In over 15 years of working in design, i’ve never been asked to create a garment for this purpose. Not once.
There’s something special about this team. Led by Paul Rose, a Company Director born out of the Bristol sound system culture, a powerhouse of knowledge and expertise and as modest as they come.
In over 15 years of working in design, i’ve never been asked to create a garment for this purpose. Not once. Garments are for customers or promotional purposes. Garments design briefs are usually intended for the sole purpose of using humans, as walking billboards for their brand.
However, at the end of every year Paul requests a fresh run of garments designed especially for his crew ‘to thank them for their hard work’.
It’s a proper nice feeling as a designer to create something that people genuinely gravitate towards.
Ever since we completed the re-brand for AF Live, there seems to be a hype around its aesthetic. The crew want to wear the garments, festival punters hassle the crew for the opportunity to get their hands on a tee or hoodie.
Not in a corporate sense but on a personal level, human to human.
It’s a proper nice feeling as a designer to create something that people genuinely gravitate towards. I don’t mean that in an egotistical kind-of-way. It’s more than that. It comes from a desire to use branding as more than just a derivative of the corporate world. On a personal level, it is my weapon of choice to engage with others, human-to-human, in a language we all understand.
It’s a tribe of people…. That’s me, that’s my people.
When done right and with integrity, branding can be a powerful tool or vessel, bringing people together through shared identity. People who collectively believe in something more than just a product or price point. It can function as a belief system, a style, It’s a tribe of people that they are proud to say…. That’s me, that’s my people.
put something into the world that provides genuine value to other humans
This is why I fell in love with design.
Design thinking and making, is more than just aesthetics, pretty things for your eyes, it is a calculated, deliberate attempt to put something into the world that provides genuine value to other humans. It has purpose. People get to define its value and is always unique to the individual. What I strive for is emotion. Something that moves, excites, motivates or inspires. This is the sweet spot for me, the cross-section of creativity, where art and design, collide.
