(soft bright music)
Aporva: We asked this question, what is good design?
And I think it's got many answers.
You know, it can be discreet and invisible.
It can be overt and beautiful.
It can delight, it can be functional.
But I think above all, it has to focus on
being relevant, authentic, and for real people.
You know, it's got to fit into their lives.
So I think good design is design that works.
-: It's formed from experiences.
It's formed from knowledge and insights
that get translated into a design system.
-: It has to have context and it has to have layers.
It has to feel like there's depth.
You can tell when brand work is kind of superficial
and it's not considered.
Whenever we see the final bit of work,
you can see everything in it, you know?
And even when we worked on the last project
that we're working on,
which we can't talk about, (all laughing)
I think there was a moment
where we were going through the strategy,
and you're like I love this.
I love, you know, being able to inform the strategy,
and also while I'm creating, have that in mind.
-: It's gotta look good.
It's hard, you can't really describe what that means.
It's hard to sort of put that into scientific
kind of words, I suppose.
-: I think there's no way to answer,
like pointing out, like, a list of aesthetical qualities
that defines a good design,
but it needs to like serve a cause or a community
or whatever.
-: Good design is additive
in whatever form it is, right?
Whether it's quietly moving along in the background,
just helping you go out throughout your day.
-: Yeah. -: Or whether it's, you know,
that big, in-your-face, kind of making you feel different.
-: Yeah. Or changing the way
that you walk or move or, you know,
allowing you to actually achieve more within your day.
-: That's maybe the difference between design and
good design or great design
is that it's design plus a purpose and a reason to do it.
It's not enough just to design something
that looks beautiful, it's gotta have a reason
and it's gotta land and kind of connect with people.
And it's that combination of all of those things
that make it successful.
-: For me, it's like,
good design is beautiful and communicates something.
So that, it's that simple.
-: I think I said it in my...
-: The way you said it was amazing.
-: (laughing) I think what, yeah, what I said was,
"Fuck, I wish I'd thought of that."
Because I think we all have that moment
where we see something like,
"Ah, why didn't I think of that?"
And it could be so simple,
and just go "Eek,"
everyone gets a little bit jealous of like,
design out there,
and like, "Ah, that looks really good."
Or like, it works in a way that's really good
or a great idea.
-: I think I definitely do see that.
I've been like, "I wish I'd have thought of that."
But then like, you know,
actually the reason why it wants to work is
that the person who it's, like, gonna be for like
gets a feeling from it.
And whether that's, you know, pride to like wear it
as a like, badge on your shirt
or you know, to have it that icon on your back of your phone
or something like that.
And it's to like, or make some smile when they walk past it.
Like, if it gives someone a good feeling
-: You know instantly it's good.
Like, you don't have to question it,
second guess what it's what it's trying to do.
You just get it.
-: People say, "Oh, what's great design?"
Great design has to be absolutely mind-blowing
and world-changing every single time.
But I don't think that's necessarily it.
It's more along the lines of it just,
as you said, it just, you identify with it straight away.
-: A big part of it is efficiency in a weird way.
It's a really weird word to use to describe it
but, you know, being kind of careful with the amount
of ingredients that you put in,
not overloading it, not clouding the sort of
the image of the brand,
whether that's visual or verbal or what have you.
I think there's an art to doing it well.
That kind of starts to lead into something
that becomes quite timeless
which is obviously something that we kind of strive for.
-: Probably there's nothing more
annoying when the brand's trying to be something it is not,
or it's trying to, trying to pretend to be something else.
-: The concept of finding the truth in the design when
you're talking about something that's beautiful,
how it makes you feel and the aesthetic, you know, and
and obviously there's a huge range within that and
and people have, they're drawn to different things
but there is a sense something about the purity
and how you feel when you interact with something
and you know, that sense of, I want that or I'd love
to have that, or that makes me feel a certain way.
-: If it can make you feel something, then it's,
it's done its job and, you know,
it's simple and effortless and it just works.
-: If you're having to explain it and go into a
deep sort of explanation of what it's supposed to mean
then I think you failed the task.
-: In our world, we're almost more conditioned
to experience bad design.
There's lots of bad design out in the world and
I think when you see good design, it, it
it almost passes unnoticed.
-: Mm hm.
Ben: The bad design stands out.
Hollie: Yeah.
Ben: Good design has the ability to blend in
but also has the ability to stand
out and drive change
where, where needed. Hollie: Exactly, yeah.
-: It needs to have the ability to influence
the people is being designed for.
So if we are taking in the context
of like one of our projects AC Milan
and one of the things you're trying to do
with that work was to re-energize the brand.
And what we really wanted to do is to get people proud
about being a fan of AC Milan.
-: It's about people, isn't it?
By designing something that's useful
to them, meaningful, relevant, and it works for them.
But there's also that kind of beauty
and craft and that thing that you bring yourself,
that's a, it's a self-expression.
So it's a kind of balance between those two worlds.
I think it's problem solving on one level
but it's also an artistic expression
and we've always seen ourselves as commercial artists.
I think you strike a balance
between those two things and fill whatever beauty
and craft you have with meaning, then it's good design.
(soft bell ring)