Specialisation in sectors and businesses'

NOT A BLOG ABOUT BIKES.



On friday I went to one of the Pierhead Sessions. I managed to get a ticket for the George Monbiot's keynote lecture. (thank you @harri80 for the ticket). For me it was interesting to hear someone who I had recently quoted in my MA thesis. While most of the speech was about climate change and the impact of Carbon Dioxide is having on the planet. I was particularly taken with a small section of the lecture around the concept of specialisation. The sheer complexity of climate change and the science surrounding it has made the language in Monbiot's words, almost impossible for people to penetrate and understand the scientific facts. To such an extent that 'even the scientist don't understand what another scientist means'. There are a number of points that I have been thinking about around this subject;

Over the last few years Hoffi has moved from a company that has tried to do everything for everyone to a much more focused approach where we target branding both on and offline. This specialisation is then introduced throughout all market sectors. It is a classic way of structuring a business. For example can provide many different services for a particular sector or you can provide a specific service for all sectors.

Although it has been documented before this, it is probably Kevin Roberts book 'Lovemarks' that discusses the idea of brands moving away from the traditional attention advertising, to an attraction economy. This is taking place through many different portals both on and offline but there are two things that seem to be a re-occurring themes. The first being storytelling and the second is conversation. So for me the interest lies in how companies / brands / scientists / governments / people, communicate complex issues to the correct audiences in a way that they understand yet do not feel spoken down to or unengaged / uninvolved?

My final part of this brainstorming ramble is the 'missing link'. Recently my work with ARK and investigating other similar co-design programmes such as dott and creative co-op I have come to think that maybe there is a group of people that could be the link between these groups of people. As translators these people could bring information together and then tailor them to the reader. In someways this has been what 'designers' have done for years. However traditionally they have done it through a physical response. It could have been a website, brochure even an tv advert. But what if the designers role were to change from being a 'maker' in this sense and move more to facilitator? The rise of co-production or co-design are some examples as to how this maybe slowly taking place. The role of a designer could ironically become more and more specialised to allow for people to understand each other? Some designers choosing a traditional craft approach. With others using socialising as their 'craft'.

I do believe that people may have differing views of this and indeed if there are groups of people that are this missing link it would be great to hear about it.

Everything is food

We have recently been working on a research project in the personal grooming sector. The findings which we hope will guide us in a future project have been quite interesting. I remember as a child going on holiday with my family. While I was getting caked in factor 50 suntan lotion, there would be bronzed europeans coating themselves in coconut smelling lotions which I am sure had the factor of chip fat (if their skin colour was anything to go by).

This theme has continued to evolve both in the suntan arena and also more recently in the shampoo sector. The flavours of shampoo's have become more and more exotic, but all centering around food based ingredients. You only have to look at companies such as Garnier with their list of ingredients including 'mandarin zest', 'honey glucose', 'kiwi water', 'fruit oils', 'green tea', and 'ginger' to name but a few. This food based ingredients are a very interesting phenomenon. Even more recently L'Oreal and Schwarzkopf are naming their shampoo's 'smoothies' to further merge the two together.

In reality these type of associations are an obvious link to make. For example if you can eat the ingredients then surely those same ingredients are going to be good on your skin and hair???

Bilingual Guides for Welsh Businesses

Over the last few months now we (Hoffi) have produced a number of bilingual design guides for Welsh businesses. Ranging from bilingual branding, through to brand communications and interactive design. The guides were really to give the client an idea of the issues involved in design and how bilingualism can help increase their reach. 

Since the series we are now going to be expanding the guide to wider business issues. Among these will be new marketing techniques, creating press releases and controlling you 'brand' image to clients and potential clients. This series will very much be an exploration of our clients wants and needs and so if anyone has anything in particular that they would like to suggest we produce a guide on, please email me at julian.sykes@hoffi.com

Time to clean up

The last few weeks have been unbelievably busy at the Hoffi studio. Since moving into our new studio around 7 months ago we have always wanted to change a few things and make it a bit more homely. At the time we were not sure what exactly we wanted to do but as we have used the space more and more it has become more and more apparent what we should do. You may have seen some of the teaser shots on our blog, but if you have not it is now nearly completed so if you fancy coming in to have a nose why not pop in, we might even make you a coffee. As a company we find it really important to keep our space fresh and invigorating. In fact I always remember one of my lecturers in university talking about change, different view points and how these alter your perspectives. The idea being that by changing things, such as the journey you take to work, what you eat or even when you go to sleep all contribute to keeping things fresh and exciting and so through an ongoing 'freshness' regime it can aid creativity and productivity. 

In similar ways we try and use these same techniques to aid our clients to think differently about their company and the directions they are thinking about taking. Later this year Hoffi will be offering new services for our current and new clients to aid them stay competitive and stand out from the crowd, all based on the same principles. Watch out for developments

personalisation and the comfort

What does the ideal house for a single look like? The most interesting proposals will be presented at the Architectural Biennale in Venice, from September 14 to November 23 2008. source: http://www.droogdesign.nl/

I have been looking at these type of ideas for a long time now and am definitely starting to feel a move towards a comforting bespoke future. Numerous items in our lives are making it harder and harder to be able to find our soul mate (for want for a better word). For some career don't allow it, also people are less and less likely to actually meet, deeming a virtual meeting as sufficient. design of public spaces and office spaces seemingly produced to keep people apart rather than communicating with one another. All of these and many more are seeming to pull people apart and though the 'Friends' ideal, the 'billy no mates' seems to be just as strong.

Having recently been looking at a few articles from RKS brand new open source mobile phone which allows the user to customise the applications on the phone through to the the above idea form Droog Design. I wonder whether there will be more and more items that will have to bring a familiarity to peoples lives. Rather than the attitude of I want the latest and newist. These people could say I want to get this for my 'companion'. Some people can say this has and is already happening with items like the iPhone which people religiously look after in leather cases and habitually clean the screen with their thumb, bringing back similar feelings of polishing and waxing your favourite piece of furniture. The system in the RKS phone has also just recently opened up the development of applications for the iPhone to independents, which could further increase the possibility of an emotional attachment to your 'companion'.

Self Service

My first proper blog of 2008. It is something I have been looking / noticing for a while now. for those who do not know our (Hoffi's) offices, they are based in Cardiff Bay. We moved there after a year or so working from our bedrooms. This was really due to the benefits of working there, but anyway back to the point.

Last year the  Tesco Express in the bay brought in a number of self-service tills. The store itself is very small, and if you are slightly late at lunch time you will be lucky to get any type of sandwich or wrap. Even if you do get anything then you have to wait an age to get served. So for this very reason the tills were introduced. Now I realise that self-service tills are nothing new, it did however start me thinking. Predominantly about if people are wanting to do more of the leg work themselves?

If we carry on with the idea of the shop. Historically it was the corner shop, items were placed behind a counter and a customer would go in, tell the shopkeeper what they wanted and the shopkeeper would get it ready for you. You would then pay for the goods or it would go on a slate. As shops became busier and stocked more items there was a change and the advent of the supermarket now brought aisles and the customer was now given a basket or trolley where they had to now search out the products they wanted. Once they had found what they wanted they would go to the check out, place the items on a conveyor belt and then they would be scanned by a cashier. As they beeped through the items you would frantically try and place them into plastic bags as the items slewed down the chromed ramp. 

Now with the self service till we are now doing the job lot. 'Hunting', scanning, packing and paying. What is really interesting about this is there is another side to the modern way. And that is internet shopping. It is now possible to go on the internet, order what you want and get it delivered to your door. While both of these concepts initially seem different in one way. i.e. physically. In another they are almost identical. Both options can be almost devoid of customer interaction with any member of staff of the supermarket in question.

What it brings to question is there going to be some kind of backlash? As people we are inherently social beings, the local shop gave a chance not only to pick up groceries but gossip about what was happening to June and George down the road. With this in mind and also people now slowly beginning to demand to know about how, where, when the products they are buying got to the supermarket. Convenience is still king which is bore out by new finds published in the Guardian that convenience meal consumption has gone up 300% in the last 10 years. Once again though there is a smaller contradictory change. 60% of people now claim they prepare at least one meal everyday from scratch, this is a 25% increase over the last four years. The report comes from several government agencies for the Cabinet Office, with the report commenting "Food is now a key part of our leisure time". 

Could it be that shop while you socially network be a possible future? Tesco turns it's web portal into more than just an online shop but also accommodates a place to chat while you shop just as you would before? Perhaps another strand could be the idea of the local markets either run in the flesh or virtually, bringing people together who want to discuss produce and origins of products. 

trending the personal

thread.jpg, originally uploaded by julian marshall sykes findings.

The branding for Ted and Karlsson is coming along really well. From the initial design concepts produced by third year students in UWIC, we have chosen a concept to develop further. The brand is all about how people have total control over their Ted and Karlsson product/s, they can chose the colour, the materials, even the era and Ted and Karlsson go out and find the perfect match. The concept and brand idea of Ted and Karlsson follows a trend that we have noticed over the last few years, but is only now really coming to prominence.

While it seems more and more things are becoming utilitarian and functional, such as the introduction of car sharing schemes, which have been used for many years in Europe but are now only recently coming to the UK, certain products such as the Apple iPhone and i Mac are simple and intuitive to use, and finally the whole shopping experience is changing giants like TESCO and ASDA are allowing truly one stop shopping, and with the explosion of websites like amazon customers do not even have to go out to buy what they want.

As well as this trend we seem to also be seeing a parallel trend that runs almost hand in hand with. With house prices being at an all time high, and many people not being able to get onto the property ladder. People are needing products and services to be more and more personal and exclusive, the Ted and Karlsson range plugs into this idea, and just like people buy a few pieces of furniture from IKEA, it is becoming more and more common for people to buy that extra special piece of furniture to accessorize their rented apartment or house. When launched early in 2008 Ted and Karlsson will give a very special experience for the client, allowing them total control, and producing such a bespoke experience for the client that they will come back again and again.

specialists in design

Over the years there has been the idea that big is better and what could be better than somewhere where you can get everything? Look at the huge out of town supermarkets that have devastated the small town retail outlets. Everything is under one roof and so there is no reason to go anywhere else. Right?

The design scene up until twenty years ago has been set upon a similar notion where big is beautiful, and with the idea that companies want to come to designers to deal with all their design problems. In the last twenty years, however, the design industry has evolved hugely. It has established product, communication and interior design sectors which are joined with other design fields such as service design, business strategies design, and experience design, to name but a few.

Designers seem now to becoming overwhelmed by the sheer diversity of what they should be able to do. To this end, design companies are now seeing a new value in resurrecting the idea of a specialism within their field. Over the last two years the Design Council and Creative Cultural Skills have been working with over 4,000 designers to create a ‘UK Design Industry Skills Development Plan’ under the name of the Design Skills Advisory Panel. The report is an in-depth plan of how the design sector can carry on it’s success within the British economy; by looking at the present situation in industry and education, and also suggesting ways of improving the current situation.

The report has already made quite an impact within the design scene. Hopefully the education sector will take on the suggestions of the report so we can maintain our industry as being the largest design sector in Europe, with an annual turnover in excess of £11.6bn. One question this report seems to bring about is if all of these new types of design sectors are opening up is it possible for design agencies to really do everything under one roof? For many, the answer is a resounding no. Design Agencies are realising the advantages of specialising in certain aspects of design and forming strong alliances with other like-minded companies. If a large job does come up they can then call upon their collaborators.

This has been used more and more over the past decade or so. One of the most recent examples of this type of approach is the re-branding of S4C by Proud Creative. Proud used a number of collaborators for the S4C brand. Helping with the consultancy they turned to onedotzero. For production (of some of the projects) they worked with a collective called Rare. For the initial idents for S4C they worked with award winning Director Simon Ratigan, and more recently with Minivegas. Other collaborators on the projects included Freefarm, The Acid Casuals, Marc Ortmans, Folk Design, Rushes, John Hill, Ariane Geil and Lineto. While it could be said that this type of collaboration has been happening for years in the design industry, it seems now that design agencies are being a lot more open about the fact that they are collaborating. Rather than the traditional view of seeing it as a weakness having to get someone in to do something they cannot, agencies are now seeing that being a specialist is a strength and not a weakness, and rather than clients getting mediocrity across the board they are now getting the cream from all the fields. One question that does come to mind is the very reason why agencies previously kept their collaborations under wraps.

This was so they could put a mark up on that particular part of the job, just like many still do today with print work. While one can understand a general project management fee being added onto the companies quotation it does seem to now be almost a no-no to add a mark up on top of that. The reason being is that the client knows who the agency is working alongside as it has been an open process from the start, and so they could quite easily go direct to that agency. So how do collaborations counter this idea? Perhaps by the very name collaboration or collective, by being part of strong collectives or collaborations. Working with multiple companies has many more advantages over using just a single company, in the same way as in the natural world strength is achieved in numbers. If there are numerous companies joined together mutual trust can be gained which potentially can create a larger catchment area for each individual company involved in that collective. So if a company specialises in branding but is approached by someone who wants a website they will be able to point them towards their website agency within the collective.

There is no doubt that this type of working has been used before, but now with the latest technology people don’t have to even be local to each other. Sometimes people don’t even need to be in the same country. The traditional designers’ friend -- the macintosh computer - is leading the way in making this possible. With the integration of ichat and ivideo allowing people to chat via video, and also being able to share documents between .mac accounts which allows all involved access to the project, which can then be downloaded onto a video iPod or through their WiFi MacBook Pro.

All of these new advancements have made this type of work easier, and it seems as technology advances then we can imagine that the way of communicating will become more and more sophisticated, perhaps as sophisticated as a face to face meeting can be. For now, we are very much at the new beginning of this way of working, and time will tell whether it becomes the norm. However, it does seem that to be a specialist is the new holy grail for design.