The Art of Design

Kiki Make up, Taniemedia

Art vs Graphics? Can the worlds collide? So it seems, and international agency Taniemedia are showing the way.

You know how it goes.
Creative types have to find their way, decide on their chosen path at art school over a lunchtime drink with fellow charcoal-dust encrusted youths (less absynthe in St Marks Square and more lager in the local Dog and Duck but the same ethic); do you go for broke, quite literally launch into a life of the tortured artist living in poverty for the love of your work and living simply to exude your ideas into being?
Is fashion your thing, do you yearn for yarns and have a fancy for fabrics, or does the humble font have you in a frenzy?
Maybe your eye is the lens and the camera your canvas, so snapping the world will pay your way.
Decisions, decisions.

From a shared love of all things creative we branch into a discipline; designer, writer, photographer, painter, sculptor, interior designer, and the segragation begins.
The worlds tend to meet when collaboration is needed and comissions involved.
Typically, desigers requiring photographers and illustators for layout work in a commercial setting, but otherwise the distance is glaring and rarely the twain shall meet.
Aside from cutting edge publications like Baseline and Dazed and Confused it’s generally designers in one camp and artists in another with the chasm between largely unexplored.

However in the world of design and the the age of integrated agenices, international outfit Taniemedia is leading the way in embracing the crossover and encouraging collaboration in a forward thinking approach designed to break down barriers.

Taniemedia, an outfit based in London’s Covent Garden with satellites in Prague, Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Paris and Moscow boast a bevvy of clients alreading subscribing to their unique approach to design and branding services.
And the secret to their success? 
Ostensibly the recognition that mixed media is the next step.
Indeed, this marrying up and over-lapping is something that's going on all aross the arts and our culture.
See our feature  Film Scored on how film and music is cross-pollenating to create something altogether new and exciting.

Because today it's all about finding the fresh, breaking down barriers and creating a rich and original aesthetic.
What this means for an agency is that the market demands more  than just the veneer and aesthetics for a brand to come to life; believing that “Images, music, text, and graphics create unified messages across all touch points of a brand”, indicates that the integral involvement of other creative discplines adds another dimension to branding approach of Taniemedia -  to much critical acclaim.

So how does this actually work in practice?
Take their work as an example.
In the fashion and beauty arena, advertising for Valentino demonstrates a fusion between photography and light imagery, and collateral for Russian make up brand Kiki is a great example of the art –meets-design visual approach whch could allmost be works of art in their own right.

In the music sector, design for the CD sleeves of Emilie Simon and Louis Federico Pascarella show the striking effects of a simplistic approach of using photography and illustration as leading components in design.
The mixed media branding and design offers more to clients in terms of creativity, and is a great showcase for the talents of the agency, whilst adding extra dimensions to a brand. So a winning arrangement all-round.

As well as the work produced by Taniemedia their newly launched Tanienights evening events are set to weave links between creatives in London by showcasing the work of new artists and offering a platform for diiscussion in well chosen venues.

The quarterly concept is launching in December and whilst networking is nothing new and artists showcases are old hat the combination of a networking evening for clients, artists and other designers is a step ahead of the exisitng formats.
And, it is geared towards forging collaborative working relationships. 

Not only is it of benefit to Taniemedia in terms of meeting new potential providers of sound, photography, art and illustration, it allows a dialogue between clients of the agency and the artists, and the artists to interrelate themselves.

Future aims are to showcase and exhibit the work of new artists whose work complements the theme of the evenings, and venues will be chosen which are condusive for exhibiting work.

So, will the art and design fusion succeed?
Watch this space, or better still go along to an event and shape the future of the debate.
Failing that get out your paintrbush and step away from the computer, it might be the fast-route to the future.


Jo Gifford


www.taniemedia.com

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