As a partnership in July 1992 and then formally as a limited company in Feb 1993.

How many members are involved and what are Image Now's areas of expertise?

22 people work here and our areas of expertise are: Strategic identity development and consultancy, Graphic design for all print related material, Specialisation in typography and font design, Full multimedia services in website, CD Rom, DVD and digital presentation, Computer generated imagery, Digital animation, Live action directing, Post Production, and Art Direction for interior and exterior design.

Tell us about recent Image Now projects.

The station identity for MTVhits!, the worldwide pop music broadcasters' new digital channel, launched in May 2001. Image Now's designers led by Scott Burnett, researched into the teen market to evaluate what MTVhits! viewers would respond to. Graphic stickers were used as the key motif to identify the teenage audience.

The identiy for girl group Bellefire. We helped Virgin music UK, the band itself and its management to develop the name 'bellefire' for the new girl band. Following this we developed the identity and all related artwork such as single cover designs, posters etc.

Was there a lot of competition for the MTV digital identity project?

Yes, although MTV would not tell us who, we knew that to win a whole new channel ident from such a high profile client as MTV would be highly sought after by London and international creative agencies.

What was Image Now's involvement in U2's 'PopMart' tour?

We were commissioned to create the digital animation sequences that would play live on the 'giant' Stage screen which was the largest of its kind ever built. These sequences were conceived and executed by Image Now. Lava lamp imagery and a giant UFO were some of the visual material we created.

Are the different areas of production from video to print design work treated as separate entities or is there an overall Image Now 'approach' to a project?

There are two divisions in the company: Image Now Consultants, which deals principally in brand identity, design for print, typography and art direction. Image Now Films which deals with animation, computer generated imagery, post production and compositing. It also uses the live action skills of Nick Ryan. Both divisions, however, are only really in name as there is much cross over between the different skill sets and both come together for overall brainstorms.

Does more creative freedom come from having a smaller studio ethic?

Well it's easier to see what people are up to and to share the ideas. It is also easier to communicate. The key is growing a design studio and ensuring that the intimacy of a smaller studio is not lost.

Do you think design companies today need to be more diverse, and involved in more visual media's?

Possibly, though I also think that Irish Design agencies need to hone their creative skills to a much higher degree. We also need to be a lot more honest about our own standards so that we can all sit back and objectively discuss our work.

What do you think about the current state of design? and in Ireland in particular.

I think Irish design is very hap-hazard in its approach. Consistency in high standards is what we should be aiming for. Though I also question this from an Irish industry perspective. We all have to be willing to push the boundaries if we are to improve standards.

Corporate design work seems to currently dominate the Irish design scene, do you think this is a good thing?

It depends on what you mean by Corporate design. If you mean design that achieves commercial goals on behalf of large corporations and in so doing becomes somewhat compromised then yes I do believe a lot of corporate design work is dominating Ireland. But even corporate work can be excellent. Look at corporations in the UK that produce truly individual work like Orange, The London Underground, Bank of England etc.

Recently Enterprise Ireland produced a report on the design industry in Ireland stating that the industry lacked co-ordination, leadership and support, and was poor at marketing its services to industries, what do you think of the state of the Irish design industry?

It is fractured and highly competitive. This is because the level of work in Ireland is finite and as such you have to compete to survive. But to really move the industry forward we have to accept that there are certain creative and strategic principles that we are not competing on. For an industry that is supposed to provide a service that ultimately allows clients to stand out from their competitors the Irish Design Industry is not that good at pushing its own frontiers out.

Do you think Irish clients are prepared to pay for quality design? Do you think Irish clients are becoming more design literate or less so?

Some Irish clients both know and understand the value of good design. But most do not and you only have to glance around the market place to see which companies have a strong visual presence that backs up their mission statement. A lot of Irish companies need to spend time looking around them and then armed with their own values and competitive advantages consider how best they can work with designers to bring clarity to the messages they want to convey.

Where do you think design is going in the next 5-10 years - do you think designing for print will become less and less important?

Design will become intrinsic and applied at more levels than it is currently. For example when you are designing a corporate identity for a bank soon you will not only have to worry about where the logo goes but on what recycled paper its printed on or what type of phones the company should use to ensure that the logo is best displayed on the phones screen.

Print will decline in quantity but the quality will have to increase as it become more specialist.

Creatively, digital video and animation has gone from strength to strength in recent years - particularly in film, is this an area Image Now is interested in doing more work in?

This is an area of clear interest for Image Now and one we have actively pursued for a number of years now. We enjoy working in a dynamic medium such as film which allows you to explore new and better ways to communicate to people. With the rapid decrease in the cost of hardware and software for working in digital video, film and animation the opportunities are endless and we are keen to explore more work within this area.

What are your influences and inspirations? Who do you feel are the designers and studio's today doing interesting work?

That's easy. Great design agencies have a great personality and identity all of their own. My personal favourites are Mark Farrow design (did all the Pet Shop Boys stuff), Designers Republic (did great work on the Playstation game 'Wipeout', TOMATO (very experimental and worked with the band Underworld and also Channel 4, Pentagram - great identity company The Guardian Newspaper and V&A)

Finally, what are the plans for Image Now in the near future? Where would you like to see Image Now in 5 years?

To target the UK and compete on a creative level with London and New York agencies and win!!!

Visit Image Now at:
www.imagenow.ie

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