Feature 004: Maximum Minimalism Conference

Came back from the KL Design Week Maximum Minimalism Conference (MMC) a while ago. So very tired... but I have a feeling if I didn't blog about it now, I wouldn't find the desire to tomorrow. I went with Tze Yee to the conference. She was the only without sanity who would accompany me to something like this. Apparently, I managed to convince Kee Theng to go for the conference too. She came all the way from Penang and I met her during the MMC, it was so nice seeing a familiar face from home.

Supposedly, the MMC was one of the most expensive conference held during the KLDW. Luckily for us, Tze Yee knew someone who was working there and we managed to get a heavily discounted student price. We deliberated for a while, not sure if this would be worth it. And then I thought, what the heck, why not? This was the first time such an event was held in KL, it would be a valuable experience to be able to listen to all the invited designer speakers.

So we went! The overview of the MMC was that it was not as exciting or educational as I thought it would be. In fact, there were moments when I fell asleep during the speeches (was so darn tired from a late night, I only had two hours sleep prior to the conference, so cut me some slack!). But for what some of the designers shared and for the chance to see them in person, this trip was worth it. Not exactly great, but I am not regretting the decision either.

Do you know who David Carson is? No? Neither do I.

He was one of the main speakers during the event. To give you an idea on how important this dude was, I'll tell you that his name was the first listed among the speakers, his bio was the first printed on all booklets and there was another conference with him as the only speaker and you can only attend that conference with him by invitation. That's how big he was. Well, at least that was the idea I got.

But after the speaker got off the stage, the MC informed us that David Carson was ill and could not make the flight to KL. Everyone in the room groaned, and I thought, who?? Heck, I was only there for STEFAN SAGMEISTER!!! Let me bring you through the speakers of the day. I have only selected speakers that I admired and listened to without falling asleep.

The first speaker who got my attention was this pair of designers from France, Kuntzel + Deygas. I remembered them from this feature piece I read from IdN Magazine some time ago. One of their most famous creations was this pair of dogs, Caperino & Peperone. The basic shape of these dogs were the letters 'a' and 'b'. One was rounder in shape while the other had more edges and rectangular. With these basic traits, these characters could be modified in many ways and yet remained recognizable. They were selling T-shirts with the characters printed on them at RM 180++, I think.

Hehe... I managed to get both the designers' autographs as well as a stamped Cap and Pep. So cute~ it was amazing to me how popular these dogs were and how far they have travelled in the world.

Another project they shared was this credit clip they did for the Steven Spielberg's film 'Catch Me If You Can' staring Tom Hanks and Leornado DiCaprio. The modification they did on the typeface with the extended stroke was refreshing to me, the first time I saw them. Since then, I have seen many modifications that followed the same style. I, myself have attempted it without success. See the silhouettes of the people? Those were made using stamps of individual parts ie: head,torso, arm, leg.


The next designer was Shun Kawakami from Japan. I confessed I fell asleep during his talk. How could I not with soft zen-like music playing in the background and his soft spoken English lilted with Japanese accent. Listening to him was like practically listening to a lullaby! Anyways, boredom aside, I enjoyed looking at his work tremendously. I liked his calligraphy-like graphic works below. He didn't illustrate them, apparently, but he was the one who came up with the concept, I think. Not very sure, my brain was induced with sleep at the time.


As sleepy as I was, I did pay attention when he elaborated on this project of his called 'Art and Sound'. See those wires coming out of the canvasses from the picture below? All those wires were connected to a CD player thing, I think, and hanging below the canvasses were ear phones. The idea was to treat yourself visually to the artwork while you put on the ear phone and listen to the music playing. I found the concept to be different. I wonder how listening to the music played would affect how you look at the illustration.

Part way through this, I caught Tze Yee falling asleep on camera. Bwahahahahah~~

The most exciting typographic design from all the artworks shown, to me, would be the one from the picture below. These was a creation from a team of designers, Troika, from the UK. But none of the designers originated from there, I think. Notice how the typefaces were formed following the geometric guide on the right?

See how the lights ran down from above and formed the typeface by running through the grid as programmed?


Oooo... I saved the best two for last!

During the Beijing Olympic 2008, the bird nest stadium had created a hiatus for its unique design. Another architectural wonder was the aquatic center, more widely known as the Water Cube. If I were to compare the two, the Water Cube captivated me more with its out-of-this-world design where the walls were shaped like bubbles!

The reason for the above comment was one of the architects who designed the Water Cube was here for the conference! His name was Chris Bosse. I found it amazing that throughout his talk, I was completely awake and there never was a dull moment. Not that he was an incredibly good speaker or that he peppered his talk with jokes or anything, but with the sureness and beliefs that he injected into his talk. I have always thought that a great design would not only look beautiful, but used its attractiveness to achieve a certain goal. The Water Cube was a prime example of a great design. The bubble walls were not there to merely look pretty, but served the purpose of storing heat to warm up the pool (sorry if I didn't get this point straight enough).

Another reason I absolutely admired this guy was because he was a very nice man in person. He was the only one who asked for a name when he signed in my book. I was very very happy to have gotten his signature!


Last but certainly not least, Stefan Sagmeister. In my first GD class, the first thing we were asked to do was to research on this man. Of all the speakers, his works were the one I have seen multiple times and was slightly more familiar than the rest. Apparently, he was like a super star in the design field. When it was his turn to speak, every drowsy head immediately cleared. This was surely because he was the reason many of us were there in the first place.

Unlike the others, Sagmeister was a very good speaker. He was inspiring. It also helped matters that he was the only one who made jokes, no matter they were bawdy ones. I couldn't say he was my favourite designer or that I looked up to him, but he was certainly an inspiration. It was also incredibly exciting to have finally seen one of the most famous and influential designer of our time (he's not dead yet, unlike many great others).


Going to the MMC was a good choice. Not going to regret it for a single moment. Will I go again next year? Ummm.... we'll see. =P