July 2019
Shape-shifting
The runway was filled with excitement at this year’s annual BA fashion show at London’s renown art school – Central Saint Martins. Fashion student Fredrik Tjaerandsen presented his collection of shape-shifting balloons that engulfed the models. As they proceeded along the runway the balloons deflated to form dresses or skirts. All in all, a remarkably creative display. Our favourite, of course, was the orange balloon.
Martin Prosperity Institute
“Shared Prosperity”
“Building something from scratch is always a risky business,” writes Jamison Steeve in the foreword to the Martin Prosperity Institute's retrospective, Shared Prosperity. This was true when the think tank was founded – and now indeed for us, as the firm tasked with creating a 'keepsake' to honour the full gamut of their work.
It was a daunting and monumental task. The deadline for completion was barely six months. Nothing existed. There wasn't a manuscript, let alone a creative brief. How could we wrap our arms around 10 years+ of intellectual output? How could we honour public intellectuals like Roger Martin and Richard Florida, let alone all the Fellows?
The Martin Prosperity Institute (MPI) was founded as a public-policy oriented think tank concerned with the underlying forces that drive economic prosperity. Heady stuff. Important stuff. H&W worked side-by-side with the MPI team, using a rapid prototyping model to ideate organizing principles for content, chronology, visual expression and thematic elements. We thought about the underlying mission for the Institute and developed a unifying idea, not only for their massive cache of work, but also how to visually encapsulate it all.
Barb Woolley and Dom Ayre led MPI through months of ideas, iterations, layouts and physical samples resulting in a hefty and comprehensive four-volume, case-bound celebration of the Institute.
Jamison also writes that the “dustbins are filled with good ideas that never came to fruition.” Fortunately, this one did.
