Our design takeaways from Forward Festival Vienna
A 2-day festival filled with designers from all around the globe: you bet it wasn’t easy to get my insights into one blog article. But if you’re looking to get inspired by campaigns, ads and learnings from design professionals who worked for Adobe, Hennessy and other clients, read on!
Our impression of the Forward Festival in Vienna
20+ speakers took the stage over two days. Artists, illustrators, and designers from all walks of life, each with their own unique journey and perspective on their craft. Needless to say, the diversity of the talks makes a full summary impossible. For some, it’s even impossible to provide a recap, as the talk itself was an experience meant to be lived in person. The slides contained very little text; the content and experience were meant to be visual and lively.
Instead of providing a methodical summary of each speaker—which would be an enormous and frankly uninteresting task—I’ve tried to gather a few recurring themes and capture their values.
There is no straight line
On a career level, EVERYONE can testify that they got to where they are today thanks to luck and chance. Take Mr. Bingo, for example—a British gentleman illustrator with provocative humor who became an artist and performer thanks to social media. Very active on Twitter, he built a massive community by sending 'hate mail' (a silly idea that came by accident)—illustrations accompanied by personalized insults—to his followers who requested them. He followed his path, always engaging with his growing audience, and continued to perform his art in dialogue with his community, which expanded exponentially. Every day, he wonders what his life would have been like without social media.
Alice Isaac, before becoming the renowned artist she is today, shared her struggles and toxic job experiences. She started as a makeup artist in the fashion industry, though it paid very little. She worked as an underpaid project manager at a design firm, then became a producer at animation studios, where she had the revelation that she needed to continue down this path. In just 1 year, she learned the craft of animation and collage. And then, one fine day, the big break came—a single email. A stroke of luck. Nike contacted her to produce an animation series. From that moment, her life changed. Commissions flooded in, and her style is now recognized worldwide.
There is also no straight line in the creative process. Design is hard. Design takes time. In hindsight, it’s always easy to judge creations as obvious without understanding the journey the designer took to get there. Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini, from the type foundry Zetafont, explained how difficult and nonlinear the creative process is. He illustrated this with the Dunning-Kruger curve, which follows the same pattern. First, there’s the initial excitement and overconfidence. Then come moments of doubt, when you feel ready to abandon the project. Finally, there’s a moment of wisdom, where you push through and keep moving forward. Every creator goes through this. It’s quite comforting to hear.
Dare to shove your clients!
Felix Chilvers, creative director of FUTUREDELUXE told the audience that, as creators, we should never hold back when we want to share our ideas with clients. « He/She won’t allow that », « He/she will think we’re crazy, or lazy, or whatever ». Just share your most silly ideas, sometimes it pays. Felix: « For G/FORE, we presented our ideas with some storyboard and proto animations, but we pushed the animation of the shoe so far that it stretches weirdly, become a ball or a cube. The goal was to show how flexible and indestructible was the shoe but which client would be crazy enough to let us deform the product like that? The client eventually loved the idea and we produced that crazy animation! »
LWZ, a design and motion studio, was tasked with rebranding FM4, a national radio station in Austria. Initially, the project had strict boundaries—touching the logo was off the table! However, the studio brought forth a wave of creative ideas for logo variations. They proposed a dynamic logo that could change shape and color, demonstrating how a small, independent studio with a passion for motion design could challenge a client's initial reluctance. Results here.
Collaboration is key
W+K Amsterdam was hired to create a brand campaign for Hennessy, a cognac brand with a dusty, inconsistent image. A complete modernization was necessary. To achieve this, the agency found an ideal partner: director Andreas Nilsson. Together, they filmed "pilot" spots to reassure their somewhat anxious client. Another crucial partnership was with two popular personalities: Damson Idris and Teyana Taylor, who starred in this original and bold mix. The result? Four unique and striking ads. Watch them here.
Birgit Palma and Daniel Triendl, two Austrian illustrators, regularly collaborate on projects. Despite having completely different styles, they've shown that together they can merge their talents to create something unique. They’ve worked on projects like Adobe, Brummel and many others!
Forward boost to our creativity
Getting inspired and finding that peers can struggle with the same challenges we encounter in our own digital agency made this conference very insightful and rewarding to attend. Challenges can have very positive results, and all these combined insights will definitely improve my own problem-solving skills. And the diversity of speakers and their designs really boosted my own creativity: let me have all those creative projects to inspire your digital marketing designs. Just leave your contact details below and we’ll fast forward to stunning designs for your brand.