Michael Simons and Paul Shoebridge are award-winning creators who have spent their professional lives telling stories in compelling new ways. Their work has warranted numerous design awards as well as being featured in over 100 publications. Their highly acclaimed interactive documentary, Welcome to Pine Point, received more than a dozen international awards and was featured at several festivals and competitions since its creation.
Prior to this, they had produced magazines, books, televisions spots and even major advocacy campaigns such as the blackspot sneaker, which has been labelled as one of the New York Times’ best ideas. The idea was essentially, to prove that it’s possible to pay workers properly, and for those workers to be unionized. That it’s possible to produce a shoe that is made from recycled and eco-friendly materials – a shoe that doesn’t fall apart after a few months and end up in a landfill. A shoe that is built to last for as long as your feet pound the pavement. Blackspot is the start of an idea that could be more powerful than a billion dollar marketing machine. They hope to prove that independent brands can beat the power of the established corporate mega monsters.
The project was an act of “we don’t just want to sit here and do nothing with our beliefs, we want action, and we want change”.
They are co-authors of the book ‘I live here’, which is a visually stunning insight into the lives of refugees and displaced people, making it more of a personal matter to the reader/viewer. As of 2015, they are currently in development on a television comedy about people trying to make the world a better place.
Looking at their work, the designers inspired me to create my own digital narrative, drawing influence from pieces such as the Welcome to Pine Point documentary, which is created in such a distinctive style that really appeals to me on an aesthetic level. Their work is normally quite crude and could be seen to look badly done or haphazard to the untrained eye, but from a designers point of view it is very unusual and exciting to see done well. It is a style I usually produce in my own work any way so it was hugely influential to find.
REFERENCE
Simons, M and Shoebridge, P. (2011). Who are the goggles. Available: http://www.thegoggles.org/. Last accessed 11th May 2015.
Simons, M and Shoebridge, P. (2012). The Blackspot Unswoosher.Available: http://subscribe.adbusters.org/products/blackspot. Last accessed 11th May 2015.