AGI Open London 2013

Last week, I was lucky enough to be able to go to AGI open at the Barbican with my university (a highly subsidised trip due to the £120 ticket price).

 I've come back and reflected on my trip and I've realised that out of the whole three days trip it is the speakers who have really made an impression on me.

 

 

The Barbican

 

The artists and designers were so generous with their talks, giving me so much inspiration. Seeing and hearing from people who have made themselves a such successful creative career gives me so much encouragement that I can eventually do the same for myself.

In particular there were some speakers who really struck a chord with me, so here is a little bit of my notes accompanied with some snaps I managed to get in between note taking and sitting agape listening to talks.

Just a disclaimer, my 'notes' are usually 95% disconnected inspirational quotes and 5% drawings of dinosaurs. So this is going to be a list of quotes from people who have said things which I felt compelled to write down in order to remember them:

"It can take a long time to discover what you want to do."
"Keep searching for new ways to express yourself."
"The only projects I like are the ones I did for love, of the object or love and respect of the client."

- Marion Deuchars

"If you can make real things then it's more valuable to me."
"Am I an artist or a designer? I don't care! The important thing is to produce stuff!"

- Patrick Thomas

"Think about how to change the world every day."

- Astrid Stavro and Pablo Martin

"It's not where you get your ideas from, it's where you take it to."

- Roger Law

 The Margret Thatcher puppet from Roger Law's 'Spitting Image' television show.

"You have to believe in the content."
"You have to put your deep personality in each part of your designs."
"You are on the paper with your subject, if you are not, it's not good design."
"We are people messengers, we have to write with our hand to connect to the people instead of machine made print."
"You have to invest personally in design with your own approach and design."
"To create something that creates a question is good design."
"Be confident with your truth and what you want to communicate."
"You have to be close to your client, it's one of your many projects in your portfolio but it's a transformation of the client, you have to understand their reason and fragility."

- Pierre Bernard

"People will believe information that you put down if it's in an organised form."

- Paula Scher

"Seek out knowledge yourself, feed your mind, keep learning all the time."
"Just because you've had an idea, it doesn't make it good, next doors cat has ideas!"

- A panel speaking about the question of design led by Michael Beiruit

"BATMAN."

- Chip Kidd

 

Okay, this is a terrible quote, but I was too busy being completely and utterly consumed with Chip's talk. He is one of the most engaging speakers I have ever come across and the fact that his talk was about his obsession with batman (one of my little obsessions) just compounded my excitement about his talk. He delivered in style and I managed to muster the final resources of my energy to shuffle (literally) up to him at the end, clutching my copy of Batman: Death by Design (story by Chip Kidd) and tell him that I have watched his TED talk several times and that I love batman too. He was just as kind and sweet as I could have hoped he would be and he very generously signed and dated my comic and it is now one of my most treasured possessions.



"Enthusiasm gets you a long way."
"You need a passion to succeed as a visual person. You need to find an opinion, look at the things you like, it will tell you who you are."
"If you look at what your heart tells you to do then you'll be alright."

- Tony Brook

"You don't want to miss the banana stand, emotionally or physically."

-Christoff Neimann

Christoff Neimann's talk was actually one of my favourites, he was so charming and made me genuinely laugh throughout his whole talk. He presented in such a slick, professional yet personable way. He ended his talk with this video which he made for the NY Times which brought me to tears) :

 

Love and Fishes

Victoria

x