Semi Permanent 2016

By Niall Roeder.

Semi Permanent, the three-day design, tech and creative free-for-all has come and gone for another year. The Sydney 2016 edition boasted a lineup of speakers that included pioneering brains from the likes of Google and Facebook, as well as a quiver of sharp-minded artists and designers. The workshops, presos and live events all went down at Carriageworks and judging by the full grins slapped across the hipster attendees’ faces and the way the complimentary SP tote bags were swinging off arty types’ shoulders… I’d say everyone was pretty damn pleased with what they saw.

The conference was a whirlwind of being impressed with individuals that not only think outside of the box, but live and act outside of the box too. Without getting too frothy, their refusal to play by the rules was rather inspiring. Here’s who really brought the sweet, sweet inspiration…

James Brown (MASH)

Mr Brown is an interesting man and comes across as someone that’d be awesome to travel and party with. Fresh out of uni in 2001 he a scored a branding contract with Evo, grabbed the bulls by the horns and rode that damn bull where others hadn’t dared. Fast forward to today and his studio, MASH still has Evo as a client, and has worked with many more, like Victoria’s Secret, The Big Day Out and Arts Centre Melbourne.

In a very non-preachy way, Brown preached the emphasised the importance of non-conformity and finding your own path, and pulled it off genuinely and without sounding cliché. He encouraged the audience to expand their minds and stressed the benefits of traveling the globe, taking the piss and trying peyote.

With feathers like Neon Lobster Taqueria y Mezcalaria, Motel Mexicola and exhibited works in SFMoMA and AGDA in his cap, the proof is in the pudding for the irreverent Brown. His Midas touch is a testament to his willingness to take a risk and his open mind.

Lesson: Push your boundaries. Try peyote.

A photo posted by MASH DESIGN (@m_a_s_h_tag) on Mar 21, 2016 at 11:26pm PDT

Michael Lugmayr (Design by Toko)

With his Euro slick back, sharp get-up and comfort speaking a second language in front of a couple of thousand people, Lugmayr might be the coolest kid in Sydney. The Dutch born design geek is one of the founders of Toko, a once Rotterdam and now Sydney based creative agency that boasts a portfolio of work for clients such as the University of New South Wales, Lava Architects, Virgin Mobile, SBS, New York Times and MTV Music Television.

“Without context, design doesn’t mean anything”.

Lugmayr hammered home the importance of context in design – that is working from the notion of why, not what. This can be broken down into two parts. One being that you must understand the context of a brief. Research in the area you’re designing is paramount – if you don’t understand it, how can you design for it? An avid techno fan, he waxed nostalgic of the time drove into Detroit, was immersed in the industrial setting and finally understood techno. Context yo.

And secondly, you need to “challenge context to make good design”. An example of this could be someone dressed to the nines to go to the races and is waiting for a bus with average Joes. Is the contrasting outfit and setting more impactful? Taking things out of context can seem weird, but can be used effectively.

Lesson: Context is king. Be more like Mike.

A photo posted by The Design Kids (@thedesignkids) on Dec 1, 2015 at 5:34pm PST

Vince Frost (Frost*) & Andy Bateman (Everyone)

Vince Frost, the founder and Executive Creative Director of Frost*collective, and Andy Bateman, Founder and CEO of Everyone, are two blokes with a hell of a lot of experience in creative business. Their message was Break it to make it.

Everything waxes and wanes in popularity and most successful formulas have a shelf life. They highlighted the fact that it’s important to evolve – companies like Kodak, Pan AM and Myspace were all killing it at one stage and due to refusal to change, went down the gurgler. On the other hand, you have companies like General Motors, Apple and IBM, who were all faced with the same fork in the road, but instead took the path into unchartered waters, the path of reinvention.

This is the thought behind break it to make it, and although the examples used are company related, this notion can be applied to heaps of things. You need to be willing to break it, to make it. That is realising the good times, the success, and before the popularity wanes, evolving before the decline starts. They stressed the fact the bottom doesn’t have to be reached to justify a reinvention. Madonna is the Queen of reinvention – each time she’s tapering off, she reinvents herself with a new persona.

Lesson: Don’t be scared of change. Listen to more Madonna.

Semi Permanent was at Carriageworks May 26-28, 2016.

Image: New York Times Magazine cover by Stanley Chow and Jamie Chung.