HORT & Lord Whitney

Example of HORT's work

During this first week I visited a lecture by the German-based design group ‘HORT’. There work was an inspiring twist of minimalistic design and crazy illustrations. Some of their work boasted loud, colourful palettes and some of it was as simple as Helvetica type on a white background. All in all, their work was very inspiring and ultimately, exceptionally effective. When interpreting their work I noticed that the outcomes of their work directly reflected the themes of the brand/item/project. I was also impressed by the flexibility of the team; each piece looked unique, original and intelligent. Aside from showcasing awesome work, HORT were very keen to offer important advice for all the aspiring designers and artists. Most importantly, they stressed to not work with companies which push you too far out of your comfort zone, and to innovate, explore and develop both techniques and work. They mentioned about some awkward clients and overall the lecture was enjoyable and pretty humorous.

Next up this week would be the Lord Whitney workshop. I decided to do a bit of research into them.

The workshop took part on Wednesday and we were asked to form groups for the project. My first thought would be that this would be an interesting experience to both collaborate, and see how others work. We were told that this workshop would be very ‘hands on’ so I felt a bit concerned considering most of my work is either illustration or computer based, however, I attended the workshop with a positive mind-set.

We were told to collect various random materials such as cardboard, used containers, old boxes, etc.

At the start of the day it was announced that we should create a physical outcome with relation to a given object, and the contents of an envelope. The object we were given was a funnel and the words we were give were secret surprise. I immediately knew this would be a challenge.

At first we begun to theorise outcomes as a group. Each of us had various ideas which we sketched and verbalised. Mutually, many of us had the idea of using the filter as a sort of recycling machine which turned random stuff into organised boxes with secrets inside. 

Anthony then had the idea of adding conveyer belts at the bottom of the funnel, transporting the organised products.

At first it was going well, but then the whole process got a bit chaotic. We were a bit too ambitious.

The funnel didn’t look like we had planned and we had no easy way of hanging it.

After about 30 minutes of dabbling around; we decided to scrap our initial idea and quickly create something presentable.

I, Anthony, Sam and Bobby had the idea of a filter machine with a conveyer belt on each end. We’d make a basic square and it would serve as the machine. Although, due to time constraints, we didn’t have enough time to go through with this and decided to create a more two dimensional type of outcome.

Although the outcome wasn’t as great as our aspirations, the overall experience was a nice challenge. It brought me out of my comfort zone and allowed me to understand the different ways in which others work.