In which I reflect on three presentations given at Design Indaba 2010 that give hope for design’s potential to save the world, and one that demonstrates that design has another, less altruistic, but equally valid, role to play.
Kreativation: Design // Branding // Ideas // Illustration
This is Kreativation. This is where Jonno Cohen works, plays and thinks.
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On Games { 0 }
In which I reflect on the valuable life lessons gleaned from a childhood spent indoors, basking in the glow of a computer screen. Those hours and days of computer games taught me about inspiration, hard work, and why it’s all worth it.
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On Pacing { 0 }
Running is an intriguing sport. Indeed, for many of us, ’sport’ may be a misnomer. Our focus is not on others or how we fare against them. It’s just us and the road, in self-centred, meditative solitude, competing only against ourselves.
This is why running is so addictive: physical fitness aside, it’s the mental battles of self-discovery that keep us coming back for more, pushing our limits further than we knew we could.
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On Spec { 1 }
There are enough valid reasons for both clients and designers to oppose spec work, amongst them legal risks, economic sense and ethical concerns. Frankly it’s surprising any of us could countenance sullying ourselves with spec.
Nevertheless there are also enough unscrupulous, ignorant or indifferent clients and (loosely defined) designers out there happily engaging in spec work to ensure the argument can’t – wont – be won.
As designers, woe-is-me-ing and pox-on-you-ing aren’t doing us any good. We’re better served acknowledging (though not legitimising) spec work and learning to live with it.
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On Blankness { 1 }
Nothing.
There is nothing more frightening than nothing. Try imagine nothing. You can’t. The nothingness you imagine is still a ‘-ness’; a thing. We just aren’t adequately equipped to comprehend nothing.
That’s why the most difficult step in any creative effort is often the first.