The Forum will examine how designers feel about their role in marketing, in creating desire and demand, and in the way their work -- as art directors, image-makers, typographers, brand custodians, etc -- affects the social, cultural and economic climate beyond getting paid for doing the job they're trained to do.
The forum will also look at design from a marketing point of view. How important are designers, and where do they fit in the sales and marketing chain? Is graphic design just another service -- like a bike company, or outside caterers? Should designers work higher up the food chain, more strategically, or just shut up and get on with it.
All attendees are being asked to submit questions in the manner of the BBC's long-running show 'Question Time'. The questions can be short or long, plain or nuanced, serious, heartfelt, flippant or funny. The chair will also open up some discussions to the audience, so that attendees can add their views, and develop points made by the panel.
The panel for Marketing and Design, chaired by the Design Museum's Deyan Sudjic, comprises Rick Poynor, Adrian Shaughnessy, Howies founder Dave Hieatt and Interbrand's Andy Payne.
Each will give a short account of their views on the subject before we launch into a series of questions supplied by attendees. At the end of each set of responses, the chair will ask the person who submitted the question what they think about the way the question has been addressed, and this may lead to further discussion among the audience. After the formal event comes to an end (around 8.30pm), there will be plenty of time to drink, chat, mingle and continue the debate in a more informal setting
Please click to register for Eye Forum No 2, or for further information, please call Clare McNulty on 020 8267 4804.