With the Design Indaba Conference and Nightscape events finally upon us, we give you a closer look at the creative agency that helped us to spread the word and spread the love. We chatted with the general manager of Grid, Heléne Lindsay, about the ins and outs of the visual communication campaign that this Cape Town-based agency was tasked to use to inform and rouse the masses. Design Indaba's 2017 has taken on a whole new dimension: Nightscape, a centralised multi-sensory festival at the Cape Town Artscape.
Grid was founded in 2005 by award-winning designer Nathan Reddy. It is a brand-design agency whose ethos is anchored in giving visual campaigns not just a sleek look, but also installing purpose and meaning deeper than the veneer.
“Our mantra of #MakeItMeanSomething ensures that we build brands that are future-fit for the 21st century,” said Lindsay, “We also believe in working on projects that give back, be it to the industry or to raising consciousness around important social topics.”
Now, perhaps more than ever before, advertising agencies all over the world face the challenge of not just informing the audience of a cause, but mobilising them to take action too if they want to be successful. This is reflected succinctly by Grid’s Design Indaba 2017 tagline: “inspiration is nothing without action”. It is a call to arms communicated even on the most subtle level in Grid’s campaign, as black and white, no-nonsense graphics fortify the meaning of the simple typographic messages.
“The messaging also had a very specific tonal quality, short, bold and punchy. We also tried to inject a sense of humour into everything – since this is a conference about smart thinking, curiosity and intelligent design,” said Lindsay.
The strong, angular and minimal aesthetic of the campaign also serves as a direct departure from Nightscape's creative director Selly Rabe Kane’s whimsical, strange and colourful sculptures, which will be brought to life on the Piazza of the Artscape.
Lindsay emphasises the collaborative effort undertaken on behalf of her team at Grid, as the event campaign required multiple meetings of the mind and of the hands.
“While some people were obviously more closely involved than others, I would like to pay tribute to the entire agency. The whole team got together for the major brainstorms, of which there were many, and everyone contributed something amazing and unique.
"So whether it consisted of endless hours of crafting, coming up with the big ideas, or providing support and assistance when workloads and clients had to be juggled – it truly was an astounding collective effort of love and ‘commitment to the cause’.”
