The next time you’re driving through Admiralty way in Lekki Phase 1, don’t just drive; observe.
My friend and I did just that last week and we noticed an evolution taking place; a residential neighbourhood was fast becoming a commercial hub where malls have replaced the once serene homes of the rich. But again, we paid attention to the logos adorning the different malls, from the cool to the surreal, from the absurd to the downright ridiculous. On one of the adjacent streets called Fola Osibo, you find a collage of the most monstrous looking logos; annoyingly distracting.
I was tempted to believe that there was a competition of some sort amongst the logos to out-distract each other.
The look and feel of a brand is the first experience people have with the brand so it requires as much details as we put into figuring out where the money for the business will come from. Steve Jobs pioneered this thinking and encouraged brands to embrace design culture and be intentional in every aspect of their products because design is not just about aesthetics, but about artistry. The choice of colours, typography, and grid layout is part of a narrative and should be as functional as it is visual.
There is a concept called minimalism in design decision that works like magic!
Minimalism is about structured movements in various forms of arts and design, especially visual art and music, where the work itself is stripped down to its fundamental features. Because the world is getting more complicated by the day, simplicity in design thinking and minimalism would not only be an approach in design, but will become a life skill. Complexity can work only if there is less clutter.
If you observe closely, the whole idea of simplicity in art form is not only gaining traction in technology, but is gradually transmigrating, finding application in areas like literature and even lifestyle. Minimalism is about doing more with less; touting only the essentials. We also find it in business operations, in the concept of lean sigma. Vital questions such as, should I grow by cashflow or from debt and convertibles?
This Sunday, 8th November 2015 at The Lean Hub, we set the stage for a conversation that would further enrich our understanding of this concept in design thinking. It’s the first edition of the Creative Evenings themed ‘The Unsaid’, which explores how silence is an effective form of communication and how the spaces between words are as important as the words themselves. It will be an Art + Tech discussion spiced with book reading, art exhibition, music performance and conversations.
In literature, how do you capture words that are not on a page? How do you read words in between the lines? I think Osisiye Tafa – Author of ‘Sixty Percent of a True Story’ who leaves his stories hanging and offers no closure as the only closure in his works and Seye Kuyinu Author of ‘Things I Wanted to Tell You in other words – A Relationship Diary’ writes his poems in between the lines and left some pages of his recent anthology blank, for words that cannot be captured.
Music perhaps can employ minimalism, but we intend to find out how, from Bem Ioordah who has mastered the art of sparse lyrics and vague references.
The use of black and white, as mastered by Muyiwa Logor the Curator of the Monochrome Africa project where he captures daily aesthetics of the city of Lagos in shades of white and black; with no colours in-between.
The bride price app went viral, if you unpack why, you realise that it owes more to its simplicity in form that held people spellbound. Editi Effiong – CEO Anakle, creators of The Bride Price App will speak on technology and content and how minimalism is an essential skill in today’s thinking.