5/12/2023
Dublin, May 12, 2023
Good day, Ireland! In mid-May, our Managing Directors Nadine and Max and our Creative Director Paul traveled to the epda congress in the Irish metropolis of Dublin. Under the motto “How to navigate in times of change”, the program included exciting expert presentations and lots of networking with design colleagues from all over Europe. We would like to share some of the exciting topics with you here.
Rethinking diversity.
Diversity and inclusion have long since ceased to be trendy topics; rather, these terms reflect the desire to reflect reality, including that of our creative sector. With the figures in her presentation, Boma Krijgsman (Talent, Diversion and Inclusive Manager at JDO in the UK) gave us food for thought in this regard: Only 13% of all design jobs worldwide are held by people from a black, Asian or other minority background, while 88% of all design managers are white. In addition to ethical considerations, there are also economic benefits to better integrating minorities into the design landscape. To name just one example of many: Against the backdrop of our increasingly ageing society, we as designers should be thinking and designing packaging in a much more age-appropriate way.
Generation Shift.
As a panel speaker, our Managing Director Nadine shared her experiences on the topic of “Generation Shift in Agencies” on stage. Whether as a company or agency, it is always a challenge to follow in big footsteps, to maintain a successful company as the next generation, to adapt it to the changing times and to lead it into the future with strength. One of the topics discussed during the panel was the optimal time frame in which a generational change should take place. According to Nadine, there is no general, blanket answer to this. “In my case, it was many years in which my father took me by the hand and never missed an opportunity to share his knowledge and experience with me.” When changing within a family-run company, two things are particularly important to her: “Firstly, respect for the other person's view of things. And secondly, a lot of patience.”
New Technologies.
Few topics are currently more hotly debated than artificial intelligence. The groundbreaking changes will significantly alter the working world of tomorrow and the creative industry in particular is already feeling the effects of the new tools such as Chat-GPT, Midjourney and Adobe's new tools and a new era of the creative process. With his impressive practical examples, Viktor Konovalow (Creative Director at Dragon Rouge, Warsaw) convincingly demonstrated how we as designers can benefit from the new possibilities and that we will by no means become completely obsolete tomorrow. Because what counts in the end is always the initial idea.
While AI is significantly changing the way we work, our consumer behavior is also facing a veritable revolution. The blockchain and the metaverse, as well as the purchasable digital content integrated into them, already represent a huge market. And brands such as Gucci, Starbucks and KIA have already set up entire marketplaces to benefit from this potential tomorrow. Matthias Lechner (founder and Creative Director of NFBrands.X, Austria) provided us with valuable insights on this topic and showed us how we will meet for digital meetings in the metaverse or go shopping there in the future. The highlight here is that even the exclusively digital closet via NFTs has real value. Already today, a million euros a day are spent on skins (clothes for avatars) in the computer game Fortnite.
Conclusion.
We are delighted that we are once again able to meet up regularly with our colleagues from Europe for events despite further crises in the world. And not only because of the highly topical issues and insights, but above all because of the informal atmosphere. More than ever, this shows how important it is to regularly exchange ideas within the industry in order to be optimally equipped as an agency for this exciting and world-changing decade.
You can find more impressions of our epda trip on Instagram. Check out this Reel!
What is the epda?
The European Brand & Packaging Design Association (epda) offers its members a platform for networking and exchanging knowledge on trends and packaging design at European level.
Foto Credit: Moira Lawson
