{"id":2682,"date":"2020-02-10T10:32:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T09:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stories-magazin.com\/?p=2682"},"modified":"2020-03-16T17:32:35","modified_gmt":"2020-03-16T16:32:35","slug":"digital-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vmm.eu\/en\/digital-society\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital Society"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Mike\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
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Mike Meir\u00e9 about Values, Relavance and Instagram<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>
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The popularity of Instagram shows: our world has become more visual. Brands therefore no longer only sell through emotions and experiences, but also via the perfect picture that is generated for the social networks. Mike Meir\u00e9 knows this too, and he is well aware of the significance of instagrammable backdrops, but he is also of the opinion that the goal of good design is to create a cultural identity: relevance and awareness within a specific target group are not achieved alone through advertising but by creating experiences, providing a sense of purpose and conveying values. In this interview, the designer reveals what he thinks of in<\/strong>stagrammability and how he would revolutionise the trade fair industry altogether.<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t\t

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\u201cRelevance is gained through deeds, not through words.\u201d Mike Meir\u00e9, Meir\u00e9 und Meir\u00e9 <\/span><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t\t\n<\/div>

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Mike Meir\u00e9, you started your \u201cprofessional life\u201d with a school newspaper created with your brother in your parent\u2019s cellar. Since then, you have enjoyed a fantastic career, are now successful managing director of the agency Meir\u00e9 und Meir\u00e9, owner of the fashion label (P)Leisure_Industries, have won countless prizes, are honorary member of the many creative clubs and thus a living design icon. What would you advise your younger you back in the 1980s today?<\/p>\n\t\t\t

Don\u2019t think about tomorrow, concentrate on the present and use every opportunity you get. Follow your instinct and develop a stance on the things that concern you.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>

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As already mentioned, your design roots lie in printed matter and you were the editor and art director of many magazines, putting your hallmark on the appearance of ARCH+, Garage Magazine, brand eins or 032c, to name but a few. However, in recent years, the way we communicate has changed significantly and mainly happens digitally. What do you think we can still learn from magazines today?<\/p>\n\t\t\t

A magazine reflects the attitude of an editorial team in the best possible way. It is about convictions, aesthetics and relevance \u2013 in a nutshell: it is about culture. From magazines, we learn how attitudes take shape and what it takes in order to develop the necessary sensitivity for relevance. Magazines can become the mouthpiece of a community, they can bring people together as \u201cenablers\u201d, they establish codes in everyday life and are an expression of expertise. A printed magazine can thus become a fetish, a timeless collector\u2019s piece, and serve as a reminder for activities in the digital space. Digital is not per se of a better quality, it is merely another communication channel \u2013 but one which of course corresponds to the new demands of our increasingly digital communication behaviour: in the sense of the necessary updatability of information, transparency, speed and reachability, moving images and augmentation. But precisely through these technological catalysts, we recognise the special quality of reflection, of cherishing things, the need not to lose the overview \u2013 and that is exactly what makes a good magazine: its focus on a central topic which gives the reader the feeling that he has got to the heart of the topic. The physical limitation of the number of pages creates concentration, while in the Internet everything is constantly flowing.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>

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You yourself move as a master of crossover between the disciplines and alternate continuously between the positions of brand and art director, of designer, of curator and artist. What role does art play in your work?<\/p>\n\t\t\t

Art is produced by the uncompromising exploitation of one\u2019s own resources. Art does not have to do anything and is thus without use or function. That helps me to centre myself but also to find my limits \u2013 depending on the group of works I am currently working on. For me it is about formal processes, shaped by control and a conscious loss of control. When I am alone in the atelier, I sense the freedom of thought that reminds me to apply this in the day-to-day work of the agency.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>

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For some years, you have complemented your two-dimensional work with work in the three-dimensional space and have staged projects, which focus on the cultural links of brands in the context of art, architecture, fashion, music and design. What do you find so fascinating about creative spaces?<\/p>\n\t\t\t

Through its physical presence, a space has a direct impact on people: it is real. In these times of increasing digitalisation and the longing for an immersive experience, this has a new quality of experience. People want to be touched, this can be done with stories and the way they are staged. Different design disciplines flow into one another in the process, enabling a heightened intensity.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>

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In brand communication, you often talk about \u201cbrand coding\u201d \u2013 what do you mean by that?<\/p>\n\t\t\t

This is about relevance and cannot be directly communicated. I can\u2019t say: \u201cI am relevant.\u201c \u2013 I have to do something, which triggers a sense of relevance in others. And codes are in turn the attractors of expertise. These days, more than ever brands need a pronounced sense for cultural codes in order to be able to collaborate with the right companions. Relevance, significance, the ability to lead, thought leadership, … \u2013 all that is a result of culture, not of marketing. Relevance is gained through deeds, not through words.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>

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Currently, the social media are influenced by imagery \u2013 above all Instagram \u2013 our feeling for aesthetics and thus also the design of our spaces. What do you think of this development?<\/p>\n\t\t\t

Through the constant use of social media, the user learns intuitively what he likes and what not. He is empowered and responsible. Alongside the risk of latent dependency, he also develops a sense for staging. And let\u2019s not fool ourselves: We are moving towards a time of total capitalisation. Sooner or later everything will become a market with cutthroat competition and then the laws of disruption take effect again. The currency of this development is attention \u2013 and how this can be created, can be learnt in our day-to-day dealings with social media. In the process, the behavioural patterns of staging and its aesthetic codes are increasingly converging. Everyone wants to demonstrate their individuality and yet they follow the tried and tested codes. Quite simply, everything is getting more and more alike.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>

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Does this mean that architecture has been largely \u201cdemoted\u201d to being \u201cmerely\u201d a backdrop for a successful selfie?<\/p>\n\t\t\t

Architecture serves to stage a certain clientele \u2013 but isn\u2019t that what it always did? Architecture is always an expression of power, personal aspirations and creative will. But these days architecture in the urban context is also increasingly branded: fa\u00e7ades with ever-new textures, buildings with the most incredible shapes, the perfect brand temple and thus also the perfect projection space for a hedonistic self-presentation. But that doesn\u2019t mean that architecture has been demoted. On the contrary: this is what makes progressive architecture into a stage.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>

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Instagrammability has long since arrived in retail, even in the museum, only the trade fair industry seems to be dragging its feet a bit \u2013 or have you also been able to observe this trend here too?<\/p>\n\t\t\t

The brands which have undergone the cultural transformation and recognise that Generation Z is slowly becoming an economic factor to reckon with are currently changing their trade fair strategies quite dramatically: new festival formats are appearing, tutorials in the form of TED talks or podcasts and spaces for immersive experiences \u2013 themed areas in which visitors can submerse themselves and share their experiences in real time with their community. Every customer journey is checked for instagrammability. It took a while, but the traditional trade fair formats are definitely old hat. Young people have acquired the urgent need, precisely through their digital socialisation, to meet physically and to document what they experience there on social media.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>

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What do you think is the advantage of sharing staged brand worlds in the social networks?<\/p>\n\t\t\t

The advantage for the brands lies in the confirmation of their own activities within the targeted community. When things are posted and comments appear, the brand becomes a topic of public conversation. And today\u2019s markets are conversations! It is thus all about interaction with the public. The advantage for consumers, on the other hand, lies in finding out what \u201ctheir\u201d community is saying about the brand. The individual is namely guided by what his community thinks. He is trying to make sense of things, the community helps him by evaluating the brand and its products or services.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>

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Don\u2019t you see a risk here that in the end it is no longer about conveying values and messages but \u201cjust\u201d about how many clicks or shares in the social media channels something gets? Or is that the new currency?<\/p>\n\t\t\t

Attention is the new currency and this is manifested in clicks. But that does not mean that it is no longer about values and messages; these just need to be staged and communicated quicker, more emotionally and more directly. Globalisation, generation change and digitalisation are taking their toll. The moaners are wasting valuable time and will end up down Nostalgia Street.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>

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How will the trend develop? What comes next?<\/p>\n\t\t\t

It is going to be hard: digitalisation is pinpointing the weak spots of every enterprise. There is no thereafter, either you are in or not. Speed in anticipating, thinking, acting and collaborating, rethinking, thinking afresh, letting go, daring, staying cool, \u2026 We will experience a culture of the many and of the few.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>

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If you think back to your last tour of a trade fair: did you feel inspired? What would currently surprise or impress you?<\/p>\n\t\t\t

Somehow everyone is doing everything and doing everything the same. In a sea of globally oriented, strategic excellence I am only really still interested in disruption, authenticity and originality.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>

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With the booth for NEW TENDENCY you yourself explored new avenues in trade fair design: The architecture becomes an interface and \u201cmerely\u201d serves as basis for augmented reality. What qualities do you still see in real brand presentations?<\/p>\n\t\t\t

The real brand presentation allows people to make physical contact. This is always more intensive that an online visit and also creates a personal relationship. It is not about \u201ceither \u2013 or\u201d, but about \u201cone and the other\u201d. We must accept that alongside the traditional analogue qualities we have to cultivate additional new, digital qualities. Our lives will become more complex. We have to face up to that.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>