Learnings from OFFF 2024
“We are living in an era of unparalleled opportunity of self expression. And yet everything is starting to look the same.”
Max Ottignon, Ragged Edge
This year our team at HAA went to OFFF in Barcelona and we had an amazing time. The festival is a great opportunity to bring creatives together and celebrate creativity. I wanted to compile a few notes on what we’ve heard from studios and creatives, mention a few recurring topics and share learnings I found inspiring.
Nothing scary about AI
It feels like everyone’s been talking about AI. Is it a thread to what we do? Is it a tool to use? A few speakers touched on AI and its role in design. The immediate answer you need is no, AI won’t take our jobs. Human curation is still crucial and AI needs human input to be trained on.
The positive spin we’ve heard, is that AI tools won’t be able to deliver something new and innovative, because it’s built to generate more of the same, successful visuals. In other words, our jobs are not going to be made redundant as long as we understand that we need to evolve with the times and accept that AI as it stands, is only a tool that is helpful at initial stages of the design process. I’ll write more on AI as its own newsletter soon, as I feel this is a hot topic that interests a lot of designers at the moment.
Innovation is the future
We live in an era of unparalleled possibilities. New technologies and tools have entered the industry once more. I remember when I started out and some designers found Photoshop difficult to use. Now it feels like every design graduate knows how to use motion in their work and is also able to work on digital project. Change is the only constant. Our industry is always changing and we must learn to change with it, adapt and evolve.
Focusing on is original, innovative work seems to be the way forward. We’ve seen so much good work out there that just looks and feels the same. A copy and paste job from brand to brand, all within a range that makes the work feel ‘fresh’ and ‘relevant’ but when you dig deeper, it’s all derived from trends. Brands imitate each other and they end up conforming to the general ‘likeness’ that’s happening in our global, social environment. It’s time for us to stop doing more of the same and focus on creating work that breaks the rules, conventions and shifts category standards.
Don’t stop making things
Mess around and enjoy the process of making. It’s ok to produce–a lot of–work you are not happy with. Keep experimenting and keep making things. Try something new, combine tools, use your hands, use 3D, use anything! Creation is the best teacher. If we stop creating new things and start repeating old patterns we’ll end up stagnant.
Sometimes you need a side project to keep fuelling your creativity. Having something to do, even if it’s a small project (let’s say a series of posters or a type treatment) will keep your brain engaged. Your work projects might not always live up to your aspirations so make sure you create outside of client work. Those personal projects are what’s fuelling your creative soul. We are all visual explorers and every project is an adventure.
Focus on ideas, not aesthetics
We are visual people and we sometimes forget that ideas are the most important part of our jobs. Any good designer can create something beautiful. But very few designers can combine a great idea and a well-executed visual approach. Start with a concept, keep it simple and follow it through. It’s ok if your end result is not as beautiful as it could have been. The idea can shine brighter than the aesthetic.
Fail fast and fail often
Nurture your failures and start seeing them as experiments and learnings. Be brave and try things out. Failing is part of the process and you shouldn’t shy away from it. Take away the pressure of failure and realise that if you are not willing to fail, you are not willing to take a risk. If you don’t take any risks you’ll end up creating work that’s safe. Safe is often dull. Which circles back to my point above about innovation. Failing is part of innovating. You’ll fail more often than you succeed. That’s ok. It’s all part of the journey.
There are many learnings to gather from OFFF. A lot of them will probably present themselves in some of my future posts. There is a certain feeling that fills you after so much inspiration. A feeling you should be doing more, trying more. But often that feeling won’t last. It’s the fear of being mediocre, of producing work that might not be as good as what you’ve seen. That fear will keep you going. It won’t feel like an inferno after a while but a steady flame. Without the fear of being lost in the crowd, you will never try to set yourself apart.
If you’re keeping anything from all these, I’d suggest it to be this: go ahead and take risks.
Three projects–from the festival–to inspire
🌍 Wise by Ragged Edge, especially those icons. Not a choice I would personally make but they work and they are iconic.
💛 This launch site for Cotton. A great showcase of the studio’s capabilities and an excellent use of creative coding skills.
🎨 Everything from Eike König and his incredible work.
