OFFSET 2015

Arriving at Dublin airport, the temptation to stall, in the hopes of cornering Ian Anderson or the guys from Hey Studio and forcing them to share an overpriced taxi to the city, might sway some but luckily for me, I know that the OFFSET Creative Festival will provide plenty more opportunities to get personal with my favourite creatives.

Held annually, in Dublin’s Grand Canal theatre, OFFSET showcases the best of Irish and international talent across two stages & three days. With alumni like Sir Peter Blake & David Shrigley, there was no dip in the standard of talent this year.

My Favourite Insights

As the headliner for day one, Annie Atkins did not disappoint. Her work as the head graphic designer on the Wes Anderson film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, might be well known to all of us visually but her talk on the overlooked aspects of design in film and TV was absolutely eye-opening and, as I believe was her exact intention, she encouraged the young designers of the audience to realize the potential for design outside of traditionally perceived domains.

Slightly more relevant to my line of work, Forsman & Bodenfors’ showcase of their work and company structure was as entertaining as it was insightful. Beginning with revealing the real reason why they agreed to work with Volvo & produce that iconic Jean Claude Van Damme commercial, (Volvo approached them the day after their annual Christmas party) to the challenges they faced as a result, like having to devote one whole year to learning everything about the products they were selling.

In the end the work speaks for itself but what you probably can’t glean from their work, is the way they structure the company. With absolutely zero creative directors, their approach is to just “let the best creatives create”.

Amen.

Selling Ourselves

With a uniquely Irish take on things, Rory Hamilton of the digital ad agency Boys and Girls, was one of the only people to speak about the importance of your brand culture as an agency.

Rory approaches every aspect of the company like a brief, that being: how can we do this differently, how can we showcase our creativity, how can we play? So when other agencies need to buy a table, they pick one, fork out the money and that’s that, but when Boys and Girls needed one, Rory and his team produced a “table” of their own. Supported by giant Jenga blocks on one side and suspended by helium balloons on another – you need to see it to believe it.

The design blogs went crazy and the company garnered a reputation for being “hyper-creative”, something which they are proud to be building on. But Rory’s talk resonates most because having just had our Maker Days, here at Edenspiekermann, the previous week, I was delighted to see other agencies who share our vision about improving company life and the importance of showcasing your brand.

Process

The second stage hosted probably one of the most interesting Q&A section with Doug Powell – former national president of AIGA – in his current guise, as director of design education for IBM in Texas. As we know IBM was, at one stage, in the middle of the last century, at the cutting edge of design and technology but somewhere this vision was derailed to the point where today, there is “absolutely no design culture in existence”. Doug is tasked now with reinvigorating this, tying the craft of design together with user experience for business software and it is his goal to create the largest “product” design organization in the world.

Speaking on the importance of collaboration and building interdisciplinary teams, Doug’s approach is to bring together the designers, stakeholders, management and engineers as teams, and for workshops, to evidence the importance of design and engage each person through actionable outcomes. As part of their inclusive approach IBM have also published IBM Design Language, as an open document on the web to create a shared vocabulary of design. As Doug succinctly put it, there is no more time for celebrating the lone creative — no more Paul Rand off in a cave.

The Difference

And on the topic of Ireland – I think it also might be what differentiates OFFSET from the various other creative conferences I’ve been to. Noticabley forgoing VIP areas or a Green Room, speakers & guests usually gather together at the end of each day, for an unofficial pint in the local pub around the corner and it’s heartening to see current students deep in conversation with their creative heroes. It’s this unique atmosphere that I think makes OFFSET the attraction that it is, bringing people and speakers from all around the world to our lovely little country, for a weekend of inspiration. Thanks to the team for yet another fantastic year.

You can read more about OFFSET here, plus there’s over 100 hours of archived footage to be seen through the Vimeo channel.

Image: William Murphy