Monkee Interviews - Brook Banham - Industrial Designer

Brook Banham is a crazy, crazzzy skilled Industrial Designer that founded Middlecott Design with his Wife, Judith Banham. We were lucky enough to sit down with him & ask him a couple questions, scroll down to check out what he had to say about starting your own design company, what a student should have in their port, and much more....

brookbanham.com/flash

How long have you been designing?

I have been designing since around 1990. I started off moving to the UK from Texas and there got my GCSEs and A-levels that got me into college. I had to take a one year Art and Design foundation course before they would let me into Transport Design School. I finally got accepted into one of UKs most prestigious Car design schools, Coventry University around 1992. After a year or so I dropped out because I was too immature for it at the time.

In my "time off" after dropping out I worked for a graphic design firm designing transported and race car graphics for the motorsport industry, including Jordan Grand Prix, Stweret Grand Prix (b4 it became Jaguar Racing) I did graphics for the cars, trucks, the lot.

Then I got tired of Graphics, and went back to Coventry Uni to continue with my degree starting back in around '96, or '97. Finished top of my class with a degree in 2000.

You and your Wife founded Middlecott Design, right? What were the main challenges with starting your own design company?

Yep. We founded Middlecott Design about a year ago with the best partner a designer can have. His wife. We are like minded with a completely different skill set so we complement each other big time. She is graphics with a focus on fashion and magazines and me being ID.

We wanted to keep it tight so we outsource any addition help that we cannot do ourselves. With the economy the way it is, its better to be tight and efficient then oversized and slow moving. WE are also more adaptable then the bigger firms, in many respects.

So we like to keep the overheads low by only using exactly what we need with our network of outsources. Tight like a nun's p@##ssy.

So when a client comes to you to design a product, what stages are generally involved in the design process, & how long does each stage take approx?

We like first get a feeling of the client. Size, culture, history, way they see their future, how they see themselves in the future.

Then we get the brief from the client. You know, what do they want designed. Normally its some sort of written brief so everything is clear and in writing. Its kinda like an informal contract so there is no way the goalposts can change mid process.

Then start the design process. Do the research. Find out what’s out there that is there competitors. find out the culture of the product, part of the research, like is a street culture thing, is it an electronic geeks thing, is it a high end or low end fashion thing. You know, this way you can research to see what the current trends are in that particular area. Then try to forecast what’s gonna be the trend when the product comes out. Gotta kinda be one step ahead, but not too far ahead.

After research, and during research you sketch ideas. You chat and brainstorm with design colleagues. You bounce ideas off one another. Trip out a little. Go wild and mild in terms of range of ideas. You can always dial back the ideas afterwards.

Present the initial ideas, normally in sketchy format, to the client. You don’t want to have too polished ideas to start with cause that limits its perspective cause then it may look like its already done without further exploration. That’s the kinda first stage.

Then get feedback from the client, discuss the ideas. Bounce 'em back and forth, get a feeling from the client what works and what doesn’t. Then you can move on with stage two if you got suitable feedback. There are basically 3 stages.

Second stage is development. So, we then develop a mutually chosen direction. This is where the design start to tighten up a little. Spend time developing the direction(s). Sometimes the client chooses a few directions. Polish em up enough to present in the next round. The client should be able to see a clear direction by the second presentation. We may have a few variations of the same theme.

Its important to keep the client active in the design process, most of the time. That way they feel that they have had some input into it, so it more closely adheres to what they are needing. HOWEVER, sometimes the client doesn’t know shit and you gotta take the horse by the rains. If the client doesn’t have a clue about design it can be a real pain if they have too much say in the process. That’s why you gotta feel the client out at the beginning, to know how to handle 'em.

Anyway, second phase done. You present your developed concepts. With close dialogue with the client, you narrow the design down further for the 3rd and final step. The third step is the step whereby you finish the design. This may include 3D CAD models, or just purely schweet renderings. Depends on the clients needs. BTW, I have generalized and broken the design process into 3 steps. Normally there is a lot more back and forth. I have just broken it down into these basic steps for ease of understanding.

What do you look for in a potential designers portfolio when looking to outsource some design work? And what do you think is important for a recent grad/current student to have in the port?

Portfolios have got to be rich. Rich in thinking, rich in execution and rich in quality. We wanna see that the designer can think for themselves, but also be open to other ideas. WE don’t want any premaddonas. No premaddonas that get hurt with critism. They must show in the portfolio how they think, from range of quality initial ideas, then show how they develop those ideas. Can they carry an idea all the way through to a satisfactory conclusion. So, basically we look for innovative thinking and good end results.

Also, a bit of diversity is a good thing. If you want a shoe design job, it’s cool to have a few other things apart from just shoes. It shows that you think about other things then just shoes. It’s important to be open to things outside your area. A worldly view is good. Makes you more rounded and not typecast.

Whats the best advice you could give to young designers to become successful?

Keep on pumpin. Don’t get disheartened if at first the jobs don’t come around. Just keep doing what you love cause that is where you'll be most successful. Also be competitive, in my opinion, 'cause you are in a competition for that job. Competition keeps you fresh and keeps you improving. If you see something damn hot, try to improve upon it. Don’t rest on your laurels. Be personable. Nobody likes to work with an arrogant chap.

Network also. Try to meet people in person and online via emails, chatting, FB, linkedin etc. Get people to remember your name and your work. Then, when you have that job, keep on impressing the client/ boss/ corporation. Take the attitude that you're only as good as your last design.

 Thanks to Brook for taking the time to answer our questions! Don't forget to checkout brook's design compnay; www.middlecott.com. He also has an old personal site (To be updated soon) brookbanham.com/flash, and also check out coroflot.com/brook for some more work from Brook.

Comments

[trimtab21]

it reminds me of the DeLorean a bit and also the old Mazda Coupe with rotrary engine - and that is a complement.

[heh]

Premadonna lol.