One Word Brief – not as simple as it sounds

One of our team (on Twitter as @WiseCreative) is part of the collective called One Word Brief putting on an exhibition of the same name at The Rag Factory’s Apricot Gallery from 10-12^th June, 2011.

Described as a not-for-profit LOVE project, One Word Brief calls on graphic designers everywhere to produce a creative response to one of the six following words:

CHANGE  *  SEARCH   *  FREEDOM   *  SOCIAL   *  SPACE  *  ENOUGH

The open exhibition has been described as a chance for graphic designers to express themselves freely, without the restrictions of clients or their agencies. The hope is that the diversity of submissions received will remind everyone of the power and beauty of great graphic design and challenge a certain corporate homogeneity the collective believes has started to prevail.

Its creative director, Zoltan Marfy, wants One Word Brief to hark back to an era of graphic design when individuals not agencies were the heroes and graphic design like punk rock played a role in challenging the status quo. This reminds me a little of Neville Brody’s ambition for the Anti-Design Festival (http://www.antidesignfestival.com/) at the end of last year.

In his talk at the V&A, about the festival, Brody spoke about the combination of government cuts to the arts and fewer opportunities for designers creating a new [punk] energy. Young designers out of college could continue to experiment because they weren’t stepping straight into the commercial world. He wasn’t promoting the cuts – far from it – but saying there was a creative consequence.

Whether or not that sounds invigorating to you as a designer probably depends on how much money you’ve got in your pocket but there is an edginess to it we like. It will be interesting to see whether One Word Brief attracts the punk or the polished.

All of our team will be producing some work, as you don’t often get to design something for yourself. But that’s been the biggest challenge in many ways. As much as there is a brief – one word of your selection from the six – you inevitably have to extend that brief further. You have to interpret it, mould it and refine it in order to get to a clear purpose. You ask yourself, what do I want people to think as a consequence of this? Am I asking them to do something differently?

You can veer into graphic art, if that’s your thing. You could also get poetic and pretty about it. We’re certain the best stuff One Word Brief receives will be based on a clear purpose.

Submissions of work have come in to the London based exhibition from as far-a-field as Australia, Romania, India and Canada. We’re looking forward to seeing whether that brings any additional diversity too.

Visit facebook.com/onewordbrief for more information and updates on both the live and online exhibitions. Designers can still submit work. The deadline is midnight on Monday 30^th May.