Critical Form – Landor

In this critical forum, Carl Wills stressed the importance of getting the strategy right because if you design based on the right strategic approach, it can get people to invest in the brand.

Kellogg’s
Kellogg wasn’t going to reduce its sugar content while other brands were doing it. The question was, how do you get such a brand crowded when everyone is so health-conscious?

Their strategy was to make – Kellogg’s had to come first, and the sub-brand follow. This reaffirmed Kellogg’s as the best brand in all cereal categories because subbrands tend to fight subbrands. But because everyone knows Kellogg’s, by highlighting, the focus shifts on the main brand rather than the subbrand itself. Kellogg’s is the first thing you see, and then you see the rest of the packaging.

Le shuttle
Many brands are trying to strip away personality from their branding
But Landor did the opposite for this brand. The strategy was simply to make people aware of the brand’s unique benefits that already make it different from other competitors like Eurostar.

Be Average and Curious
Carl also talked about suffering from the impostor syndrome, even after years of being a creatiove professional. The only solution to this fear of being average is to take these average things and then apply things to it.

For instance, you can take the average and then add curiosity to it – Carl has been a very curious person, which has really helped him in his career. In one of his projects for the UN, he was really curious about them and kept surfing their website. He came across the list of every single one of their meeting which have been recorded and uploaded there. The aim was to show people that the UN takes action and has a real impact through its words. This was further taken up to show how they are using words to make changes.

Be Average and Naive
Ask questions that people don’t usually ask. For example, during the Kellogg’s project, an intern questioned why we weren’t using the “og” in Kellogg’s. That’s when everyone realised it had been in front of their eyes all along, but no one questioned it until the intern did.

Be Average and Persistent
For a D&AD project for Brewdog, Carl’s team came up with an idea to flip the often negative connotation of rain – dull, inconvenient, unwanted: They came up with the idea that if “It’s raining outside, then it’s pouring inside.” A playful twist that turned gloomy weather into an invitation, not to stay in, but to head to BrewDog and enjoy what’s on tap.

Despite no initial response from the company, they didn’t give up. He believed in the idea, so he found a way — sending 30 guessed email addresses until one finally landed. If you believe in your work, persistence finds a path.

Be Average & a Storyteller
You can’t judge only based on the design; it’s the story that wins hearts. You need to get your idea down to 5 to 7 slides and also need to be able to put out your idea in one sentence.

All of this is thinking about –
How do you centre on one key insight?
How do you show your thought process?

You need to –
Find a way to provoke the recruiters
Don’t give everything away
Hook them in and then show the process

Carl on Ethics
Most companies have questionable clients, but you have autonomy in life. If I can make one of the world’s worst companies sustainable, then that’s it.

Carl on Strategy
Strategy is about mining information – It’s the clever bit. It’s the clarity.

Things to consider when applying for Jobs

Links
https://landor.com/en/our-work/kelloggs/
https://landor.com/en/our-work/leshuttle/

Us two games

One of the speakers was Lili Ibrahim from Us Two Games, a small games studio in South London known for its Monument Valley game. I was positively surprised to see that this studio is the world’s first B-corporation games studio, with the profits going to a humanitarian network. 

As a games studio, no one would expect them to do more than entertain, but if they are also able to incorporate a little bit of positivity while being playful, to me, that is the true definition of being ‘positively playful’, even if it’s in a small way. 

The game itself was well-designed – it’s an atmospheric puzzle game with dreamlike environments. It felt like the perfect blend of illustration and games. With tactile interactions and printable artwork as well, the game has a great balance of feeling good and looking good. It was very interesting to see their game-level compositions that were directly and indirectly inspired by optical illusions. The whole game is based on the Pen rose triangle – a physically impossible triangle that exists only in the game.

Sweet-Thang Zine

Zoe Thompson, the founder of ‘Sweet-Thang Zine’, shared how her entire life has been filled with DIY creations that helped her understand and harness their power. She discussed her journey from being a teenager who blogged to express her feelings and opinions, to discovering zines and eventually becoming the owner of a self-funded independent press that celebrates Black creatives.

I appreciated her perspective of viewing everything she has experimented with over the years as her playground. These playgrounds are reflective, open spaces that helped her find her future direction. This really underscores the idea that every new creative endeavor can help define your path and highlights the importance of engaging in projects that reflect your true interests, rather than solely focusing on work-related tasks.

SPIN Studio

Eve Broke, the Creative Director of SPIN Studios, and Tony Brook, the CEO, discussed their unique studio setup, which is actually in a house that they shifted into, from a commercial space. About seven creatives live together in this house with a garden where they play around with whatever is lying around. They started working analogue and digital – even got a typewriter. They believe that combining these different elements ignites a ‘metamorphosis’ that leads to unique ideas. This inspired me to incorporate more physical experiments into my own practice since it’s easy to feel constrained by digital tools at times. Simply looking around for inspiration can be an enjoyable and straightforward way to spark great ideas for projects or enhance the overall creativity of the studio.

Wolff Olins is a branding firm founded in the 1960s. They partner with brands at their pivotal inflection points. At the heart of their philosophy is the belief that

“Brands change how people think, feel, and act.”

• Think – Ex: Uber, they changed how people think about taxi services, from an on-demand service to a multi-modal platform.

• Feel – Ex: LG, changed how people feel about LG products from lifeless tech to “Life’s Good”.

• Act – Ex: TikTok – Using motion to give a sense that the brands is always moving, setting new trends.

The designers at this company manage a balance between working with larger clients and smaller ones. Additionally, the company does not partner with cigarette or oil companies. Most of their clients operate on a B2B model, while a few cater to B2C markets.

Work:

GSK – Their work for this globalcompany aimed to pharmaceutical instill confidence in the company’s vision of “Ahead of Disease Together.” The 3D brand assets were interesting in terms of their application, as they created numerous possibilities for showcasing the brand elements in physical spaces, such as reception desks or wayfinding throughout the offices.

Mercedes F1 – Their earlier identity was heavily shaped by fan feedback, which, while engaging, led to some inconsistency in its overall look. The new branding addresses the previous issue of the car appearing cluttered due to the numerous partner logos, creating a more cohesive look. What stood out was how this updated identity has been thoughtfully extended across different touchpoints—like caps, hoodies, and even high-end merchandise—bringing a stronger sense of unity to the brand.

Agency Structure:

One Agency – Three communities

• Design Community – Designers + Specialists + Technologists + Partners
• Strategy Community
• Engagement Community

The Red Thread: Design + Strategy

Design & Strategy come together such that all the designers are strategic thinkers and all the strategists are creative thinkers. They also believe in the importance of motion and 3-dimensionality.

Real-world over 3D:

It was interesting to discover that they have a dedicated Design Specialist who focuses on various technologies, including 3d printing. His role involves collaborating with different teams, and this hands-on approach is a real asset, allowing both designers and clients to see their ideas materialise as physical models. With so many product brands turning to AI-generated visuals, the key to standing out now lies in the authenticity of the physical world.

The 360 wheel:

It’s a wheel that they present to the client, encompassing branding elements related to verbal, sensorial, interaction, and visual aspects. For instance, in the mobility sector, the sound of the cars is sonic branding. Not every client requires all of these solutions; however, the more you tick off, the more brand experience you are building.

Links:
Wolff Olins Website

John Hegarty opened his talk with a universal truth:  Principles remain and practices change.

I’ve always believed that creativity comes from within, as he noted: “The more interesting you are as a person, through reading, experiencing diverse things, and living fully, the better you become.” The key here is that it’s not just about experiences in your specific field; it’s about embracing a wide range of life experiences. He pointed out that your unique set of experiences—like the places you visit, the books you read, and the activities you engage in—gives you a distinct advantage.

Types of Creativity:

Pure creativity originates from someone’s mind, like working from scratch on a blank piece of paper

Applied creativity is like writing an episode for The Simpsons, using existing characters. This focuses on solving a specific problem.

And thinking about it this, we always are working on specific briefs and they more about solving a problem. Whereas if I do a passion project just because I wanted to – I believe that would be pure creativity. Moving ahead, I want to maintain a balance of both.

What is at the heart of creativity?

Whenever I’ve worked on briefs , I’ve always tried to find out what was actually good about the brand- which can be especially difficult for some brands that I personally don’t resonate with – but the job is to put our bias aside and look for the the truth of the brand. 

“Truth is at the heart of great art” – Boris Groys

“When a piece of art has the truth, power remains with the creator. If it doesn’t, it moves to the observer.” – John Hegarty

This applies to advertising & branding as John Hegarty said – “Everything has a truth and so do all brands – even if its just an observation about how people see it.” That’s why the greatest advertisement campaigns are those that found the truth and exposed it. Because the meaning of life is the seeking of truth – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

How do you sustain a creative career?

Most creative careers have 10 years when you do the great work. You can’t repeat what you did yesterday. The answer is:

• Curiosity – you keep learning 
• Work with the best – to work to improve, surround yourself with other great people
• Read, Consume, Create 

Pessimism Kills Creativity

The word “Enthusiasm” comes from the Greek language which means “to be with god”, and there is a real good reason for it:

“Great creative people are optimists – Because you are trying to change the world.”

Pessimism kills creativity – this also is something that I’ve experienced this unit 1. When starting a project, it’s especially important to be in a positive headspace and be non-judgemental of ideas when in the brainstorming phase. Cynicism has its place but doing this right from the start can really dampen the spirits of all the members and hamper creativity.  

How to judge our ideas?

Talking about attitude, enthusiasm, passions and the truth – it all revolves around the human emotions. Our ideas are all about influencing these emotions by using emotions.

We are in an attention economy so this is how you judge an idea –

A Triangle: 

• Is it memorable? Is it motivating?
• Is it truthful? (Because I am trying to build a relationship)
• Is it really founded on truth?

Creativity as the green industry

A great idea survives a bad idea – it’s a Green idea. And how does one get to that idea? Always make the product the hero – make sure that it comes out of the truth of the product. Think about what it is about the really interesting product?

Business and Creativity 

Business at its soul is a creative construct and to stay relevant – it innovates. Business is driven by creativity. Taylor swift is an incredible example – because she is creating value. The next big frontier is understanding the value of creativity. 

Book Recommendations:

Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us – about how we are wired to be creative – Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams

Pentagram Studio Visit

With Samar Maakaroun

Pentagram is not a typical agency – it’s a group of partners who are so different. But this is what keeps them, relevant – having a multitude of voices. They also IPC – where they meet up each year to discuss everything with their cohort of partners.

Process:

• They start with building a strategy 
• Looking at competitive businesses in the same sector as their client
• Collaborate with strategists
• Slice through the clients info and find the relevant info
• Workshops and exercises – They agree and start sketching
• Always present two or three different  ideas to the client – with all the logomarks being black and white

Remaining Relevant?

Samar Maakaroun talks about the time taken to become an expert in anything is by putting in 10,000 hours which is 3 years of working hours. While people can work upto 5 years and still remain an ameueur, we can give in these hours on our own and become better. The best learning comes from taking risks. Even then, you have to be curious and engaged to remain relevant.

Accidents generate ideas sometimes!  – Things not going as planned can sometimes result in better outputs. 

The formula to success?

• Some people give you what you asked for and more – outperform yourself – it’s the formula for success 
• Even if the job is not very interesting, be engaged because there is always a learning.

The Book of Lessons! – It’s a good idea to maintain a Book of lessons – write whenever you fail so that you can always learn from them.

Standing out in a sea of applications? 

• When appraoching people on linkedin/mail, always think about their perspective. They are busy peole and the reality is that they will see yur work for only 60s. 
• Do your research and apply to a speciifc partner whose work you relate to, if you do apply to Pentagram.

Side projects are important!

• Recruiters wish to see you in your work. and imagine you in their workspace and how well you would fit into it. 
• The little experiments show what are you interested in and that is what makes you unique. Fascination comes from field I don’t operate in – language and art

Maintain an inspiration bank – It’s something that you can draw from anytime you wish to.

Choosing projects to work on?

• Fun, fame and fortunes – that’s how you choose your project 
• Fame – you want to work for big firms
• But working on big projects can sometimes mean that you are just moving a pixel a bit