Madeleine Lin Graphic & Media Design The coronavirus pandemic has impacted all industries, including designers and the design world. We in Studio La Plage shifted to remote working 2 weeks before the UK government made the announcement. The ways of working and communication have changed drastically due to the current situation, as well as the design industry landscape. A couple weeks later, I made the decision of leaving London and flying back home. Fortunately I was able to continue my placement in La Plage until the end of the contract as planned. The team decided to use the time difference to our advantage and be as productive as possible, that means allocate the workload effectively and regularly communicate. Below are some notes on working collaboratively from the director of La Plage during quarantine and isolation. - Communicate, communicate, communicate - Be thorough - Be ultra responsive - Be positive - Think of others - Be proactive (if you think a client / colleague needs something, ask - we want to prove that this won’t alter our approach) - Do amazing work (you have an extra hour sleep from your saved commute!) For communication, we experimented with Whatsapp, Google Hangout then finally settled with Slack, as it is the most effective tool and it works the best for managing projects. We have a daily meeting to start the day to ensure every team member’s schedule is organised and aware of any upcoming deadlines or projects. We are fortunate to work in an industry that can operate as normal in a strange time like this with the help of modern technology. Although our ways working and communicating have changed, I feel the team has gotten closer as we check in with each other not just about work, but our personal life as we put a greater focus on wellbeing . In order to keep some normality, we continued our tradition of Friday after work drinks virtually, set fun tasks and challenges for entertainment during lockdown. We also organised a run club on Slack to motivate each other by sharing our weekly goals and Nike Run Club. Writer, Tom May, interviewed a selection of creative agencies on how they’ve adapted new ways of working and habits in the pandemic, as well as their view on what to expect after returning to the office (May 2020). It is interesting to see how other design studios operate, communicate with the team and clients, working collaboratively during the crisis. Although working from home isn’t a new experience for me since in La Plage, we have what we called ‘Work From Home Wednesday’, it took some time for me to balance work and leisure, as well as switch to a new mindset. Sometimes you can get easily distracted as you are in a much more relaxing environment. With the time difference, it was even more important to organise my daily schedule wisely and not to impact mine or other’s work. The experience of working in the pandemic has been great for me as it helps me build self-disciplines and provides an insight on what it is like working from home. I had the opportunity to work on some fun ‘Stay Home’ social projects for La Plage’s sister brand Plates, introducing some exciting vegan recipes to inspire people making healthy food during lockdown. There is an interesting article I read a while ago, written by senior story producer Diana Budds called Design in the age of pandemics. Budds explores how design and physical living spaces have been used as a primary defense against infectious disease in history through research and case studies. “...with new diseases emerging, like COVID-19, and no vaccines or cures to fight them, one of the most effective solutions is to go back to the physical: social distancing, quarantine, isolation, and, perhaps, adaptations to our cities, neighborhoods, and homes.” Budds researched how quarantine was like in history - For example, Astronauts from Apollo 11 stayed in an Airstream trailer after they returned from the moon; Crew members on ships were required to anchor for 40 days during the Black Death. As Covid-19 continues to impact our lives, design plays an important role on how inhabited physical space will adapt to this new way of living. References
Budds, D 2020. Coronavirus: Design in the age of pandemics, Curbed. Available at: https://www.curbed.com/2020/3/17/21178962/design-pandemics-coronavirus-quarantine [ Access: 18 April 2020] May, T. (2020) What to expect from post-pandemic work culture in the creative industries. Available at: https://www.creativeboom.com/tips/what-to-expect-from-post-pandemic-work-culture/ [Access: 12 April 2020]
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