A Season of UK Design
It’s spring in the northern hemisphere, although I have heard from my many UK friends the weather is still dire. Spring brings hope of renewal, a fluttering of excitement as to what is going to unfold, leading us to imagine what promises the summer will reveal. Spring is an awakening. It is surprise. It is expectation. It is about trees renewing their greenery, nests bursting with promise. It’s about opening doors and windows and letting ‘fresh’ back in.
For me, this will be about it being time to shake off the last few years and feel a bit optimistic again. Spring. A good time to re-look at your branding, brush up your social media, jazz up your websites.
Cany Ash a London based urban storyteller and architectural entrepreneur had this to say when she was asked what design means to her.
“I think design is about transformation. It’s not always big transformation but seeing ways in which you can peel something back to reveal an existing thing. It’s always best when it’s looked at as a process, an ongoing provocation to question things, to see why something works so incredibly well.”
Peeling back and uncovering a fresh new aspect that will give a breath of new life to your brand. As she says it doesn’t have to be a huge change like my JacciR Design rebrand here — just a tweek to the font, a new icon, tidying up your web page, ‘fabulating’ your Instagram page.
Design is everywhere, your shoes, the chair you’re sitting on, the plate you ate your supper off. It’s an inescapable presence in our day to day lives. It can be completely intercultural, or it can be jealously guarded. The UK has influenced so much of who we are and who we see ourselves as, from the ad industry greats like David Bernstein, advertising industry veteran, founder of The Creative Business, household names like Stella McCartney, an English fashion designer to Jules Hogan a knitwear designer from Berkshire. Big or small they contribute in their own way to the ‘thing’ that is UK design.
Obviously we must mention the Jubilee and the wonderful design that will emerge from this celebration, my favorite at the moment is Sandie Burton Designs with her gorgeous jubilee cushions! Oh my!!! If only they delivered to South Africa. See her work here
All of them are part of a design tradition that reaches back centuries — and I love it! Immersing myself in design, from advertising, web, to fashion, home and garden is my happy place, this quarter I’m allowing myself to focus on UK design. Focus and share the wonderfulness that is UK design.
FABULOUSNESS: 5 big British iconic designers. Take a look at some of them here. These are my pick for vintage design, always a great place to start.
Eileen Grey: Adjustable Table E1027
Wiliam Morris: Wallpaper
Thomas Heatherwick: Red London Bus
Roberts Radio Company: Portable Radio
Anglepoise: Original 1227 Lamp
I hope that you will join me as I journey into this richly diverse design world. My website is here, please sign up to my newsletter. Its called GRAPHICS UNLIMITED. It is a short read, monthly, filled with inspirational design of all kinds.
