POSITIVE POSTERS HAVE STARTED something global. Their first endeavour – a free poster art competition – took root in Melbourne, but the vines of viral hype rapidly spread across the globe and inspired submissions from some fifty two countries. The strategy behind the endeavour: who knows what’s going to happen, let’s just do it! The philosophy: give young artists and designers an outlet to spread a social message through art created to affect change.

Brouhaha sat down with two key members of the Positive Projects group which encompasses Positive Posters in its wide array of semi-experimental creative expeditions. Vice Chairman Nathan Welch and Simon Roberts, who sits on the board, took the time to tell us of their success in Melbourne, not financially but creatively. Not in terms of business, but in terms of art.

As romantic as that sounds, Nathan and Simon fuelled the project by embracing risk, by adopting a ‘well why not?’ outlook that ultimately resulted in a success but so easily could have fallen into failure. Their reasoning behind the decision to pool momentum and then roll it forward without looking back? To take a financial risk that could so easily spiral out of control? Faith and belief in designers, artists and regular people, that they would contribute in one form or another. It sounds dreamy, maybe even naïve. But despite all that, the at times careless trust and distinctly Australian enthusiasm that Nathan and Simon placed in the project, which they seemed to exude from their body language alone, has paid off.

That careless trust, haphazard faith, is what is carrying them to expand Positive Posters into Hong Kong. The poster art competition will be launched this month and both are excited at the prospect of bringing Hong Kong artists and designers a creative outlet to channel their energy and truly spread their creative wings.

The duo’s focus is always on creativity, inspiration and giving something back. You could say that story behind Nathan and Simon is that they are contemporary project-hunting hippies with a focus largely on the design community. Positive Posters is not the only pool of risk they’ve dipped their feet in (both are involved in at least four ventures at the moment), and the reward seems far greater than numbers appending a dollar sign could ever truly represent.

Simon, who spent a portion of his childhood in Hong Kong, met Nathan at RMIT University in Melbourne where they were both enrolled in an entrepreneurship program. Nathan had worked before in marketing but continually found that his passions lay in concepts like social justice, social enterprise, doing good things for people through commercial vehicles. “Business for people,” as he puts it. Before attending RMIT, Simon spent four weeks in the middle of the Kalahari Desert to help rebuild a primary school on an aid trip to Africa. There he found himself attracted to the idea of making a long-lasting impactful change, and began to look toward social enterprise and business as a vehicle to a social cause. Both remain enthusiastic and driven, committed to business ideas that might make a businessman reel.

But they put it so much better than we do. So let’s let them do the talking.

Tell us about the philosophy that drives Positive Posters and your other ventures.

Simon: It’s not about giving up the values to make a quick buck or to return to your shareholders, which is kind of counterintuitive to what we’re taught at university: ‘the whole purpose of business is to provide value for your shareholders.’ We like to think of it as to provide value for your shareholders but your shareholders are anyone from yourself, to the people you work with internally, and the greater community.

Nathan: We say, have designers at the centre of your business and then shape it so it has a commercial value. So we’ve been working with design studios, we’ve launched Positive Posters; we’ve had a business with two of our former professors where we’ve researched the impact of design on business.

Simon: It’s allowed us to look at design in a much more holistic way, from both a visual perspective and business to see how design can impact business.

Nathan: We’ve been working with Design Victoria for the last year, and the bipolar expedition charity that promotes better mental health. Before this I was in marketing and I guess now I’m applying it to do positive things for people.

Simon: Design seems to be increasingly more central to what we’re doing and as something that can come across all elements of a business and have a really great impact. How did Positive Posters come about?

Nathan: The Chairman and founder, Nick Hallem, came to us with this idea of ‘I’m a graphic designer and an industrial designer really pissed me off the other day’. The guy said to him, ‘I’m an industrial designer and if I wanted to create a positive change then I can make a product and have it made and sold and it will put a smile on someone’s face and it will do well for the environment and whatever, but you’re a graphic designer, what can you do?’’ And Nick’s a pretty lively guy, he took it pretty personally so he set about thinking what he could do as a graphicartist to have that same impact. We really whittled it down to a very simple, manageable idea that can just grow organically and eventually we came up with this thing called Positive Posters. What kick-started Positive Posters?

Nathan: It was a really grass roots building experience. After we had a general idea we pulled up some mates and got about 50 people to help us, and we just said ‘this is was we want to do, tell us what you think. All the business dudes go over there and all the creative go over there and let’s talk about how this can work and let’s do it in half an hour.’ I think that night was kind of a pinnacle moment…

Simon: We felt, we’ve got something here, let’s roll with it…

Who helps out?

Nathan: We’ve got a group of about eight guys that pretty much get up and go to university and straight after university, they come to our office and work in setting up the competition or looking at sponsors, finding prizes, finding an event space or exhibition space or judges. We’ve just opened it up to these kids who are just looking for an outlet, looking for a way to contribute because they’re not empowered to do so in their work because they work in a café or whatever and they just go to university and learn, learn, learn but they can’t do.

Simon: From our perspective it’s really about designing it properly the first time and then letting these kids run with it so each generation is different. It kind of moves with university kids and the way they think and particularly around this theme of positivity. It’s the kind of project that attracts the right talent and the right people.

What defines the attitude of Positive Posters?

Simon: We’re not selling a particular cause, we’re not selling a particular product, we’re just putting it out there and again I think that’s why young people are engaging in it so much. They’ve been brought up at such an early age being sold so many things; everywhere they look there’s noise and buy this, buy that, look this way, look that way, go here, don’t go there and this doesn’t have any religious, political or any other connotations attached to it, just simply positivity and like Nathan mentioned before, everyone needs a bit of positivity in their lives.
Nathan: Actually yeah, I think you coined a term for it, ‘Un-advertising’. I think it’s just spot on, it’s a company backwards. It’s just about people first. And the Hong Kong launch? How did that come about? Was it because you happened to be here so thought why not?

Simon: Yeah, that was pretty much it, but we’re also looking at cities around the world that have the potential to be a really good design hub. Hong Kong has got great potential but people don’t seem to be connecting the dots here. There are a lot of similarities to Melbourne because in Australia, Sydney is predominantly the creative central space because that’s where the big production houses and creative agencies are. But Melbourne’s got a lot of young designers coming through and making their own run on things.

Nathan: At the end of the day every city needs positivity. I mean, who the hell doesn’t right?

Simon: And really it’s about doing it in such a public way.

Nathan: We’d love to do that here in Hong Kong. In terms of contributing to the social fabric, there’s nothing really better than through some sort of art form, and if we can empower them to do that, just give them a vehicle, I think it would be fantastic.

Simon: We’ve found that there have been very few opportunities for designers to engage the public on such an open platform. It’s not behind a corporate brand, it’s not hidden in an art gallery in some kind of corner of the city. It’s something that we promote actively out there in the marketplace. In Melbourne, we put up thousands of street posters around Design Week in May.

Nathan: We pretty much covered Melbourne from top to toe in smiles. It was just brilliant because we just got so many responses from people who saw it and took photos of it and then wanted to be involved somehow.

Simon: Even on the street we have people contributing to the posters. They’re up there on the wall and people are drawing on them and adding things to them. The winning poster in particular certainly left it open to do that.

Will you be doing street level promotion here in Hong Kong too?

Simon: Absolutely. We’re talking with a couple of the street artists here about getting them involved. We’re actually hoping to do two campaigns, the first with this winner over the period that the competition runs for, so you’ll start seeing some smiles around the town from mid-July onwards.

Nathan: Yeah and it has to be street level. It has to be in the public domain because that’s where the whole thing’s different. You know, there’s heaps of design competitions where you can enter and the stuff is exhibited in a gallery or online or whatever but what makes us different is that we take it to people and it’s not just for the people who created it and their mates, it’s for everyone.

Simon: Yeah, we really separate Positive Posters into two elements; there’s the of two months that‘s the very design specific competition aspect of the project and then there’s the general public widespread promotion side of it. One of the underlying core elements of this project was engaging designers with the general public because we felt that as a skill set they have such an ability to speak their mind and present it in such a visual way that people are missing out on because its hidden behind corporate brands or a product or religious or political views and again this is void of all that. If we end up doing local exhibitions we’ll get local artists and their submissions because obviously that’s most relevant to this market.

Nathan: I’d love to see this stuff as really unique, collectable art. I think that would be so cool because there are no outlets for these guys. I’d love to see that become a vehicle for some of them.

Are you approaching Hong Kong any differently, with regard to the insecurity of doing something outside of academia or commercial work?

Simon: To be honest with you we’re taking a similar approach to what we did in Australia: just doing it. Again it’s going through the universities, the design associations and the influences. The response has been very, very, pardon my pun, positive and it’s very encouraging in a place like Hong Kong. Nathan: I think you just do it and people get inspired along the way. Things have a funny way of just falling into place if you’ve got some kick to it.

Basically, you want to give artists and designers here a chance to do something they want to, rather than what they have to?

Simon: That’s why they originally became designers right? And I guess that’s kind of the global value of this, that each designer started off in their industry with these values and they just haven’t had the opportunity yet to express it in this kind of a way.

Nathan: Yeah, but it would be awesome to have anyone, absolutely anyone and we want to keep on encouraging that. We’re still not charging for entries and we’ll try and keep it that way for as long as we can so as many people can come and get involved.

How did you spread the word to get overseas entries?

Nathan: We don’t know, actually.

Simon: We have no idea.

Nathan: It’s a mystery.

Simon: I’d love to say ‘we had a well thought out structured social-media campaign that had these…’ but no, it just wasn’t like that at all, it was just viral. It was such an authentic message that young people seem to engage with so easily and in particular designers because it’s that outlet for them. The little bit of promotion that we did was predominantly Facebook and through universities and networks. We got it out on a few of their newsletters and it just spread from there. We were just shocked that we got just under 350 entries but from 52 countries around the world. The highest entering country was Australia, then it was the US, then it was Iran. It’s a global message.

Nathan: Our partners did some promotion and Nick went out with a couple of guys and visited every design institution in Melbourne with a presentation. He went and interrupted classes and said ‘this is my slide show, this is why you should enter, get involved, we’ve got some prizes and we’re going to have a party at the end of it.’ That was pretty much it and now Positive Posters is actually adopted as a curriculum in one of the universities that we visited, so that might be something we can do over here too.

How are you going to organise international entries in the future?

Nathan: We’ve decided on going through an ambassador system where pretty much anyone can apply from around the world and be the Positive Ambassador for their country. As part of that they’ll be helping out in getting entries, so visiting their universities and talking to local designers who can contribute to the competition, but

also having a look at some collaboration opportunities again to actually create some really good outcomes for people. Last year’s winner, Peter Chmela’s design is striking and simple.

Is that why it won?

Simon: Yeah, I think it just pretty much sums up what we’re about. We had to consider: this thing is going to be on the streets, it’s designed not for a gallery, it’s design to be for the public level for everyday people, not just for designers but anyone so it had to be a universal message. It had to be accessible, it had to be non-cultural language specific, it had to look good as well in repetition, it had to stand out. So there were a few things we had to check off and make sure of, then we short-listed thirty finalist and we engaged designers though ICOGRADA (The International Council of Graphic
Design Associations).

Was Peter pleased when he won?

Nathan: Peter was wrapped, he’s from Slovakia and went mental in a different language when he found out. Nick was Skyping him going “mate, you’ve won!” and he was losing his shit! He was just blown away after because all the time on Facebook he was seeing his poster being taken to the North Pole or wherever. It’s pretty amazing for him and inspiring for other people to get involved and go ‘that could be my design’.

The North Pole? How did that come about?

Simon: We promote as far and as wide as possible and an element of that is getting great photo opportunities. The North Pole was another project that we were working on at the time for bipolar, an expedition to raise awareness and some funds for research. It was a great crossover.

Nathan: Antarctica was a little weird, a guy rocked up to the exhibition launch at a rooftop bar in Melbourne, and he was like, “I love what you guys are doing. I’m going to Antarctica tomorrow, I’ll take your posters”. We gave it to him and he chucked it on an easel on a Sea Shepherd helipad and took some snaps of it there.

Your first theme was ‘Change’ – how did you pick it?

Simon: It certainly seemed to be a word that was thrown around quite readily last year. It was great timing with the US elections and what was happening in the world at that stage and each iteration of the competition has got to reflect where certain aspects of society is heading.

What about this year’s theme?

Simon: The 12th is when it’s released online. We’re having our event here in mid-July. What will be the prize for this year’s competition winner?

Nathan: This year I think it is Adobe CS5 and a Wacom tablet.

Simon: With more prizes to be confirmed.

Nathan: Yeah we’ve started to work with Apple back in Melbourne so something could pop up there, but in the meantime we’re working with them on some in-store events and hopefully that will push this along in the right direction. We’re not making a trophy this time, last time it was a glass rabbit. Do you know how much of a nightmare it was to mail a glass rabbit!

You said before that the winner’s piece must be non-cultural language specific and bear a universal message with no particular agenda. What do you do with controversial entries?

Nathan: We had a couple last year. We had a white Obama! But, we give them as much exposure as the next poster because it’s all contributing to this dialogue that’s going on, we just let it fly. Obviously there’s some screening going on but as long as it’s not too profane, we just post it.If a piece of art comes in that was really good but it had a clear agenda, how do you weigh those two against each other? Simon: Well again that’s up to the judges to really define. They’re from different corners of the world and essentially it’s up to them to put their heads together and go ‘what is going to be most impactful visually on the streets?’

Nathan: In terms of the winner, it does have to be a fairly universal message, so last year we got heaps of stuff on saving water or whatever, having some clear agendas but part of the brief was that it has to be – plain and simple – a positive message.

What part does the rabbit play?

Simon: That is the Positive Posters logo. That is PP, so that’s what is printed on the t-shirts and is something that we want to be the universal brand of positivity.

Nathan: The whole idea is that the rabbit breeds and it breeds positivity. It’s a universal sign and we’re trying as much as we can to take the name Positive Posters out of it and put the rabbit on things so hopefully that will tell people what we’re about.

Simon: And on the Positive Projects, having the rabbit stamped on these things lets you know that if you come across something down the line with the rabbit on it, it’s attached to this whole value system that we’re building at the moment.

The future – tells us your plans and aims.

Nathan: We would definitely like to be the world’s most recognised poster competition or graphic design competition. We’ve kind of recently, after that two month period of ‘what the fuck?’, had a look around and just gone, ‘OK, why has this all happened?’ and we’ve found that there’s not really a global graphic design competition at all that is free and that encourages people to do that kind of thing. So we’d like to be known as the place where if you’re a graphic designer or illustrator or someone who just wants to enter, Positive Posters is the one. We’d also like to see a lot of outcomes in terms of actually creating positive change and I think that’s where Positive Projects come into play, so it’s starting to leverage this kind of ground swell of support and people who have this idea of social justice and work with organisations to actually create some change and I think the first one will be the Salvation Army. After the ‘what the hell just happened?’ period it was ‘where to now?’ and I think we all agree that this has great potential to further engage on a global scale, so Positive Projects is a collaboration hub for Positive Posters and open to any company or any organization that wants to share in our message. We’ve teamed up with Apple and with the Salvation Army back home. They’re looking at giving us a permanent gallery space in one of their street laneways, which is known for helping the homeless. It’s got a walk-in centre where the homeless come in and get hot food and a shower. That laneway is going to be turned into a permanent gallery. We’re also looking to some work where the homeless can actually create designs and we’re collaborating with a few of Melbourne’s top design studios, so it’s connecting the design studios and the homeless and creating the posters as well.

Simon: So again, we’re leveraging all of this wonderful exposure that we’re getting into stuff that’s again contributing to the social fabric and we’ll be looking to replicate that in Hong Kong once that exposure starts to roll out later on in the year. Also on a more personal level we’ve had some great stories of guys presenting their Positive Posters entry and people just realising that those are the values that they hold as a designer and that that’s OK, you don’t necessarily have to always adhere to this whole corporate design code.

Nathan: Yeah it’s kind of like, and I don’t mean to get too philosophical, but it’s like these old dudes who finish their career and they go, ‘I’ve done my career and I’m 60 years old and I’ve worked my balls off, now I want to give something back.’

Simon: Why can’t you do that for your whole career?

Nathan: Yeah, why can’t you make that your career?

Simon: Exactly.

Nathan: I mean, why are people waiting until the end of their career to start trying to make an impact? I can feel it, I can see it. Everywhere I look, people want to give back.

The burning question: is it worth it?

Nathan: Without a question, mate.

Simon: Absolutely. There’s nothing else I’d rather be doing. The bank accounts don’t really reflect it but that’s not why we’re in it. It’s never why we have been in it.

Nathan: Yeah, Absolutely, I think it’s something I live by, I mean we’re all heading to the same destination, right? How you choose to spend your time here is your choice and it’s an important one, and I couldn’t think of any other way I’d spend my time other than doing good things for other people.

Keep up to date on the competition and to find out how to enter at www.positive-posters.com

Words: Alex Lendrum and Hugo Stanford

]]> http://www.brouhaha.com.hk/features/positive-people/feed/ 1 http://www.brouhaha.com.hk/blog/hatch-creative-agency-hatches/ http://www.brouhaha.com.hk/blog/hatch-creative-agency-hatches/#comments Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:05:43 +0000 admin http://www.brouhaha.com.hk/?p=545 Hong Kong’s first agency for independent designers and illustrators took over the ArtFinger Gallery on Hollywood Road for the launch party of their brand new website, HATCH.HK last Thursday 10th December.

The walls of the gallery were adorned with a selection of featured works from artists such as Benny Luk, Calvin Ho, Johnny Cheuk and Kate Barnett, giving a taste of their abounding creative talents that stretch across multiple disciplines including illustration, typography, installation, 3D-modelling and animation.

HATCH’s Artist Manager, Krisdean Law emphasized their commitment to promoting local artists overseas as well as locally, and bridging the divide between art and commercial needs. Several of their artists they represent have previously collaborated with companies for events and commercial projects, such as PikPik Zoo who were invited to work with celebrated style icons Havianas, and who’s hanging PikPik Panda installation inhabited the gallery’s frontage for the event.

Given the resurgence of pride and productivity in our local art scene it’s great to be able to endorse an enterprise that is working towards the development of local artists and nurturing the relationship between artists and companies seeking the talents of these individuals.

To see some of the artwork on show and photos from the night check out Brouhaha issue 1 when it hits the street on January 4th 2010.

http://www.hatch.hk/

-Tim Pritchard

Suddenly you become aware that each piece has something different in them, something contemporary that spurs out the ancient Japanese ink style. Some have a more palpable intermingle of past and present, like the piece showing Japanese fish featuring on a royal flush with an ashtray to the side and blood splats dotted sparingly.

The old East meets new West approach to her works reflects the artist’s emotions and upbringing. Nanami (meaning “Seven Seas” in Japanese) is half Japanese – half European and was born in Sydney. This fine blend of heritage has allowed her delicate hands to weave with pen and ink the framed juxtapositions that will hang until December 1^st.

ufoArtgallery – 39 Graham Street, Central, Hong Kong.

http://www.ufoartgallery.com
http://www.nthread.net

- Alex Lendrum

It was great to see so many supporters of 1KStyles turn out and even better to see all three one-off pieces of 1KStyles’ work sell in the auction, raising over $30,000 for charity.

Thanks to all our sponsors, congratulations to 1KStyles and thanks Cliché Photography for providing us with our excellent photographs from the night which are now up on our Gallery section (or here, if you’d prefer).