Still waters run deep

Mike Staniford, executive creative director, and Jason Little, creative director, are two of the driving forces at Landor’s Sydney office. Speaking with a passion you don’t often hear from those who work within a big organisation, they are both obviously very proud of what they and Landor have achieved over the years. Moving into the future, Landor is dipping its creative toes into the still waters of environmentally sustainable design while working hand in hand with some big names, who also have their eye on the green-accredited prize, such as News Limited’s recent One Degree initiative … but more about that later.

After narrowly avoiding becoming a helicopter pilot in the Royal Navy, Staniford somehow found his way into graphic design, a journey for which he is truly grateful: “I went to an English grammar school, where the careers department was dedicated to channelling people into Oxford, Cambridge, or the military academies,” he says. “They had never heard of the design industry. It was only when I started reading about the works of Milton Glaser, Alan Fletcher, and Herb Lubalin that I became totally inspired. The thought of being paid to work in such a dynamic industry seemed too good to be true. After moving through the ranks of design firms, I started my own business in London when I was 28. I moved to Sydney in 1994 and ultimately became a partner in LKS. In 1998, Landor affiliated with LKS and in November 2004, they acquired the shares of the business and we became the Australian office of Landor Associates."

For Staniford, Landor represents the opportunity to work with other studios and like-minded people, as well as with some big-name brands in order to find collaborative solutions: “One of my favourite projects includes the creation of Epicentre, the four technology showrooms for Fuji Xerox across Asia. The project involved everything from strategy to naming and design of all environmental components, identity, and a brand movie. We had a great team of like-minded individuals from our office as well as interior partners, Geyer. It was a perfect example of a big team pulling together and delivering an outstanding result in Sydney, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Singapore. It won us awards and, importantly, delivered a great commercial result for Fuji Xerox.”

Little believes the biggest hurdle for any designer is having the courage and drive to be bold in your work and veer sharply away from the mundane. “Defeating mediocrity is the great challenge. It’s easy to plateau if you don’t keep the focus on making the next project the best one. The push to achieve something that was and is different, beyond expectations, was the catalyst for me as a designer. To never be content with a result, and try harder with the next project is what keeps me going, still.”

At the coalface Landor aims to create, mould and enliven a brand through design. “Design plays a pivotal role in directing the path of a brand,” explains Staniford. “Whilst meticulous analysis can uncover latent opportunities, it is the creative spark of great design that brings ideas to life, the expression that people remember. To find that core idea behind every client that makes them tick, we delve deep and discover what makes them unique. To create and challenge perceptions of all who will ever see or use the brand, including me."

"Our approach is strategically driven, with a firm emphasis on results and appropriateness to the client,” adds Little.

This understanding of what its clients need has come to be very important as Landor sidles up to the green movement and grabs hold of the reins with both hands. But there is a lot more to being green than a simple Pantone colour change on a logo. “In the rush to jump on the green bandwagon, brands will need to be careful not to let their marketing get too far ahead of their reality. The promises that brands make to their customers need to be kept. If a brand makes sustainability claims that it can’t support, it is more likely to tarnish its image than strengthen it,” says Staniford. “As more and more green products hit the market in 2008, green will no longer be a point of differentiation, it will become the norm. In order to stand out, brands will have to find their own unique angle on being green.”

As such, Landor has a great deal more than a passing interest in being able to openly and transparently deliver creative, especially for its clients who wish to show the world a “greener side.” These campaigns must also be able to stand up to close scrutiny because when it comes to the environment, effectively dealing with consumer scepticism can mean life or death for a brand. Something Landor truly kept in mind when working on the recent News Limited project mentioned above. Little explains: “News Limited’s climate change initiative brand, One Degree, was a project we commenced early last year. It aimed to drive employee, supplier, and public action regarding climate change. It acts as an overarching banner that brings together all businesses within News Limited to reduce carbon emissions by inspiring thousands of employees and dozens of major companies to change their behaviour. Key goals included communicating News Limited’s established environmental track record and providing employees with practical tools to reduce their own individual carbon footprint.

“We created the One Degree brand from strategic positioning and naming to identity design and implementation across launch collateral, website, guidelines, posters, advertisements, and merchandise,” he continues. “One Degree [wanted to] inspire and influence through its clear and engaging message and positive tone. Most individuals are already so overloaded with work that the issue of climate change is too hard to think about. It recognises that every small action counts, and collectively these small actions can have a huge impact. The logo combines both the number and the degree symbol, which together represent a person. The visual language uses News Limited employees along with the degree symbol as the focus for communications, echoing the logo and implying a thought bubble with the intent to make one degree of change, one degree of effort, one degree of difference.”

With the amount of research and work involved in making and marketing one business as being more environmentally friendly than the next, it is easy to see why some companies may be a little hesitant to join the ranks already edging towards better green practices. However, the more sound such practices are from the beginning, the less work will have to be done in the future.

“From a green beer to climate change initiatives and products encouraging behavioural changes, we’ve found that there is a greater requirement for environmentally conscious branding and design,” says Little. “One of the key challenges is making sure the client understands what they’re getting themselves into. It’s a big undertaking that can’t be taken lightly. It’s also a cautious road, where everything must stack up before you can embark on such a project. As we all know, there’s plenty of ‘greenwashing’ going on across the board, and it’s becoming more important to be authentic rather than jumping on the bandwagon.”

Moving forward into the next decade both Staniford and Little see sustainable design as playing a massive role in the future of the graphic communications industry. “Sustainable design won’t be a differentiator in the future, it will be standard practice. The consumer’s increased awareness will play a greater role in how brands express themselves,” says Little. “The green movement has been very much led by the needs and wants of consumers. Design is heading towards some really interesting territories. We’re seeing the continued trend away from inflexible and restrictive corporate branding of the past, and there’s a shift towards more idea-based work, thankfully.”

“Design will play a significant role in strengthening environmental awareness,” adds Staniford. “Green messaging will become ubiquitous as more and more companies try to establish themselves as green in the public eye. I suspect we’ll also start to see consumers and the media become more suspicious of sustainability claims. They will become wary of ‘greenwashed’ messages, claims of carbon offsets, and promotions of things that don’t yet exist (such as hydrogen fuel cell cars). They will also start to look more critically at brands that claim to be making progress in this area.”

© 2008 Niche Media Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

This article was first published in Desktop (June 2008).