18th May 2012
Design Clinic gives students and creative industry a star line up
2nd Dec 2008
The South Bank Arts Centre at Bedford College staged “Design Clinic 2” on 28 November when students and people from arts and marketing in the region were offered a valuable space for inspiration, advice and reflection, along with a unique opportunity for networking.
Sponsored by Bedford Borough Council, Bedford Development Agency and Creative Bedfordshire, “Design Clinic 2” brought together creative minds to share ideas and inspire creativity.
Graham Fink, Creative Director of M & C Saatchi, was joined by leading figures from across the creative sector to talk candidly about their experiences.
Why digital?
Andy Sandoz of Work Club gave a roller coaster ride through the internet, from the birth of online banking in 1983 to email, Google, blogging, social networking, Youtube and the political campaign by Barack Obama, President-elect of USA.
He said: “This powerful medium has changed our life, industry and culture. People still want to interact with each other but in different ways – it gives a layer of technology on top of what people have always done.”
How to get ahead in ‘sustainable’ graphic design
Caroline Clarke, founder of Lovelyasatree.com, gave an insight into the impact that design can have on the environment.
Lovelyasatree.com offers designers an environmentally friendly toolkit so they can think wider about how to get a message across and how to advise clients on environmentally friendly design concepts.
Caroline explained: “I urge designers to think about using electronic versions instead of print and to think about the environment when making choices of what to use to get the client’s message across.”
Creativity in our everyday lives
Graham Fink, Creative Director of M&C Saatchi, gave the audience a tantalising taste of advertising with examples of campaigns and adverts that had been groundbreaking in their originality. The Honda TV advert launched in 2005 used the song “Reach the Unreachable Star” to give emotion to the commercial and Graham Fink explored that theme with the audience.
Talking to students and people from the creative industry he said:
“I urge you to follow your dreams and reach for the unreachable star. True creative spirit breaks through everything – ignore people who tell you you can’t do it – be brave. The best things in design normally have one person with vision who is going places.
Creativity is a strong beast - it is a weird animal and that is why I love it!
We are exposed to over 3,000 commercial messages a day. If you are going to do something creative – make sure people remember it. Whatever you do, it must stand out.
Whatever you are working on, pour your love into it. Don’t give up – just keep going. You have to be obsessive.
We live in a world of mediocrity – if you are going to be great you have to push it. Be the best that you can be. You can achieve the unachievable. Nothing is impossible.”
Jeffrey Tribe (Advanced Practitioner Arts, Design and Media at Bedford College) added: “My thanks to everyone involved in making this Design Clinic such a success – the idea for it was inspired by a passion for great design.”
Amongst those attending the Design Clinic were creative people from education and industry.
Chris Locke, Head of Art at Sharnbrook Upper School, said:
“The Design Clinic has inspired me and I will certainly be taking back messages to my colleagues and students. The presentations were not only informative but entertaining. I will be keeping up to date with ideas from today and using them at school.”
Tim Sidaway of Cottier & Sidaway Design, Potton, said:
“It’s fantastic that Design Clinic was held locally, giving me an opportunity to come along with our design team. The event has been very interesting and gives designers a unique development opportunity.”
