complex. Therefore, there is a concentrated focus on innovation and creativity as important elements for our commercial survival in the future. Design is one of the central instruments to realize the vision of innovation and creativity.

For this reason, the design discussion is now focused on a more open and involves a broader definition. Today design is rather defined as an intangible process.

Steve Jobs from Apple says: “Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service”.

That means the current notion of design is comprehensive –some would say too comprehensive. Working with design as an intangible process also means that this kind of process combines various of professions and many different methods. This way of working – and thinking – often gives a perfect staring point for innovation. The results in this area are much more dynamic and inconclusive. The results can for instance be the creation of a better service experience or optimisation of a working process.

This way of working with design and innovation was introduced by companies such as IDEO and Frog Design. Both are design companies employing an interdisciplinary approach with designers, engineers, psychologists, anthropologists, technologist etc. working together, using design methods to create innovation.

This is how we define design at 1508:

Design is an interdisciplinary method to create measurable and innovative results.

We believe that working and investing in design will effect positive changes on the bottom line, in attitude and behaviour. Design is not art – or just a matter of form and aesthetics. When we are using our design methods and interacting with the user, we can create useful solutions, which quickly satisfy the return of investment.

Well… the discussion on the definition of design will presumably never end. And that’s good. Because it indicates that this area of business is dynamic – and most importantly will develop and hopefully expand.

We really would like you to discus this definition of design with us… Are we right or wrong in our way of defining design?

// Dezign Rix

During last week’s Copenhagen screening of Helvetica, the director Gary Hustwit asked all graphic designers to raise their hands. A fairly large number of hands were not raised. It is hard to say if these belonged to very cool graphic designers who couldn’t be bothered, or if they were the hands of non-graphic designers (like Hustwit) who just happened to like type. Fact is that BBC World recently reviewed the Helvetica-film, that MoMA currently runs a very successful exhibition to celebrate Helvetica’s birthday and that the danish newspaper Politiken had an article on Helvetica last saturday…

Is typography becoming some sort of general hobby? Something to be discussed at dinner parties and on first dates in the future? Will »what kind of music do you like?« be followed by »tell me about your favorite typeface«? The film Helvetica certainly describes how graphic design and typography has been adapted by non-designers, and how it is used to express individuality and identity as on myspace.com.

The film features (among others) Wim Crouwel and Massimo Vignelli looking very pleased with themselves and their careers. But as they flick through their excellent helvetica-based design from the 60s, it is hard not think that their clients were much easier to seduce and persuade than today’s clients. That Crouwel and Vignelli were respected as specialists in a way that is sadly no longer guaranteed. Today we discuss size, colour and composition with our clients, but will we be discussing x-heights, terminals and ascenders in the future?

The article »You know the type (you just don’t know it)«, written by non-graphic designer Nils Thorsen:

Cleo

Everybody’s talking about the blessings of social media, but the other day I got this depressing message as I accidentally discovered that I once registered as a youtube user and hit the profile button.

Fantasy worlds are known in many forms (and have existed long before secondlife.com). In many a basement around the globe, countless hours are spent fitting tracks and mounting trees to create miniature paradises in the shape of model railroads. Safe from everyday frustration and failure, the little fake worlds offer their creators a unique, soothing control.

Escaped from the basement - with 900 sq meters, 700 trains, 4000 cars and 150.000 inhabitants Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg can easily call itself the world’s largest model railroad. 800.000 visitors a year enjoy train rides, football matches, fire fighting, weddings, crime scenes and even sneak views through steamy windows in the adult area - making it one of Hamburg’s top tourist attractions.

And as the many visitors stick their giant heads into the busy streets of mini-hamburg or mini-Scandinavia they might discover a Mercedes Smart on the move, or featured on a billboard or being the star of a car show. With the help of BBDO Mercedes has chosen to launch a miniature campaign in Miniatur Wunderland, which some may call clever guerrilla marketing - and appropriate for a car that prides itself of being different and small(!). To the inhabitants of Miniatur Wunderland it is completely conventional and a part of every day fantasy life.

Cleo