Designers should not be pigeonholed by discipline
With regard to this week’s Voxpop, I never pigeonhole designers. Most of the best are creative in all aspects of their thinking. For example, a typical trip to Tesco by my wife and design partner Gerardine might go something like this:
On her way out, something prompts her to want to improve our home… it could be the lighting, the colour, it might be that she fancies something different on the wall. Getting in the car, there could be a big balloon coming out of her hat saying, ‘Surely the vision can be improved… did the designer consider a 5ft 3in driver?’
The road really pisses her off… she starts thinking about children having to cycle along this unlit 50mph-limit road, a road without a cycle lane… surely the pavement could be designed as dual-use?
As she enters the shop she notices some shoes and a bag. ‘I’ve got an old accessory ensemble deep in my wardrobe, must dig it out when I get back,’ says the head balloon. Looking again, she’s glad she hasn’t had one of those predictable Toni&Guy haircuts. The packaging of the veg drives her mad, never mind the crap graphics. Waiting in the checkout queue, she plans a sales centre for George Wimpey, thinks what Hemingway Design should be doing for its next tiles range, and plans dinner.
It’s clear Gerardine was born with a questioning mind, a creative mind that is willing to have a go at improving any aspect of how we live.There are lots of creative minds like hers, and at Hemingway Design we don’t want employees who say they are a ‘graphic designer’ or a ‘fashion designer’ or a ‘landscape architect’… we just want free-thinking, creative people.
Wayne Hemingway, Partner, Hemingway Design, Wembley HA9 8HD
I think the comment is true, however the reality of today’s business world only allows for professions to work within the framework provided by associations and insurance companies
I agree with both Wayne and Damian. Designers who think creatively within certain creative agencies can find themselves caught in what might feel like dusty hierarchical structures. It may not be in the interests of an art director or even a creative director to accept or even acknowledge that their common or garden designers concept has won the pitch. But I would encourage all creative designers to know their own worth.