Held on April 27 each year, World Design Day recognises the ways in which design has changed the world and the importance of design in our daily lives. Why? Because design can make the ordinary extraordinary, turn the mundane into the remarkable, and perfectly marry function and form.
So, we caught up with our Wizards Behind the Curtain to see what timeless designs have inspired them and how design has influenced our approach to collaborating with our clients and partners to connect major projects to audiences and stakeholders across Australia, New Zealand and North America.
“Our approach to design is always to put the user at the heart of every project,” said Spatial Media’s Creative Director Nathan Green. “Ultimately, good design must balance functionality with form, so our first approach is to ensure that whatever solution we are designing prioritises user accessibility, functionality, and ease of use. We then build on this principle, adding our knowledge of game design, community engagement strategies and technology platforms to build assets such as virtual engagement rooms that achieve the perfect balance of function and form.”
“It’s been interesting to see the designs and designers that have influenced our team, but as you will see from each one, classic design is timeless. My favourite is Fallingwater; it is the stuff of dreams, and its impact on design can’t be overstated; it’s why more than one team member is in awe of Frank Lloyd Wright’s design and vision,” said Nathan.
Here are the designs that have inspired us this World Design Day.
Matt Supranata, Senior 3D Visualiser – Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright
"At almost 90 years old, I’d be surprised if anyone with a love of design or architecture hasn’t heard of one of the world’s most iconic homes," said Matt. Completed in 1938, the home was built over a waterfall and was intended to settle into the site’s rural Pennsylvania setting. It uses limited colours, with flowing designs, cantilevered terraces, and balconies designed to resemble nearby rock formations. The design also incorporates local materials and boulders, which feature as fireplaces and hearths. Wright also made sure that the devil was in the detail, with interior and exterior elements connected seamlessly using recesses in the stonework to hide joins and not interrupt the flow between outside and in.”
Alison Collen, Senior UX Developer – Cars, Mice and Racoons
“I couldn’t choose just one design; it's an impossible task,” said Ali. “As a UX Designer, you are continually immersed in designs and trying to ensure that above all they work for their users, so I am going to pick three designs that show what I think to be the best of style, simplicity and fun.”
Aston Martin DB9
It’s just the very definition of sleek. The aerodynamic design not only makes it “go fast” but also makes the car look graceful while doing it. I love the car's compact proportions, notably the smaller grille compared to its siblings, like the Vantage or Vanquish, which fits the car's proportions much better and softens the design. It is an automotive work of art.
Apple Magic Mouse
The design is so simple it’s almost ridiculous. It’s a curved piece of glass that fits perfectly in my hand, and when I tap it, it responds. For a piece of simple technology to be so well-designed and comfortable to use…it is perfect.
Tails Noir
I am slightly obsessed with pixel art, which might seem to some as if I’m stuck in the 90s. This game brings the 8-bit image-style format right up to date with its stunning graphics and use of parallax. Quite simply, if I were tasked with designing a game, it would look like this. The game is a post-noir narrative adventure in which you can become raccoon private eye Howard Lotor and explore dystopian Vancouver inhabited by animals as you uncover a deeply personal story of change and transformation; what’s not to like?
Nathan Moro, Senior 3D Modeller - Avantgarde Trio G3
“Sure, speakers can be dull black boxes or works of art,” said Nathan. “But in both cases, they have to sound great, regardless of their appearance. For me, The Avantgarde Trio G3 is the perfect balance between the two.”
It’s a very unique design for a loudspeaker, highly efficient, simplistic beauty with a large canvas for the colour-shifting paintwork. I also think it is timeless as it’s hard to tell without knowing which decade it comes from; it could be 60 years old or 60 days old. It's a high-end design without compromising the performance of the object for the sake of that design, but with prices starting at $70,000, it will be a little while before I can upgrade.”
Blake Maverick, Brigadier 3D Generalist - Consolidated PBY Catalina
“Coming in at the tail-end of the Gold Age of Flight, the Catalina, for me, is the culmination of everything that made my personal favourite type of aircraft, the Flying Boat,” said Blake.
“It is such a special, timeless design that combines American excess and some big fat radial engines, all bolted to an amphibious hull, allowing it to go anywhere. At this time, global travel was, sorry - starting to take off, and there would have been a huge sense of excitement about how the world would open because of the age of flight. When you think the Wright Brothers only took to the air in 1903, it’s amazing that we went from the Kitty Hawk to the Catalina in just over 30 years.”
