'The Apprentice' for Designers

Who is this man? Why, it's controversial product designer, Philippe Starck, of course.

He is, so the speak, the Alan Sugar of the product design world. Although he's a little bit more French than our Alan is. Famous for his bold and controversial designs, Starck has forged a name for himself over the last 30 years, designing the interior of the French president's house, countless bizarre chairs and a certain notable lemon squeezer along the way.




And now, sixty year old Philippe Starck, claimed by some to be the most famous product designer in the world, is at the center of his own reality TV show on BBC2. I've been saying for years that someone ought to make a program like The Apprentice, but featuring designers rather than business development magnates, senior retail managers, accounts consultants and the like. And at last, it seems that somebody else has had the same idea, and has turned the TV program it into a reality. The series started on Monday at 11:20pm on BBC2, and will run for six weeks.

The show sees twelve contestants, supposedly all talented designers, battle each other through a series of design tasks to earn... a six figure salary? No - a six month work placement with Starck.

I don't know how well the program will go down with the general public, but surely for us design students, and indeed everyone in the design world, this should be essential viewing. After watching the first episode on BBC iPlayer, I can't decide if I love it or hate it. Philippe Starck's sheer French-ness is very over the top and 'in your face', and he certainly fits all the stereotypes and pre-conceived notions that one might have concerning French designers. He takes the twelve British contestants to his School of Creativity in Paris, and their first assignment is to go to a French supermarket, and equipped with €100, pick out one product which is an example of good design, and another which is an example of bad design.

It makes for very interesting viewing. The contestants have one hour to pick their products, and then it's back to the studio for a critique from Starck and his two trusted sidekicks. Just like Alan Sugar has his Nick and Margaret, Starck is aided by Jasmine, his head of communications (although she also happens to be his wife), and Eugeni, who Starck describes as "the most talented designer in the world". Here they are look, like a giant three headed über-French design beast:



The main problem I have with the program is that Philippe Starck keeps stressing the importance of function before form, and expressing his vision for a more ecologically designed future where there are fewer pointless products, and instead, only useful products. It's a lovely vision, but it seems a wee bit hypocritical coming from the man who designed products such as these:

Philippe Starck's limited edition 'Teddy Bear Band', which retailed at £142

If you're wondering what that is, it's actually a stool. It could be yours for £3,052.

These chairs offer "a soft and comfortable polyurethane seat, without foregoing the glamour of transparency and colour!" They cost £476 each.

The 'Holly All Vase' stands at 7 feet tall, and costs £2,700

The Starck 'Gun Lamp' would be a beautiful addition to any home, for just £1,400

Despite my cynicism, I still think it's a brilliant idea for a reality TV show, and I'll definitely be watching the rest of the series to see how it pans out. I'd love to know what other's opinions are on the program...

E Stings

It is my opinion that the people running E4 (the TV channel) are geniuses. They have the most original and exciting stings out of all the hundreds of TV channels that now flood our screens, and they didn't even have to empty out their wallets to get them. Instead of paying 'professionals' to come up with a series of stings, often with terrible end results (à la BBC2), E4 run an annual E-Stings competition, inviting their audience to create their own ten second sting and upload it to the E4 website. Of all the entries, the best 15 are chosen by a panel of judges, and are then broadcast on E4 on a regular basis (plus the overall winner gets a £5,000 commission). It works brilliantly, as no-one knows their audience better than the audience themselves, and the end result is that E4 end up with are set of stings that are all original and creative, and with a tone of voice which is spot on for their channel and brand.

I entered the competition myself this year, creating a stop-motion animated sting which I made in two days, using purple and white card and a selection of miniature people. This is my sting: (feedback appreciated!)

E-Trap - my entry to the E Stings competition 2009

The competition deadline is now closed, and E4 have had around 800 entrants in total this year, a selection of which can be viewed on the E Stings website. Some of the entries are very amateur, as is to be expected, but a number of them are very impressive indeed. I've picked out some of the best ones I've seen so far:

Monster VS Robot by johnny j

E4 Loco Land by AdamKellyMedia

Sheeps by nogunarmy

Mugs of Tea by us (design studio)

Invasion! by oliversin

At Your Convenience

This advert for Channel 4's On Demand service really impresses me. The way that they have turned all of their main programmes into supermarket products makes the advert humorous, and really easy for everybody to relate to. For example, Gok Wan is represented by bright red fizzy pop, Skins is a cheap and dirty Pot Noodle, Come Dine With Me is a bag of flour, and quite obviously, How Clean Is Your House is a box of detergent.

Every time I see it on the television I find myself looking intently for new products or details that I might have missed before. I think my favourite is Cutting Edge, which is a roll of Cling-film, or possibly Brookside, which comes out of the freezer section and has to have the ice scraped off it.

From a design point of view, somebody must have had to design the packaging for each and every one of these fictional products, even though they're only on screen for a second or two. And every detail has been thought of, the colours and the typography used make each and every product seem so appropriate for the programme that it represents. Personally I think the advert would be just as good without the 'celebrities' thrown in as staff, but then you can't blame Channel 4 for wanting to include some of their 'talent'. Overall I think that the art direction and the production is spot on, not to mention the choice of music, which I think gives the advert exactly the right tone of voice.

It's interesting to compare this to the BBC's recent adverts for their iPlayer. I think the BBC have the best slogan, "Making the unmissable, unmissable", but their adverts simply show a generic, clichéd montage of clips from their biggest programmes, which isn't going to get people talking. Whereas Channel 4's attempt is the kind of thing that will get mentioned over a pint in the pub.