Design on the mind

New residents? No, not new employees, or unwanted mice, but 3 new ‘jungle’ plants for the office - a Yucca and two Dracaenas (Dragon plants). As part of our overall mission to brighten and add inspiration to the Deckchair office we visited the local garden centre to purchase our new office foliage.

As Andrew Shanahan wrote for the Guardian, plants have many proven benefits for the office - first of all they look great and boost our mental well-being and sense of calm. But on top of this they purify the air by exchanging the carbon dioxide we breathe out for oxygen, they filter other volatile compounds, reduce allergens and balance local humidity.

Scientists have discovered that having plants around can boost our level of concentration, help prevent common bugs (such as colds) and reduce stress levels. Dragon plants in particular are known for their abilities to absorb many of the harmful emissions from computers and printers, and cacti are said to reduce the electromagnetic fields and radiation emitted by computer screens.

We just need to remember to water them!

Links to useful articles:

Flower Power (Guardian)

Why Plants are Good for You (Waitrose)

Put a Cactus in Front of Your Computer Screen (Planet Green)

Becky

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Every now and then I come across the work of a talented artist, designer or photographer, and it’s always a great inspiration. James Starr was exhibiting at Room 212 in Bristol a few weeks ago and I have to say he is one of the more impressive artists I have seen there.

James is a painter, printer and illustrator. His images are created using a mixture of original screen printed material, photography, freehand illustration and collage. He has traveled as an expedition artist for BSES Expeditions to the USA, South Africa, Iceland and Arctic Norway.

I spent quite a bit of time chatting to James and he took the trouble to pop by our house to drop some work off to me and my partner. (James, it is at the framers; can’t wait to get it back! :)). It was a great pleasure to meet a talented local artist and genuinely nice person.

Stop by James’s website sometime and have a look: James Starr

Toni

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This is a fascinating yet possibly controversial series of photographs depicting the process of cremating a human body. Although the usual purpose of this blog is to talk about design, I felt it was an opportunity to highlight what I find to be an interesting topic for discussion and give you a sneak peek at the latest work of a great photographer (and good friend of mine).
Stephen Lewis has been a press photographer working for various newspapers since 1998; he now also does weddings in a documentary style. Over the last few years he has been doing an MA in photography (like he didn’t have enough to do already). This exhibition is part of the final show for the course.

Stephen talks about his work:
“I initially set out to document the mechanical process of cremation but found my own mantra for the project in the ‘The devil’s in the details’. That is, little elements of the process became fascinating and I found even the most mundane of objects in such an environment became charged with significance and symbolism. Metaphors of death, symbolic suggestion of religious belief, suggestion of an after-life, even the evidence of life itself, in the most mundane items and even in the construction of the crematorium itself.”

“The more obvious imagery can be found in the photographs of the actual burning of the body which reflect a hell-ish vision. These were achieved through the viewing aperture which is a small window of very thick glass. The intense temperatures inside the chamber and the glass itself created a slight distortion, this coupled with the speed and unpredictability of the flame movement and no way of knowing how the body will ’sit’ as the coffin burns away, made it a challenging but extremely fascinating process with which to work.”

“One central aim of this project was to show the unseen ‘journey’ that many of us will take but obviously never experience and through that journey to confront the viewer with the processes of death and our own mortality. Ultimately I have found through the care and attention to every detail taken in the cremation process, a sense of the dignity ascribed to the dead and through that a sense of our own humanity.”

See the exhibition and that of the other MA grads:

Personally I find this work fascinating, thought provoking and original. What do you think? Do you feel moved by the pictures? Offended?

Toni 

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Last night, when I got home from work, all hell had broken loose, my daughter (aged 3), had stuck her hand onto a hot light bulb and was screaming the place down. After putting her hand under the tap for 5 minutes I rushed at top speed to the chemist round the corner.

The pharmacist recommended a spray to take the pain away. Great! It was then that I realized I had left my purse at home! Not so great! (They were about to close).
“No problem” he said, “take the spray now, and call by in the next few days to give me the money”. What a nice guy! This kind of trust is rare these days I think, don’t you?

What on earth does this have to do with design? I hear you ask. Well it got me thinking about the trust involved in the relationship between designer and client. In fact, its not just designers; in many of the service industries there has to be an element of trust between the parties. As a designer, I think you only have to have your fingers burned once before you protect yourself, legally, against the sort of people who want to rip you off.

Most design agencies have staggered or stage payment systems in place so as to avoid the situation where the client disappears into the sunset without paying at the end of a three month project. I suppose for web designers, at least there is the option to just take the website down if the client doesn’t cough up. Although this doesn’t pay for the hours of design work spent on the project.

Aside from the money issue, there is another element of trust that rears its head every now and then. Why is it that people think that designers should do spec work for nothing? In other words, come up with preliminary work for no payment to pitch for a job or ‘prove’ that they can do it? Surely the client looked at the designer’s portfolio and liked the work. That is what a portfolio is for, is it not? The client should trust that the designer will deliver the goods, or don’t hire him/her.

Design is a professional service, not a commodity. What do you think?

Toni

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I had the great pleasure of attending Ollie and Sophie’s wedding on Saturday, it was a beautiful celebration and much fun was had by all. Here are a few photos from the happy event…Congratulations Ollie and Sophie, have a fantastic honeymoon!! (Ollie is Deckchair’s Creative Director).

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