The backstory…

My friend David sent me a link to this poster by Simon Vince a few weeks ago. He’d seen it on the Brainpickings website and thought that I’d like it. I did, and although I recognised Simon’s name, I couldn’t remember where from.

The next day, during a random search, Simon’s name popped up on my contacts list.  My notes said that we’d met at the Rich Mix centre in 2010, and then it all came back! That day in May, I’d been meeting people for our BracketLab project. Simon had overhead me talking about creative collaboration and approached me for a chat.

So I tracked him down to find out what had happened in the two years since we met, and to find out the meaning behind his poster. We decided to meet at Rich Mix again.

About Simon…

Simon Vince is a true multi-disciplinary champion. Primarily a London-based self-employed graphic designer/artist, he helps small to large businesses communicate their ideas through design, by producing brand identities, brochures, posters and other literature.  Alongside this, he’s also a musician and has experimented with animation, video, photography, collage and screen-printing.  He’s been searching out collaborations from the moment he started his graphic design course at Falmouth Art College.

The poster…

The “collaborate” poster, which Simon designed in 2006, is part of a project by John Stanbury (he and Simon studied together at Falmouth) to help new students make the most of their time at university through a designed piece of advice. ‘Advice to Sink in Slowly’ is a collection of posters created by recent graduates, each containing a tip that they wish they’d known at the start of their course.

 “The main thing I’d gained [from university] was a lot to do with the people around me, not just students, but also tutors. I’ve been invited back to do tutorials and I tell students to make the most of their time there, their surroundings, and the other diverse talents, different skills and backgrounds that people have.  It’s about working together and combining your ideas”, says Simon.

The clear meaning behind the poster is the growth of a tree.  The roots symbolise different university courses, the people, their backgrounds and the various ideas and skills that intertwine. They come together in the trunk – a growing hub of energy – and then the tree sprouts to create something bigger, better and more beautiful.

“When I went back to Falmouth recently, I saw the poster framed in the library. It was great to know the University recognised the importance of collaboration”

At university…

Simon found he was always pushing his own boundaries during his studies, because of his enthusiasm for so many different creative disciplines.  He sparked up collaborations with students from other courses to explore his interests in creating multi-sensory pieces through combining music, visuals and words.  One project was a video he developed with an animator – he helped to art-direct the piece and produced the soundtrack. Another was with a photographer/poet where she recited her work on top of a film that they had created together, and music that Simon had produced.

“I was excited by being in a place where there is so much talent and different types of people. I found it extremely inspirational. University is your first step into the world of networking and working alongside other people”

The video that Simon created with poet Emi Kodama “Between Land and Sky”

Freelancing…

So how has this translated into the reality of working life? The process of collaboration is still important for Simon, but it’s been harder for him to find people to work with since he graduated and started working for himself in London.  This is partly to do with having less time to experiment creatively as a freelancer, and partly to do with finding the spaces and places to meet potential collaborators – the reason why co-working spaces are such an asset.

Graphic Collage by Simon Vince

“The thing that I miss the most is sharing and bouncing ideas off of others, and the motivation and inspiration that comes from having other creatives around.  I could potentially work on much larger projects that the ones I’m doing now if I was collaborating more.  Collaboration is like a relationship.  If you find someone that you work well with, you can take on all kinds of projects and challenges together”

Although Simon doesn’t work as much in the way that he did at university, he likes to see his client projects as collaborations rather than ‘being hired’.  He finds it more satisfying and productive for both himself and his client to be working together to reach the same goal.  His collaborative outlook has been invaluable in making this work, as he tries to never have a strict expectation of the creative outcome.  Clients like this approach and find him easy to work with, and in turn this grows his practice.  His open-mindedness is what feeds his curiosity, and he likes to constantly learn from others’ perspectives and ways of thinking.

At our meeting, Simon handed me a postcard size version of his poster. On the back, he’d written: “Combine your talents, cultivate your ideas, let your creativity blossom and allow something bigger and beautiful to grow”.

You can find more of Simon’s work at his Tumblr and his portfolio site.  Also, buy the Collaborate poster (and others) at Advice to Sink in Slowly.

Image credit: goodfornothingflickr on Flickr

Do you want an outlet to exercise your thinking and play with creative ideas? A hackathon-inspired event could be the answer. Hackathons (also called ‘hack days’) are 24-48 hour events where developers come together to produce a mobile or web app in response to a brief or problem.  Although hack days tend to be technology-oriented, there are also events that encourage multi-disciplinary teams, inviting other creative producers and thinkers to contribute their skills in problem-solving and making.

This style of event is intense, fast-paced and challenging and good for pushing you outside of your creative comfort zone – something we all should do from time-to-time.   They mostly take place over a weekend, with the ideas presented at the end (think ‘fun music jam’ rather than The Apprentice).  You work on topics and projects that you might not usually, and often they’re focused on social issues, so you get to do some good at the same time.  For freelancers it’s an opportunity to bounce ideas off of others, and to practice collaborating and playing nicely with other creatives.  The focus is on ‘doing and making’ rather than just networking, although meeting new people will always be a natural outcome of the events.

Here are a few to check-out.

Social Innovation Camp (on-going)

Social Innovation Camp “brings together software developers and designers with people who understand a social problem to help build web and mobile solutions to social challenges”.  A range of ideas are selected for the weekend, and they invite people from all disciplines to help bring them to life.  Originating in the UK, Social Innovation Camp is now worldwide and a recent collaboration with the British Council, Culture Shift, has seen the project travelling to Kenya, South Africa and Egypt using the format to develop digital platforms for the creative and cultural economy.  A great range of social enterprises have been born at Social Innovation Camp, including Enabled By Design and The GoodGym.

Good for Nothing (on-going)

Good for Nothing events have been described as “creative collaboration meets rave”.  It is an initiative of The Pipeline Project and is their social mission to bring thinkers, makers and tinkerers together to provide creative support to pioneering social enterprises and charities.  They have three main principles: 1) Doing not talking 2) Collaborate and experiment 3) Support the true innovators.  Good for Nothing have just received funding from NESTA’s Innovation in Giving fund to roll out the format nationally and online. Get involved through their Good for Noth-Ning site.

IDEO Make-a-Thon

IDEO, the innovation consultancy, wanted to produce some of the great ideas that were coming out of their social platform OpenIDEO. Their aim was to organise an event that was more than a hackathon, by bringing in other disciplines.  So in February, they went with a “make-a-thon” – inspired as much by the maker culture as the developer culture.  The multi-disciplinary nature seemed to be a large part of the day’s success, as well as having a wide variety of briefs, not just limited to digital. They looked at problems such as the future of the village fête and cycle safety, as well as developing digital platforms for tourists using Boris bikes and Amnesty International.  Read the full write-up.

Global Service Jam (ongoing)

Global Service Jam takes place annually and globally for people interested in service design. On a set date, people join their local event to form teams, come up with a theme and produce and publish a service in 48 hours.  You can apply to host a Global Service Jam – there are currently around 90 cities listed on the website.

Vincenzo di Maria, co-founder at commonground, a social design agency, has attended Global Service Jams in Lisbon, London and Madrid. He gave his take on the events:

“In the spirit of a jamming session you’re expected to experiment, exchange, and create new unpredictable things. You don’t go to a jamming session to launch a record and you don’t expect the same dynamic that you get at concert. Instead, you just expect to contribute your knowledge and experience, and get inspired by the other people around you. For some rational people this may sound confusing and even frustrating at times – meeting up with random people and working under pressure to solve a big social issue over a weekend… for free!  But here is where magic happens – creativity and good meet up to create unpredictable results.”

The next event is planned for 1-3 March, 2013.

[Update: see Adam's info in the comments section about sister event Global Sustainability Jam taking place in October 2012]

7 Days in June (upcoming)

Ok, so it’s not strictly a weekend, but an interesting project and also a paid opportunity for the right individuals. The aim of  7 Days in June is to show the value and benefits of freelancing to the UK economy.  They are looking for freelance and student video producers, digital media producers, audio producers, directors and researchers (and their assistant roles) to work together over a week to produce rich media content.  By the end, they will have a range of material to be showcased across TV, online and radio. Anyone with the relevant skills can register their interest on the website and a specialist team will be selected to participate.

It’s also worth considering this format to run your own projects, with a focus on ‘doing’ and having something to show at the end of the period. I’ve written about the 24hour book project before, where writers, illustrators, and photographers came together to create a new story about London over one day, and last week the Guardian wrote about the twenty-four magazine (h/t Andrew Seto).  Last year at Clerkenwell Design Week I came across the specifically non-digital 24 Hour Design Challenge from Hendzel and Hunt, where the aim was to produce a machine capable of playing music from objects found around Peckham.

Are there any others to be added to the list? What’s your experience of attending a similar event?

Hydar has been a freelance photographer since April 2010 (although he started practicing in 2002), when he left his job as a technical support engineer at Microsoft.  But he hasn’t left his technology background behind him completely, it’s still very much a part of his practice, and it’s provided him with a unique take on collaboration.

Hydar in Paris. Photo by Thomas Crossman

 “We can’t only justify being individuals because we all need to do something together”. Hydar Dewachi

On inspiration

“When it comes to creativity, I enjoy working with other people.  Not just with other artists, but a group of people with different skills that can each add something to the mix”.  Recently, Hydar was commissioned to photograph the WAKE exhibition by Arts Admin at Dilston Grove – a six-week project where artists were invited to undertake a mini-residency, each picking up where the previous left off.  Although as photographer, Hydar was more of an observer, the act of being in an evolving collaborative environment like this enabled him to draw inspiration from the work that developed. Collaborations and conversations are most valuable when they bring people together with different expertise.

On ‘minglism’

Together with his friend Xavier Pick – a painter who mixes his work with digital photography – they developed the term “minglism” when they had the idea to combine their work and mediums. They preferred to let the collaboration develop organically rather than forcing it. “When we first met, we didn’t know how we were going to work with each other, so each time we had a conversation, we would record it.  A lot of conversations get lost if you don’t record them.”

On skills

“It used to be ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ but now I believe being a jack of all trades is mastery in itself” says Hydar. “You don’t need to be perfect in one thing, but you do need to have a wide range of skills, for example, if you’re taking pictures to be shown on a website, your knowledge of technology will help you to know what works in that medium”. Artists should reconsider how they define their skills.  Those that say they only do one thing are limiting themselves, as now you’re expected to have a range of skills just to practice your art – e.g. a photographer might use film but will still need to know how to scan them for digital use. Just as important is the ability to define those skills, and talk about them, so that others’ know your capabilities for potential collaborations.

On combining creativity, technology and identities

Hydar has always been sure to talk about all sides of his work – whether he’s someone that works in IT doing photography (when he was at Microsoft), or a photographer that used to work in IT (currently) – and these multiple identities regularly make an appearance in his practice.  A recent project explored the use of Google Earth for showing work.  Not a new thing, but Hydar used his comfortable relationship with technology to show that an art doesn’t always have to be in an exhibition – it can be online too.  “The project is to show my journey to become a British Citizen, and the distance I’ve travelled. After a year, I realised I didn’t need to be either Iraqi or British, I could be both nationalities together”.

This mingling and fusing is clearly demonstrated through Hydar’s website, which he has designed and developed himself to showcase his work – an online photographic gallery, a digital flick-through of his journals containing notes, sketches and collages; and PDF downloads of text pieces reflecting on his Iraqi heritage and dual nationality.   Hydar has developed an approach which means that he happily combines disciplines, skills and experiences, and has an openness to working with others to learn and develop his practice.

More info and examples of Hydar’s work at www.dewachi.com

Around 2 years ago, we wrote about the 24-hour book project, an ambitious initiative bringing people together to collaboratively write, edit and publish a book in just 24 hours. They succeeded back then, and now they’re back with a similar challenge for the South Asian Literature festival – this time with a South-Asian theme and working with contributors from both London and Delhi.

 ”On Saturday 15th October, writers armed with their bare imaginations, a lot of digital ink, and an industrial quantity of coffee, will commence the writing process. Then, on Sunday 9th October, a group of volunteer editors will move in to make the story ready for publication in the final 12 hours. The book will be printed using the latest print-on-demand technology and published under a Creative Commons license.”

It’s an interesting and exciting way of working, and also reminded us of the project that produced the Collaborative Futures book over a week in January 2010. The team have also gone on to create Booki, a downloadable platform which encourages others to produce and publish books using a similar open model. They call this the ‘book sprint’.

The ‘sprint’ has evolved from the technology community, where a group of developers come together over a specified time to develop software projects. Media Lab Melbourne, who have taken the concept to a wider creative community including artists, designers, scientists and technologists, describe the sprint as “short periods of intense project development based on a theme”.  Although there is a large emphasis on producing digital content, working collaboratively in this way also naturally lends itself to using online tools for participants to collaborate. The 24-hour Book Project and Collaborative Futures shows that it works in book publishing, and there are certainly other creative disciplines that could use this format too.

Would you attempt a ‘sprint’ for a project that you’re working on? Do you already work in this way? Let us know.

The 24-hour book project will be taking place at Rich Mix, Shoreditch on 15^th October from 10am. It is run in partnership between The Literary Consultancy, the Society of Young Publishers, CompletelyNovel, if:book, German Book Office New Delhi and the Young Indian Publishers.  They are still looking for experienced writers, proofreaders, copy-editors, and typesetters to participate, so if you’d like to get involved, check back for more details. View the flyer (PDF)

Time for a technology slow down?

Image by dogbomb on Flickr

Aleks Krotoski (Technology writer and broadcaster) explained how the web has provided exceptional opportunities for social interaction. The ability to make new connections and collaborate with speed is a positive development.  Our technology keeps us connected to the greatest archive that the world has ever seen.  But Krotoski also noted that as humans, we don’t always have the capacity to deal with this, particularly in terms of synthesising information.  As Nick Tyler (Chadwick Professor of Civil Engineering) stated, the rate of human evolution is much slower than the rate of technological evolution, so engineers need to start developing solutions that place the human first.

Perhaps this explains the discomfort that many individuals experience in trying to surf this wave  – they feel constantly behind, they don’t feel ready.  One audience member commented how she feels ‘forced’ to engage. Is it all moving too fast for us all to comprehend?

Sherry Turkle, author of the book “Alone Together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other”, brings together 15 years of research on the impact of technology on our relationships.   Turkle says that it’s time for us to reassess how we’re using the web in line with the effect that it’s having on our behaviour, social etiquette and ability to communicate.  The answer is not to refer to it as an ‘addiction’ – technology is not going away.  But, we do need to look at issues such as privacy and how the ‘always-on’ culture is affecting our (and particularly young people’s) ability to be alone and to communicate effectively with others.  In one piece of research she found that business students prefer texting to real-time interaction.

Re-connecting with real-time communication

So it’s interesting that some technology being developed is focussing on how to enhance real-time visual interaction, as opposed to text-based.  Something that could have a major impact on the way that dispersed teams collaborate.  At the NESTA event, Richard Harper (Microsoft) explained that a reason that video conferencing hasn’t taken off in the workplace as yet, is that people prefer text-based communication to real-time as it gives them time to edit – it’s a performance issue.  He noted that on a basic level, people don’t like leaving voice mail messages because they don’t trust themselves to get it right first time.

At the same time, the technology capabilities are now improving.  Previously there were issues with quality and connectivity.  Now, as Nick Sheppard (CISCO) described, it’s almost impossible to buy a new communication device that doesn’t have video capabilities.  It’s something that we’re being increasingly exposed to, and it’s changing the face of communication, literally.

The future of video communications

Image by axel.voitier on Flickr

At NESTA’s Digital You event we heard from two companies at the forefront of video conferencing.  Gostai describe their Jazz Robot (pictured) as a “skype on wheels”, providing a two-way live video link to a location, but is mobile, enables interaction with colleagues and can be used to observe surroundings.    So for example, rather than cutting off the virtual communications at the end of a meeting, the robot enables an individual to maintain their presence.  Even though the image of interacting with a robot raised a few giggles at the event, Gostai have made it a reality.

body>data>space have been researching the area of telepresence which they describe as “realtime performance or connections using the internet to link two or more remote spaces”. This includes how technology can portray gesture development and body movement, particularly in the skills that young people will need for their future social and professional interactions.  They have a range of fascinating projects which explore the use of technology to enhance collaborative practice, one of which is the NESTA-funded Robots and Avatars.  Ghislaine Boddington (Creative Director, body>data>space) mentioned however, that when they run their projects they develop a timeline which integrates both physical and virtual meeting points.  This method of hybrid communication, she says, is vital in terms of building trust.

Virtual communication over physical?

And this is a key point in that ongoing question: will virtual replace physical?  In a word, no.  It was clear from all of the speakers, and in fact both events, that these tools are not a replacement, but are providing us with a wider choice in how we communicate.  What’s important is that future development takes human needs and psychology into account, and in turn we become better at recognising when it’s more appropriate to meet in person or when it’s relevant to use digital communications.  As one speaker remarked, “video is better than e-mail, but not better than face-to-face” and we often need an in-person meeting to kick-off effective virtual communication in a project.

Furthermore, it’s important for us to not blame online tools for unsuccessful collaboration.  People collaborate, not technology – it’s just there to make the process easier.  The team has to be right in the first place, have the willingness to work together and the skills to ultimately get the job done.

We’ve picked out a couple of events you might find of interest, looking at both the processes and outcomes of creative collaborations and partnerships:

OK Talk: design dialogues between Helsinki and London, 23 and 25 September
Where: 1-3 Wenlock Road, London N1 7SL
Entry: RSVP to hello@ok-do.eu before Tuesday 21 September

OK Talk brings together over 20 designers, artists and theorists from Finland and Britain to talk about emerging questions in design philosophy and strategic design:

• Strategies of Participation, Thursday 23 September, 8.30am-10.30am

Five individuals from research, design, art and architecture specialising in events, online platforms or exhibitions, will discuss how they create constructive collaborations.

• Borderlands, Saturday 25 September, 11.30am-1.30pm

This talk explores the crossing of boundaries between design, art and other fields with an emphasis on collaborative practices. What can working in between disciplines offer for creative professionals and the world at large?

More info

Friday Late at the V&A: Two’s a Pair, Friday 24 September, 18.30-22.00
Where: V&A, Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL
Entry: free

A night that celebrates famous design-duos and collaborative working in Contemporary design.  The programme for the evening, curated by Designersblock, includes Couples Design Counselling – a series of films on how collaborators balance their professional and personal lives; Joined At The Hip – costumes designed by Puff and Flock which will only function if worn by two people; plus many other installations, talks, workshops and performances.

More info

Please check the event websites for the latest updates.  To see other events happening during the London Design Festival, visit www.londondesignfestival.com.

Making Ideas Happen – an essential read for anyone who generates ideas – takes readers through a series of suggestions, based on case studies from successful creative organisations known for “overcoming the obstacles between vision and reality” (the book’s tagline).  This ranges from practical tips on managing projects (including Behance’s own “Action Method”, thinking about how your workspace can help you become more action-orientated, and overcoming the stigma of self-promotion.  It also nods to some of the current trends driving our working practices such as the freelance culture, flexibility, digital developments and co-working, as elements that should be capitalised to support ideas execution.

A considerable amount of the book is dedicated to the “Forces of Community” using networks and contacts to get ideas through to completion.   Making Ideas Happen acknowledges the value of collaboration (“ideas don’t happen in isolation”) but identifies the challenges that can arise throughout the process for creative people, such as sharing ideas, transparency and tolerating feedback, whilst looking at processes for overcoming these.

Overall, Making Ideas Happen is an accessible read that encourages you to reflect on and re-evaluate the way you work creatively.  Belsky has been careful to focus on thought-provoking techniques for putting ideas into practice (99% of the work) rather than ideas generation which is well within the comfort zone of most creative people (the other 1%).  It’s one of those books that, when you find your brilliant projects aren’t leaving the sketchbook, you should dip into for actionable suggestions for getting them going.

For more information visit http://the99percent.com/book or pre-order the book on Amazon.

Did it work?  Even better than expected!

By the end of the two days we had:

-       a new website with a wordpress theme built from scratch, based on a new colour palette

-       a series of illustrations and text visualising the Bracket collaborative process, as well as text throughout the website

-       a range of characters to be used in an animation for an online viral video

-       a series of images to be used in a printed promotional campaign

-       and the beginnings of a film documentary

So how was this achieved?

We spent a long time (the first half of the first day), using Bracket’s developed techniques to generate ideas, set aims, and identify the tasks to be completed   Our essential toolkit for the two days included magic whiteboard, post-it notes, and coloured pens and markers.  By lunchtime, the walls of THECUBE were covered with words, diagrams, scribblings and plans of what was going to happen over the next day and a half.

Being in the same room together meant everything could happen quickly and seamlessly.  Laura (copywriter) worked with Emily (graphic facilitator/illustrator) to iron out the Bracket process which informed the text and illustrations; Naomi (graphic designer) worked with Joel (filmmaker) to develop the colour palette for the website and the characters used in the animation and illustrations; Matt and Andy (web-developers) worked together to set-up the website, and then Matt worked with Naomi to translate her page designs to the web, whilst Andy worked with Laura on the search engine optimisation (SEO) keywords.  It was great to see everyone’s ideas gradually coming to life.

Furthermore, everyone said that they enjoyed the experience – meeting new people, working with others and adding an interesting project to their portfolio.  Through the agency, Bracket intends to run more of these ‘labs’ to deliver commercial projects.  For more information on Bracket’s creative agency and to get involved, visit www.bracketcreative.co.uk

Here is who is involved (in order of how far the network spread):

Laura North – copywriter (a previous colleague)

Emily Wilkinson (Empathi) – graphic facilitator/illustrator (introduced through a mutual friend)

Naomi Ray (Studio Pixie) – graphic designer/illustrator (met through Twitter)

Matthew Smith-Stubbs – front-end web developer (fellow member of THECUBE, co-working space for creative businesses)

Andrew Davey (MediaBandit) – web developer (responded to a call put out through the Open Coffee mailing list)

Joel Somerfield (Order) – filmmaker (was passed on by someone through the Open Coffee mailing list. But turns out he has done work for mutual contacts also).

So we all know how important it is to stay networked to stay in the loop, but if you want to build a collaborative team quickly – it’s essential.

Stay tuned for the progress of BracketLab, which will be taking place on 2^nd and 3^rd June at THECUBE.

Thanks to Andrew for the link!

Delivered in Beta from KS12 on Vimeo.