We regularly catch up with design issues and stories brought to life by the team at By Design on the ABC’s Radio National.

This week catch up on stories that investigate Font design, Urban design in Bogota, writing and trends in sustainable packaging.

From the website

Presented by Alan Saunders By Design is a program about how we shape our world – a vibrant show about people and the things that surround us.

From the cities and buildings we live in to the cars we drive and clothes we wear, the program deals with architecture and material culture, the politics of the built environment and design – all through the prism of our daily lives.

It explains how, through the creative process, human ideas take on tangible form and designers reinvent the world to keep pace with its changing needs and desires, lifting the quality of our lives.

The program explores how design — the way things look, feel and function — reflects social change; what the decisions we make as consumers of architecture and everyday objects tell us about who we are.

Visit By Design here

There must be a place (Naive Melody) by the Talking HeadsRecorded in 1982, from their first post Brian Eno LP ‘Speaking in Tongues‘ enjoy the Talking Heads‘ idea of a love song — something that is whimsical, familiar and uncomplicated. The naive reference refers to the music. Apparently the bass and guitar parts are doing the same thing throughout the song.

Brett Phillips from 3 Deep design tempted Nowality to rattle the cage regarding the recent “refresh“ of the ABC‘s graphic identity; Australia‘s public free to air television broadcaster. So if this piece offends track down Brett as well.

The new year is usually the time for television broadcasters to launch a new season identities or overhaul the brand identity. The last tv brand that hit the Australian with a bang was Channel 7′s brand change on the first day of a new millenia in 2000.

The new ABC brand has been launched with mixed reviews. A brand like the ABC has a lot of history, however over fifty years it has stayed almost the same — probably because it is a public service, rather than a commercial enterprise. The bigger-better-newer factor to attract high ratings and good advertisers isn’t a major factor influencing the development of the ABC’s marketing and brand. 

The digital age has changed the broadcasting in Australia. Media providers have the opportunity to be multichannel broadcasters. As the ABC’s marketing video states — the new digital channel — ABC 2 introduced in 2006, didn’t link in with the existing ABC channel (or Channel 2), and an obvious branding problem transpired.

The new branding scheme launched in February is an attempt to fix the overall brand presentation. The mixed feedback of the new ABC 1 and ABC 2 scheme suggest that the solution is still a work in progress.

The current presentation to have too much going on; what was once a symbol, now has type, a boxed area and symbol too. The discrete on screen branding, or watermark, that has been enjoyed in the past is now a blatant expression. Today it is hard to watch a program on ABC 1 or ABC 2 without being bugged by the watermark in the bottom right corner of the screen — a type, symbol and an area of colour cluster. Blog sites around Australia are rumbling with the same comment.With all due respect to the team that put this scheme together — doesn’t at least one of these elements have to go? — the cluster of type, the symbol and the area of colour? I look at the new ABC scheme and think of my partner as she leaves to go out — routinely she will take a last look in the mirror, remove an something and walk out the door. The design team at the ABC seems to have taken a last look, tried to remove something, but market testing said no, and then launched the new brand campaign.We have taken the liberty of removing either the word ABC or the ABC’s symbol — lissajous curve, to make a point. The symbol and number seem to make sense.

As a design company, we will of course have comments on the tired choice of type — Din (we think) — a type choice that addresses the requirement of the design brief “for a modern, hip, trendy feel”. The current summer ident — bold stripes of red, white and blue creates a Bastille Day crossed with the return of Brit Pop impression, could the designer be french or english one asks?If it is any consolation the recent BBC multichannel brand solution in the UK is heavy handed too. It seems that in 2008 people have become less sophisticated visually and the trend to be blatant over discrete continues. Even though humanity is the most media savvy that it have even been in its 3.6 million year history.

As the clip above clearly demonstrates, the watermark pre change was less of a distraction. Can the management and design team at the ABC give some further thought to this current watermark eye sore — the cliché type choice and summer colour scheme one can live with.

Watch the ABC’s brand launch promo here
1 Sources Wikipedia

Philosophy [1] is the discipline concerned with questions of how one should live (ethics); what sorts of things exist and what are their essential natures (metaphysics); what counts as genuine knowledge (epistemology); and what are the correct principles of reasoning (logic). The word is of Greek origin: φιλοσοφία (philosophía), meaning love of wisdom.

It is the process that is concerned with the big ideas that occupy human thought.

Design [1] on the other hand, usually considered in the context of applied arts, engineering, architecture, and other creative endeavors, is used both as a noun and a verb. As a verb, “to design” refers to the process of originating and developing a plan for a product, structure, system, or component. As a noun, “a design” is used for either the final (solution) plan (e.g. proposal, drawing, model, description) or the result of implementing that plan (e.g. object produced, result of the process). More recently, processes (in general) have also been treated as products of design, giving new meaning to the term “process design”.

Designing normally requires a designer to consider the aesthetic, functional, and many other aspects of an object or a process, which usually requires considerable research, thought, modeling, interactive adjustment, and re-design.

Design is the process that is concerned with the execution of various living activities.

Philosophy and design are linked. One is about resolution of an idea, the other is about the process of resolving and achieving ideas.

The idea of, and the execution of religion is fascinating, the belief systems that occupy human activity are numerous, diverse, and imaginative — spanning from the extremes of organised religions, superstitions, creative expressions to cultural makeup and unique societys.

The Australian public broadcaster — the ABC, and it’s ideas based national radio station — Radio National has a weekly programme that investigates religion, aptly titled the Religion Report. In the 2008 summer series the programme reran an interview with Professor Sociology John Carroll. Professor Carol has written a book called The Existential Jesus — which is an investigation of the Christian New Testament text — The Book of Mark. This programme poses an idea of the Christian figure head that questions contemporary clichés of control, miracles, patience and community.

Listen the programme here

1 Sources Wikipedia

We wanted to appropriately acknowledge an important day in Australian history and then friend of the studio, Simeon King, sent us this wonderful image that he captured in Sydney titled: Today, corner store guy, Frank, a Lebanese migrant, said sorry.

We are deeply sorry too.