Where did everyone go?
Time to refill our creative tanks at the INTL conference.
On 28/11/24 Aberdeen's creative juices were running low. In fact, almost the whole creative industry was on the 7:30am train south bound. Bound for glory. OK, Glasgow.
We were headed to the INTL conference. If you've not heard of it, it's a day of talks by some of the world's biggest (and smallest) design groups. An eclectic mix of chat, work, stories, colour, movement, music and hope. I say hope because nearly all the works shown, and stories told, were centered around our favourite thing - you guessed it - ideas. It was fascinating and reassuring to hear how this linked these diverse international designers and brands.
Bound for glory. Bound for Glasgow.
And it wasn't just a gathering of geeks. Much could be gleaned for the designer, brander, marketeer, account handler, student, and, dare I say it, client. A fabulous melting pot of ideas, but unlike us, you don't have all day - so here are the edited highlights.
Designing is like being in love, you over think, obsess, can't sleep - because you care too much.
Liza Enebeis, Studio Dumbar
Studio Dumbar a prolific agency based in Rotterdam. Once headed by the legendary Gert Dumbar who single handedly wrestled typographic grids off the Swiss and reinvented them. Modern typography and layouts owes him a debt. Not ones to stand still. They now pioneer digital design with movement and sound for brands and even employ a sound engineer (sound effect: sharp intake of breath to a techno jingle).
Liza Enebeis, their current Creative Director, walked us through work for North Sea Jazz Festival (not this North Sea), Utah Jazz Basketball team and Feyenord FC. Ideas rooted in strong stories. Entertaining and eloquent, no double Dutch here.
Studio Dumbar's iconic striped Dutch police car.
Pentagram, arguably the most famous design company in the world, were represented by Marina Willer. Their first female partner. Marina's distinctive colourful style is drawn from her formative years in her native Brazil. She championed time. Time to experiment, to think and to create. Highlights were her work for the Natural History Museum and Love Supreme.
Creativity is something you are, not only something you do. It's a way of moving through the world, every minute, every day.
Marina Willer, Pentagram
Scotland was represented by Angela Kirkwood (illustrator) and Connor Campbell (animater). Eric Hu, hailing from California, and an ex Nike creative pitched it from the heart. Elaborating on commercial design vs craft. An emotional story of him losing his way, finding it, and rediscovering his love for design.
The low, if there was one, was perhaps too much dancing type. Don't get me wrong, I like dancing type as much as the next person. But after the third iteration, I decided to sit the next one out.
Marina Willer talks sound and vision.
Movement and music were the BIG take outs of the day. Movement now moves brands and products. Literally. Music and movement added so much impact to the brands shown and the presentation given. Interestingly, not a single mention of AI. Which may be telling or foretelling. We'll see.
Words were important too. From the words used in the presentations to the words created for brands. So lets leave you with some.
Great minds do not think alike. But they do think.
Simon Shaw, Hampton
All in a great day out in Glasgow. Highly recommended and highly rewarding. We learnt a lot and shared a lot. Give us a shout and we'll share some ideas with you, too.
Simon Shaw
Award-winning designer and John Landis stunt double.