2020 — A year to remember.
A story of a monstrous and infamous year for all of us, and our thoughts on this permanent hangover that we need to heal.
[All images, including the ones used in the video montage (linked at the end of this article), were spontaneously captured by members of our team on their mobile phones in different working environments between January and December 2020. We were fortunate, despite the social distancing, confinement, and all the fear and insecurity, to give a direction to the life of our studio and to do a lot of work despite the circumstances. This visual experiment helped us to reflect on our work, why we are passionate about what we do, and how the experience has strengthened our resolve to make 2020 our best year yet.]
Like every year before, 2020 started with hope and resolutions. The thoughts were the same, “this one will be the greatest yet”, “bigger than ever”, “if not better, at least as good as the last”, and that “this one will be healthier and more prosperous for all”. There was also the obligatory “bye-bye 2019, you sucked!”. In fact, 2020 started with a stronger sense of confidence. It began with a robust economic outlook with an unparalleled determination for investment. Back then, everyone was focused on their own lives and pursuits and the odds were, “this is going to be the year to thrive in every aspect”. New projects, new ideas, and above all, lots of opportunities. Covid-19 was too far away to be considered a real threat at the beginning of twenty-twenty in Europe. Today, it remains our main battle for nearly a year. It’s our daily struggle, and unexpectedly became the biggest threat to our survival, freedom, confidence, and prosperity in life.
Even though Covid-19 was the highlight (or perhaps more aptly the low-light) of the year, it brought into focus other big issues affecting the world negatively. In combination, they created a heady concoction that made the year feel totally unmanageable and overwhelming in so many aspects. We should be living in the most advanced and evolved time in the history of humankind, right? In reality, we are facing a storm of political, economic, religious, and civil conflicts all over the world, whilst the environment continues to buckle under the weight of every passing day. Summary: the world is a mess. Throughout the pandemic whilst we lament the deaths caused by the disease, all the pain, suffering, despair, and darkness left in its wake — life still goes on. The Earth kept spinning in 2020 and we are still living our lives. Maybe, by distance, 2019 was a terrific year. However, 2020 must be the year that we should all remember, without any kind of cheap dismissal or prophetic summarizing.
The subject matter of this article is how 2020 unexpectedly changed the world. It is our introspective analysis of the year that was and what we have learned for the future. For now, we are still unpacking the last 12 months and we dare not look into the crystal ball for 2021. Nevertheless, the following ideas reflect a certain kind of future posture, setting the tone of how we will move forward. We all yearn for a better year than the last and 2020, more than any other has thrown down the gauntlet in every aspect. Concerning our professional lives, this new reality has forced us to reconsider every aspect of work from communicating with colleagues, maintaining harmonious relationships, and staying connected, to the meaning of our creative, career development, mental and physical health, and crucially, how we must contemplate design, brand values and messaging to build a better world (and better design). Fundamentally, the pandemic has forced us to rethink the wider-world implications of every project going forward, particularly concerning our studio life and operations. It has given us a new sense of what really matters now and for the years ahead. Such a drastic recalibration of everything often only occurs when the world rips control out of your hands and thrusts upon you a new set of rules. With all this in mind, we hope the following reflections help you (and us) to move forward and achieve a new kind of better existence (as citizens, creatives, dreamers, and humans).
Changes (and chances).
So, the first lesson of 2020 is the power of change. The power of doing what no one is expecting. To see things differently. The power of new approaches and ways of seeing. This was, and still is, the real engine that drives evolution. The power of change, made by a few, has brought us here. Sometimes by serendipity, other times by persistence. But now, this feeling has spread to all quadrants of our society.
The world is a “global village” and we are now connected on a lot of levels. The events unfolding since 2020 has caused us to suffer from anxiety, a lack of confidence, despair, and a permanent sense of insecurity. All of this leads us towards a strong desire to change. Globally. Our fragile existence was revealed by this pandemic, and now that we have lost predictability, we are able to change everything. We can now live by chance, by risk, without any kind of metric, and that will lead us to a more exciting and open-minded perspective. Our new year resolutions (and desires) for 2021 must include change. And new chances. Individually and as a society. At deadinbeirute™ we will uphold the demands of our clients who are searching for change, to make their ideas thrive, delivering fresh opportunities for success, and new paths for their brands, services, and products. Now is the time to embrace change. For real.
Time (to be).
We all know that time is our most precious asset, and everyone has a finite allocation of it. We are absorbed by it with our daily tasks and routines, often forgetting that the sands of time are passing. Many of our goals, the ones that will make us proud and happy, are often left behind. All too often they are side-lined for that perfect moment when we tell ourselves we will get around to doing them (never). Yet during the pandemic and lockdowns of 2020 there were long periods of illusion where time seemed to stand still. We turned to our phones, computers, and screens for information and escapism. This magnified the power and the presence of technology in our lives. It made these troubling times easier. It redefined our concepts of connectivity and virtual proximity. We were already familiar with it, but this time this “thing” invaded our private, social, and working lives like we never experienced before. It’s not that personal relations or human touch can be replaced, no, we really need to be close to each other. Is what makes us humans. Pre-pandemic, it could be argued technology supplemented our lives but now we seem to be totally dependent on it. Online meetings, remote working, online courses, online exercise, and online shopping all became essential parts of our daily routine. Of course, this doesn’t reflect everyone’s situation throughout the pandemic but without question the majority of us has deepened our reliance on technology. Our online connectivity provided us with the ability to continue to live and function in practical terms whilst affording us the opportunity to pursue the meaning of our existence, to make sense of what’s going, to seek happiness during darkness and to maintain the notion that we are still able to pursue our dreams. We might be able to debate the value and relative pros and cons of these things we now do online, yet the one certainty is that the clock never stops ticking and we have to make every moment count. We need to rescue our individual sense of procrastination and reclaim any wastes of time. Now is the perfect moment to reflect on what that will be — so we can be better, stronger, more sustainable, and to fully address the profound challenges we all now face at work and in many aspects of life. It is apparent that we will continue to rely on technology for this year (and probably the next). Now is the perfect time to recontextualize this relationship going forward and to assess the privilege of digital contact. Many of us don’t miss the not-so-old days of driving in stressful traffic or the loss of time commuting to the office on packed public transport, nor the associated costs. Whilst many can already extrapolate the benefits of not having to face the presential time-consuming aspects of our pre-pandemic lives, it has also given us the opportunity to shape these new circumstances. Whilst some changes have been forced on us — both good and bad — we still have the chance to decide our ‘new existence’. We can still strive for a better, more worthy, and healthier life both professionally and personally. We just need to measure the importance of everything and allocate our time relative to necessity and importance. So, for this year, we will be more connected digitally. We will privilege digital connections over presential time-consuming ones. Presentially, we will look to have a better, more justifiable, and healthy time with people (professionally and personally). We will use the time according to its level of importance. Less useless time. More time to be (happy).
Love (and consideration).
If we think about love and happiness, we do not think about hurting somebody. This is simple. It is not complex. The fact is that, because we are so different, we (sometimes) tend to misunderstand each other. We don’t always communicate perfectly. And it’s all right. We still can live together. And enjoy it. But this can only happen when people are treated with dignity as equals. Our focus here is not to become too political because everyone knows our social problems arise from systemic racism, social inequality, and oppression. What we are trying to figure out here is what should our role, going forward as professionals, individuals and citizens. Small changes in our attitudes and actions can quickly add up in ways that impact society positively, from our day-to-day interactions right through to the products we create for market.
As a studio, we have a clear and long-standing commitment to treat everyone equally, fairly, and with compassion and respect. For the last eleven years, we’ve cultivated professional relationships with our customers, suppliers, partners, team members and their families that have grown into friendships. 2020 has taught us that this is still the right way to deal with people (especially in business relationships). We’re on the right path. We have a lot of amazing human beings around us and that is a result of how we treat people and build harmonious business relationships. We keep good company. It goes to show business need not be ruthless. You can still work hard and achieve success whilst being nice to each other showing humanity, courtesy, respect, and love. “Work hard and be nice to people”, Anthony Burrill’s advice for living, might be a little underestimated, but it’s the only way to make it. So, we keep it up. Spreading the love with good intentions. We hope that this pandemic is a once in lifetime experience. Yet it has also served as a timely reminder that the way we treat one another is vital for our collective growth, survival, and success. Now more than ever we can see who we really are and that alone we are vulnerable, but together we are strong, and the opportunities are limitless. We recognize that problems can only be resolved when we face them head on and together. We have to consider the well-being of others and act for the benefit of all. Now that we are all in the same boat, we hope that this idea of love and consideration remains for the future. We will continue to uphold these values and live by them in everything we do with our clients, team members, collaborators, and competitors with our collective well-being at the core. We want to create opportunities that bring society together for the benefit of all. When love and consideration is central to everything, we can all prosper, and the gains are infinite! What’s not to like about that?
Health (and work).
Striking the right work/life balance is not a new issue. However, with the onslaught of 2020, health became a primary concern for everyone. Suddenly, and obviously, the pandemic placed public health above all else. In turn, this placed more importance on how we view our basic physical and mental wellbeing, along with our ability to safely access medical healthcare. Long periods of confinement during the lockdowns meant we all had to think more about things that we might have taken for granted before — freedom, the ability to exercise, maintaining a healthy diet, and access to nature. In varying degrees, everybody had to consider these issues in a more profound and serious way. Of course, it is fear that makes us think this way. Fear is the real motivation (or obstacle) to taking the hard steps forward. We know that health comes first (in our thoughts), but similarly to our allocation of time, so often our immediate health gets overlooked or put on the back burner.2020 undoubtedly changed the way we contextualize our health. That doesn’t necessarily mean we have now magically found the solutions to our health issues. Sometimes the problems themselves inhibit the solutions, like when we experience issues relating to the anxiety, unpredictability, and insecurity in life right now whilst trying to comply with the various forced changes to our normal habits. This can lead us into an unknown state of being overwhelmed where we feel there is no cure (in the moment). Aside from Covid-19 itself, we do not know how all the indirect health issues it has created will affect us in the long term. For many, it has slowed down livelihoods or even completely halted the ability to work. All of these problems together can create a real bundle of stress. Essentially, stress is directly correlated to the urgency of things — the rhythm of keeping up with our accelerated lives. In the last twelve months, the stress of old has changed address. Now it is in disguise and living amongst our homes, intertwined with our private lives like never before. The nightmare of deadlines, useless time-consuming tasks, and constant online meetings are now at our dinner table. Stress, work, and life have homogenized into one living experience. We may have come to feel stuck in the gaps between our screens, slumped on the couch in our living rooms, mentally climbing the walls to escape. This was (and still is) new.
Our normal way of delineation between work and our private lives has changed on a seismic scale, and we are left questioning ourselves about how much this is going to change us. How much this could be better or worse than our old experiences of stress. Should we take this chance to readjust the way we see work? Is all this new stress manageable? The answers to these questions are subjective, but one thing is for certain: our reaction to stress will affect the outcome. In fact, subconsciously at least, we have already started to adapt to cope with this new form of stress. We have become more decisive and philosophical about deadlines, and workflow practices, recognizing that everything needs a slower rhythm because our global economy is suspended for a while. In this scenario of economic inertia and constant comparisons to the way things were, we realized that our previous conceptions about the rhythm of things are not necessarily set-in stone. Healthy habits have become more important. Our work and consciously seeking out the things that give us pleasure (even if they are related to work) have become paramount. So, 2020 has given us a chance to review the rhythm of things- to look after our health in a new and profound way. Although the changes we will make as individuals are unique, each of us we should be pursuing a life with less stress. We should, and will, embrace a slower rhythm with improved work habits, better relationships, less pressure, and more comprehensive goals. Our lives and working practices will be healthier. We are sure the outcomes will result in improved health across the board. So let´s fight for it!
Business (for real).
Without business, the world does not function. But that doesn’t mean we cannot improve the way we do business going forward. We all can see that everything is going to be different in economic terms from now on. The digital proliferation of everything is increasingly becoming a reality. As part of this sudden transition, it brings opportunities in meeting new consumer needs, trends, and habits. However, it also further underscores previously identified issues and concerns we need can no longer deprioritize and must be addressed: environmental sustainability and ethical responsibility at every level of business and commerce. These are crucial to our long-term survival as a species and for the Earth itself. As citizens, designers, and consumers, we should champion these causes — setting high expectations and demanding they are integral aspects of everything we do today for tomorrow.
Every aspect of human behaviour (particularly online) has had a big reality check in the last 12 months. It has compelled us to question all our previously defined standards, notions, customs, rules and establishments. We can no longer mindlessly continue on as we were. We must be sceptical and question the old ways of doing everything. For us, central to this quest is finding authenticity. This notion must permeate every asset for every brand, company, or organization, that sells products or services, ideas, or dreams to anyone. Of course, we will still be exposed to massive market brands or the ones we see as essential. And of course, we will still be ruled by the magnetism of the mainstream brands we love. We do not want to change that. But the reality is though — not every brand has genuine authenticity. In striving to achieve it, we are going to trade buzzwords for purpose and truth. Idealism and pure inspiration will be our defining standards. We know that the future is going to be more demanding than the past. So, it’s our responsibility to deliver this vision to our clients through our creative, and lead the charge to make the world better, with a stronger sense of realness. Consumers deserve this. Brands and businesses need this. And we, as designers need it too.
2021 bring it on.
At the time I am writing this, 2021 is already on. It’s not pretty. In fact, it started ugly. The struggle will be enduring, but now we are more prepared, more open, more prepared to adapt, more accomplished to make the change. And with the right calibration of time, it will be easier to let go of the things that make us unhappy. We are ready to be healthier and to spread “the love”. To accept and deal with life with more purpose and truth. Without the bullshit. Accepting that everything is less manageable, more uncertain, less familiar to how it was, and more like to what is going to be (if we make it right). Now. At these strange times we are living though. So, let’s be better humans- enjoying life with a renewed sense of commitment to ourselves and others. Let´s ask ourselves if we are dealing with our pursuit for happiness in the right way. If you find meaning in what you do — you are going in the right direction. At deadinbeirute™, considering the influence we have on our clients, their audiences, our audience, and on the unknown audiences that we will meet in the future, we have a responsibility to maintain (as a company, as designers, as content creators, as creatives, and human beings) to deliver products that reflect the lessons of 2020. There is no better time to think about what 2021 could bring to us than now. Because the clock is ticking, and 2021 is here. So, 2021, bring it on! 2020, we will always remember you.
Written by Marko Rosalline,
Founder and Creative Director of Deadinbeirute™
