Computer Arts - UK (2019-06)

F

or the Argentinian illustrator

Daiana Ruiz, attending this

year’s Latin American Design

Festival (LADFEST) held in Lima, Peru, the

future of design concerns the

representation of people that doesn’t

necessarily fit into the binary canon of

gender. While Andrew Gibbs of The

Dieline, said that it has to do with a

reduction of single-use plastic packaging.

“Plastic free equals guilty free,” was one

of the pillars of his lecture.

In contrast, Marc Kremers, the founder

of London-based digital agency Future

Corp, said, “Your future is in the past”.

That expression, which he used to make

people reflect on the importance

of constantly moving forward, has a

connection with the virtual world he’s

immersed in, where his avant-garde web

designs for brands and bands like Manolo

Blahnik and The XX feel like the digital

materialisation that’s perfectly in sync with

the creative’s way of thinking.

This topic establishes a link with the

Swiss master of poster art Niklaus Troxler,

who said that you should be satisfied

“only when you find something new in

your work”. He encouraged the audience

to “always forget what you already have

done”– in other words, to put it behind

you. And what is, according to Troxler,

the key to this? Experimentation, of

course: an approach based in the

foundations of jazz music, which has

been a constant companion throughout

his life. Later, Australian artist Gemma

O’Brien demonstrated her lettering skills

live on stage – an act that, refreshingly,

was firmly set in the present.

On the event’s second day, Thomas

Kronbichler of Studio Mut gave an

amusing talk in which he emphasised the

importance of team work. Elsewhere,

Ryan Honey, executive director of Buck,

the major design-driven production

company that has Apple, Facebook and

Instagram among its regular clients,

pointed out the benefits of working

with physical objects to create a digital

reality. “Doing things by hand gives to

the digital that perfect imperfection of

the human touch, which making it feel

more organic”, Honey said.

Latin American Design Festival

Vania Dale Alvarado reports on the themes of technology and the human touch at LADFEST 2019

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Above: Gemma
O’Brien begins
her lettering
demonstration at
LADFEST 2019.