Louis Möckel commissioned Peak15 to collaborate on the promotion and Vinyl record design for their research project: “What is the ecological impact of the noise caused by the production of industrial goods?”
“The artistic research project Sonic Footprints pursues the idea of recording this noise in a footprint model. Based on the exemplary object toy dolphin, which is made of PVC, the supply chain of this product is being examined acoustically to determine how these noises affect the habitat of real dolphins. In a compilation of interviews on the subject, perspectives from bioacoustics (Gianni Pavan), anthropology (Tim Ingold), post-phenomenology (Robert Rosenberger), and sound studies (Salomé Voegelin) were brought together to broaden the theoretical horizon of a sound-oriented ecology. The ongoing research was first showcased during DutchDesignWeek 2023 on a specifically designed speaker system, playing sounds of industrial manufacturing from a vinyl record. In relation to the topic of noise pollution, participants listened to the recordedinterviews through noise-cancelling headphones.”
TU Delft commissioned Peak15 to work with them on the identity, promotion, communication and web presence of their EU-funded International Training Network »DCODE«.
It offers 15 PhD opportunities across Europe in 5 countries from 2021–2024. The network consists of 7 core academic partners and Philips Design as well as 6 associated industry partners as well as invited guest faculty. In total there will be a cohort of 40 researchers working across sectors and disciplines to tackle the digital transformation of society and the future role of design.
DCODE CONCEPT & OUTCOME:
Based on market research and identity questionnaires conducted with partners, we identified the core values and key ideas that comprises the DNA of DCODE Network: DCODE’s aim is to rethink design, break boundaries and enable collaboration across sectors in truly post disciplinary teams to actively shape the transformation of a digital society. The brand strategy was to actively steer away from the visual language of engineering and academia to reflect the ambitions of a revolutionary, energizing and ground-breaking approach.
Peak15 distilled this vision in the brand narrative and visual metaphor of a collider, which inherently implies the creation of new and unforeseen insights. A strong connection and visual reminder of this narrative was achieved by creating a flexible word-design mark, which integrates a collider symbol. As a standalone mark the symbol is used on social media channels, to remind the audience in each interaction with the Network of the overarching narrative/ambitions.
The identity system was designed to represent the holistic yet dynamic aspect of the project and as such can be used in a multitude of ways.
DCODE Network is represented through a key visual language that reflects the ‘change’ required in the design profession to break out of obsolete notions of it, their boundaries, and to work across disciplines and sectors. In order to distinguish between the core identity of DCODE Network and it’s 5 key challenges (corresponding to DCODE’s work packages), two different colour systems have been devised. The core network is represented through a strong contrasting black & white colour scheme, with each of the 5 challenges assigned a 2-colour gradient scheme.
A core aspect of DCODE which are the prototeams–inter- and cross disciplinary research teams–are equally highlighted through graphical circle elements across all media.
Through our successful recruiting online campaign and utilising existing networks the project grew attention quickly on social media platforms (LinkedIn and Twitter), which in total resulted in 329 applications from 55 countries. The project will run for 4 years, with many more results & impacts to follow.
COLLABORATORS: Immanuel Bauer (Bubblebird) – Website development Ilan Goren – Copy Shapers – Landingpage development
Resourceful Ageing was an interdisciplinary project that explored a wide range of subjects around the topic of ageing, focusing in particular on what elderly people can still do and on the strategies they put in place to adapt to their changing circumstances. Ethnographic research and social-practice underpinned the fieldwork, highlighting both the stereotypes around age and many of the products designed for the elderly which fail to meet their needs.
The project brought together designers, computer scientists, social scientists and professional practitioners from TU Delft, TU Eindhoven, Avans University of Applied Sciences and Philips Design. The team developed a data-enabled Research-through-Design approach, using a combination of ‘designerly experimentation’, machine learning and ethnographic fieldwork to create and prototype designs that would support older people in everyday practices of resourcefulness. As such, they created designs that would bring agency back to the elderly, letting them choose how and when to employ them.
CONCEPT & OUTCOME:
The design concept was primarily based on accepting and embracing changing life circumstances, and on focusing on new strategies to adapt. It was crucial to create a bold look and feel for the book, embodying the creativity and individuality the subjects showed throughout the research interviews. We adapted a typeface to create up to 30 new uppercase letters that varied in width illustrating this notion of slow and quick life adaption throughout the book, which were prominently used for chapter headings and pull-quotes. The layout also reflected this sense of change or growth, by using the ‘book in a book’ layout approach. A duo-colour scheme in red and blue seemed appropriate to create a coherent thread across a varied body of research, while conveying the right tone.
FUNDING & IMPACT:
Resourceful Ageing was funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) under the Research through Design (RTD) program in 2016–2018. The book featured a design prototype by Masako Kitazaki (Connected Resources), which won the NGI Award 2019 Excellence in Next Generation Internet for ‘outstanding contribution to a better digital life’ in the category Research and Education. The project was presented at ThingsCon and RTD2019.
Peak15 was approached by DesignInformatics to create the exhibition identity for their 2019 Pavilion, a pop-up exhibition format DesignInformatics developed in 2016 to showcase research by researchers and students. This year the Pavilion was placed in the Bayes Centre Courtyard with this year’s theme »Data Play«. It featured a range of objects and experiences inviting you to step into the future. The exhibition is interactive, mixing design with technology and exploring a number of themes aimed at provoking discussions on what it means to ‘design with data’.
CONCEPT & OUTCOME:
Biomorphis architects created the design of the pavilion considering the visualisation of data and how it may look at a macro scale. For the pavilion they considered ropes to represent wires/cables highlighting the way data travels.
Images of white noise were used as the basis for the key visuals responding to the brief as well as the architects work. These tiny pixel arrangements were digitally distorted to create fine lines of data strings leading to the centre of the image. By that not only a sense of space within banners was created yet it also drew the viewer in as the strings lead the eye forth and back from the edges to the centre of the visual. A strong typographic and playful exhibition identity was created to accompany the visual and as well as carrying the identity across all media.
3m and 2m window banners were placed in Bayes Courtyard and on Potterow street to attract audiences and give further information on the exhibition. Floor banners with a reduced identity and social media were further placed in areas with high footfall in the vicinity.
We also commissioned and worked closely with Bob Murrison for the introductory copy.
Home is more than simply shelter. It is not just the place where we live, but has a huge influence on how we live. It can shape our health and well-being, as well as our work and prosperity. It also impacts on the quality of our environment and the strength of our communities.
The Scottish Government and Architecture and Design commissioned The University of Edinburgh (ESALA), Collective Architecture and Peak15 to conceive, design and organise a sustainable travel exhibition as part of their Housing2040 initiative. As part of the travel exhibition ESALA and Collective Architecture held workshops with 12 local communities across Scotland in 2019. Themes such as the environment, climate change, housing issues, but also the needs of thriving future communities would need were addressed. The desire was for the exhibition to be designed in a sustainable format and considering the material impact.
Concept & Outcome:
Peak15 designed the modular concept of the exhibition with the team to meet the criteria of being easily transportable and build-able for short period of time spent in each location. We selected cardboard boxes to design the whole exhibition as a modular set to be flexibly used for the exhibition as well as workshop setting. Collective Architecture conceived a new exhibition title–Present Voices/Future Lives–to reflect the challenges required in Scottish housing and Scottish communities to thrive in 2040 and beyond.
The subsequent identity was inspired by the housing theme, the traveling nature of the exhibition and a future forward-pointing outlook. In order to make the huge amount of content accessible for different types of audiences, from school pupils to the elderly, and with different time frames of engagement in mind i.e. workshop participants to exhibition visitors in the evening we opted for the following solution: Themes were created in the categories of Live Share, Live Learn, Live Grow, Live Share. Within these we translated and expanded the challenges of the Housing2040 Government agenda into 4 subcategories for each theme. These were further broken down into challenge sentences and possible solutions for each theme. By doing so we created starting points for discussion rather than presenting finalised solutions; we were keen to enable a true dialogue with the community and hearing about their views and local struggles with the challenges presented. Further bespoke icons were drawn and used to illustrate the challenges for the viewer afar so that they drew in the audiences. We also added international and national housing/architecture examples to show best-practice solutions already in place.
Peak15 also oversaw the complete production and project management of the exhibition design.
Chris Leslie, BAFTA-winning filmmaker, conducted interviews with the local community and captured each location with drone footage to create a compelling documentary narrative of the place.
Funding & Impact:
Funded by the Scottish Government, as part of their Housing 2040 initiative.
2020, Selected for the RSA Annual Showcase 2020, Glasgow Lighthouse Exhibition 2020, Engine Shed Exhibition
DesignInformatics commissioned Peak15 and Mark Kobine to create their first annual research exhibition called ‘people, data, things’ in 2014.
CONCEPT & OUTCOME:
In collaboration with Mark Kobine, we designed the exhibition using an algorithm (developed by Hadi Mehrpouya) to pick out particular word combinations from the exhibitor research theses. The results were curated and laser-engraved for a hanging installation above the exhibitors work, which served as a poetic interpretation for the works.
Another design element was the exhibition poster, that mimicked a UDMA hard drive cable and that connected the exhibits with floor graphics.
IMPACT:
This first exhibition on designing with data laid some of the groundwork for further research projects within DesignInformatics and was a milestone for them to establish DesignInformatics as a well-known research department well beyond Edinburgh University.
Creative Informatics aims to grow the creative industries in Edinburgh by building the number of existing businesses and creative entrepreneurs who can confidently innovate with data from 2018–2023. Six different ongoing programs have been designed to bring in both entrepreneurs, businesses, cultural institutions together to develop data-driven design. The brief was to design the Identity, Website and ongoing promotion for events, showcase conference and social media.
CONCEPT & OUTCOMES:
Drawing influence from the duality of machine-created and human-created design, this identity is rooted in the term ‘creative machine’ – not only the name for software that can create or edit content, but also a viable label for a human being. The lines are blurred between creation and co-creation. This duality is reflected in a typographic-led concept: the key typeface has both constructed and hand-drawn – almost calligraphic – characters. All 9 AHRC supported cluster across the UK were also asked to develop their own version of an X, creating their own identity within the overarching concept across all. The image placeholder symbol X was created to reflect the nature of data-driven work, which is neither static in content nor in input.
To create a strong key visual language for images, a duo-tone colour scheme in metallic and lemon yellow was chosen to be combined with black&white photography, playing with the effect of revealing and hiding information.
Each funded program was assigned a bespoke set of 3 icons, which were expanded to link partners and programmes together as well.
DATA-DRIVEN PROMOTION:
The most prominent outcome has been POLYCANVAS, a data-driven poster, which is used for Creative Informatics online events. The poster displays and arranges content by chance on the canvas–with each content loop being triggered by live data input (Github’s API). Apart from being a tool to display content, Schmeisser was curious to investigate what it means to co-design with an algorithm. More to follow soon.