Our Speakers Corner has been visited by A.N.D. Project Collective: Vit Abramov, Olga Balina, Alexey Novikov and Tyler Flynn Dorholt. Designcollector has asked Vit Ambramov few questions about the project.
What is your project about?
The idea came when Olga Balina and I were visiting Tokyo. We immediately felt a lack in terms of helpful guides to show us around. We only needed something in English and we wanted to see relevant examples of digital, interactive design, media architecture, etc. Since we hadn’t seen any examples we immediately became more interested in setting a new guide in motion. We returned home and A.N.D was born.
In broad terms A.N.D is a worldwide interactive design guide. Our aim is to foster further knowledge through event attendance and in order to do so we really focus on highlighting the success of creative professionals. The leaders we feature dominate within their various fields, ranging from design to the many complexities inherent in interactive technology. So far we’ve encountered many great thinkers and makers.
We like to find minds that are challenging the parameters of their fields, people who are on the cusp of great careers and new discoveries. Usually, these are minds that are the first to test and accelerate into new landscapes of thought and action. We also want to remain a gravitating zone for those on the lookout for attractive events while traveling. We handpick prevailing events within range and by developing user-friendly options we help visitors stay constantly tuned in. In essence, A.N.D is here to showcase promising events, cool places and outstanding people!
What was the main challenge you faced?
Our biggest challenge was finding the right people to work with. We were extremely lucky to meet Alexey Novikov, whose expertise is invaluable when it comes to technology and interaction design. Later down the road we were introduced to Tyler Flynn Dorholt, whose work with research, developing themes and interviewing has helped us secure industry leaders while putting NYC on the map.
The second challenge we faced was one of language; we thought we needed to translate events depending on the location, but later we made an important strategic decision by utilizing only English. This decision saved us a lot of energy and money. There are some limiting factors; for instance, the locals, say in Berlin, (a city we will soon add to our map) might not be willing to use our guide, preferring instead only German-language guides.
But A.N.D is mostly for people who travel and speak English or live in English-speaking countries (Currently we have three cities where people speak English as their mother tongue: New York, London and Melbourne) so this is less a challenge and more of a reality. At the very beginning we envisioned A.N.D as global so it was very natural to pick English as our main means of communication.
Have you and the audience got satisfaction from it?
We have very positive reviews and feedback thus far so I think that we’re on the right path. Developing relationships with the people we feature has been a blessing and we are very keen on establishing a home base for like minds. So often makers are willing to engage in long conversations and to point us toward even greater and deeper fields of thought, as well as additional minds to profile. We are here because of them. As for our satisfaction, it’s just warming-up, we have a lot of ideas for A.N.D and people who want to be part of all this. It’s onward, with good pace. Stay tuned in!
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