Three Things from Birmingham Design Festival 2022
On making friends - creative insights - zines and stamps.
Now and again, we’ll send you a longer piece of writing in addition to your Three Things Weekly on Sundays. I hope you enjoy them :).
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1. I made friends
I know it makes me sound like a dorky kid, but pause the piss-taking for a moment and consider just how unintuitive it is to 'make a friend' as an adult?
Remove the pandemic from the equation, and that freelancers have been remote-working since the internet became a thing.
School is an artificial environment in which friend-making is in-built. You co-exist in the same place, on the same schedule, engaging in the same activities, connecting over the same joys and complaints with people of the same age over a very extended period of time.
That doesn't happen in everyday adult life, even with a regular job at a regular place.
I think it's one of the unadvertised added-value of events like BDF - you get to make friends.
For those of you interested in how I made my friends:
I was lost (standard).
I overheard Karoline tell her friend she was going to the talk I wanted to go to.
I brazenly asked her if I could tag along.
She kindly agreed and became my guide for the rest of the weekend.
She also introduced me to Saray, and now I've grown my Substack following by +2 👍.
2. Anyway - I went to some talks.
Honestly, I was feeling uninspired and unexcited leading up to the event. The weekend before, I had a mild chest infection that progressed into an asthma attack. After going through the circus of out-of-hours triage (I won't go into the details, and I also want to acknowledge the genuine care I was shown by the individuals I engaged with), I got some steroids.
Like magic (almost), I was able to breathe again. But I was tired and jumped up on meds for the succeeding days.
But as soon as I attended the first talk, I felt inspired and energised. Not necessarily in direct relation to my design business or even personal projects - but just about being in a room full of people who share a desire to connect and create.
There's a world out there with people making stuff and seeing what happens, and a lot of them were in the same room, right now.
As much as my experience of lockdown was delightful, I didn't realise how much I missed being part of the human race.
Here are the people I went to see, and what I learned from them:
Ben Newman
Just do 20 minutes every day.
Incidentally, I had been applying the same principle over the last few months (I decided to share the results of what I’ve been creating in a different post).
Sometimes, 20 minutes is actually 2 minutes, before the post comes and the dog barks the crap out of your flow. Sometimes, 20 minutes extends to 30 minutes, or 45, or even an hour.
But this daily commitment is as fundamental for me now as eating well or doing a little bit of movement during the day. It nourishes me in some way, so I can come at my work and other responsibilities with clarity.
Thomas Sharp
CREATIVITY = affecting others' consciousness.
Ironically, the only talk in the whole design festival that was about writing and not design was the one that resonated with me most deeply.
The core premise of Co-Create (and this newsletter), is that human being is inherently creative. It’s through our creativity that we augment, generate and re-generate our individual and shared consciousness and thus, reality.
We can create our lives. It doesn't just happen AT us, we create it. The art of writing and design are merely ways of doing so, and inviting others to participate in this new, shifted reality.
By the way, Thomas Sharp has a Substack which I recommend:
Dines from Studio Blup
Be unreasonable. Be uncomfortable. Your time is now.
I’m not going to lie, Studio Blup is impressive - and enviable for a brand designer.
But what stuck with me was Dines as a person. I was moved by his resilience and utter commitment to pushing past the edges of what's possible in his personal world, and in the world of design. Joy and curiosity were simply leaking out of this man - his perpetual smile was genuine but also, I think, hard-earned.
Indeed, there is nothing reasonable, or comfortable about creativity, and the only time for it is now.
Ella Flavell
Connection, Collaboration, Community.
Ella took us on a flowing journey through time and space, sharing her love of art history and travel. Her prints have a way of capturing the essence of a place - the essence that transcends the where and when.
She shared that she was nervous and that she didn't like public speaking. I on the other hand found her talk quite relaxing 😌. I simply sat back and enjoyed the effects of the historical images she showed, as well as her own work.
One thing that prompted me to come out of my laid-back bliss and take note, was the value by which the Surrealists lived: connection, collaboration and community.
I didn't know that about that group of artists particularly. Nonetheless it resonated deeply, as these are the same values that had me start Co-Create.
Lord Whitney
Survival mode zaps creativity.
There's a reality to the demands of grown-up life. We are responsible for the care of our basic needs, so we can be well and function in our family and social systems. It would be absurd to speak of grandiose dreams and visions when those foundations are non-existent.
But for most of us, the actuality is not of dire survival - though it truly feels like that. We go through the motions of work, chores, and life. We forget that our creative practice IS part of the foundation that keeps us well and functional.
Rebekah's talk was hilarious and whimsical. She shared a lot of 'winging it' scenarios, and the almost-disasters that became masterpieces. Yet I suspect it’s more than luck - the worlds generated by Lord Whitney, to me, are clearly born out of a commitment to creating something new, beautiful, and joyful - despite the mundanity of everyday life and survival.
Creativity isn't something to attain after 'life is sorted', 'when the kids have grown up' or 'when I have a stable income.' It's an unending pool to access, inside of the mundane every day, now.
Most of the time, for most of us, survival mode is a (rational) choice. And it zaps creativity.
Crispin Finn
Creativity likes constraints.
Constraints forces creativity, and new ways of problem-solving. Crispin Finn was initially limited to red and blue for a very practical reason - the cost and acquisition of ink. Out of this, the Crispin Finn brand became iconic.
At varying frequency, I find myself complaining about lack or constraint: 'I don't have the budget', 'I don't have the time', 'I don't have the materials', 'I don't know how to'.
But we live in a world of abundance. There are more 'how to' videos on YouTube than anyone can possibly watch in a lifetime. More things are accessible for free, and there are more ways of creating income than ever before.
What we need, actually, is constraint. A way of limiting the number of possibilities to something we can comprehend so we can simply take action and start creating.
Dixon-Baxi
Design for Life + Start at Uncomfortable
As I reflected on the talk by Dixon-Baxi, I thought about how formulaic Design has become for a lot of designers - myself very much included.
Design is deeply intertwined with business and marketing - this is true. And I love business. I love the process of having an idea, turning it into a product/service, putting it out into the world, and seeing if it makes a difference.
I also love making money - for all the obvious reasons, and it's fun. I like knowing that the businesses I work with are generating revenue because it's one (of many) indicators that the product/service is wanted.
But when the conversation is focused on that, and not a lot else... it dies. Business and revenue are only one plane that design touches. Dixon-Baxi reminded me that we can, and should, Design for Life.
Life is not linear - there is no formula.
Life is emergent. Unpredictable.
Life resonates only with life. Creativity is a way of thinking that's alive. Creativity is connected to the things around it.
Life is not on the past-present-future train. Life is now and it's everywhere.
To design for life, we have to connect with life itself. We start with the uncomfortable. We may have to slide back and have a conversation with business and revenue and be more 'reasonable', but we have to start with an intention to create something new.
3. I made a zine
Pencil Pot hosted a drop-in Zine workshop, and provided a cornucopia of hand-made stamps. It was a welcome respite from all the (excellent) talks. I could disengage my brain, engage my hands and create in a very relaxed and communal space.
While I was there, I overheard someone tell the workshop facilitators: "this is the happiest I've been in a long time."
The space of simplicity, community, and creativity that Pencil Pot created was understated.
The whole BDF event reminded me of the value - necessity - of sharing energy and being with others.
That zine is awesome. But I have to figure out the exact definition of zine.
Great post.
Thank you, I'm delighted you enjoyed my talk 🙏