“Ideas are as important as execution” and five other wise creative nuggets

Whether it’s identity projects, graphics, print, animation, film or illustration you dig, we’ve picked out some wise nuggets and broken them into easy to read, bitesized chunks. These insights were gleaned from Offset festival’s inaugural London conference, which kicked off yesterday with some superb and inspiring speakers.

1. Graphic designers hoard

Graphic Thought Facility’s co-founder Andy Stevens talked us through a “wayfinding project that became an identity project” for Hult Business School, a fascinating project that used the site’s origins as a starting point. The studio decided used art prints designed in collaboration with Andy Altmann of Why Not Associates. The imagery drew from multifarious bits and bobs, so Andy [Altmann] was the perfect man for the job. “Andy’s a classic graphic designer, he collects loads of ephemeral shit,” as Andy Stevens put it.

2. Ideas are as important (if not more so) than execution

One of the 13 things graphic designer-turned Nexus director Johnny Kelly told us he had learnt in the past three decades or so is that “something can look shoddy as long as the idea is strongish.” The lengthy and painstaking processes involved in being an animator can make it tempting to work-up, rework and overwork; but sometimes a strong idea is all you need, he says.

3. If no one hates your work, no one will love it either

Wise words from KesselsKramer co-founder Erik Kessels. His talk touched on the origins of the agency, its brilliant Brinker Budget Hotel work and Erik’s personal project Unfinished Father.

4. Don’t ignore the fucking obvious

This was Peter Savile’s no-nonsense but sage advice to Andy Stevens on the Hult project. The building had a hugely rich history as a whiskey distillery, and when things like that are right in front of you, it’s foolish not to draw from them.

5. Procrastination can be positive

For his final project at the RCA Johnny Kelly turned procrastination into something wonderful, making numerous little animated sketches showing the typical activities that help put off the things you really should be doing and weaving them together to form a four-minute short. Making a cup of tea in the most laborious way possible, colour coding books…we’ve all been there, but it’s unlikely we’ve turned them to such productive ends. “If I’m checking my LinkedIn profile, that’s my nadir of procrastination,” he told us. Amen to that, brother.

6. The best illustrators never stop “enriching [their] visual knowledge”

Speaking with Tomi Ungerer ahead of his talk, the provocative and charming 84-year-old had some brilliant advice for those aspiring for a similar career. Simply draw everything – never stop. Try new styles, but constantly engage with the world creatively. “The moment you compare, you develop your imagination,” he told us.