Interview with Allen International

allen international is a creative hot bed in West London! Consisting of multi-disciplines, a multi national team united by a passion for design!

The opportunity to surprise & delight! A tightrope walk with no safety net!

Those where we are free to challenge pre-conceived ideas and formats.

Impossible to single out just one! To narrow down it is one of the following: The Guggenheim gallery in New York -It's simplicity, power to inspire and uplifting journey the space takes it's visitor on. The Porsche 911 sports car, for it's unique form, excellence in engineering and constant evolution through the decades. Finally, Bang & Olufsen audio equipment. Their design simplicity and quality of materials / production.

A range of time pieces and point of purchase fixtures to sell them from in retail outlets around the world.

Marine Plywood / The Mac OS / The i-pad and the Wacom Cintiq tablet.

Between 11.29am and 12.38pm weekdays! Traveling, particularly in galleries / exhibitions or new retail outlets.

When designing 3D spaces -establishing the optimum plan and customer journey. When designing brand identities establishing visual metaphors for a brands unique personality and character.

Slightly tingly!....Frustration followed by euphoria!

Winning awards! Ultimately triggering a response in the user.

It's performance, it's desirability, it's innovation.

To enhance quality / joy / with minimum waste!

As with life design becoming ever more immediate...from conceptualisation to realisation to becoming obsolete - life cycles of designs are becoming ever shorter. Design must look to provide solutions that last longer.

Exhibitions are not applicable for our work. In the UK we have recently launched our designs in London, Edinburgh and Manchester. Abroad in Mexico, Columbia, Brazil, Mauritius. We have projects nearing completion in Vietnam, Singapore, and Canada.

From physical spaces -Hotels, restaurants, stores. From media such as magazines, films and online design sites.

We try to avoid a 'house style.' The culture, the personality and the offer of the brands we design for will dictate and form the final style of our solutions.

London. In my opinion the greatest city in the world, not least for it's complete multicultural nature. The mix of nations and cultures where I live has most certainly affected my work. London is a melting pot of styles and different cultures and that is evident in our designs.

Closely. By creating strong bonds with our clients and brands and their corporate culture.

Once they have chosen a design company to work with, trust their instincts and let the designers do what they do! Select a design company by their work but also the personalities of the designers that make up that agency. The better the relationship and trust between client and designer the better the design that will result.

Look, listen, consider, create, detail, oversea.

i-pad, Eames lounge chair, B&O Beosound 9000, Audi TT, My kids!

Wake, shower, cycle, meet, correspond, discuss, sketch (on a good day),meet, cycle, dine, relax, sleep

Listen to your elders, they thought they new it all once and still don't!
Never settle for your first idea, polish your presentation skills, both visualising and verbal.
Coming up with a good idea is half the job...selling it is the completion of a great design.
Never design for other designers..design for everyone.
Build upon principles but never repeat your designs.
Design is not just about creating...learn to listen and analyse.
Pick another design field your interested in and become good at it as well. Never stop learning.

Positives:
- The variety
- The sense of achievement
Negatives:
- The selfish hours
- Forever living your life to deadlines

Be better than your last design.

The ability to visualise...to sketch in a computer or on a sketchpad -it doesn't matter. But without the skill a good idea will never be explained.

My eyes....The web....My mind.....The i-pad.....Sketchbook I-pad App......Wacom Cintiq Digital screen / tablet......0.1 / 0.5 Fineline drawing pens......Tracing paper......Adobe Ideas I-pad App....Cannon 4oD SLR Camera....Adobe Photoshop...... Adobe Vectorworks......Renderworks.....Adobe Photoshop....Adobe Illustrator....Frame magazine.....Pro-create I-pad App....i-tunes....

Lists and more lists!

Longer than you expect! On average18months from brief to launch to market.

How much will it cost to build?

Having to fight for our designs, and sometimes not winning.

Virgin Money, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Carlsberg, Raiffeisen, National Bank Of Greece, Cairo Amman Bank, Santander, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, CIBC, BNP Paribas, Coca Cola, Garanti, Deutsche Bank, Cairo Amman Bank, Mashreq, Mauritius Commercial Bank, Capitec, Bank Beirut, Itau, Helm, Bank Columbia

The one with the most unique commercial offer, an open brief to innovate.

New regions, new cultures, designing for new segments, the use of more and more digital communications within retail spaces.

Always as a team.

The first branches for Virgin Money on the UK high street. The development of a flagship branch for the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank in their new HQ building 17,000 sq/ feet. of retail financial space -completing 2013. A space to demonstrate all segments of the bank together in one space -united by an architectural digital ribbon.

Via our website: www.allen-international.com or email: richard.benson@allen-international.com

At the core of the designs we create at allen international is an understanding of the customer experience and an understanding of brands...this transcends all segments of business and all global regions. If you have a brief, we have a design!