Hurrah. The Incidental has been shortlisted for Designs of the Year at the Design Museum. “Recognising the best of contemporary design around the world” the little tiddler is in heady (and eclectic) company indeed. Which is one of the things we have enjoyed about the reformatting of the award from the previous Designer of the Year – we’re with Patrick Bourgoyne over at Creative Review who last year enjoyed the ‘the quirky and the controversial’ array on display…
It’s been interesting though. Apart from our surprise at making it through to shortlist, there’s a couple of other things about the process that have left us scratching our heads. Not least the credit: The Incidental was a genuine, honest to goodness, collaborative project (rare as hens teeth in our not inconsiderable experience). We might have initiated and steered it but Berg, Abake, electronest and the client were key, and foremost of dozens who input not least the reporters and tweeters. Plus the category question – what exactly is The Incidental? To reference it as newsletter or a website is to underplay some of it’s more interesting aspects – in particular the novel production and dissemination processes which are equally part of the design.
But hey we’re not complaining; very happy to be there and looking forward to seeing the exhibition (opening 17 February at the Design Museum).