This April, OFFSET entered its seventh year on the Dublin creative calendar. Eager designers, artists, and photographers alike pushed through the doors of Bord Gáis Energy Theatre for the first of three much anticipated days of talks, panel discussions, workshops and a whole lot of inspiration.
The 2016 event added The Accenture Stage, which along with our own Second Stage and main stage theatre offerings, gave delegates three different options to explore the OFFSET experience.
Don't forget that we've not 1, not 2 but 3 stage areas this year: main stage, 2nd stage & @Accenture_Irl Go explore, Offset-ers #OffsetDUB
— OFFSET (@weloveoffset) April 8, 2016
Delegates could also take part in IBM Design Thinking Workshops each day with IBM Dublin. Needless to say, it was a jam-packed three days down at Grand Canal for the OFFSET weekend.
What a kickoff to our workshops at #OffsetDUB thanks for coming along! @weloveoffset @IBMStudioDublin @ibmdesign pic.twitter.com/sQ6GbzsnI9
— Lara Hanlon (@lara_hanlon) April 8, 2016
As well as this, G . F Smith took over the first floor mezzanine with an exhibition that chronicled their catalogues over the past 130 years.
All set #OffsetDUB @weloveoffset! We are here all weekend with our heritage cases, talking about our 130yr history. pic.twitter.com/lPMTf8zTjW
— G . F Smith (@GFSmithpapers) April 8, 2016
No Brow, Unit Editions and Damn Fine Print joined us again in the foyer for all of your book and screen-printing needs but were accompanied this year by Moo, Squarespace, IDI and IBM.
Lots of love this morning for our booth buddies @creativeICAD @DamnFinePrint @MOO @IBMStudioDublin #OffsetDUB pic.twitter.com/NKZhvj6PFT
— OFFSET (@weloveoffset) April 9, 2016
DAY ONE
We kicked off day one on the main stage with some homegrown talent in the form of designer Stephen Kelleher. The guys over at Uniform said that “You are unlikely to come across a design talk as emotionally charged and impactful as the opening speaker at this year’s Offset” and we couldn’t agree more.
“With graphic design, answering the question ‘why’ always gets you to a better solution” Stephen Kelleher #offsetDUB pic.twitter.com/DdaUCliMKN
— Computer Arts (@ComputerArts) April 8, 2016
Up next, we were introduced to the digital art duo, Reed + Rader, along with their family of cats. By teaching us that it’s pronounced ‘JIF’ not GIF, Pamela and Matthew took us through their career from college to present day. Computer Arts summed up the pair’s portfolio as “psychedelic, surreal and fantastically obsessive.”
Rounding out the morning were Jessica Derby, Shane O’Brien and John McMahon of Rothco. The Dublin based advertising agency took on the theme of ‘How to work in advertising and not hate yourself’ for their “laugh-laden presentation”. The talk gave us all an insight into how Dublin’s most awarded creative agency works as well as their pivotal campaign A Shred Of Decency for Daintree Paper and the Yes Campaign last year.
@Rothco delivering an entertaining talk to round off the am. Check out their Shred of Decency project! #OffsetDUB pic.twitter.com/0KK5vhGSL3
— Katapult (@_Katapult) April 8, 2016
Robert Ballagh started off our afternoon lineup with a look into his life’s work; from music to Riverdance and designing the punt. Over at Dynamo they were “captivated by an artist that, with over 50 years’ work, still stays so true to his thoughts, beliefs, forms and subjects.”
Chris Bovill and John Allison of 4Creative blew us away with piece after piece of priceless advice as well as a run through of their impressive career to date. Covering both failures and successes they dissected their process, describing it as “…start somewhere negative. Look for the wrong answer, not the right one. You’ll be guaranteed to be somewhere different.”
"If you want to do your best work, you have to be bricking it at all times. You have to be very afraid"@4Creative on taking risks #OffsetDUB
— Computer Arts (@ComputerArts) April 8, 2016
Eye Magazine wrote “Morag Myerscough is always engaging, showing work she is passionate about and a process and language unique to her.” We can definitely get behind that statement as Morag’s talk led us from helping her mother with textile designs to her recent work Mirar in Mexico with Luke Morgan.
.@MoragMyerscough finishes up by talking about her epic installation The Temple of Agape @southbankcentre #OffsetDUB pic.twitter.com/1y5x7EEgRH
— OFFSET (@weloveoffset) April 8, 2016
The final speaker of opening day was the much-anticipated Mr. Bingo. The illustrator, (and rapper) extraordinaire detailed the steps involved in the mega successful Kickstarter campaign for his Hate Mail project as well as some instructions on how to make a rap video.
Mr Bingo @weloveoffset: "It took two weeks to write the rap. Tupac could do an album in a night." #offsetdub pic.twitter.com/d8CCcKbP2Z
— Design Week (@Design_Week) April 8, 2016
As the sun set on Bord Gais Energy Theatre, the doors closed behind us. Inside, the venue lay empty, but outside, the delegates were just getting started. This was Day One. Not only was there the endless possibility of two more full days of fun on the schedule, but the Friday feeling wasn’t even over yet thanks to a fantastic night at our exclusive OFFSET party in Tengu. Who needs sleep when you can run on pure creative energy?