29.06.07
Your Korrespondent reports from the third SV Session of design discussion, sausages and beer. Following last months thunderstorms only a slight threat of rain hung over the culinary proceedings on the roof top terrace and the sausages were —your Korrespondent overheard one guest comment— delicious.
Nick did not have time to prepare a presentation supporting rumours that the SV studio is currently overwhelmed with projects and Nick exploring a career change is spending much of his time mixing with architects and property developers. He has been seen rubbing shoulders on a recent Spree boat trip with all the big guns of the Berlin architect scene. I caught a sneek peek at secret plans suggesting that there will be great riverside apartments for sale soon.
Proceedings began with Yvonne Krug, ex SV designer, presenting a recent project by her new studio Linksbündig. Together with Susanne Benzing the studio designed a visitor centre for BASF, Yvonne shared the design and implementation process with us, illustrating how they managed the existing BASF CD and the ideas and content supplied by the studio Flying Saucer.
Before the evening began there were rumours in the air that there would be a live musical performance from Norman Palm, in the end there was live performance of Norman presenting a book accompanied by music or were we listening to music accompanied by a book. Graphic designer by day at Pentagram and musician by night Norman is on the cusp of discovery, watch this space.
Surprise guest Tristam Sparks dropped by on his way back to London, this time without a backpack and sleeping bag. Tristam spent two years at SV and recently two years at IVERA in Italy. He introduced us to his project »The Undiscovered Country« which proposes a way to give democracy back to the people through a digital interface.
Torsten Mayer Rothbart and Florian Kette also ex SV designers but now part of the Metadesign machine let us into some secrets about the Meta Pitch. Pitching absorbs huge studio resources and for every winner there could be handful of losers and this time we were with the losers. The first pitch missed partly due to the absence of a typical navigation on the website thus scaring the pants off the suits and because the real decision maker never saw the presentation and could only base his opinion on a pdf (most probably printed out) the next day. Pitch 2 was also beautiful featuring a monochromatic grid to display art, a series of sliders lets the user choose the ideal picture based on price, colour, shapes etc. and then buy online, failed probably because it did not look like the competition!
As you all prepare for your annual pilgrimage to the beach, cocktails and sunburn next months SV Session will celebrate the graphic designer summer holiday so wherever you are heading, and whatever you do I look forward to see your designer holiday snaps at the next SV Session on 27th July.
If you would like to attend the next SV Session please drop me a email.
k@svberlin.com
The Korrespondent