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  • Activ Right Brain
  • About Dean
  • Designing The Future
  • Speaker
  • Keynotes
  • Blog
  • Art
  • Contact

Look up!

Forget the box, it’s time to think outside the sphere.

A few years ago, I was asked “what’s the next big thing for technology?”

It became apparent the person asking the question really only wanted to know the next big headline… and my advice was expected to be “voice assistants”. It wasn’t.

Without hesitation, I recommended Mobility.

Mobility isn’t just trains, planes and automobiles. It’s HOW we move and WHERE we move and WHY we move. It’s everything from A to Z, not simply A to B.

It’s Jetpacks, electric scooters, flying cars, autonomous vehicles, exoskeletons, haptic suits and space rockets.

And so I begin my next mission with Kei Shimada, the incredibly forward-thinking CEO of US Space Carrier, Sirius Technologies, Inc. I couldn’t be more excited to bring Jetpack Moments to space travel as Vice President Communication Design.

We’ll be taking people, products and brands to space. When you introduce technology that moves you from any one point on Earth to another in under 60 minutes, you challenge humanity’s very concept of time. That’s extraordinarily exciting as we’ll be Making Space Universal.

It’s time for the next chapter. Here’s to the new Space Race!

tags: Aerospace, Space, Design, innovation, IoT, technology, marketing, PR, Public Relations
Wednesday 03.12.25
Posted by Dean Johnson
 

Rebel With A Cause: THE Conversation

I have a story to tell, about being a Rebel With A Cause. But when it’s a story of space exploration, time travel and magic and art and immersion, I was never going to take a conventional approach. I’d love you to experience it.

Some of the greatest conversations I’ve had with Monty Munford have occurred around a dining table, over drinks at the Century Club, or in the back of a cab. Monty has lived a life of adventure and ridden the tech rollercoaster. As a straight-talking industry leader, risk-taker and Gamepay CSO, he’s more used to interviewing Steve Wozniak, John McAfee or Kim Kardashian, but we sat down to talk freely about design, tech and innovation, the people that matter and the direction it’s all taking. We’d love you to join us.

As we talked about the past and present, conversation naturally turned to our virtual future. We want evergreen content to live on in the Metaverse – it’s why Matt Littler of Analog Films shot all three episodes in VR, so we could offer the experience of sitting with Monty and myself, not simply watching from behind a screen.

The stereoscopic 3D footage was all shot on an Insta360 Pro II camera, with ambisonic spacial sound, surrounded by the visual feast of Bittescombe Lodge in the heart of the English countryside. This luxury location offers an incredible mix of traditional and contemporary design, reflecting the nature of our conversation and my roles as President Elect of the Chartered Society of Designers, Artist, Adviser, Mentor and Ambassador for numerous startups and creative organisations.

I make the point in our conversation that many new forms of technology don’t replace those already in existence – they compliment and extend the experience, rather than make any one platform obsolete. So naturally, this series exists in a conventional video format too, as well as the written words below.

Each platform offers its own unique content, so I hope you’ll enjoy the jetpack moments expressed on each.

Speed Up For Traffic Lights

Episode 1: The Present

We all have words to live by, even if most aren’t aware of the exact phrase that gets us out of bed in the morning, we’re acutely aware of a war cry to get shit done, or die trying.

I’ve always had a fascination with time, be that the potential to travel – physically or virtually – backwards to relive, alter or learn from our past or head to the future for a glimpse of our destiny or alternate realities existing in parallel to our own.

This in turn has given me an appreciation for just now precious time is. In the words of Louis Armstrong “we have all the time in the world” – yes, but we still wish for more or discard what we already have.

How often have you found yourself behind someone approaching traffic lights and they begin to slow down, anticipating a red when they’re still on green? This defines the character of a driver expecting the worst outcome, it’s a negative mindset.

And this is exactly why I hit the accelerator when I approach a green light, pre-empting the positive and effectively engaging my own time machine. Imagine how many precious minutes each year are gained from not sitting at a red light. Time gained, pulse raised and positivity reward unlocked (almost) every time.

Those life-affirming words can be distilled into the phrase “Speed up For Traffic lights: Bank on Green Not Red”.

My mindset isn’t something developed from a group of inspirational business leaders and entrepreneurs. No, my Dad instilled the ‘Power of Positive Thinking’ in me – his very own words to live by.

Sadly, we lost Dad to COVID in 2021, just 5 months before his 90th birthday. But those words live on as the inspiration for mine.

Episode 2: The Past

One of the most disappointing things in life is knowing when an opportunity has been missed. When connections fail to meet. When a message falls on deaf ears.

I would rather apologise for something awesome than ask permission for something lame – that’s been my attitude throughout my first 50 years. Never settling for average when exceptional is achievable.

So, for me it’s always been about telling the right story in the right place at the right time. If any of those three key ingredients are missing, it all falls down. It’s no use if your timing is perfect if you don’t have the right thing to talk about or the words, images or experience fail to materialise.

I believe in magic. Not Harry Potter, but the application of science to deliver the unbelievable. The unexpected creates impact, impact makes people sit up and take notice, and once you have their attention, you need to deliver on the promise.

Magic without substance is just vapour. It’s why I appear on stage shooting fireballs – but they serve to illustrate the challenge for contemporary marketing. Offering an audience a glimpse of IronMan’s inventory – be that full-body haptics, bionic shoes or the infamous flame-throwing – they all form part of a narrative and demonstrate technological collaboration. They also break with the expected structure of a keynote, disrupting ‘the feed’ and stopping an audience in their tracks.

It’s easy to form an opinion based on someone else’s opinion. That’s why global conference stages are full of people that Google their topic and deliver the search results via Powerpoint. I’m proud to be able to put my money where my mouth is and say “I’ve been there and done that”, giving weight to my opinion – even when my advice is to learn by my mistakes and follow a different path.

This attitude helped me deliver the first iPad app and Apple Watch apps on the days those products launched, create one of the first multitouch iBooks, spend 48 hours in Virtual Reality, work end-to-end with mobility brands (inside and outside the vehicle) and paint portraits of Michael Douglas, Anthony Hopkins and Chris Eubank, then getting under the skin of NFT art – as an artist! I’ve been honoured to work with legends of the music industry, motorsport heroes, stars of the silver screen and help relaunch the Star Wars franchise.

If you don’t know it can’t be done, you just find a way to do it. Like when people find super strength to lift burning cars, we all have our own superpowers.

There’s so much more that sits under NDA for now, but I’ve also been taken at gunpoint in Beirut, smuggled into Bosnia in the boot of a car, had security remove me whilst dressed as Captain America, nearly filmed one Presidential inauguration in VR and lost another Presidential client following their assassination! But that’s for another day…

Episode 3: The Future

As an Artist, Designer, Technologist and Innovator, I’m more excited about the prospect of designing the future than ever before. The tools we have at our disposal are undoubtedly powerful, but humans tend to switch off from the technological white noise. When brands like FaceBook (now Meta) don’t simply talk about Virtual Reality – they also offer it AND paint a picture of their view for its future, consumers sit up and finally take notice.

Although I’ve been deeply involved with the Metaverse for the past decade, it’s a tough sell when you’re flogging a dream without an audience. For Virtual and Augmented reality to succeed, these technologies have to provide escapism AND familiarity. The experiences must be top-shelf and immediately accessible.

However, the most important area of focus for the Metaverse – and any new technology – isn’t a digital environment, it’s the physical world around us.

We all return to reality so we need a reason to plug ourselves in to begin with and inspiration to achieve more when we return. My 48 hour VR immersion in 2017 made me appreciate reality far more than the virtual because we haven’t laid the foundations for the Metaverse yet, let alone started building the dream.

Look up. From your desk, from your screen, from your device, from your LIFE. It’s the equivalent to an artist taking a step back from their work and gaining perspective.

So, I ask you… are you a Meta Offsetter? For every virtual idea you have, think of another in the real world. It’s like planting a tree for carbon neutrality, but one reality doesn’t defeat the other. Instead they co-exist, with each platform adding value rather than forcing a choice or making something obsolete.

We all need to take a breath, it’s a process I’ve always valued. That moment of peace, allowing us to reset mentally and physically and return stronger and more focused than ever.

I haven’t had that since my Dad died on February 5th 2021. Since I held his hand and said goodbye with the promise that I’d make the next 12 months mean something.

So here I am on 22 / 02 / 2022. Ready to write the NEXT chapter.

A Brief Discovery of Time Travel: Dean Johnson and Monty Munford IN the Metaverse

Immerse yourself in the full VR experience via your headset of choice or 360º on-screen exploration as Monty and Dean take a deep dive into the potential for The Metaverse.

[For best results, open in the YouTube app on your preferred platform]

tags: Monty Munford, Dean Johnson, Metaverse, The Metaverse, NFT, crypto, cryptocurrency, Bittescombe, Bittescombe Lodge
categories: art, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Automotive, Books, Business, cars, Connected World, Design, Digital Publishing, Futurology, Gadget, Innovation, Mobility, Motivation, Television, time travel, Virtual Reality, Wearable Technology, Metaverse
Tuesday 02.22.22
Posted by Dean Johnson
 

A New Creative Direction

Technology is a glittering lure, but there’s the rare occasion when the public can be engaged beyond flash – if they have a sentimental bond with the product. These aren’t my words, they came from the pen of Matthew Weiner and the mouth of Don Draper (John Hamm), the Creative Director’s Creative Director and the star of AMC’s Mad Men.

CD.jpg

Don is delivering his thoughts in a pitch to Kodak for their new slide carousel and it brings tears to my eyes every time I watch. On first viewing, I felt a sense of nostalgia for the precious moments with my children growing up. More recently, my thoughts have turned to the time I failed to spend with Olivia and Hattie, having left them in their formative years. I’ve been a poor father, but I’m working so very hard to change that.

It may sound contrived to say you must have something and lose it to truly appreciate it, from family and friends to money to freedom (a reality we’re all facing during the current global pandemic) – even job titles. I can’t help but think this isn’t simply part of our ‘fail fast’ startup mentality. It has always been true.

My somewhat nostalgic view of family also extends to the profession I love – design. This might seem at odds with my role as a ‘Futuroligist’ and all the technological interaction this brings, but my boundary-pushing has always had an extraordinary depth of respect for where origins lie. 

My background combines Design, Technology and Innovation and all three should interlink to form the backbone of a contemporary Creative Director. However, Design should still be the primary focus, leading a team to creative excellence through an understanding of the tools at our disposal and the talented individuals within our sphere of influence.

We strive for future missions to Mars and beyond, fuelled by knowledge gleaned from historic human efforts to reach the surface of the moon. We design and manufacture beautiful cars, driven by decades of data taken from safety, handling and ergonomic experience. Steve Jobs gave us the future in the palms of our hands, not because he asked what people wanted but because he knew what they didn’t have. He had a greater understanding of his audience than they did of themselves and this came from observing previous human behaviour and applying this to the future – the present happened as a result.

How does this relate to Don Draper and the existence of the modern Creative Director? Last week, I took an exciting leap of faith and joined an incredible creative technology agency called Beep!, based in Poole, UK and Santa Clara, US. I had the pick of creative titles but elected to once again become a Creative Director – the Creative Director.

When I first watched the Mad Men Kodak pitch, Don became the creative hero I didn’t know I was looking for. That moment provided the approval I didn’t know I needed. It gave substance to four years of design education and decades building a professional portfolio.

To appreciate its impact, here’s the full script and the scene that breathes life into Matthew Weiner’s words:

“Technology is a glittering lure, but there’s the rare occasion when the public can be engaged beyond flash – if they have a sentimental bond with the product.”

“The most important thing in advertising is ‘NEW’. It creates an itch. You simply put your product in there as a kind of calamine lotion”

“There is also a deeper bond with the product… nostalgia. It’s delicate, but potent”

“In Greek, nostalgia literally means pain from an old wound. It’s a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone.”

“This device isn’t a space ship… it’s a time machine”

“It takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It’s not called ‘The Wheel’, it’s called ‘The Carousel’. It lets us travel the way a child travels. Round and around and back home again, to a place where we know we are loved.”

I may have something in my eye…

Artificial Intelligence, reality TV creatives and Account Execs won’t replace Designers – the world just needs to know it. The role of a Creative Director isn’t simply to say “make it bigger, make it red and move it to the left a bit”, it is to motivate, inspire and champion the very existence of design. Designers need to feel important – because they are. They also need to feel relevant and the popular opinion that “everyone’s a designer” is meaningless if there’s no distinction between a good one and a bad one.

My role as President Elect of the Chartered Society of Designers provides me with an enviable overview and understanding of the profession. It is in rude health as far as skills are concerned, but COVID has hit the job market for active design recruitment and many freelancers are also suffering hardship, slipping through the cracks without Government support.

Good news is out there. Some creative businesses are flourishing AND employing (Beep! is doing both) but this message is easily swamped by the sheer volume of negative media output. It’s more important than ever to keep telling the world about success wherever and whenever it happens.

Those of us that consider ourselves designers and technologists tell a great story about “designing the future” or “shaping the now”, but like Kodak in Don Draper’s pitch, we find ourselves creating products that capture a moment, platforms that share them or channels that allow us to comment on content. Their power lies in the very same nostalgia Don referenced.

The past, present and future all intertwine and so do our roles as creative leaders.

This is why I’m championing a direct approach that streamlines the complex and makes Creative Direction great again. Like the things we feel we’ve lost or even lost touch with, it is important to appreciate simplicity in order to cut through the white noise of contemporary life.

We’ve all had our fill of Ninjas, Gurus and Experts. And that once-simple org chart now features more layers than Photoshop. When you hit the dizzying heights of creative leadership, you discover quite a crowd at the summit. These are all existing job titles:

– Design Director

– Art Director

– Associate Creative Director

– Creative Director

– Senior Creative Director

– Group Creative Director

– Head of Design

– Executive Creative Director

– Global Executive Creative Director

– Chief Creative Officer

And I’ve probably missed a few!!

2020 may seem like the longest year on record, but more than ever… every second counts. Don Draper’s time machine offered a glimpse into what many people crave – the ability to design the future by combining an appreciation of the past and an effective grasp on the present.

The Creative Director is dead. Long live the Creative Director! 

tags: Design, Graphic Design, Beep, Beep Digital, Innovation, Chartered Society of Designers, Creative Director, Kodak, Mad Men, Beep!
categories: Agency, Apps, Digital Publishing, Futurology, time travel
Wednesday 11.11.20
Posted by Dean Johnson
 

The Digital Design Imperative

When President John F Kennedy so famously uttered the words “ask not what the design industry can do for you, ask what you can do for the design industry”, how could he have known they would be even more relevant today. Or was that Neville Brody?

DigiDesignImp.jpg

I’ve always been of the opinion that if bad Photoshopping and typography doesn’t make your blood boil then you shouldn’t be a designer. If you can sit on the tube opposite an ad featuring poorly-kerned letters or view a Frankenstein comp of a ‘lead character when young’ movie prop photo and still not twitch, you are creatively dead inside.

Slink away now if you’re unmoved by either example, or hang around and get motivated.

The role of designer has changed beyond all recognition since leaving college (it’s moved fast, I’m not THAT old). What’s graphic design then? Well it used to be relatively easy to define when ‘digital’ wasn’t in play. Brand design, brochures, editorial layouts, posters, flyers and packaging for starters.

That list still exists but most brochures are now interactive, from PDF’s to iBooks with websites either replicating or delivering the same. Great editorial layouts are still essential within tablet magazines and ebooks as the eye is arrested by the skilful juxtaposition of stunning images and intelligent typography. Posters work on various levels, from the 48-sheet variety now on many digital Jumbotrons and underground screens, to our ever-increasing screen sizes offering the scale previously reserved for printed posters. Flyers (unless from the local pizza deliver business) are emails, Facebook posts or Tweets. We’re a long way from losing packaging from our high streets and out of town stores, but the online marketplace offers many more virtually packaged download opportunities.

So, who cares? Things change, technology advances and forces us to move with it. That’s one take, leading to the sloppy Photoshop, branding and layouts that make me want to punch inanimate objects (or designers). This attitude can be brought on by creatives who don’t live and breathe design and clients who believe our computers do all the work for us.

Snap out of it and appreciate the incredible opportunities to not only design great visual experiences, but now bring them to life as incredible user experiences. The graphic design label got scrapped, welcome to the wonderful new world of design where the brief to create postage stamps became the task to build iconic icons or miniaturised album covers and book jackets, where the fight to be seen and remembered provides the ultimate pixel-pushing challenge.

Wearable technology and Smart TV will provide your new playgrounds so start thinking about future opportunities to make a design difference.

Knock down the mental barriers and apply great design thinking to everything you do. Don’t assign different standards to different work or clients – we live in a world where a local butcher can have as much global visibility as Wallmart. The world’s eyes are on your kerning, your cut-outs and your colour palette.

Originally published in Computer Arts magazine in 2013. Hasn't aged a bit!

tags: Design, technology, innovation, Photoshop, Adobe, Computer Arts
categories: Agency, Apps, Connected World, Design, Digital Publishing, Innovation, Mobile technology, Publishing
Tuesday 04.21.20
Posted by Dean Johnson
 
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Designing the Future