Meeting at Nick Bell Design - About NBD

One of the main reasons I wanted to talk to NBD was to try and understand how that area of design works. Looking at their portfolio a lot of the work displays design which reacts to structural features. I wanted to know how they went about working, whether they worked with architects/lighting specialists etc. So this is what I found out:

NBD are usually commissioned by exhibition designers such as Casson Mann. It's a very collaborative process, working alongside architects and the exhibition designers. Since a lot of the work they do is for spaces abroad it's not always feasible to visit the space but they work from plans and drawings of the space.

It's important when designing at such a large scale to test it. This means they need to print it at the designed size and put it up in their studio space and see how accessible it is. A lot of the design becomes about practicality and accessibility with all sorts of people visiting the exhibition, the design process becomes more about problem solving and testing things like readability/legibility rather than picking what looks nice.

Gaining Clients

Exhibition designers will usually approach NBD and ask whether they want to pitch together for a client. Because it's part of this cultural thing (can't remember the proper name at the moment) anyone worldwide can try and get the project. There are a couple of stages to the process:

First they have to submit a pqq, which is a type of questionnaire, alongside their portfolio.

From this 1-3 studios will be shortlisted.

If they get shortlisted they will then have a 'tender'. This is like a pitch.

At the tender is the first time the studios will put forward any proposals. NBD only propose 1 design direction at this.

Length of Projects

Currently the brief they are working on is for a permanent exhibition and the project will last for a year. During this time scale they will have deadlines for certain things and meetings with clients which help to keep the ball rolling. The deadlines are managed by the Project Manager and decided between NBD and their collaborative partners. i.e. the exhibition designers.

Research

NBD don't research the information needed but will research into visuals/images/videos and research enough to know how to approach the design.

Interactive Design

As well as architects there are other studios that deal with interactive environments in particular. Designing the space for the interactive area to exist within and the interactive elements themselves.

Production

As well as printing onto papers, they design a lot of signage and so for this need to use sign makers/printers.

Internships

Internships and placements are only offered to graduates with a degree in Graphic Design. In portfolios they like to see mainly typography. The ability to handle type is very important because what they do is like editorial but for a 3D space. They need to know that a designer can handle the large amount of information they need to layout. They don't necessarily need people who are strong illustrators because if they need an illustrator they will get a freelancer in. So it's good to see examples of spreads and other typography within the portfolio. This is something I need to address within my portfolio. Although I don't specifically want to be working with typography all the time, I think it's important to show that I can do it. As I already have a fair bit of image within my portfolio and I don't want to come across as an illustrator.