News

Gibson Group sponsors School of Design Award

Legal and Business Affairs Manager Victoria Spackman presented the award, and her speech follows.

9 November 2011

Gibson Group is a proudly Wellington company that produces film, television and visitor attractions around the world, including in France, Denmark, Australia and China.  Closer to home, projects include the Our Space permanent exhibit and the interactive elements for the recent Ka Mate Haka project, both at Te Papa and the Outrageous Fortune exhibition for Auckland Museum. 

The importance of great design is central to all our projects.  Our film and TV productions require outstanding design for sets, lighting, sound, costume and graphics.  Our visitor attraction projects rely on superior design from software and GUIs through to physical interiors and websites.

We believe that design can make or break a project.  We want fantastic design that creates memorable experiences for clients and consumers (which are usually not the same people). 

We are supportive of the Culture and Context Programme because it requires students to understand the wider context of design.  Design is nothing if it is in isolation.  Design needs to enhance the world and partner with it for the betterment of everyone.  We know that great design makes everything else easy – and so, hopefully, do the students of this programme. 

And what’s more they now have an inkling of how to deliver that in a specific environment. 

Our exhibition projects rely on an understanding of the context of the project.  We consider such elements as:

•    Environment
•    Angle of the sun throughout the year
•    Age of expected visitors
•    Annual temperatures
•    Budget
•    Visitor flows
•    How long it will be there
•    Client’s needs and expectations
•    Who the client is trying to impress
•    AND, most importantly, what story are we telling and how will design help deliver that?

The list is endless.  This is the stuff we talk about all the time at the Gibson Group.  It’s important to us that students and future practitioners understand the way that design interacts with the larger context of a project.  And that design must give to and take from the bigger idea. 

It’s a privilege to support this award and I have great pleasure in presenting it. My and the Gibson Group’s congratulations go to Katherine Ng for her excellent project.