4designers 2010: Thoughtful

This was my first year at 4designers, being a first year and all that jizz, and it was fantastic! I don't really know what I expected, maybe a few lectures that I would struggle to stay awake for. But it really was an eye opener.

First up was Thoughtful. Stuart Price and Chris Jeffreys making up two thirds of the team. I really liked their presentation, it was fun and kept me interested the whole way through with their videos and amusing anecdotes.

They made one point about orange peel being the perfect piece of packaging.


It contains the product;
It protects the product;
You can identify what the product is;
and is bio-degradable.

(there may have been more reasons, but I cannot remember on the top of my head) Point is, I thought this was a genius piece of thinking and it makes so much sense.

I noted down a few quotes from them which I liked:

"Distilling what remains into something as close to perfect."

"Self belief, we should all have some."

"It's better to be interested then interesting."

"Cannot not communicate."

"You must earn the right to do great work."

"They don't give up. Never, never, never give up."

"If you're good, the truth will out. It will happen."

They had loads of tips too:
Persistence, constantly keep in touch with clients.
Make connections, never ask what it has to do with design, ask what it could have to do with design.
The chair is your enemy; get up, get out there.
Be open minded.
Be prepared to learn, you never stop learning.

The five P’s:
Preparation
Prevents
Piss
Poor
Performance.