How has the pandemic positively affected the dynamics of our relationships at home, at work and in the creative world?
Meet Rohon:
He’s our Visionary Design Director, fluent in English, Hindi, Assamese… And Sarcasm! Always ready to rise to any brand challenge with the passion, precision and prowess needed to see great ideas brought to life. And equally dedicated, devoted and dutiful (pre-lockdown, at least) to defending his position as favourite customer at our local pub and Thai kitchen, The Hop Pole. Oh, if he’s buying, don’t bother asking him for a half-pint. You’ll get a full one each time…
So… The sun is shining, pubs are serving, barbers are chopping, cases are falling and vaccinations are rising… Dare we believe it? Are we almost out of the Corona-tunnel? Whether you’re feeling optimistic or still erring on the side of caution, there is one thing we can all agree on: getting this far has been quite the journey!
This piece is Rohon’s personal reflection on this experience, and on the bright side of the enforced homebound situation. From meetings and power dynamics to staying inspired, being a creative leader and parenting, he shares the lessons, habits and revelations that he wants to take into the future, beyond the pandemic.
Over to Director, Designer and Dad (in order of increasing importance), Rohon!
“I’d actually like to start with a thank you. Working from home has been a lot of things – from difficult to refreshing and everything in between – but above all it has made me thankful for the home I work from and the work I do from it. And for the space that it has given me to reset, stay inspired and refocus many of my relationships, both personal and professional.”
Every name as a face.
Let’s start with the work side of things. In the January edition of A Different Voice, Thomas shared his view on the IRL versus virtual debate for business communications and client relationships. He explored whether face-to-face meetings are actually better than our virtual ones and identified the benefits of both.
With widespread WFH, one of the biggest shifts we’ve seen is that – in the absence of face-to-face – video calls have become much more common: 87% more people choose to use video conferencing today than the past 2 years, whereas pre-Coronavirus remote meetings relied mostly on audio. Of course, turning the camera on has been an option for a while (especially for recruitment), but it didn’t feel as normal or necessary as it does now. This webcam world is a new space, a new format with opportunities of its own…
“Pre-pandemic, there were international clients we’d been working with for years, but who we only knew as a distorted, echoey voice coming out of a black, triangular polycom device.
Now, with the sudden uptake in the likes of Zoom and Teams, every client, every name has a face, context and surroundings. This is especially true for clients that come from further away, be it Mo in Cairo, Peter in Jakarta, Yuto-San in Tokyo, or Anja in Madrid.* Sometimes – if we’re lucky – we even get a glimpse of Max, the Russian blue on Anja’s mantlepiece. And to hear Peter’s hungry 4 year old as the microwave goes off in the background suddenly makes you realise we’re all in the same (virtual) boat. It makes the relationship more natural, and long-distance communication becomes smoother.”
*Names have been altered to protect business interests 😉
Welcome to my boudoir.
The “context and surroundings” that Rohon mentions above also change the dynamics of client-agency meetings.
“For someone who suffers from Impostor Syndrome, walking into a shiny glass building to pitch work to the Vice President of ABC and the Head of XYZ was always a pretty anxious moment.
But with video meetings, everyone is invited to my house. I get to present from my lovely makeshift desk in the living room, which feels a lot more comfortable and stress-free. It’s a real shared bubble in the ether.
What’s even more encouraging is that without the travel budget, the conference room capacity and the other conventions and limitations of in-person meetings, there’s an opportunity for all members of the team to attend and get the opportunity to speak and present to clients.”
Inspiration unbound.
In many ways, being a Londoner means calling one of the world’s greatest creative hubs your home. It’s where all the big agencies are, where the cool events and interesting talks happen, where the thinkers and influencers go to meet, mingle, inspire and be inspired. But a lot of that seems irrelevant now.
“Living in London, it has always felt like you are at the epicentre of all things new in the art and design world. Apart from the museums and galleries, you have fabulous organisations like the D&AD, Typocircle and St Bride’s who host frequent events to showcase what’s new and upcoming, a real finger on the pulse for any creative. Being a regular at these events, I was very nervous when Lockdown 1.0 was announced and everything shut down.
But a year and 3 lockdowns later, I have seen and heard a wider range of inspirational people than ever before… All from the comfort of my living room. With the logistics of hosting, speaking and attending these events becoming much simpler through digital, creativity can be accessed and delivered from anywhere. What would have been a trip into East or Central London is now a 1 hour slot in the day, which easily fits into my schedule, either live or recorded.”
As you might have gathered, Rohon is an avid follower of these virtual events and is always sharing upcoming interesting talks with the rest of us at Path. Here are a few he has mentioned recently that we hope will spark, stretch, focus and/or disrupt your thinking.
Pali Palavathanan talking about how design was able to start conversations in the midst of a civil war in Sri Lanka.
Davide Whyte and Owen Ó Súilleabháin on Irish music and Seamus Heaney. (Thanks for organising, Collins!)
A live workshop all about designing a flag for the new era with Apple, It’s Nice That and WWWesh Studio.
Collaborating and experimenting your way down a non-linear creative path with Paloma Strelitz.
A peek into the process (and studio) of French illustrator and graphic artist Malika Favre.
A tour of Dafi Kühne’s quirky “babyinktwice” letterpress studio in Zurich.
“The global creative community has really come together and opened its door to anyone with an internet connection. It’s all there for us to dip in and dip out of as we wish from the comfort of our couch, garden, beanbag or bed.
In the long-term, I hope this will change how we use the web to find creative inspiration. In a world of tight deadlines and budgetary constraints, I’ve found that more and more creatives rely solely on online research. The result tends to be Pinterest-style moodboards with the same pool of images that pop up again and again across different projects, categories, and even different studios.
Sure, pre-pandemic we would sometimes head out for a brand safari or a market survey. But when working on a new coffee brand, an audit of the coffee aisle at Sainsbury’s may not be the right place to start looking for new ideas.
As team leaders, I believe that this new, extensive and accessible menu of inspiring events can help us encourage and ensure designers have a constant stream of fresh, unexpected thinking that will help them steer clear of the perils of Pinterest.”
The (home) school of life.
The role of the home has truly stretched and evolved during the pandemic: it has become our office, hang-out, gym, spa, games room and, for those with children, classroom.
“Home schooling has been as much about my daughter continuing her education, as me learning more about it. It has given me a real insight into the life of a 6 year old, including the time I caught myself eavesdropping on a Zoom lesson where I found out my daughter is learning about Growth Mindset!
Isolation has brought us all closer together. We do more things as a family. Our routines are more intertwined, we add structure to each other’s day… In my case especially, much more than a day at the office ever did. And, despite all the travel bans, this sense of increased closeness even applies to my far-away gran, who I’ve started playing online bingo with, 5000 miles across the globe.”
The pandemic has forced us all – willingly or unwillingly – to adopt new habits, conventions and rituals, and to adapt the way we build, shape and even break relationships. Come what may, it’s definitely a year we won’t and shouldn’t forget in a long time, even when we “go back to normal” (whatever that means).