TASK FOUR

WHO ELSE IS OUT THERE? HOW GOOD ARE THEY?

I used the SWOT analysis system to look at two design agencies who I really admire, one is a big multi-national award winning company and the other is a little closer to home for me. I love both companies but for different reasons. Ideally, they are the kind of agencies I would love to work with in the future. 

Firstly I turned to Pearlfisher, packaging giants fbased in NY and London. I tried to be unbiased, but to be honest it's difficult when I've been in love with everything about them for a while now. The front page of their website- www.pearlfisher.com is christmas themed at the moment, it features photographs of the comapnys workers in festive attire along. It's a formal and friendly feel, the rest of their site is well laid out and proffessional to a tee, without any of the far-too-common-these-days-design-snobbery. They do however, know how good they are. I don't think it's a bad thing. If you're confident about something you should show it...just not too much. The only real thing that had a mild whiff of arrogance (but rightly so as one of the best design agencies in the world) is their header which reads "Pearlfisher - No.1 for desirable design and effective results". 
Their online portfolio is smooth and runs nicely, the images are as perfect as can be and they have a good range and quantity to look at. Under every piece in the portfolio is a short paragraph stating the task they had been given and the scope they had taken on it. 
Their site is full of useful content, some interesting and some a little tedious. The only real faults I felt were that aside from the tempoary christmas home page, the site can feel a little clinical at some points. Maybe if they displayed a level of friendly informality all the time it would give the company a nicer feel. 

In a recent issue of Creative Review they took a look at design studios from around the world, not the people in it or the work they did but the actual physical space in which everything runs. I think this is a inventive touch for any design agency to apply to their site. It's good to see how things work. 

The second company I took a peek at was Cambridge based The District. http://www.thedistrict.co.uk/
I love this company. I've made it a personal aim to work alongside them one day. As a company they are everything I admire and want to be as a creative professional in the future. Their studio is a little terraced house on a residential street in Cambridge, just like all the other houses but inside something very different happens. Reading about them, they seem to run more like a family than colleagues. Their website is lovely to look at, and a little troublesome to navigate around. The look is contempoary and a little bit quirky. A bit more splash of colour than Pearlfisher and ultimatley more soul. I actually found it hard to find who they have worked with so in a sense their web space is counter productive which is a shame. The sense of humor about the place is nice, it's such an informal feel from the word go. It also feels young which implies fresh which for design is a good thing. Not the same old recycled ideas floating around.