Any of you heard of Alt Group? Or would they prefer ‘the’ Alt Group?  You know, the guys that have just won the design category in Australian Creative’s Hotshop Awards.

Interestingly, an image search for Alt Group turns up more visual information than there is written available. Finally reaching their website my sign of relief turned into a chuckle. These guys are clearly too busy doing sensational work to have to be bothered with an online presence, but I sure wish they had one.

It’s Corban and Pool’s intelligence that grabs me and how beautifully they express what design is. The importance of ideas, the acknowlegement that thinking is a journey that uncovers ways of seeing and conveying the world creatively and commercially.

In a 2009 interview with ProDesign, Dean Poole said: ‘”I still believe in what Greer Twiss said: “You fail as an educator if a student doesn’t leave the system with their own inquiry.” They don’t have to make great stuff; you don’t have to have good ideas. You just have to be able to change the world, which means that you’ve got to have a way of viewing, or having an inquiry, that is personal to you. I don’t care if you’re pumping coffee as long as you’ve got an inquiry.”

2009 was a year of 57 design awards for Alt Group that included a Red Dot Grand Prix, ADC Cold Cube, Cannes Silver Lion, One Show Silver and Bronze Pencils, a Webby Award and a Stringer Award at the DINZ Best Awards.

I reckon you should all beware! Please visit ProDesign to see the full transcript of the interview and more examples of Alt Group’s work.
http://prodesign.co.nz/interview-alt-group/2009/10/15/