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Was the decision to operate as a multidisciplinary studio something you aimed for at Airside’s inception?
Alex, Fred and I have different but complementary skills - I have always been interested in the digital side of things, Fred has had more of a graphic design and illustration bent, Alex was more 3d. Some surprising things happened from that - we all became interested in animation even though that was not in any of our backgrounds. One of the reasons we started Airside was because we felt that the jobs that were out there at the time pigeon holed us - for me I would have had to be a programmer OR a graphic designer OR direct/produce a project. And I wanted to do everything.
What are the benefits from operating as a multidisciplinary studio?
You can give a rounded feel to a brand - think about the personallity of the brand then run it out over whatever media is appropriate. Over the last decade many studios have become multi disciplinary and most brands have consistent brand expressions in all media now. From a personal point of view it keeps things interesting to be working on an App one week and a piece of print the next.
Are studios that specialise in one area of design (print, web etc) at a competitive disadvantage?
Sometimes it's good to have experts in one particular field. Although I do think it's important to learn good collaboration skills so a digital studio can partner with a print studio to deliver joined up solution.
A sad thought but… are JPEGs the new album covers? Is there still a place for printed matter in graphic design?
The music industry is certainly going through an identity crisis when it comes to format. However, 14 year olds I know are still buying CDs so maybe the real world format is not yet dead.
What one development (software, technology, theory etc) do you believe will have the biggest impact on your work in the next ten years?
I hope companies will start to understand that design thinking should be present at the heart of the business and not just as a pretty add-on. Design thinking and service design can create a brand which is consistent across all customer touch points - from the website to the call centre to a retail outlet. When a company (like Apple) do this, the brand is strengthened and trusted in a way that a glossy image alone cannot do. ---
I would have to agree with her sentiment that good collaboration skills are a must for any studio - its important to have the ability to work with other specialists in order to design together across many disciplines - a perfect example of this would be to design an iPhone app then outsource / work with a developer to turn it into a reality. I imagine that this is now a crucial skill needed in the creative industries as you can't be know everything. What you can know is who to call upon should you need help and work together on a project. Its this aspect of design and the relationship between new technology and print that I'm excited about now.
I've talked about brand equity in my FMP rationale and I have come around to a new way of thinking about 'full-service' design and I think that Nat's last comment about design thinking sums this up perfectly: 'Design thinking and service design can create a brand which is consistent across all customer touch points - from the website to the call centre to a retail outlet. When a company (like Apple) do this, the brand is strengthened and trusted in a way that a glossy image alone cannot do.'
I would say that my own design practice has shifted toward this design thinking and the idea of comprehensive art direction to strengthen a project across its many deliveries.
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