Simon Waterfall
Wednesday 16th July 2008, Paintworks
As part of the Designers' Showcase, we were delighted to welcome D&AD President Simon Waterfall to talk to a sell-out crowd of 150. This was Simon's first visit to Bristol and he decided to split his talk into 10 ways to find out about Bristol. He used this structure to showcase samples of his work, and talk about his life, experience and philosophy.
No. 1 Wikipedia. Design is about making decisions and designers are decision makers. People spend on average 18 hours a week on the Internet and 90% of those hours start with a search. Simon searched for a definition of Bristol and found a complex mess of information to wade through.
No. 2 Google. Anything we can add to digital media makes it better and the most important thing is brand behaviour.
Poke was approached by Motorola to help launch their new razor mobile phone. They needed to target the right audience in the right way to convey the phone properly, and avoid using inappropriate platforms and outlets. It is really hard to convey technology using other technology, so instead of focusing on the phone, they decided to use the most viewed person on the web (David Elsewear) with music by MoSelecta, to create a film to help promote the phone that focuses on the sensory usability of it.
No. 3 See for yourself. Simon's first degree was as a product designer and at his show he was approached by a prospective client, who wanted to arrange a meeting for the following Monday. The only problem was he didn't have an agency or a studio. He got together with a mate, they bought a fax machine, got some mates to look like they were working (out of their Fulham dining room) and whilst mulling it all over at the swimming pool, came up with a name for their agency – Deepend was born. This was around 1994. By 2000 they had 350 people. Nobody had the technology or knowledge. In 2001, two weeks before signing a deal and selling their company, two planes crashed into the twin towers. The digital world imploded, Deepend collapsed, and Simon was left trying to find jobs for his 350 staff. Simon spoke passionately that having an agency is a commitment – you are your brand, you are only as good as the people you work with.
No. 4 Location. It doesn't matter where you are, there has never been a better time to be creative. Simon talked about when you're not in London, people can see that as a problem, but he thinks its nonsense. 8% of the UK GDP is the creative sector and we train the rest of the world. There is more creativity outside the design studio than in it – as Tony Davison from Weiden and Kennedy found out when he created a million pound ad for Honda and 12yr old Oliver Upton copies the ad frame by frame in lego and sent it to him… guess which version everyone prefers!
When you are outside the rules, if you're an amateur, is good for creativity. Simon used to wear ball gowns and dresses, now he wears suits for the same reason - to 'piss people off' and Social suicide is the fashion label he set up to make them. He's not a fashion designer and therefore he approaches it in the same way as an amateur. He uses the cutting block as a canvas to write stories.
No. 5 Ask a mate – Its not always about the technology, its about the emotion. Building and designing the studio he applied the same thinking as with his digital work. Blocks made from recycled plastic and concrete allowed them to build and design their studio how they wanted, which focuses on their personality and the way they use the space.
No. 6 Postcard – What does the brand say about itself?
No. 7 Ask a tourist – What's the story? Get the content to be the brand. Poke's website for Alexander McQueen took 18 months to build but it's all about detail and looking at how people behave. When women buy clothes they look at it from every angle and piece it together with other items. So that is what they have shown on the site. Beautiful, large images, details – letting the content speak for itself.
No. 8 History – What can be gained from looking at the history and collecting the stories?
No.9 2nd class citizen – There is no fight between advertising and design. Simon's first computer came with a soldering iron when he was in his early teens. He wrote Dungeons and Dragons games when he was 16 and he now uses this knowledge when designing and producing websites.
No.10 Export – What do you export, what have you learnt? Simon looks at himself as the Yoda of digital and yet feels he has still to do his best work. One final word of advice – Never work for people with less energy than you.
