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Effective branding delivers your message clearly in all mediums. An integrated campaign unifies your voice so that each message doesn’t drown the other out. It resonates as one. If the campaign has a consistent purpose then it will demonstrate outward consistency.  So if you plan on convincing more than half the nation to vote for you, you better be clear on who you are, what you want to do, why and how you’ll do it. To successfully hold varied stakeholders together the brand needs to be crystral clear. Given this, you’d expect this is where Australia’s premier brand magicians earn some serious crust. Well, by the current state of Australian political branding that’s clearly not the case. Australia is due to go to the polls in mid to late 2013 to decide (mainly) between the Labor and Liberal parties, so one would think that each party has started focusing on solidifying their public brand and image for the upcoming election. However, lets have a look at the current websites of the leaders of the Labor and Liberal parties, the first point of call in today’s world.

It may be that our politicians are slightly distracted from issues of branding and more concerned with allegations of slush funds and misogyny. But, as you can see their web presence is underwhelming. It’s clear that at least Obama’s gradient blue web 2.0 effect has sunk in a little, but the sites are confused, unimaginative/boring and rudimentary. An excuse for the current websites could be that the parties want to avoid uproar for spending tax payer money on a digital face-lift. Whatever the excuse, using a blogger template (sorry Kevin Connects) shouldn’t be an option.

A focus for these sites is social media. The internet has led to more complex manifestations of communication with the opportunity to engage and comment on public figures ever present. The first items on Tony Abbott’s navigation bar are social media icons and the most prominent element on the ALP Julia page is the ‘Connect with Julia’ widget. All high profile Australian politicians these days invest time and regular attention to their twitter accounts with our PM clocking up 312,069 followers (behind KRudd’s 1.174 million followers). It seems almost that the parties haven’t quite connected the dots between their all-important public image and online/social media. A concise and considered brand image will amplify their already prominent web position and create important dividends.

The images above are the touch points from the 2010 Australian Federal election campaign for the Greens and the Liberals. These are the same tired and sad layouts that currently exist today. Sure, the greens gave it a go but even after Obama’s 2008 groundbreaking success, where he used an internal campaign design team, the message didn’t get through to the major Australian parties.

Both Obama campaigns were successful because they were integrated.  They were controlled with an iron grip with clear and concise messaging. The in-house campaign design unit focused on several societal groups using different visual communication to reach each one. But it went beyond the unified public image of the Obama brand. The Obama campaigns empowered their triage of volunteers like never before. They had sophisticated downloadable material pages and progressive mobile technology. By being transparent with the design process they allowed grassroots supporters to be active in the election, enabling them to create and invest. They developed simple steps to enlist to vote, simple procedures to find potential supporters and their local polling booths. This was a sophisticated campaign that portrayed the U.S. President as active, authoritative, fair and balanced.

A considered, clear campaign identity would undoubtedly clarify the difference between Liberal and Labor. If introduced, a sustained brand can be an organisation’s most significant asset. If the parties integrated their campaigns they could save money on media buying and get people enthused again about what each party stands for. In the words of a great man: HOPE FOR CHANGE.

More info:
Obama campaign design director Scott Thomas

Client: TomWaterhouse.com – online betting agency owned and run by 3^rd generation professional bookmaker Tom Waterhouse

Desired outcome: Attract new customers to gambling by altering the image of sports betting and increase brand awareness of TomWaterhouse.com

When you want to increase market share of any brand, effective design is good design. TomWaterhouse.com launched over a year ago with a distinct look that combined his well-recognised family name and modern sophistication. This was a big push towards new audiences armed with a war chest that is changing the image of sports betting around Australia. TomWaterhouse.com has started to shift the image of betting on the races from middle-aged men shuffling around discarded white betting tickets to fresh-faced, champagne swilling youths wearing snappy suits and reaching for iPads. It’s a pretty simple formula. Bring in a known commodity that people trust and make it sexy. It’s a campaign that is stating that: gambling is cool, gambling is for you; cashed up Gen Y professionals, gambling is harmless/fun and if you follow Tom’s advice you won’t lose much.

Yes, this is the kind of campaign dreamed up by the ‘accounts department’ in a bid to drive up the media budget, but I believe it’s changing perceptions of the Australian sports betting, while gambling is a hotly charged political issue in Australia. It’s now sexy, modern and a valid Gen Y pursuit – the key factors to the TomWaterhouse.com campaign.

In a study completed by The Economist in 2010, Australia was the world’s biggest gambler per capita. With the loss per resident adult reach nearly $1,300 annually. This is more than double the third highest nation (which is Ireland) of under $600 a year. In 2008 regulations governing cross-border betting and gambling advertisements, overseas and domestic bookmakers have been battling each other for a piece of the local market and this year the market is worth more than $20 billion a year. TomWaterhouse.com has gone all in with a multi-million dollar campaign of free-to-air, print and online advertisements, including his $70,000 turquoise Melbourne tram.

Melbourne independent creative agency Fenton Stephens has given the TomWaterhouse.com betting agency a name and a story. It’s an Australian story of success that positions itself apart in the gambling sphere by being fresh faced and current. Previously betting agencies were faceless groups such as TAB, Sportsbet and Centrebet. Fenton Stephens have reached out to a league of new gamblers with exciting and emotive black and white multiple speed video coupled with a now fresh but soon to be dated minty/turquoise green. Like it or not this tried and true simple formula has created a powerful brand that has seen his client base rise to 80,000. The TomWaterhouse.com brand name is not only the website but also includes iPad/mobile-based apps that allow and encourage betting anytime, anywhere.

The classic black and white imagery shows how easy and accessible it is to bet on any sport you can think of. Fenton Stephens were involved creating the online presence as well and have integrated social media to encourage online betting with Beat The Baron. This is a classic case of gamification through social media. The idea is to bet against The Baron with winnings and social kudos going to those that do. Tom promotes tweets, sponsors major sporting teams such as the Wallabies and Sydney Swans and links the two together in a super slick TV commercial campaign.

Tom’s Racing twitter account gives consumers RacingInsider tips that encourages long odds, updates about injuries and encourage interaction with TomWaterhouse.com Facebook sporting photo albums. Can you believe that he also has a blog that aims to Increase your betting IQ? You can subscribe to EDMs that give ‘free expert analysis’ and you can even Ask the Baron to Beat the Baron. Once plugged into the turquoise rabbit hole you find yourself on a never ending loop ‘finding out from the best’… who knew you wanted to know the great odds on female Olympic kick boxing?

TomWaterhouse.com has campaigned stoking the celebrity of his family: ‘Yes, you can join right now. No, you can’t date my sister.’ Coupling celebrity with business is something Donald Trump has been doing exceedingly well for decades and it’s a template that definitely creates brand awareness. Every time his mother attends a Gala event or wins a prominent race, or his sister gets married in Italy, he gets brand exposure.

Tom says, “I always say to people who bet with me, ‘Anything in excess is bad for you: shopping, eating, gambling.’”  But as image creators/shepherds do we have a responsibility to our broader community? Working to promote products or services that are dangerous to health and livelihood will always be a vexed issue. AGDA’s Code of Ethics states: “A Member shall work in a manner so that as little harm (direct or indirect) as possible is caused to the natural environment.” The core of this idea is that we should be putting our community first and ourselves last. Designers should recognise that their work contributes to the well-being of the broader public. Prominent campaigns that have wide exposure become unavoidable parts of the cultural fabric.

Further reading with…
Dave the Designer
and David Airey

Thumbnail image: Taken from Tom Waterhouse Facebook page.
Tram image: sourced from tomwaterhouse.com.
All other images sourced from Fenton Stephen’s website.

‘Design Thinking’ is when the user/consumer is central to how the product or service is developed and implemented. It creates innovation by placing emphasis on the individual and their experience by approaching decision based on how they would interact intuitively with the product. Traditionally, a designer would be asked to make products aesthetically attractive and therefore more desirable to potential consumers, or to create a fun advertising campaign to enhance the brand and increase sales. ‘Design Thinking’ sets new levels of value. The designer is used at every stage of the process. They are optimistic about potential solutions, they analyse issues from alternating perspectives and collaborate with other creative minds to find unique products.

Recently IDEO has released the ‘Human Centered Design’ Toolkit to be downloaded for free here. Business design thinking is at its most innovative when confronted with absolute restrictions and boundaries in developing nations in Africa and the sub-continent. This is the battleground for smart solutions to serious problems and IDEO have recognised that we all have a part to play in helping our fellow people. Like most people, designers can sometimes be focused on the next buck, ignoring projects that don’t promise the traditional economic rewards.  However, ‘corporate social responsibility’ is no longer just a buzz phrase. It is now commonplace in some Australian industries that five to 10 percent of one’s time should be dedicated to philanthropic projects. How many of us actually practice what we like to preach?

These human centered design models encourage you to think creatively about how design can be applied to sectors outside of the usual commercial ventures. Design the way things operate not how they appear. By designing every step of the way you are progressively innovating and evolving. New solutions are needed for old problems.

One such business owner that is combining both business, design and philanthropy with his start-up project ‘Who Gives A Crap’ is Simon Griffiths. WGAC (as we shall now call it) is a business with a social conscience. It’s a toilet paper company in which a large portion of its profits fund the construction of toilets in developing nations. WGAC embodies Griffiths’s theory of consumer driven philanthropy and design has been a key element in each step of the progression of WGAC.

WGAC is a unique brand that is financially competitive and socially responsible. It’s a highly marketable concept that is founded on the principal that we can consume and give simultaneously. That if we take a little of the greed out of business we can all give a little, all of the time. WGAC will appeal to individuals in new ways. It’s edgy, it’s responsible, it’s green and it’s necessary.

I interviewed Simon Griffiths about how he designed his business. Here is a selection of his thoughts on designing a start up.

Simon Says you can reinvent the roll
“Toilet paper is a terrible product as there has been almost no innovation of it in the last 50 years besides perceived softness. You have this quite rare intimate moment with a product, in which somebody is solely focused for that period of time. It’s this untapped experience that you can do a lot of things with, if you think a little bit outside of the box.”

Simon on The Lean Startup
The Lean Startup is a philosophy that Simon follows. “The Lean Startup proposes launching products through a process of continuous innovation and consultation with potential consumers, shaping products into exactly what a customer wants. It has become the start-up bible over the last 24 months. Everyone from Dropbox to Dollar Shave Club has used this to shape their methodologies.”

Simon on Human Centered Design
“We are using the IDEO ‘Human Centered Design’ process to solve problems, our problem is working out how we start a business that meets the demands of our customers the best way we can. It is a design thinking approach. We talked about where else we could innovate. Breaking it down like a design process, we challenged the perception of the user experience and what you can change as a part of that experience.”

Simon on Australia playing ‘catch up’
“People are at least talking about design thinking business models (in Australia). Which is good, which is the first step. I imagine there are a lot of people who are using it. But there are very few products out there that we have seen that have come from that background. I think there will be more coming on the market in the next few years. Which would make sense because it is happening a lot in the US and we typically lag behind, that’s how our market works. I think it’s something that’s about to happen.”

Simon on business design
“All we do is literally design the business, it’s the whole process. You have to create a small piece of what you think the form would be and use function to test whether it works. It’s a constant process where function follows form and form follows function. Bad design is something that nobody responds to.”

Keep in an eye on ‘Who Gives a Crap?’ and have a think on how you can help design a better world.

whogivesacrap.org
ideo.com
hcdconnect.org

More Latin Americans around? No doubt.
The boredom of ‘Modern Australian’ cuisine?  Possibly.
More widespread flashpacking to Latin countries? Maybe.
The vibe and experience that dimly lit, hip American style eateries give? Certainly.
But the key change in this Mexican re-definitision is effective graphic design. It has not only played a part in re-shaping people’s mexi-kit perception of Mexican food, it has been essential and central to the new Melbourne Mexican restaurant model.

As a kid, going out for Mexican (to Montezumas or Taco Bills), meant your waiter might be wearing a sombrero, your drink could have an umbrella in it and your meal might be called the ‘Gringo Guts Special’ or the ‘Ondalay Enchilada’. Nowadays you feel more like you’re sitting in downtown Brooklyn in a Mexican restaurant, and less like you’re on the Mexican ride at Disneyland.

Mamasita was el original. It gave finesse and glamour to the humble corn flour tortilla. Quite an achievement by the way… and this saw the emergence of new Mexi-favourite restaurants – Paco’s Tacos, Fonda, Señoritas, Trippy Taco and Taco Truck. A key for all these new eateries has been minimalist logotype branding, graphic typo-murals and colourful illustrations. This bold graphic identity sits comfortably with dimmed lighting, colourful soft drinks, edgy street menus and their post-modern buzz words: chipotle, callejero and ceviche.

These new Mexican restaurants have bent cues around corners, loud music and exotic beer menus. Was I just describing a restaurant or a nightclub? Entertainment dining is the mantra of Melbourne’s Food Mafia. Masterchef judge and Melbourne uber chef George Calombaris admits as much: “They’re still wanting to go out and get an experience… they want buzz, they want excitement, it’s more than just sitting in a restaurant eating the food, it’s all about the action that’s happening around them.” Food king-pin Chris Lucas goes a little further “the meal’s become less central. What’s become more central is the entertainment, the overall package, the vibe.”

The evidence is apparent in the rise of Trippy Taco. This Collingwood gem humbly began as a much loved stall at Meredith Music Festival, then took up residence on Smith Street in 2004. Post mexi-wave, it has doubled capacity on Cumulus’ Gertrude Street with talk of DJs and percussionists from Thursday to Saturday.

This food entertainment experience relies on details. The tiniest thing can upset the applecart. What a design communication studio can bring to the new Melbourne restaurant model is a consistent streamlined harmonious message. The typographic map of Cuba on the wall uses the same face as the customised wallpaper in el baño. The website reflects Los Angeles’ street food van aesthetic which is rolled out with bleeding overprints on each instore promo poster. New Meyer’s Place hotspot Señoritas embraces established Mexican visual culture with wall murals by local artist Dennis Ropar, inspired by cultural heavyweight Diego Rivera. Owner Ricardo Amare has showcased Talavera pottery and stemware and has stated ‘I wanted it (Señoritas) to be very authentic but very Melbourne, rich and colourful but dark as well.’

Increasing visual awareness of the restaurant goer means these considered decisions become more important. The focus on effective brand design is a fillip for our industry. It shows in the fact that first time business owners such as David and Tim from Fonda have invested in strong communication in a first time, small enterprise. Not too long ago restaurant brands, interior decorators, websites, media campaigns were the sole domain of the big culinary players.

Thumbnail image: Paco’s Tacos.
All images copyright by the respective restaurants.

I learnt that skating has had a history of fluctuation, as with any modern ‘fad’ now turned sport – it’s hot, then it’s not. Interestingly with skateboarding you can reflect on this history with its graphic art: as it reflects what scene/people were skating at that time. In the 1950s and 1960s, skateboarding’s surfing roots were reflected in the plain wooden minimal aesthetic. As cool as this was, it was short-lived. The 1970s punk scene and ‘renegade subcultures’ converged with new board designs to create a totally different beast.

Hallam’s collection focuses on this period of intense creativity and ingenuity from 1978 to 1983, where the Dogtown slackers took skating into the pool, onto the ramp and in skate parks that hadn’t been previously imagined. These halcyon days were what Hallam and Baker concentrated their talk on. The advancements in skating form and function took it to exciting uncharted territory. Conical wheels, double trucked eight-wheel boards (pictured below), variations of the wood ply, steel reinforcement and cut away decks went hand-in-hand with a rapid graphic (r)evolution that progressed as if infected by toxic nuclear materials.

The Californian drought of the late 1970s meant that residents needed to drain their backyard swimming pools. What came next either by divine providence or hair-raising accident was the great un-washed flinging themselves around the pool with pace and courage. The deck graphics moved from simple branded stamps to classic 1970s skiing logotypes, pioneered by skate and ski manufacturer Sims. Colour, ornamental shapes and lines with hand drawn type were the new standard. The rise of the pro-skater led to the rise of the personalised and more radical graphics.

On show at NGV Studio are gems such as Tony Hawk’s first signature model (1982) and an early Zephyr board (mid-1970s) personally owned by skateboard legend Stacy Peralta. As Hallam explained, the first pro to get his own deck was Neil Blender who rode for Gordon & Smith. The tale goes that ‘he couldn’t draw, so he asked his punk mate to and the breakthrough Gator art was born’. This opened the floodgates. Skater art became the art of Dogtown (logotype pictured below) and it was plastered over decks worldwide. As Baker explained, this became the sign for cool and could be seen across schoolbooks around the USA. These schoolbook forays were often the first graphic/art expressions of a generation, this youth-driven scene brought great examples of design and letterforms that used great form and colour and were produced on posters, stickers, badges, shirts and wheels.

Early skate logotypes were a great hybrid of surf, ski and motorsport branding. They formed their own identity by expressing the youthful spirit that they skated with. The badges and stickers from the exhibition (pictured) demonstrate off the wall colour palettes and bold, strong letterforms that ultimately were the precursor to the 1980s fashion aesthetic that we know and love.

NGV Studio’s In Conversation format was a great way of connecting the men behind the show with the wider community. During question time some of the audience members fondly recalled what it was to be like a skater in 1970s gritty Melbourne. Skating spots were limited and if you saw somebody with a board you’d stop them in hope of directions to the closest backyard drained pool. Great stories of missing the last train back from Melton Skate Park and some epic action at the Nunawading pipes kept popping up.

Board at NGV Studio is a great retrospective of one of the most complete skateboarding collections in the world. Part-graphic show, part-historical artifact exhibition. As senior  Baker shared, ‘Skating is art as a physical culture mixed with material culture in a completely new context.’ Board is an epic journey of how a sport and cultural revolution can coincide and influence each other.

Board is showing at NGV Studio until 4 February. Check out the details here
Any quotes above are from Tony Hallam or Alex Baker.

Mate is essentially a tea drunk in a communal setting originating from the north-eastern region of Argentina. There are three elements to drinking a mate, dried and millened yerba leaves, the gourd (traditionally pumpkin) that holds the beverage and a filtered straw that you drink through. Aside from the wizened-old-man-pipe look mate gave me, it was the social act of passing the mate around a group of friends or strangers that hooked me. My alcohol intake plummeted and conversational Spanish skyrocketed.

While all this was the hook, what emerged was not just beverage culture but also a visual treasure that I never expected. So here are some gems from the trove of alternative South American teas. To many, mate seems a bit ridiculous, but aren’t dainty British colonial tea bags (as brilliant as they are) also a bit funny to the uninitiated? The product itself is, in the most part, a half kilo brick of milled, slightly charred and dried leaves wrapped in plastic. Visually they are a postmodern mash-up of depression era flour rations and 1970s cereal boxes. Also something to keep in mind is that mate is drunk by almost everyone in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay and the sight of a homeless man sitting on the sidewalk enjoying his mate is commonplace, as well as being awesome. This means that mate is cheap and needs to appeal to a broad socio-economic cross-section.

Let’s have a look at how three distinct cultures and countries wrap and sell their mate.

Argentina

There is constant disagreement between materos (people who drink mate) about which country is the home of mate. At least for me (and 40 million others) it’s Argentina. The image of the gauchos (Argentinean cowboys) drinking mate while herding cows along the plains of Patagonia is a much beloved cultural image. Today of course it is drunk by bankers in Buenos Aires, students in Cordoba along with the Gauchos in distant Jujuy.  The affluent of Buenos Aires are often mocked about their use of sugar while drinking mate, as they are seen to have strayed from the bitter taste that the Gauchos preferred at the turn of the last century.

Playadito

Playadito defines itself by it’s colour. In this way it conforms to the trend of bright colourful mate packaging. A strong canary yellow is a smart brand personality because if even it drops out of fashion at the time, it isn’t fixed by a style movement or time period. Colour is timeless. Playadito proudly displays the location of where it is grown and processed as a stamp of authenticity and quality. This is small town Colonia Liebig. It has bright yellow factories that celebrate the Co-operative of growers who band together to create a community product.

Romance

The Romance packaging has always been ‘curious’ for me. A source of mirth for a good week though it was, it’s just not how I would approach the design. The old European world toasting action is something that you wouldn’t be caught dead doing drinking mate in Argentina, The brand certainly has its own personality. It’s well entrenched in the mate cultural psyche and its distinctive logotype is strong in isolation as well on the 2D front panel. Maybe this is why it works even with the weak white wrapper? Though the white might go against the grain of the multi-coloured mate shelf, it still doesn’t have the body it could.

Palermo

Palermo is an Argentinian word with stylistic connotations. It’s a large neighbourhood in the affluent north of Buenos Aires where today, third generation surgeons or psychiatrists rub shoulders with MacBook wielding Swiss-German long-term exchange students. Palermo recalls the Art Deco heyday of this ritzy place with a fun modern typeset logo; the lowercase ‘m’ cheekily sits between the high contrast caps to create a unique brand personality. As you’ll see, the vast majority of yerba mate packaging comes in brick-like bags. Palermo uses racing stripes and the pill-like rounded rectangle to break the space and create negative space for it’s supporting elements: official stamp of approval and patriotic waving flag.

Brazil

Laranjeiras

The curious nature of Brazilian mate is, that whilst it’s grown in Brazil, its biggest consumer is Uruguay. Uruguayans have a famous love for mate and it’s a constant daily companion whether you’re walking along the beach or riding your scooter. The sight of a steel thermos wedged under the arm is commonplace. Laranjeiras needs to have cross-cultural appeal. It splashes onto the packet with the distinctive look of an overflowing pumpkin gourd mate that is plump simplicity. The forested yerba leaf border crowds the rural western inspired typeset logo and creates a nice space for the white mate to sit. It is a bold concept that says a lot with a three colour palette.

Bailanta

Bailanta is a wild Brazilian voodoo jungle party brand. It has such a distinctive personality that broaches territory that none other does, but succeeds with smart modern design skill. What is immediately recognisable is the Indiana Jones logotype that could, as easily be cover art for a best of Afro-Brazilian funk album. The yellow diagonal lines reinforce the receding lines of the logo and are a different solution to the usual single colour on other packets. The mate gourd uses the reds of the surrounding shapes to blend in well. The attention to detail is seen in the vertical sunset gradient lines at the top of the packet.

Paraguay

Pajarito

Pajarito is an iconic Paraguayan brand. It positions itself as a refined international brand with presence. The patriotism doesn’t stop there as the strong red, white and blue of the national flag are diagonally cut across the packet. The distinctive branding sings with colours that invoke the markets, jungles and personalities of such a beautiful country. The illustration pops and adds depth of personality to create easy consumption. Something you smile at before you drop it into your basket and take off the shelf at home. Who wouldn’t want it in their kitchen?

La Rubia

Marketing and branding can be a peek into societal values. In Latin American culture, using nicknames based on race or offensive generalities is commonplace. La Rubia (blonde girl) pictured left, reflects these values, as does the Brazilian packaging for La Mulata (black girl) pictured right. Blondes, as I know first hand, are exotic in landlocked tropical Paraguay. The packaging yearns to 16^th century pirate beauty with her portrait figuratively illustrated inside a classic oval portraiture frame. The glistening toothpaste logotype script also has nautical inspiration for the complete exotic Paraguayan brand.

With only a few days to go at one of the National Gallery in Victoria (Melbourne’s) Winter Masterpieces, I put some of these questions and more to international art curator, Laurie Benson.

Ferdinand ANDRI (designer) Albert BERGER (lithographer and printer) Poster for the 26th Secession Exhibition 1906 Wien Museum, Vienna Purchased, Albert Berger Collection, 1928

Why bring Vienna to Melbourne?
The NGV has fantastic holdings of Viennese objects and particularly furniture from this period. In the year of the 150^th anniversary of the NGV we wanted the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces exhibition to have a direct resonance with our collections. It is also great to see a relatively small part of our diverse collections in the broader context of a very large exhibition.

Great care and attention to detail was used putting together Vienna: Art & Design, from the period Viennese typeface used in the catalogue to the Secession building façade. Are these details the trend of current day curatorship?
Only sometimes. The character of each exhibition lends itself to very different aesthetic principles. Period shows such as Vienna, and Art Deco that the NGV stage a few years ago, have at their core very clear design ideals, so they more naturally are suitable to particular styles of design.

How much do you feel that the atmosphere created by a joining of design and the arts influence each other?
Today many people react pretty harshly if you don’t call designers artists, and in most cases they are absolutely right. Like the members of the British Arts and Crafts movement in the 19^th century, many of the Viennese at the time of this exhibition were very much about blurring this age old distinction. They were very much about collaboration and this made for very exciting and quite brilliant projects at the time.

Koloman MOSER Austria 1868–1918 Self-portrait c.1916–17 oil painting on canvas on cardboard 74.0 x 50.0 cm Belvedere, Vienn

How did governance of Vienna from 1890 at the time of rapid expansion allow such a robust art and design scene?
Certain elements of Viennese society fostered a general atmosphere that encouraged political and social change. Many artists tapped into this and also led a push for change. It was a period of growing independence of women that was a very positive social influence. On a micro level, it is really interesting that the local government in Vienna would give a block of land in the heart of the city to the Vienna Secessionists, a radical breakaway art movement that challenged the status quo. There was also fantastic encouragement of the more radical artists from enlightened wealthy patrons who supported and shared their ideals. This support may not have been general, but the enlightened few made a huge difference.

What struck me the most about Vienna: Art & Design was the variety of master craftsmanship. What other movement do you feel had or has the same impressive collection?
One of the closest parallels is to the British Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19^th century. They influenced the Viennese designers both aesthetically and philosophically. There is both a breadth and depth in high quality of design in both movements. But there are also other 20^th century design groups and movements who as a collective were quite amazing.

All big exhibits need a draw card such as Gustav Klimt, but which artist do you think has caught audiences by surprise?
One of the strongest reactions we have received is to the work of Juta Sika, a ceramicist active after 1900. Her designs look so contemporary and they seem modern but timeless.

Gustav KLIMT Beethoven Frieze: Central wall 1901-02 (detail) Belvedere, Vienna

Do you find that borrowing pivotal/seminal material from a variety of countries means juggling stakeholders on how they should be portrayed?
No. Definitely not. Objects are chosen for their intrinsic value and are selected for specific reasons to demonstrate particular points being made. This means that a hierarchy as such doesn’t exist. If you do this, the show will break down.

The posters and catalogues for Secessionist exhibitions were cutting edge design, Moser, Andri & Klimt. How much did the idea behind the movement encourage influence the design?
Only completely. The radical nature of the movement was expressed succinctly through their graphic art, to the point where some of the best and most radical design was in their graphics. There was usually a perfect unity of the ideals behind whatever exhibition was being promoted and the graphics chosen to promote the show.

Ver Sacrum, the Secessionist Journal, was at the forefront of graphic design. What was their graphic design aesthetic?
Their overarching design philosophy was to be modern. As time moved on and styles evolved, the magazine reflected these shifts. A key to Ver Sacrum though was consistency in the aesthetic within each issue. This meant that even the advertisements in the magazine were designed to fit the aims of each issue. Ver Sacrum was treated as a work of art in its own right, an ideal shared by very few other magazines.

Josef HOFFMANN (designer), J. & J. KOHN, Vienna (manufacturer) Adjustable-back chair (c. 1905) Sitzmachine ebonised beech, plywood, steel (a-b) 110.8 x 68.1 x 83.7 cm (overall) Purchased through The Art Foundation of Victoria with the assistance of Jardine Matheson Australia, Fellow, 1983

Both Moser and Hoffman were incredibly gifted and flexible designers from napkin rings to buildings. How much did they benefit by sharing of ideas at the Wiener Werkstätte?
Moser and Hoffmann very much set the agenda for the Wiener Werkstätte. They were critical in the process of selecting the artists and craftspeople who worked there. They drove the agenda of blurring the distinction of the artist and maker, so, their philosophy of collaboration was a important in the Wiener Werkstätte. Having said that, they encouraged individuality, so that the artists retained their own voice within the broader context of the WW. They were about giving artists a place to express themselves in a commercial world. The artists there fed off the sense of encouragement that Moser and Hoffmann fostered, perhaps to the point where it was not really successful commercially.

Wien Museum Director Wolfgang Kos said that, “Vienna was a city of logical and political contradiction.” Do you see the contradiction between prominent artists of the movement?
I’m not sure about contradiction between the artists as such. But within the ‘movement’, individuals still stood out, and if anything the freedom and encouragement to express individuality was the most enlightening aspect of Vienna at this time. So, by its intrinsic diversity, clashes of philosophy and opinion were inevitable, which I think is what Kos is alluding to. When an ideal of a movement is to encourage self expression, then ultimately you are going to get differences. So it is not surprising for instance that the Vienna Secession’s most dynamic and interesting time lasted less than a decade before it fell apart creatively as individual’s philosophies clashed.

What is next for the NGV?
The next major exhibition at NGV on St Kilda Rd is Mad Square, an exquisite exhibition of modernist German art, that starts late November. And the next Melbourne Winter Masterpiece is Napoleon: Revolution to Empire, a very exciting and dynamic show.

For more information about the exhibition, visit NGV’s website.

Interview was conducted for Desktop Magazine

Rhythm:

The golden age of Bossa Nova was born of a common feeling and expressed by an individual who was capturing what he was sensing. Beginning with the native rhythmic Samba and stripped back with cool Jazz sensibility, Bossa Nova was something exciting and original for young musicians from the upscale beach side neighbourhoods of Rio de Janeiro. The young Carioca (people from Rio) were the image of a new Brazil: sun, sea, parties where tanned women danced until sunrise. They embraced the widening gap between the middle class and the working class favelas. Everyone wanted to be simpatico: which is friendly, nice, agreeable, good natured and carefree. This new natural flair became uniquely Brazilian and the Bossa reflected it.

Joao Gilberto was the Bossa Nova pioneer. He wrote the first Bossa Nova song Bim-Bom looking upon laundresses on the banks of the Sao Fransisco River. He admired their carefree attitude, easy smiles, bright dresses that gave colour to those around them. His musical hallmarks became a stripped back, tempered playful voice and accompanying rhythmic acoustic guitar. A very simple and elegant sound that coupled with romantic lyrics sounded the most natural played by a lone poet/musician. This fresh, refined, Samba sound spread quickly and launched a bona fide craze around the world, changing the face of jazz and elevator lobbies forever.

Bossa Nova started to gain momentum in 1958 with Antonio Carlos Jobim stringing together hits that caught the world off guard. Philips records sent two of North America’s great jazz leaders, Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd, to record and collaborate with what was happening. Getz met with Gilberto and they started a long and fruitful partnership that brought about Bossa Nova’s biggest hit ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ performed by Astrud Gilberto.

Aloysio de Oliveira started Elenco Records in 1963 because he felt the musicians he had launched worldwide at Philips were starting to become glorified Las Vegas lounge warm-up acts. He saw waning global interest in Bossa Nova and decided to do something about it. Although Elenco was short lived (1963-1968), its legacy is unparalleled in Bossa Nova and it managed to define the look and visual identity of the style through its iconic minimalist black, white and red album covers.

Behind great design is an idea or a feeling of society or context. The way this is expressed and treated can shape the movement itself. This was the case with Elenco records. De Oliveira admired the work of young designer Cesar E Villela from his time at Odeon records, so when he started he gave Villela carte blanche to do, “whatever it wanted with the covers.” Villela gave Elenco a distinct look, feel and style of its own, something unique that made the records stand out from the others in shop windows. To quote Vilella ‘there was a carnivals of colours, we felt the need to change, to simplify the visual.’

Cesar thought about the values of Bossa Nova and what would make the artwork stand out from the colour carnival while still being appealing to the young and wealthy Carioca. “Bossa Nova was simple and light in sound,” says Vilella ,”the covers were just that, modern, clean, economical, just like bossa nova.” The high contrast sobriety of the black and white covers represented the elegance of its consumers, while creating larger than life characters of the artists that performed on the records. The Elenco artwork is simple in style, composition and subject. As with a lot of great art, necessity was the driving force. If you box someone in they find new creative ways to produce a solution that wouldn’t have been there before. With a tight budget Villela simplified the colour palette and worked closely with photographer Chico Pereira solarising photographs and increasing the contrast until they became caricatures.

Have a look at these great examples:

‘A Bossa Nova’ Roberto Menescal, 1967

This playful cover inhibits the effortless class of Elenco’s range. Roberto smiling as clear as day, alongside humanistic penned lettering and rushed fish doodling. It wouldn’t have worked in any other musical style. But the spirit of Brazil at this time allowed Cesar’s great characters to exist with presence. The red dots connect the composition and guide your eye from the spear-fishing crooner to title, then the artists name. As with other Elenco titles simple visual tools such as hair-thin lines section off everything giving the white space the room it needs. The linear text shifts from side to side almost as if the artwork is swaying to and fro, enjoying the music that it holds inside.

‘Maysa’ Maysa Matarazzo, 1964

Maysa Matarazzo is one of Brazil’s great musical figures. She has the same one name pulling power of Kylie, Madonna, Kanye or Elton. She was a singer, composer and actress who recently had a Brazilian TV mini-series made about her life. The songs on this album and guest list make it an undoubted Bossa Nova classic. Villela fills the cover with the singer’s famous name and it slaps you in the face. The strong, heavy-set sans serif with each letter kerned snug next to the next shouts at you, and the lack of colour and the allure of her eyes make it impossible to remove your gaze. Once again Villela masterfully implements the Elenco red dot logotype to guide us to what he wants us to see and when. Whilst holding down the composition the dots invoke a slight Middle Eastern or Indian feel, which while being hip in the mid sixties also adds to the mystery of Maysa’s unshakable stare.

‘Baden Powell Swings with Jimmy Pratt’ Baden Powell, 1963

Baden Powell was one of Brazil’s most talented guitarists. After winning guitar competitions through his youth, Powell started to play as a professsional Jazz guitarist at the age of 15. His 1963 album, with drummer Jimmy Pratt, swings with the confidence of professional musicans at the height of their powers. This is a great example of script lettering and it provides the sleeve art an easy class. It is sad that as one of Elenco’s early releases it is the only artwork set in this handwritten lettering. The title sits well next to Powell strumming his guitar and looks as if it were playing with the dots along with Powell’s music. The dots here exaggerate and accentuate the text, overpowering it and giving it weight. The solarisation and high contrast used in Powell’s portrait creates an iconic image of the artist that holds details which in turn makes it personal and softer.

Villela’s minimalistic approach to Elenco’s artwork was inspired by the work of Piet Mondrian and the writings of Canadian communication academic Marshall McLuhan. McLuhan, noted author who coined the term ‘global village’ years before the internet, said “the excess of detail in an image is visual noise.” De Oliviera also played a pivotal role by giving freedom to Villela and his art department through the clarity of his vision. Elenco played an important part in the graphic modernisation of Brazil. This attention to detail, implementation of enforced strategy and the willingness to take risk, inspired future Brazilian generations and their 1960s peers. Before De Oliviera and Villela’s work at Elenco such integration between product and packaging (or artwork) was rare.

All images copyright Elenco Records

How did you feel watching someone act as yourself?
I never think of it that way, I never said to Ewan, ‘Be me.’ It’s from my perspective, it’s got tons of me in it, but he has to make it real for himself. He has to inhabit it and make it come to life. So from our first conversation I was like, don’t get caught up in me, don’t worry about it, just do it.

When you were developing Beginners, were there any inspirations or sources you would refer to?
I actually did a whole blog about it, that is on the Focus Features site. I love art and culture. And a lot of the reason that I make things is to have these conversations with these different people or pieces or different things. I had this life crisis thing after my second parent died and I ended up going to all these things that I loved. Like the graffiti, it is definitely about Situationist graffiti.

I was going to ask you about that. How much did that (the graffiti) relate to your Mu Mueseum work?
A lot of things that I do ended up in the movie probably because in the five years of writing the film and trying to get it made, I would actually do all these things. And I would be like ‘Oh, let’s just stick that in the film’. It was a weird thing to have the character kind of being based on you, anything I did kind of became fair game. It seemed to help as Oliver is kind of quiet, his graffiti, his drawings, his talking to the dog became these ways to find out how he is thinking and I think that is the reason why they stayed in the film, they had a real emotional function.

You said while you were involved in the GAP, West Side Story commercials that ‘I like to be obvious and innovative at the same time.’ Do you find your personal style changing from media to media?
What did I say? ‘I like to be obvious and innovative?’

‘At the same time’, yeah.
That sounds great… That sounds very Beatlesy, right, like the pop thing. I remember once when I was working for Marc Jacobs, and I really respect Marc and he was doing  really amazing stuff. I remember we were walking around New York or Broadway and he was like ‘We should use that.’ We were doing fabric patterns.

Yeah I saw those, the sailor patterns?
Yeah, we did a bunch of different things. I was like ‘Oh, that is such a cliché.’ I think it was lips. And he was like ‘Clichés are great, clichés are powerful, clichés are how we communicate with each other.’ I had never heard anybody say that. It was kinda that same thing with the obvious. Well the obvious is powerful or can be powerful. Or the quite simple and direct can be really powerful. And I am drawn to that but I don’t want things that are so obscure or hermeneutically sealed that no-one can get into them. Like… I love Andy Warhol, I think that the work is quite profound and quite strange. I starts out as quite simple and obvious then it has a ripple effect.

Just while I have you… The Sexy Boy Monkey. How did that come about?
When I do videos and stuff like that usually I put the song on repeat because your first ideas are a little too obvious or too literal. But if you listen to a song for a day or two you start to get weirder ideas that are still connected to the song but they are stranger. Listening to Sexy Boy, over and over again, I was trying to think of a sexy boy or an unusual sexy boy.

Did you get to Thai lady-boys?
(laughs) No. I was walking around somewhere and they were selling those monkeys and I thought, let’s make that the sexy boy.

Are there any designers or visual artists you would like to see get involved with film?
No, that ‘d just be more competition, I don’t need that… I’d never had that thought. There are some photographers that are friends of mine that, you know Ryan McGinley, he’s a good photographer, his things seems so filmy to me anyway, I keep trying to tell him that he needs to do a film.

Do you feel that you approach most creative projects the same way? With the same sorts of methodologies or do they change?
It’s kind of similar and it’s different for different things. But I do believe that your best ideas are going to come from your unconscious or parts of yourself that you don’t  really understand. So I’m always trying to get access to that. It’s really important to not know what you are doing, to not have it defined so that something that seems out of the box of what you are doing comes to you, those are the ideas that really intrigue me. I think that it is quite similar to thinking that this little monkey is good for Sexy Boy, it is not right or not seemingly logical, often it has this deeper thing to it. I do try to promote that. It’s alot of wandering around. You need to give yourself alot of space to wander mentally. It’s important not to say what you are thinking about I think. Once you said it, you have defined it a little bit.

You don’t feel the need to express it to be able to understand it?
A little bit. Me and my wife talk a little bit while we are developing something but no, I hardly talk about my work to anybody. And I think talking about it… Felini said, ‘Don’t talk about it.’ it dispels the energy and if you don’t talk about it, it keeps burning in you more. I also don’t want to bore people. I’m 45 and If I talked about what I’m working on with people, they would get so bored with me. So you learn not to talk about your work very much.

Are there some sorts of techniques that you use to stay productive?
I’m pretty protestant. I get to the desk at 8 and I leave at 6. That does suit me or I can do that. I always have a moleskin notebook around and I had some really good ideas yesterday when I was waiting to be on the ABC radio, I was writing in the lobby. Being on airplanes and being places that you don’t know, going to museums, can really be great. I learnt to try to be as by any means necessary as I can. But I definitely like being inspired. I like music, other movies, books, not if I’m making a film I tend not to watch  film, but a song or something from a different medium. I love communicating with other artists. They don’t know  I’m communicating but there is some sense of camaraderie or I feel like I’m on some team.

Do you feel apart of a film community or graphic design community?
Not really, with any living peers? No. I don’t really hang out with a group. But I went to the Vienna show yesterday. I felt I had a great community with Klimt on a few issues and that’s all I mean. But that gives you alot of company, it is easy to talk yourself out of something or feel that you are not good enough or feel like you can’t or what does it matter, and then I go to the museum and I see the certain sense of freedom that he gets in painting these flowers and that means a lot. It bolsters me up and it makes me feel like I should continue. And I really need that.

Other people inspiring you…
To finish. Or to keep going or that it is important. Or it is easy for me to think, it’s not important with all this shit that is going on in the world, this is ridiculous, I can really get dangerously in that mindset.

What I got from Beginners is that it can sometimes take a lifetime to somebody to truly know themselves. Is there something that you would like someone to walk away from the film with?
I like that. I think we are endlessly confusing to ourselves. And that is a big uncomfortable place to live in, but that is the human condition.

There are different versions of yourself too.
Yeah, we are not just one thing.

Skater Mike, graffiti Mike, director Mike….
(laughs) Or we’re very paradoxical and contradictory beings and it’s is almost impossible for us to really get that. We are always trying to make our story simpler than it is. And we really like our film characters to be simpler than we could ever be. I’m trying to do that a lot, how can I make my film characters be a bit more human. You can’t really contain them in a story. My wife is really good at understanding how wildly paradoxical people are.

I think that women are better at that in general…
Yeah yeah, true.

Interviewed was conducted on behalf of Desktop Magazine
All images copyright Hopscotch Films.

With modern visual trends, technology and society having evolved so much and wine, in comparison, being basically the same drink, is design and wine a neat match? Well it’s certainly important for selling the 98.7 billion dollars of wine produced globally in 2009.

The wine industry is divided into the Old World (Mainland Europe: France, Spain, Italy and Germany) and the New World (USA, Australia, Argentina, South Africa, Chile and New Zealand). It is not only history and geography that divides these two worlds but production and marketing techniques that create entirely different experiences, tastes and consumers. Traditionally, Old World wines have regulations and standards that require the producer to list the region where the grapes were grown, the producer, vintage, quality etc. However detailed this may be, it can offer surprisingly little information whether it will compliment the trout you’re holding in your left hand.

What revolutionised the modern global wine industry was label simplification and emphasis on grape variety (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay etc.)  The U.S. was the big wine success story growing an insatiable appetite for varietal label imported wines such as the Australian drop Yellow Tail. 50 years ago, wine was seen by your average U.S. consumer as an elite beverage with lots of spitting and sniffing. Simple, understandable, eye-catching bottle and label design with the grape variety pride of place was the catalyst for turning the product from minor player to world-wide juggernaut.

With scores of producers and growers cottoned on to this billion dollar industry how do you break out of the wine line and into the hands of our dinner party attendee? While quality, marketing, reputation and awards are all influential, an eye catching label, bottle or even better a well thought through combo of the two are often the drivers of consumer choice when people are staring blankly at shelves.

Some eye-catching recent world-wide campaigns

1. Jaspi Blanc – DO Tierra Alta. This label is a subtle and refreshing new world take on the less well-known Spanish whites. While specialised printing techniques such as foiling as seen here and embossing have always been used, illustrative foiling is fertile but untoiled ground. Really successful labels add to the wine experience by reflecting something of what’s inside – this is clean, fresh and herbaceous.

2. Casillero Silva. A truly international collaboration. A Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon made with modern viticulture techniques for Anglophone consumers, it is lovingly wrapped in a Swedish designed label that speaks of lust and indulgence. A great marriage of modern playful typography and textualised photography that leaps from the shelf into your hand.

3. Finca de la Rica. El Buscador & El Guia are conceptual pieces that invite consumer participation. I have never seen negative space work so well on labels. With understatement, Studio Dorian effortlessly marries typography and illustration on wrappers for these, wines for thinking people.

All these wines are positioning themselves for a certain type of customer. For good, bad or worse the wine’s personality is reflected by the label. Why does a wine position itself as the common man’s champion such as the Arrogant Frog (above) or as a fun flirty indulgence that is to be shared over a giggle? A fine artisan drop that is handcrafted by generations of French aristocrats contrasts nicely with the local footy club’s annual gala plonk or the vintage from around the bend, up the dusty track or where you’d rather be. These different levels are what makes wine the ultimate perceptual or marketing tool: off grape juice in a wrapper. It’s beautiful.

The design of the wine label not only pulls in the $10 customer, it also influences the luxury market. In 1946, Baron Philipe de Rothschild, patriarch of French Chateau Mouton Rothschild, decided to clothe each year’s bottle with the work of a different artist 1975 Andy Warhol vintage below (on the left).

Each year the bottles are collectors items but with the growing influence of Chinese buyers in the high-end market, the  announcement that  the 1998 vintage would be designed by Chinese artist Xu Lei produced a 20% price spike overnight. You can get your hands on a bottle for the price of a small car.

Wine labels, promotion, marketing and imagery like all established industries is set for change. These changes are going to come from new markets, new technology, successful campaigns and international collaboration. Slowly the old world will merge into the new, and like the European examples shown above, class and quality won’t be dictated by regions and convention but by the product and how the label and bottle add to the experience.