Michael now runs Michael Wolff & Company in London. Most recent clients are 3i, Mothercare and Ministry of Sound in the UK - Citibank and Citigroup in the US - and a new bank in Russia. “I’ve never stuck to one view of what is good in design. My personal goals have always been: to help organizations to express themselves, in their own particular way, for the benefit of anyone with whom they’re involved. And do this in a way that brings value to everyone and to the world that we all share.” The lecture given was very different to anything I had seen before. There was no projected imagery onto a screen and it was more of a conversation than a typical lecture. He began by saying "not knowing is good" which is a strange comment but I do agree with it. I prefer to take risks and make mistakes myself than play safe and produce a boring piece of work. He also said that his advice may not be right which is again correct as design is about opinions I feel there is no right or wrongs. Micheal himself studied architecture at first as he liked to explore what things felt and looked like although it was mostly to avoid work. He has been sacked around 12 times throughout his career. Being inquisitive is a good thing and ther is a lot of value in appreciation and respect. This is something else he said but he did used to model his own work on others. He thought if it looked like a great piece of work it would be a great piece of work. He described insight as being valuable but he rejected it. Insight as I have said before is a word I hate and I like to have my own ideas and implement them rather than sourcing ideas which is something Wolff led onto talking about. Saying that he uses his own mind to come up with ideas and not looking at any annuals. This originality is what I can relate to as I often see plagiarism within peoples work in my class. This point led onto liking what other people like. Because they like it and you respect them you automatically like it yourself. This is very true. Why do Manchester United have so many fans?They aren't all from Manchester but people support who their friend supports. Also people tend to follow who is winning. Which I totally disagree with. I was a Man Utd fan myself until I realised that I only ever was because it was the first kit I was ever bought when I was young. Another point he made which I related well too is about challenging good design and why do people agree on what a good design is? How do Fox's glacier mints get away with having a bear on their packs? Because they challenge it they become successful. He went onto say boldness is good until it leads into arrogance. Who cares if people like what you do...does it work? This is the most important thing he said in the whole lecture I feel as it backs up the way I work. I dont want my work to look pretty or my sketchbooks. It bores me. I'd rather do an ugly but good idea that grabs attention. "Good" design pales into the background anyway. To reinforce his point of liking he highlighted the example of how presentations and lectures don't work as people only laugh if another person laughs and so on. Moving onto advice for students he said that portfolios don't get jobs, people hire human beings. He advised people during presentations to EITHER make people look OR make people listen. Not both at the same time. This is the same for portfolio visits. Why explain what should already be easy to understand. If not you work isn't doing its job. Also he said to not take 'no' for an answer. People will see you. With regards to branding, he spoke about the need to know more about 'liking'. Branding needs to make you feel good and sends signals. Remember the brand you design is not personal to you but it is the customers personality that you are trying to capture within a mark. He touched upon branding cities and believes that it is too big a task. The M for Manchester he described as too easy. Using initials is like branding your pyjamas. He then went onto tear apart the Graphics all around Liverpool, saying they were very poorly executed. This brought a round of applause from the audience so it is obvious that most people agreed. I also agree as I have seen the designs since last years Biennial and never liked it then at all. This in turn lead to him advising us to 'do real things' such as using someones real handwriting for the 'handwritten look' Liverpool logos scattered around Liverpool. Why not use John Lennon's handwriting of Liverpool, he must have written it a thousand times. Towards the end of the lecture people were invited to ask questions. One lady asked if there was too much emphasis on gaining awards. Wolff's reply was that there is nothing wrong with recognition and celebration of your work but if you can't recognise your own accomplishments then what's the point? A Staffordshire University tutor asked how important he felt sustainability was within design. The answer was simple. Very. With the current financial climate everything needs to be sustained including design which means it needs to work in the way it won't date quickly. One of our own tutors Ian Beckett asked: Do you find students are better now compared to past students or are they just different? After some thought he said they were better and this was due to creative inputs coming from all angles because different medias make this possible. There is also talent everywhere so it is more tough than ever. The final question was about clients cutting cost and how to keep creativity within that. The answer was persuasion. Make the client understand that paying that little bit more will get more positive results and be a better investment for the future. Overall, although I would have liked to have seen some of his work, I thought the lecture was very inspiring and relative to my own practice within design. He spoke a lot of sense and I agreed with most of what he said which is unusual. The advice given was valuable and I will take this on board for the future. |
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