[Design Indaba 2016] A font of wisdom

Just turn to someone around you right now and say the words design and Design Indaba and you may notice polar responses – it’s in my world view or it’s not.

The truth is design is very scary, it’s perceived as vague, exclusionary, intangible and too infinite, add to this the thorny territory of personal taste and it’s not surprising many shy away from design. What is it? What actually happens at Design Indaba anyway?

Don’t be chicken

Design Indaba showcases people who have the courage to take on the challenges of scary design, to look it squarely in the eye, who say “Bring it on!” Take Robbie Brozin, the co-founder of homegrown South African chicken fast food chain Nando's, the brand which has forged a global tribe around a font! He has apparently only ever missed one Design Indaba conference. On day one the winners of the Nando’s “Can you see the Light?” competition were announced and will see two young designers commissioned to create 100 light fitting to grace Nando's' stores around the world.

“Creative Courage” - NB Studio in London

Ironically the rallying cry of designers Nick Finney and Alan Dye of NB Studio in London, who presented on the first day of 2016 Design Indaba, is exactly that - “Creative Courage”, acknowledging the grit that is required to face up to the challenges of the design beast. (In a similar vein the dynamic duo of Cecilia Martin and Klasien van de Zandschulp from Amsterdam-based Lavalab, had stated their approach as "less test and more testicles", which I guess is another way of saying the same thing).

Anyway, among other amazing work, done by NB, their case study in association with the Spring Chicken brand, challenged designers to rethink the current road sign warning of elderly people crossing the road as derogatory, producing over 70 fantastic contributions from some of the world’s top designers, captivating the press, launching an exhibition and being used as an appeal to the UK's Department for Transport to consider refreshing the symbol.

“I’m just going to keep going until I’m 100” - Margaret Calvert

The “woman at work” road sign, is the very self portrait of Margaret Calvert, a prime example of both the danger of prejudice against age and an argument for good design. In fact, at almost 80 years old, the “oldies crossing” sign is the only one not designed by this Matriarch of British information design, who is still happily working away, generating enthusiastic audience applause from her statement “I’m just going to keep going until I’m 100.”

Calvert is credited with designing the fonts synonymous with the highly recognisable British road and transport signage information systems, the British Rail alphabet, the British Airports Authority Identity and more, which have for six decades set the global benchmark for ensuring people don’t get lost.

Calvert’s font New Transport can also be seen on Gov.uk, the website devoted to the entire government services information of the UK. Calvert, the font which bears her name, is seen in the signage of the Royal College of Art.

Even better, she’s originally South African, a graduate of Pretoria Girls’ High (audience cheers). Like Hugh Masekela the day before, Calvert and her contribution to design were honoured by a spontaneous Indaba-style standing ovation.

“Infinite possibilities” - Frederico Gelli

Talking of heroic acts of design of the highest order, Frederico Gelli of Brazilian graphic design studio Tátil, was awarded the bid for the 2016 Brazilian Olympic Corporate Identity, from 139 other incumbents. The fact that the Olympics and many other civic projects, need to be applied at so many interfaces and scales, incorporating all the above principles to ensure everyone needs to know where to go, makes it not just an aesthetic exercise, but one of the most daunting challenges for any design outfit. Their tactile 3D logo, which looks like people embracing or dancing, has been 93% positively received by Brazilians, as has clinched the subsequent commission of the heart-shaped Paralympic logo.

The studio has also undertaken all the work for Coca Cola’s Olympic sponsorship identity, a standout piece of work using Coke's distinctive curved ribbon, flowing colourfully through all communications, a symbol, like design itself of what Gelli terms “Infinite possibilities”.

Can we quantify the unquantifiable? - Benjamin Hubert

A loaded question, which industrial designer and founder of Layer, Benjamin Hubert, all but succeeds in answering. Questioning the unquestionable – in this case the plastic vehicle used for charity donations, in this case Maggie, a charity involved with Cancer, rethinking the donations box to be tactilely engaging, dirt resistant, aesthetically pleasing as well as taking up less space on the retail counters where it is intended. The fact that the box leans towards you and somehow seems to bow in gratitude, may sound a bit unquantifiable to some, but has quantified itself respect of an 83% increase in contributions to the organisation.

We may conclude that at its essence design boils down to one thing – how well you can anticipate every facet of end user experience - whether on the road or on the web, in the street or in the store - design holds hands, makes sure no one gets lost in the airport. If you manage to make people smile into the bargain, go to the next level.

Like Nando's, Olympic logos, traffic warning signs and charity boxes, design adds joy, instills pride and reminds us of our shared humanity.

Terry Levin has been covering Design Indaba for 12 years for proud media partner, Bizcommunity.