Good designers and good design agencies are versatile by nature. There was a time when top designers would fiercely compete to design CD covers and record sleeves, but now the best projects are often purely digital.
Early in my career I was asked to design many CD covers, often for classical music launches that needed good design thinking to make them fresh and appealing to new audiences. A series of my designs for the City of London Sinfonia stand out, as they lead to more than the artwork design for the covers and needed lots of versatility.
The ‘from the spoon to the city’ quote comes from Italian designer Massimo Vignelli who was echoing earlier design theorists and began his career in architecture in Milan. The lesson the master teaches is that architects and professional designers need to have a breadth of skills and be able to design small items like cutlery as well as the city itself. Regardless of the size of the project the designer’s approach and thinking is always the same.
Design thinking is the ability to think logically and systematically and is a highly valued skill for all businesses.
Professional design skills are useful in all areas of design activity. Design thinking is the ability to think logically and systematically and is a highly valued skill for all businesses.
Having designed a Vivaldi Vivace CD for the City of London Sinfonia, the orchestra’s sponsors asked me to design and stage an event in Monaco, including an interactive presentation, an exhibition stand as part of a major European trade conference, culminating in a live performance by the orchestra of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons at the Monaco auditorium.
I was able to turn my design thinking to areas such as stage and lighting design, as well as logistics management, 3D production and video editing. The success of the project was a fine example of the ‘from the spoon to the city’ approach in action.
As a new breed of design agency versatility is part of everything we do. Now that CDs are history, we’re making new digital products to create new stories and new histories for our clients. We partner with clients and help create and develop new categories. We design and build experiences on and off-line to give our clients the tools they need to be successful and to grow their business. We use design and technology to transform lives and businesses.
If you’re thinking about transforming your business talk to us about ways we can help.
Eugene Burns
