Experience the KIKK festival 2019 through the eyes of Antoine Lord, digital product expert at Bulldozer.
It all started a few weeks ago with an email that looked like this:
From: LOJIQ
To: hello@bulldozerinc.com
Subject: KIKK Festival 2019
Hello,
LOJIQ invites you to submit your application to participate
at the KIKK Festival 2019 in Namur, Belgium, from October 31 to November 3.
To which we answered approximately:
From: hello@bulldozerinc.com
TO: LOJIQ
Subject: Re: KIKK Festival 2019
Yo, we're very down with this. Count us in. ✌️
After having been lucky enough to be selected to go there, a few weeks later, Ulys and I are in Namur, armed with a camera, our laptops and raincoats, ready for an intense binge watching conference.
It was an extremely enriching experience and that is why I want to share in this article some conferences that marked us.
Random Studio - Interactive Space, a New Domain
Daan Lucas greets us in the main hall of the sublime Namur Theater, where he tells us that it all started for him when he was 30 years old and that he did not know what to do with his life. At the time, he frequented a nightclub called the Roxy, a wacky place where people with eccentric personalities created completely crazy environments for partying every week. This mythical place made him want to create spaces rich in unique experiences.
Amplify experiences with technology
Fast forward a few years ago, Random Studio was born, a company that specializes in creating interactive spaces thanks to a team of artists, designers and developers. Daan explains that he believes the technology is not good or bad in itself. It is only a means, a vehicle for creating, communicating and exploring. At the opposite of social networks that distance us from each other (instant messaging, overabundance of notifications, false sense of proximity and connection) Random Studio wants to use technology to bring people together by giving them real experiences.
From there were born some projects for companies such as Louis Vuitton, NikeLab, Chanel, Hermès and Maison Margiela. The big brands love their concepts: experiences created from scratch allow their positioning to be conveyed through memorable moments.
Random Studio inspired me with a few ideas:
Base Design - Beyond the Interface: How to Design More Memorable Digital Experiences?
Base Design, a branding company based in Belgium and known worldwide, explains to us that branding as we know it is losing its value. The two founders of the company, Thomas and Thomas (nicknamed Twomas) bombard us with popular logos and graphic signatures that all look alike. They show us that we are probably witnessing a standardization area, where the aesthetics of the logos is the same everywhere.
Is standardization good or bad?
From an identity point of view, this is bad. No distinction, for originality, everything is the same. It becomes difficult to differentiate brands between them.
From a product (UX) point of view, that's good. Digital products are instinctive and therefore easy to use (long live the abundance!).
Large speaker, small maker
Simon Sinek has had a major impact in the branding industry by explaining that you have to go back to the heart and very clearly define the " Why? " of the company to be able to communicate it. The stronger the answer to this question, the stronger the brand. Storytelling is the Trojan horse of brand creators. The problem is that today we are witnessing a glut of storytelling. Brands all have inspiring stories to which we respond "Bullshit!" ".
What do we do now?
The remedy according to Base Design is experiences . Let's stop saying loud and clear what we want to do and let's do it instead. Actions speaks louder than words. People need to have real, honest and authentic experiences. It strengthens the positioning because it makes an impression.
Long Live Brand Feeling.
The presentation of Base Design had a lot of impact on Ulys and me. It made us realize that branding is evolving quickly. Very quickly. The paradigm shift has taken place in less than 10 years. The next change is likely to occur in much less than 10 years. What is the future of branding? How to prepare for it?
Stefan Sagmeister - Design & Happiness
Renowned worldwide for his creative work in the advertising industry, Stefan Sagmeister is also known as a true adventurer in search of absolute happiness. So much so that he created The Happy Film , where he tells his own quest for happiness. Her lecture uses clips from the film to explain what happiness is and how to achieve it.
Three techniques to be happy
According to Stefan, three techniques are mainly used: meditation, cognitive therapy and drugs. Throughout the film, he exploits each technique to its full potential to determine if it really works.
He arrives at some observations for his own happiness:
What makes us sad? Things you don't get used to.
What makes us happy? Relationships and personal development.
Obviously, he couldn't get past point # 6 without taking the opportunity to blackmail us. Here's what it looked like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvIXFavK28s&feature=emb_logo
To find out more, The Happy Film is available on the official website: https://www.thehappyfilm.org
Stefan is an excellent speaker and he was able to touch his audience with his presentation. The quest for happiness is a subject that affects us all, and he has demystified a few elements to facilitate this quest. I’m really looking forward to the full movie.
However, in the context of KIKK, its presentation leaned more towards the creative side than the technological one. The processes used to express the subject and the key themes are very creative. But technologically speaking, it didn't teach me much.
An experience to relive
Overall, the KIKK was a very inspiring experience. We were impressed by the diversity and quality of the conferences. After each presentation, my brain was boiling new ideas, I wanted to undertake a creative project on the spot ... I would have liked to have a clone of myself to be able to participate in all the options offered to me. I have rarely taken so many notes on my phone of ideas to develop.
What impressed me most was the richness and originality of the artistic approaches of the projects I saw there. The concepts worked on were all original, daring and very relevant. It made me want to integrate more creation and art into the projects I lead at Bulldozer. Create things for the approach and originality, and not only for the results.
After having lived an experience like that, impossible not to return there. See you at the next edition, which will celebrate 10 years of KIKK, still in the splendid city of Namur.
Thanks to Bulldozer and LOJIQ - The International Youth Offices of Quebec who sent us there ✌️
Come meet us for a virtual coffee.
Here is our agenda to find common availability: MAKE AN APPOINTMENT
