David Hieatt talks about his new company Hiut Denim. Photograph ©Davy Jones 2013.

At the beginning of May we attended London’s latest design conference POINT. Boasting some big names from the design world including, Erik Spiekermann, Morag Myerscough, Jonathan Barnbrook and video interviews from Alan Fletcher and Milton Glaser the bar was already being set pretty high. POINT took place over two days at Royal Institute of British Architects in London’s west end, the choice of venue (with it’s wooden panelled theatre walls, grand entrance stair cases and architectural-orientated bookshops) and list of speakers set an intellectual and academic tone to the conference.

With just one theatre for all the speakers there was a lot of speakers to get through in both days. For the most part this meant short 30 minute talks in order to stick to a tight formal schedule which kept talks concise and focused. Unfortunately this didn’t leave much time for questions both from the live audience or via Twitter. As both days progressed speakers towards the end of the day were given hour long slots which, for the like of Morag Myerscough and Matt Webb gave the audience a much deeper insight into their work.

POINT delegates enjoy the show. Photograph ©Davy Jones 2013.

Every talk was chaired by one of a number of well known design commentators including Patrick Baglee and Patrick Burgoyne. Each chair did a great job of making the speakers feel welcomed and relaxed and providing the necessary background and tone prior to their talks.

The overarching theme of POINT was Authenticity which was responded to in varying degrees and styles. Speakers such as David Hieatt and Nick Couch that spoke quite directly and coherently about authenticity were most interesting and provided the most insight in comparison to those who spoke a little more ambiguously. The style of each talk reflected upon Authenticity and one clear theme that stood out amongst each speaker was the idea that being authentic is about doing what you love, following your soul or doing what you know is right. A poignant thought that had clearly helped many of the speakers make important career and life changing decisions and a point that resonated with us.

A lasting thought from Let’s Get Mullered and Dance. Photograph ©Gil Cocker 2013.

This was POINT’s first foray into the conference arena and although there were a couple of teething problems on the first day (with such a tightly packed speaker schedule and some A/V issues) these can only be expected of a conference in it’s infancy. By the end of the second day POINT felt much more like a polished and well rehearsed conference with big design hitters like Morag Myerscough and Jonathan Barnbrook wowing the crowd with insightful anecdotes and poignant opinions.

As we mentioned there was a definite air of academia about the two days (reflected in the refined POINT roundel) and the choice of descriptor, conference rather festival, definitely reflects the difference in tone in comparison to TYPO, OFFset and OFFF. This was also shown in the ticket price at £400/£180 (full price/concessions) — we’d have hoped to have seen another theatre room so there was a choice of talks to go to. Despite the higher ticket price POINT certainly seemed popular, completely selling out.

If you were at POINT this year we’d love to hear your thoughts and if you were unable to make it along there’s a wealth of information including some sneak peeks of Milton Glaser’s and Alan Fletcher’s prerecorded talks on the POINT site.

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Here are our highlights of the two day event.

Erik Spiekerman

Erik is a seasoned pro when it comes to talks, captivating the audience with his Germanic wit within minutes (even after being told to be quiet by fellow contributor Emma for talking when sitting in the audience… oops!). Erik talked about authenticity in relation to process and how his agency Eden Spiekermann has been adopting a new approach to their work called the Agile Method.

Erik Spiekermann talks about not working with arse holes. Photograph ©Davy Jones 2013.

 Sean Rees & Nathan Webb

Definitely one of the highlights of the two days was fellow FFF contributor Sean Rees along with Purpose colleague Nathan Webb. An emotional but articulate and impeccably delivered presentation by Sean on the branding work they’ve recently done for the McGuire Programme – a speech therapy programme aiding people who stutter, which Sean himself is a member of. This one oozed authenticity in both content and delivery.

Sean Rees wins over the crowd with his challenging topic. Photograph ©Davy Jones 2013.

Let’s Get Mullered and Dance

This is a collaboration between Robert Francis Müller and Jessica Dance, and their talk began with them announcing their more permanent partnership and formation of a new studio Let’s Get Mullered and Dance. Showcasing their colourful and whimsical work, Robert and Jessica gave the talk as a sort of directors commentary giving a genuine behind the scenes feel.

Robert and Jessica discuss the importance of doing what you love. Photograph ©Davy Jones 2013.

Morag Myerscough

Although female speakers were in the minority at POINT (we counted 27 men to a paltry 5 women) Morag’s captivating talk partially made up for what lacked in quantity. Taking us on a journey through her wide variety of work and the family history that led to her love of colours, patterns and type. Given the honour of closing the event, with the help of the Highliners (fronted by Luke Morgan, also Morag’s collaborator on Supergroup London) she definitely went out with a rock-a-billy bang.

Well, we just love Morag Myerscough. Enough said. Photograph ©Davy Jones 2013.

Nick Couch

Nick spoke very openly about following those ideas that you know feel right, taking a fresh approach to entrepreneurial ideas to be seen more as an investment in a hobby for a year rather than an investment in a new business. An simple but effective shift in framing the approach that has seen him leave his position as Creative Director of Figtree and now running the very successful Open Studio Club and Free Desk Here initiative.

Nick Couch talks about studios being more open to encourage multi-disciplinary collaboration. Photograph ©Gil Cocker 2013.

Code Club

Clare Sutcliffe presented her unlikely story of advertising creative turned educator. Setting up Code Club, an after school initiative to help teach kids to code with the help of developers which so far has been doing incredibly well with over 700 Code Clubs set up nationwide in just under 12 months.

Clare Sutcliffe makes programming exciting for the next generation of developers and hackers. Photograph ©Davy Jones 2013.

Gentleman Scholar’s work was brought to our attention recently because of their intense neon typography for Spring Breakers movie. And the rest of their folio, predominately in motion graphics and live action, is equally captivating and pleasing to the eye. Highly detailed, stylised and super slick we were very impressed with just how good this LA based collective are.

LongLunch has teamed up once again with The Design Museum in London to host a talk with the brilliant StudioMakgill. Taking place on Tuesday 16 April 2013 the talk will presented by founder and creative director Hamish Makgill talking about his work.

Like always LongLunch have worked with their speaker to produce a limited run of screenprinted posters (hand screened by long-term collaborator and talented designer Dan Mather and paper provided by GF Smith) which are then given away on the night, first come first serve. So remember to get there early and bring a poster tube. There’ll also be a Q&A at the end of the talk with prizes up for grabs for questions so get thinking now.

Tickets are on sale via The Design Museum website £17 adults / £12 NUS / £8.50 Museum Members. Doors open at 7.30pm / 8.00pm start.

It’s also a great opportunity to announce and congratulate FormFiftyFive’s Emma Laura Jones and Sean Rees who have taken on the reigns of LongLunch and have help made this talk possible. In addition FFF’s Ryan R Thompson is helping to host LongLunch’s programme of Scottish talks with the next one scheduled for April 25 2013 at The Lighthouse, Glasgow with Ken Garland which should be amazing! Unfortunately the Ken Garland talk has now completely sold out.

We wish them all the best of luck and keep your eyes peeled for other talks coming in the coming months.

Photographer Victoria Ling specialise in producing beautifully stylish still life composition bursting with colour and geometric shapes. Collaborating with set builders like Kyle Bean and brilliant prop makers such as Anna Lomax to produce captivating and witty images.

London’s latest design conference POINT, taking place in 2-3 May 2013, aims to explore the power and value of great design within communities and the power it has to change the rules.

Boasting an impressive list of speakers for it’s inaugural year including Erik Spiekermann, Morag Myerscough, Jonathan Barnbrook and film interviews from Milton Glaser and the late Alan Fletcher and will be chaired by inspiring practitioners including Patrick Baglee, Henrietta Thompson and Patrick Burgoyne. With a list of names offering such a wealth of experience we expect POINT will deliver on their aim.

POINT has also set itself the ambitious goal of being the sibling to Frieze and TED in an effort to increased awareness and credibility of design in the wider community. With that in mind the theme of the first POINT conference will be “Authenticity” presented over 25 lectures, screenings and performances and supported by curated online resource open to all at the POINT website.

POINT will be taking place over 2 days at RIBA in London’s West End and tickets are on sale through the POINT website.

You’ve probably seen The Found Collective’s work before but perhaps never knew it was them. Merging disciplines of film, animation, music, illustration and interactive developers to produce captivating work for big brands like Sony, McLAREN and BBC.  

They recently visited us to talk us through some of their most recent inspiring work and about their recent merger with the folks at Studio Output. Hopefully we’ll see more brilliant collaborations between the two over the coming years and wish the lovely bunch of people at both agencies the best of luck.

Bringing together a mix of isometric inspired lettering and photographic and illustrative textures from London based illustrator and designer Jing Zhang.

We’ve showcased some of Tim Reynolds’ work previously via his work with Poolga however his work deserve recognition in it’s own right. Showcasing a contemporary trend in 3D for low-polygon modeling and taking cues from from paper sculptures, Tim’s work showcases some of the best examples of this technique. Colourful, textural and fragile they create the feeling of tiny captured worlds.

Have a look through lots of his work including some sweet little animations on his website Turn Is Left Home and his latest work in progress over on Dribble.

A brand new documentary titled Sign Painters looking at the resurgence in hand painted signage. Following two dozen sign painters working in cities across the USA.

We can’t wait to see it. A new Helvetica type documentary?

Mr Kaplin, made up of Robert Glassford and Daniel Zucco, have updated their folio and showreel to include plenty of new motion work. A really lovely graphic style!