Do It Yourself. or Get Someone Better Than You Are To Do It: GSBTYATDI. Why did that not catch on?

The St Bride Foundation is the spiritual (and once physical) home of my college. St Bride Library specialises in collecting and preserving specimens of typography and printed ephemera. I have spent the last two days there at the St Bride DIY design conference, here are the highlights from day two…day one to be added later when I recover my notes…oops.

German typographic genius (why are they always German?!) Wolfgang Weingart was first of the day. His work mirrors the way he talks; methodical and considered. A student friendly presentation, he stated his main objective was ‘to give students courage,’ his favourite pre-cursor or conclusive statement being ‘for the students.’

Other pearls of wisdom hastily scribbled:

“Don’t speak too much. Don’t write too much. Do it.”

“Put air between the letters.”

“The paper stays the same, expectation changes every time, it is all about symphony.” (said in comparison to  a composer’s music sheet)

In order to have a profession…”you must have fascination and love, you must know why, you must learn history.”

“Have fun. Everything is an important stone in the mosaic”

“It is not necessary to design new letters. We have enough” (to a room of type designers. ha.) …..”We don’t need a luxury life with so many choices. It brings chaos.”

“I am proud that my work is timeless as I did not go with the fads and zeitgeist in type of the time.”

“Experimental is a stupid word. I create experiences. Experimental works are for science.”

And the one comment that will cement him as an absolute legend in my eyes:

“To say that the basics have no place in universities is idiotic. A musician must practice. Children must learn the language before they can speak it.”

Next was Teal Triggs on Zines. I’m always a fan of amateur endeavors and as Teal commented the ‘craft activism’ that seems to be arising from everywhere in the form of zines, guerrilla gardening, printing and blogging is quite encouraging as a reaction to the saturation of consumer crap. It’s also great to see the communities that form around these activities.

This was later proved by the makers of Manzine, a zine alternative to the lads mags and metrosexual journals that men have to choose from in the commercial market. Written by journalists of some of the most successful of the two commercial camps, it is witty, relevant and honest. With articles such as ‘Objects of disaffection’ in which writers rant about things like gravy boats and hand driers: a refreshing change to the gadget porn that always appears in sunday supplements – not everyone wants a widescreen T.V – ever considered that?! ‘Man’s best friend:’ a full page photo of a nice dog rather than some scantily clad ‘bird,’ ‘Thinking Man’s Crumpet;’ a feature on the best combination of baked goods, beverage and setting. Other absolute gem’s include ‘The Genealogy of a Grudge’ and ‘Maxims & Mediations from the Wise Old Barbour Jacket.’ My Dad would love it.

Petr Van Blokland (brilliant Dutch designer) is really into programming. I didn’t know this before. I do now. I have never programmed anything more than a freeview box so most of his presentation was sadly lost on me and many others in the audience, however he does (obviously) have some great insights into design.

“The problem is not getting ideas but getting rid of them”

He has developed something called The Design Game that to me sounds like a role play of service designing for students which is interesting and something that I will definitely be looking into. “It’s not about aesthetics but procedures”

“Do it yourself and keep it for yourself” (if you create a system that works for you.)

Lastly Alex Bec and Will Hudson of It’s Nice That fame. After trying to set up a design practise together they then invested time in a blog which has led to them setting up an agency in which they curate and act as project managers…So basically my dream job. To say I was listening intently is an understatement.

There was no plan. There is no plan. To reiterate; they never had a plan. Which is always how the best things start.

Their alternatives to DIY was DNY: Do Nothing Yourself and DID: Do It Differently.
DIY is the act of not being too precious with things.

So: get people involved who do things better than you do. Do things you have never seen or heard of before.

They choose content that would otherwise get lost in the ether if It’s Nice That didn’t exist. They don’t pick things CR or Eye are already covering. They offer a unique resource.

I have often questioned a need for the magazine but the boys fully justified the decision as obviously they need to make some money, they wanted to go into greater detail with some interviews and most of the work they feature is made to be viewed in print so why not show it as it is supposed to be seen. Also the magazines act as a good archive and reference point rather than trawling through the blog.

Affable chaps and clever with it. Nice indeed.

TBC…day one to follow shortly…

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