• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, May 11, 2010

"Gesture Man." That's what Wired recently called Dale Herigstad. Okay, so it was the Brit edition of Wired, but that's where he's been gesturing lately -- in the London offices of WPP's Schematic, where he is chief creative officer, and gesturer-in-residence. Did I say gesture enough times? Good, because it's pretty important. I'm not sure if he actually invented it, but there's little doubt that Herigstad has inspired us to think about using our own natural gestures as a way of interfacing with media. Note the use of the word interface here, not interact. When you interface, you quite literally connect with a medium. That's what Herigstad does. Using his unique spatial context approach to design, Dale has helped people, brands, media content creators, and even Tom Cruise (see "Minority Report"), interface with media. And now, of course, he has just helped you interface with MEDIA. Here's what he thought about that.

Why did you become a designer?
I actually think design matters. Design is what makes seemingly mundane experiences and things better. I aspire to be the true and broad definition of a designer, where design is not just about colors, fonts, and shapes, but something much bigger. Form follows function, and I think great design happens when utility collides with visionary display.

Why did you agree to guest edit this issue?
When you asked me to guest edit, I saw an opportunity to present new ideas in ways other than in typical written form. When you said "wide open to do what you like," I saw a challenge: Can we deconstruct the layouts to harken to what's coming in dynamic, spatial design formats for magazines. Obviously, the medium is still fixed print, but I liked the challenge of trying to suggest what's coming. We'll see if what we did makes sense to the audience, but I certainly enjoyed the experience of trying. I think that this openness to playing with the models can lead to fresh thinking. 

What was the experience like?
Because I was poking directly into the magazine design process, I had to get to know your team there at MEDIA, and I have to say your team there made my experience a good one. My requests for rather disruptive ideas were met with support. This experience got me thinking about how media can (and will) become flexible and dynamic in its form, begging the question "what are new brands in flexible contexts?" As in, what is MEDIA magazine's brand in this flexible model where issues can have different and unique formats? There's something very intriguing about this, and I think it is a window into the future.

What is Z space and why is it important?
Z space is a big component in what many of us call "rich media." Digital media in screens, like televisions, can be layered. Graphical elements can sit in front and in back of video, for example. Layering, of course, is used in print media to give the illusion of space, but the real sense of space comes to life when motion enters the picture.
Z space in media creates spaces, environments, contexts. An important context is branding and sponsor

messaging. The opportunity is to communicate brand and context in new ways, utilizing this virtual environment. Kind of like creative messaging in the real world environment. How do all of these elements (media, messaging, branding) play nicely in this space? That is the question. Brand messages can become utilities to aid the tasks at hand, as the audience is now doing things in this environment. New media consumption is active.

A key transition that reveals "spaces" is what I call the push-back. The first three right pages of the magazine (cover, page 3, page 5) attempt to show this push-back. They demonstrate the way that new digital space is introduced.

How come you're not so hot on the sense of touch?
In actual fact, I believe that touch is the most intuitive input method. I first experienced touch with kiosk design about 15 years ago. Touch and something happens. Simple.

What has fascinated me since the conceptual work on Minority Report, is solving the problem of interfacing with screens when you can't touch the screen. Like TV when you are maybe 10 feet away. Input becomes abstracted to directional arrows on a remote, or mapping "touch" to another screen in your hand. Or, larger interactive public screens work better when you are distant from the screen. Does touch become virtual via stereo 3-D, or do we develop intuitive ways to gesture with our hands? That's a question we have been trying to solve recently.

I still love touch.

Now that you've got some editing cred, what other magazine would you like to take on?
I would like to tackle magazines with broader advertising concerns. What interests me is how dynamics, space and context can further integrate branding in Vogue, style magazines, and also other properties close to the design field in regard to this new emerging digital manner of expression. Also, those that care about innovative design and branding in a more flexible framework. Branding that exists in a more fluid, and changing context from issue to issue, surprising the audience, yet still with the thread of core brand.