Field Trip is a homebase for the research and references that inform the work and life of designer Lauren Scarlett.
[RESEARCH ©FT]
Everyone wants to do the coolest jobs for the coolest clients, but there's something incredible about doing work in sectors that aren't deemed cool by general societal standards. Coolness is of course, subjective, but there are some jobs that, when I tell people I'm working on them, there's an instant respect that it's cool. I don't need to explain anything; it's just understood that it is. And there are other times I find myself describing a project and saying things like “I know it doesn’t sound cool but I swear it is.” And these projects are always the fun ones. I realised lately, most of my favourite jobs have involved working with brands in industries that aren’t typically associated with good design, or aren’t instantly thought of as cool.
I just worked on a project where we built (in my humble, unbiased opinion) a very cool brand in a sector that isn't particularly sexy but was made more fun by the fact that it isn't. The untapped potential of un-designed industries makes way for exciting work as there’s more opportunity to be the innovative game changer in that field.
Running is Punk
Satisfy Running is a great example of making something that was once not widely deemed as cool, really fucking cool. Satisfy is one of my favorite brands because of the way it's managed to harness punk music, fashion, and skateboarding and bring them into a world where they didn't exist before. The second I saw a Sonic Youth collection and people running in moth-eaten T-shirts, I was hooked. I saw a culture I identified with in an industry I would've never placed myself in. Which is exactly why Brice Partouche founded the brand: "What the big brands were doing with the performance side of things didn't resonate with me at all. There was no music, no art, no experience. I wanted to give running a new culture, an alternative."
Implementing culture that’s already deemed cool into something deemed uncool is a great way to alter perception. “I convinced one of my friends to start running a while ago, and to him the biggest mental barrier wasn't the running, but that coming from skateboarding, which is at the height of cool in culture, he thought running just wasn't cool. So at Satisfy, we are bringing that imperfection from cultures like punk rock and skateboarding to running.” – Partouche
Arguably, you could just put tattooed models in whatever you're selling and watch people instantly find it cool because of the canon connotations we've been fed for decades. Nonetheless, the recent boom in well-branded, design-driven running clubs suggests running's coolness status has increased, and I give complete credit to Satisfy for being the brand that made running cool.
All Music is Cool Music
A lot of designers want to work in music, and I get it. It lends itself to cool projects. But there's already a lot of really amazing work happening in the space, especially in more mainstream genres such as pop and R&B. I expect to see good design there, but I want to see cool design applied to genres that aren't being targeted for it.
When I tell people I listen to classical music, I tend to get a weird reaction, which I assume is due to the preconceived notion that it simply isn't cool. The singer-songwriter Laufey is doing a great job of combating this idea, bringing traditionalist jazz to a new generation of listeners. A girl in her 20s singing jazz numbers on TikTok alongside pop and indie artists changes the context of where classical music exists, making it more accessible and dispelling its previously perceived uncool image. We just need some cool design in the genre now.
On a similar note, I would love to work long-term with a theatre because I think they're neglected in terms of design and not seen as cool places, but they have so much potential. (When I'm creative director of the coolest theatre you've ever seen, I'll show you.)
It's up to us as designers to bring untapped potential to the surface and finesse it, especially in industries where it isn't already being done. Through strategy, brand awareness, and an ability to apply good design to things, we're given a weird power to manipulate perception. So don't wait for cool opportunities to come to you; enter a scene and make it cool.
Disclaimer: ‘making uncool things cool’ is the best thing I’ve ever written down and is about to become my bio, personality and life mission.
so sick, love the spirit. i was in improv in college the whole time (cringe and uncool) but was the designer for all the promo and flyers along with the theatre club, and always had a blast making sick DIY fliers for all the shows, totally brought me back reading this 😪
I really, really, really loved this one! Standing ovation