Think of the kids

From the Design Jam Wiki page it explained that:

“Design Jams are one-or-two-day design sessions, during which people team up to tackle engaging User Experience (UX) challenges.”

And the Design Jam Brighton wiki page had a little more information:

“Attendees will form groups based on the skills they contribute and what they’d like to learn. Teams will then work to answer a design brief unveiled on the day. Teams are self-organising and can work however they like, be that conducting research, sketching, running guerrilla usability tests, creating visual mockups and so on.”

Upon arrival we were given a brief run-through and timetable for the day and then instructed to make our way to a table which would then make up our team. We ended up with roughly 9 teams of 5 so it was a very well attended event (with a waiting list to boot).

Each team was handed the same brief and we had a short amount of time to decide on and prepare our elevator pitch. Once agreed, each team took their turn to present to everyone their chosen idea. The rest of the day was then left to us to design our solution and prepare a presentation for the end of the day.

I don’t want to go into much detail about the brief and solutions because, as from the title of this post suggests, I’d like to concentrate on what to expect and my experience of the event.

It was a breath of fresh air to be handed such a wide open brief with few limitations and financial restrictions. Our team had the opportunity to think openly and freely and this in itself was the essence of the event. An amazing group of mentors were on hand to offer suggestions and advice on moving our projects through tricky terrain and they did so with careful thought and knowledge. Being surrounded by so many like-minded people who all had a desire to design and create was pretty thrilling.

I should mention too that these events are free and are supported by volunteers and this event in particular was hosted by a local digital agency Cogapp.

Getting the most out of the event

As is usually the case, you get out what you put in so be active and have an open mind. Here are some other tips:

• Make the most of the mentors and ask for feedback when you feel you need to.
• Although time is limited, try and find a few minutes to chat to other teams and find out how they work too.
• Take on a task or role in your group that differs from your normal job or skill-set.
• Take photos and video throughout the course of the day.
• Share your ideas, processes and experience.

People who made it happen

Hosts
Cogapp

Mentors
Claire Rowland – @clurr
Ben Bashford – @bashford
Vanessa Harden – @vanessaharden
Greg Hadfield – @GregHadfield

Organisers
Danny Hope – @yandle
Alison Austin – @alicenwondrlnd
Patrick Sansom – @Patrick_Sansom
Gavin Wye – @gavinwye
Cennydd Bowles – @Cennydd

Sponsors
TH_NK
Cogapp
Madgex
University of Brighton

Fancy giving it a try? Keep checking http://www.designjams.org/wiki/Design_Jam_Brighton for the next event in Brighton or follow @designjambri. International events can be found here: http://www.designjams.org/wiki/Main_Page.

Further reading

Flickr http://www.flickr.com/groups/designjambrighton/
Lanyrd http://lanyrd.com/2011/design-jam-brighton

Original source here

I believe commercial partnerships were high up on the project objectives and this affected the design decisions in creating the 2012 logo (and this is absolutely fine). When we were told “It will define the venues we build and the Games we hold and act as a reminder of our promise to use the Olympic spirit to inspire everyone and reach out to young people around the world…” we all knew that was rubbish. It’s always a mistake to try to explicitly tell someone how they should feel about a logo or brand before any groundwork gets done. Those feelings come later.

It’s a responsive logo design

If we ignore the public introduction to the logo that we had back in 2007 and review where we are now it’s clear to see that we have a logo that has no colour yet a very clear form. It works well at large and small sizes and can be modified, resized and positioned to best suit its environment. Its appearance can be changed by its partnering brands so that it harmonises and compliments. In short, it’s a Responsive Logo Design (yes, I did just say that).

Responsive design?

Web design and development practices are ever evolving and the expectation right now is that a website should be responsive i.e. it should understand how and where it’s being viewed and alter its layout accordingly – you can read more about that here. Industry Prophet Andy Clarke put the situation quite simply in this tweet:

But isn’t responsive design about websites?

Most of what we read about responsive design at the moment applies to online content so using the term for a logo design might not make much sense but if we look at the London 2012 logo design again and consider how its being used now, it actually adopts many of the practices used in responsive web design. The London 2012 logo is a shaped window, a viewport, an icon and a brandless brand that can alter it’s appearance based on it’s environmental yet still remain recognisable as the visual identity of the London 2012 Olympics.

It’s easy (and fun) to alter the shapes of the 2012 logo into suggestive forms and to find hidden messages and Olympic Games logos will always atract this kind of attention. I’ve no idea what sporting achievements lay ahead for next year’s games (though I have a feeling that opening and closing ceremonies will not be quite as grande as those of Bejing) but one thing I’m certain of is that Wolf Olins have created a visual identity that is being well executed and is developing into the strong identity that stand out from previous designs.

Your thoughts and ideas are so different to those of normal people that interaction in the form of conversation or debate with said normal people can be almost impossible. Sure, you do a good job of producing things for normal people but that doesn’t make you normal and the production line is far from easy. If you were normal, you’d have no idea what it was you were making or who it was for.”

Look what I’m making for you

I designed a logo for a client recently and I thought the idea I came up with was great. The design ticked all the right boxes (or so I thought) but what excited me most about it was it’s versatility. I could see parts of the logo that would really develop the clients visual identity and I felt it would work well across many mediums. The logo worked well big, small, reversed and in full colour. The icon used in the logo could be used on it’s own to enhance branding and create something which I felt was a modern and forward thinking design.

Great. Awesome. Cool. Whooppeedooo. These are the words I didn’t hear upon presenting the logo in it’s early stages. I don’t remember the exact words but the general feeling was fairly underwhelming, there was possibly the mention of not liking the colour but I don’t remember exactly. What I do remember was the client clearly not sharing my excitement and enthusiasm for the design.

What was I thinking?

See, I’d made a mistake with my design process as I wanted to make my client feel empowered and involved with what I was doing. I think this is normally good practice with larger projects that are slightly more evolved but when it comes to concepts and ideas it’s important to remember that you and I are abnormal. All those ideas and thoughts of clever logo usage and evolution of the clients visual identity are all well and good, but they are of no use to anyone except you whilst they bounce around your abnormal head. I un-fairly expected my client to share my design vision when showing them where I was at with their logo in it’s infancy – What was I thinking?

I should add that I don’t normally work like this. I think I must have read an article somewhere about involving clients in your design process and decided to give it a try. As I mentioned before I’ve no doubt this practice works in certain situations but don’t think for one minute other people will see what’s not there. I saw it, and I’m sure you would have seen it (at least I hope you would have) but we are a bit abnormal upstairs when it comes to this sort of thing remember.

Don’t fix it if it aint broken… oh wait, its broken

I’m going back to my tried and tested way of doing things, especially with logo design. Projects are like child births – the initial plan is pretty much the same but they all end up different in the end. I would suggest the following when it comes to presenting your ideas:

Keep certain stuff back from the client – they don’t need to see the nuts and bolts and it will probably have a negative impact on the whole project. Don’t forget that they are paying you to do something that they can’t do and by involving them too much might make them think they need to, or are being encouraged to chip in – even worse, they might think you are ballsing the whole thing up.

Now back to your felt-tips, weirdo…

See full size on Flickr here

The other option is the ‘Alan Sugar’ route which would be to do lots and lots of different things, to a lower standard, in less time but charge as much as I possibly could. If my sole objective was to make as much money as I could then I would choose this route – but it isn’t.

I focus on Visual Design with the aim of communicating a message visually which can be in the form of a logo or a website layout. Some would argue that a visual designer’s skills should be filtered even further to only focus on either logo design, design for print or web design but I disagree. My purpose is to convey a message and visually direct people in a simple yet elegant way.

Though I have a good understanding of the technical side of building and a good understanding of the processes involved in producing printed materials, I don’t see myself as an expert in either of these fields. It’s important I understand these things and I don’t think I could do my job without understanding the mechanics but it’s also important to know when to involve technical expertise in a project.

For now I’m sticking with design …and pursuing my never ending journey into understanding human behavior.

A question was raised as to whether the iPhone and iPad UI techniques had a place in web design and I think it’s important to consider that web design in a broad term now. Web design shouldn’t be thought of as designing a site that will be accessed via computer, on a desk, controlled by a mouse and keyboard but should be thought of as the website content being clever enough to work out how it’s been accessed and render itself accordingly. Media Queries seem to be loved and hated in the industry but as a visual designer I’m a supporter. I would like my designs to be completely accessible but I’d also like to completely control their appearance depending on how and when they are viewed.

See here for a full review and photos from Geek Ninja Battle Night