Healthcare is one of the biggest issues facing North America right now–regardless on where you fall on the political spectrum health care (I’m Canadian, so it’s no real secret where I fall..) it is one of the few things we can TRULY say is a matter of life and death. What about designing a better healthcare experience? This is a massive question that designers and healthcare professionals around the world are attempting to address, and by no means will even come close to answering here, but I hope to at least get you thinking on it…

A great post from Frog Design started with this note from Florence Nightingale:

“It is a curious thing to observe how almost all patients lie with their faces turned to the light, exactly as plants always make their way towards the light; a patient will even complain that it gives him pain ‘lying on that side.’ ‘Then why do you lie on that side?’ He does not know — but we do. It is because it is the side towards the window.”

Healing begins and ends with a human experience. It’s something that rarely gets the attention it should. Whenever you enter a hospital-regardless of how “good” it is-it can be mind boggling how cold and as a result, downright frightening, the experience can be. But it doesn’t have to be. We know so much about designing better tools, better technology, better experiences, it’s about time we all start thinking about how to make the patient experience just a bit better.

Evidence Based Design is a term that’s incredibly important to this sector and essentially boils down to having any innovation be subject to a process as stringent as a clinical trial. Which makes some mind-boggling design innovation just a bit slower…but it’s not impossible.

Now I’m not talking about a Frank Gehry monument, it’s about using technology to design better experiences. London designers Priestmangoode propose hospital wards modeled on health spas and beds like those in first class airline cabins. It’s an interesting experiment, and in the least it gets you thinking about the future and what it may look like.  They have a compiled a great manifesto on health to get you thinking more about the impact of design on health care (here). It would be so amazing to see technology and design find that perfect intersection for the world of health care. And maybe, just maybe we can get a health care bill passed to boot (sorry, political undertones…)

Images via Deezen

Now that we’ve been grounded in what this amazing period was about, it’s time to start connecting it to what’s going on right now. I believe the greater learning in studying the Bauhaus is rooted in the notion explored in 1923 by Walter Groupius: “Art and technology: A new unity“. This takes on a whole new meaning in the world we live in today, yet is just as profound and “new” a concept today as it was in 1923. This incredible convergence of these two massively impact filled worlds is yet again, changing the consumer world.

There is a growing desire to maximize this bond-fuse into something spectacular that yes, perhaps even is commercial. Commercial has the opportunity to find it’s way OUT of being a dirty word if it’s done RIGHT. Coming back to some planning language, this is contingent on what is core to being a MODERN BRAND. Modern brands will live at this intersection of art and technology and still have expansive commercial appeal. It IS possible. Great examples exist with brands like Method, Uniqlo and IKEA.

In a very simple and tangible example of Bauhaus influence is with IKEA. Mats Nilsson, IKEA’s design strategist, had mentioned in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, that the  company’s ideology is inspired by the Bauhaus, especially the idea that high-design objects could be affordable to the masses. According to Nilsson, “this was Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius’s ground-breaking idea, while the machine aesthetic he worked with in his days was a bit hard for many to like and accept.” The modern styling and mass creation is reflective of the Bauhaus clean, simple style and ethos is definitely defining to IKEA, but stopping to say that IKEA = Bauhaus would be an unfair assumption.

So many other influences of the Bauhaus exist to this day, many architecture and design as the Bauhaus faculty and graduates fled Nazi Germany, Groupius teaching at Harvard and spreading the ideals of Bauhaus to North America. Ideals of simple modern design are still prevalent in many of the most famous buildings in the world, as well as typographical impacts and the profound impact on the “fine art” world as well (still some of the most revered artists of our time came from the Bauhaus). The ideals of Bauhaus will live on forever, but the impacts should be taken in by ALL of us, not just our design counterparts. There is so much to learn and uncover for the future of great products and great thinking to come.

My knowledge of the Bauhaus prior to my recent visit to the MoMA was incredibly limited–I was vaguely familiar with it relative to some connections to IKEA and how they had “Bauhaus inspired” design/ethos (which I’ll discuss more in the next post), but further from that I was very much in the dark. My experience at the Bauhaus exhibit was incredible–I went twice, feeling like I must  have missed things the first round. Totally and completely awe-inspiring.  And I still feel like I’m only scratching the surface of truly understanding what this school/icon/movement meant to all of us, especially those of us in the advertising/design world. As a part one of a two part post, I’ll quickly overview the history of the Bauhaus and follow up with a perspective of what this can mean to us today and beyond.

The Bauhaus (1919-1933) was one of the very first colleges of design, coming out of the merger of the Weimar Academy of Arts and the Weimar School of Arts and Crafts. While the name lends itself to architecture (the term Bauhaus as an inversion of ‘Hausbau’ – house construction), founded by architect Walter Groupius, it was created on the premise of being able to create “total” work of art-art, architecture, graphic design, interior/industrial design, typography. At its heart, Bauhaus aimed to find the intersection of the aesthetics of great design and the mass commercial demands of the industrialized world.

Bauhaus is typically broken into three key stages, which are consistent with the three German cities it resided in. Weimar (1919-1925), Dessau (1925-30) and Berlin (1930-33). Weimar period saw the rise of the thought “Art and Technology: A new unity” (Groupius, director 1923) as the Dessau period forged forward, the notion of rebirth in knowledge “we are seeing the world through completely different eyes”. The final period was met with the avant garde movement in the Berlin arts scene, juxtaposed against the mounting feelings of nationalism as the Nazi regime ultimately closed the Bauhaus in 1933.

Now this was no run of the mill “art school”-quite the contrary. Fine artists such as masters like Johannes Itten, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Oskar Schlemmer were faculty (can you imagine a color theory class with Paul Klee and Kandinsky? Well, if you were at Bauhaus in 1923, they would have been teaching!) While they never outwardly rejected the ideals of Expressionism that had dominated the fine art scene-director Groupius  felt a new period of history had begun with the end of the war and he wanted to create a new architectural style to reflect this new era. His style in architecture and consumer goods was to be functional, cheap and consistent with mass production (is this starting to sound familiar?)

The next post will talk more about the impact of this astounding movement…

I encourage you to learn more and explore the fabulous site MoMA has put together for the exhibit if you can’t make it to NYC to see it in person.

http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2009/bauhaus/Main.html#

Images via: Moma.org,

One of the biggest reasons why I got into advertising was because of my fascination with products and why I could become SO enamored, if not obsessed with simple things based on well, the way they looked. I have bought plenty of inferior products JUST because they looked so darn nice.

But what is it about a perfectly designed package that is so intriguing? From the pretty silver Nordstrom boxes to Tokidoki patterned yogurt cups (thank you Yogurtland, we really needed that), to some incredibly off the wall packaging that surprises and delights. It’s that little pièce de résistance that makes a good product, GREAT. An easy example would be Apple, but they are just great all around, so almost beyond this conversation. Same to say about a brand like Method, who have become synonymous with artfully designed packaging.

An old example, is FRED water. Yes. I drink FRED water. And get laughed at nearly every day. But why? For me it’s yet another form of my style and design ethos. It’s about self-expression (realize this is water we’re talking about) . I won’t drink from a regular shaped bottle. Square bottle. Round peg, square hole conundrum. Other than just being somewhat of a rebel (drinking water), it’s just the right size of bottle for me. I’m a rather little person and it fits in my hand perfectly. Not to mention the horrified glances I get at the gym when people (rightfully) think I’ve got a flask rather than a bottle of water. And I love it.

Now this is no recent phenomena or burgeoning trend. It’s just a fact of consumer behavior. Often we like shiny things. Or at least interesting things. It’s not about a particular style, as different styles appeal to different people. The point is to HAVE a point of view. Whether you are coming from a highly sustainable place (100% compostable packaging like the new Sun Chips bag), or minimalistically designed with an incredibly modern aesthetic, or even designed with a retro vibe (like the new/old pepsi can), packaging can change the discourse of your brand incredibly easily-the incredibly ordinary can become extraordinary in one wonderful swoop.  As Richard Bates from BIG (Ogilvy) mentioned back in 2007 in Fast Company:

“Packaging has the potential to make or break a product.” He cites the iPhone and Chanel’s packaging as examples, explaining that the high sheen lacquer finish of the latter’s cosmetic product packaging “fingerprints like crazy: when I watch a woman hold a Chanel compact, she is constantly burnishing it and making it beautiful. The nature of the packaging engages the consumer with the product — the interaction just adds to the story.” He also surmises that the black polishing cloth included with the iPhone could elicit a similar consumer product relationship.”

My favorite spot to check out the latest in packaging goodness is dieline.com. Some incredible innovations and incredibly inspiring. Following is a smattering of some fabulous examples.  http://www.thedieline.com/blog/

Images via www.dieline.com

The Adventures of Tin Tin was a fascinating and beautiful comic strip from 1930’s, created by Belgian artist Herge. Following the adventures of a young Belgian reporter, the many antics of Tin Tin have enthralled audiences for generations. The simple, gorgeous illustrations have have inspired many,  admired for its clean, expressive drawings, his own ligne claire style. This aesthetic has inspired so many in fact, that the Herge museum has finally been completed. A true work of art in and of itself. Needless to say, added to the list of personal “must-sees”. All this stemming from a seemingly benign comic strip about a clean-living man and his dog.  A lovely write up in the Economist helped to shed some light on this beautiful new museum with the world.

The brainchild of Hergé’s second wife, Fanny Rodwell, who set up the Hergé Foundation in 1987, the museum shows off a rotating collection of original artwork and source materials, laying bare the hard work that Hergé put into his comics, with each speeding car, cityscape or policeman’s uniform inspired by archived photographs and research trips in the field. Back in his Brussels studios, Hergé would spend long hours posing as each character while assistants sketched him as a reference guide for the final drawings. (Economist, June 2, 2009 )

(Images via:Atelier Christian de Portzamparc )

So if you follow this blog, you’ll know that I love these new fangled terms that pop up in well, popular culture. My latest obsession is the idea of sustaethics-new category of artfully designed products coupled with sustainable materials and/or building processes. Ever since the “green movement” began, there has been talk of how this movement was about more than just being a “crunchy” green–I hate the phrase, but I’ll use it here — “birkenstock wearing tree huggers” (and for the record I have owned birkenstocks and come rather close to hugging trees), this iteration of the movement has been decidedly modern and I daresay, stylish.

Alfredo Häberli has worked for companies like Alias, Camper and Kvadrat and is able to blend – as his name implies – two very different cultures. Born in Argentina, he now works and lives in Zürich, has designed some great pieces of sustainable furniture. His simple designs are not gratuitous, overly designed pieces, rather have a unique and simple feel that have a really honest, yet luxurious feel to them.

“For me, sustainability is to create designs that are fun and honest. Thoughtful, expressive design has always been sustainable… Switzerland used to be considered boring because of its careful, eco-conscious culture. Now this is sexy!”

Source: http://www.carbodydesign.com/archive/2009/05/08-bmw-design-talk-villa-d-este-2009/

Relative to culture today there is so much to be said for truly embracing the art of seeing the savvy in the ordinary and mundane. In a world that is kind of ordinary and mundane (and that’s on a good day!), zakka can make you smile. And reminds you that you SHOULD smile everyday, at any moment.

Designer Shinzi Katoh epitomizes this idea of zakka. His simple cartoon like characters and beautiful line designs are nothing like the Americanized version of kitsch. I daresay, it feels a bit…modern. But not in a cold, unfeeling way. It has a warm quality that feels innocent and just has an ability to make you feel just a bit happier.

Thankfully, the era of faux-green is starting to fade away as the economy sinks lower and those who had the extra cash to, ahem, “care” are now finding themselves (gasp!) cutting coupons, we are getting back to the roots of sustainability. Sustainability is inherently linked to creative thought, whether it’s recycling/reusing things in innovative new ways or creating new ways to power the nation-sustainability is about being smarter, not flashier.

So what is the next big green? We’ve recycled, it’s time for reuse. In interesting MEANINGFUL ways. Like this amazing tape deconstruction. Symbolic and (in a small way) being sustainable. Other things like services that create teddy bears out of your old treasured sweaters. Brilliant. There are things we don’t ever want to let go of, because they mean so much more. And now is the time to express it.

Barcelona’s Vaho create furniture out of items like shopping carts and oil drums and bags out of banner advertisements and tires. Creating newly coveted “trashion” items that are even used in promotional advertising. Genius! (Source: PSFK)

At the end of the day who really cares about Anya Hindmarch’s reusable grocery bag “I’m not a plastic bag”? (sorry if you got one…) Is it surprising that these have now found their way to the bottom of the bargain bin? Not really. It’s what happens when we marginalize social movements to trends. At the end of the day only the real innovators and creators will prevail.

(Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/iri5/); PSFK.com

Totally “modernized” the packaging, made it look cleaner only to face a backlash from consumers. Our take-away is that sometimes new and shiny (or clean and modern) isn’t always what’s best for the brand.

So the logo wasn’t “fresh and modern” as Peter Arnell would have thought. Now how did the brand hear about the intense backlash? None other than twitter my friends. Yes. Twittering is now making brand decisions. Advertisers and brands alike let’s start REALLY thinking about what “Web 2.0/3.0″ means, because our consumers are getting closer and closer-and it may just mean more than your creative director one day. Listen now and stay ahead of the curve.

(Image: http://www.johnmamus.com/designeverything/2009/01/tropicana-design-critique.html)