FAQ
Why “Icelab”?
Because ice is cool. Because the same substance – H20 – has radically different properties, depending on the temperature. Because one little thing can make all the difference.
And “lab”, because the best answers aren’t always the ones you already know: we’re interested in thinking about problems deeply, and experimenting to find better ways of doing things.
What’s “thinking below the surface”?
It’s about the difference between design and decoration, between something being the expression of a deep structure rather than an accumulation of surface features. It’s about making design decisions for the right reasons.
So what sort of work do you do?
Lots of different sorts. We’re interested in solutions to problems: we don’t push specific media or specific technologies. The best answer to a given problem might be any (or a combination) of a number of different approaches: print, video, interactive, online, environmental.
Things like:
- multimedia for museums, including touchscreens, listening stations and online interactives
- content-managed websites of all shapes and sizes, including corporate, government, and e-commerce sites
- online applications using open-source technologies
- datavisualisations, showing complex information in ways that humans can understand
- spatial and exhibition design: set design, lighting, sound and multimedia
- branding and design across all media
As part of our process, we call on a wide range of skills, including design, development, writing, strategy and project management.
Do you really work four days a week?
Yep. Monday–Thursday, with Friday–Sunday off. If you need to make contact or there’s an emergency, we do have email and laptops.
Who is Icelab?
In the lab, most of the time:
Michael Honey: major partner: thinking, design, writing, code, reading.
Max Wheeler: design, code, photography, frisbee.
Karmin Cooper: structure, time and motion, deliverables, dollars.
Tim Riley: code of all sorts: Ruby, PHP, JavaScript, HTML – you name it.
In and out:
Pawl Cubbin: CEO of the ZOO Group and second partner in Icelab. Benevolent yet provocative background presence. No longer owes Michael a chair: that’s all been cleared up quite satisfactorily.
Daniel Edmonds: Professional musician and some-time Icelab collaborator. Works with us on projects in different cities.
We also use freelance designers and coders on different projects. Make contact if you’re interested in working with us – or for us.
Design for thinking
People hire designers for different reasons. Design for selling a product. Design for selling the designer. Design for its own sake. We like doing design for thinking. We like finding graceful, intelligent and sometimes beautiful ways to present information and tell a story.
It’s about telling the truth, not trying to hide it behind a glossy facade. It’s about making complex ideas understandable without dumbing them down. That’s why we like working with people who put considerable effort into what’s being said—not just how to say it.
We’re media-agnostic: rather than come to a problem with a solution in mind, we work with you to find the right way to tell your story. It could be a website, a poster, or a video. Maybe a touchscreen interactive or a multimedia projection. You need it? We’ll build it.
Sounds like what you’re after? Email us, tweet us @icelab or call +61 2 6162 0241.
Designed by humans
Michael Honey
Max Wheeler
Karmin Cooper 
Tim Riley On our bookshelf
The Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century World Architecture
Great coffee-table book. I mean, it's the size of a coffee table. Are they trying to present the buildings as close to life-size as possible?
Seventy-Nine Short Essays on Design
Michael Bierut writes, we read.
XS Green: Big Ideas, Small Buildings
Tiny buildings that make us happy. And the world too.
Design Like You Give a Damn
Low-cost projects from around the world providing shelter, health care, education, and access to clean water, energy, and sanitation. Do more with less.
Phaidon Design Classics
Essential 3-volume compendium of 999 industrially designed objects, in chronological order. Arrived in a box the size of a microwave.
Interesting
The right amount of complexity
"The problem is that while successful complex systems evolve from simple systems that work, not every simple system that works can support additional complexity. It’s not enough just to start simple, you have to start simple with a framework designed for future evolution and growth."
Ten Design Commandments
Dieter Rams, industrial designer for Vitsœ and Braun, lays down the laws.
Max Kerning
"When I look around, I see disorder in the world—needless chaos and messes. I sense panic and stress. In fact, I feel it myself. It rattles my soul and gives me a headache and a sourness of the stomach. This is because everywhere I am assaulted by sloppy text that is displeasing to the eye."
Small team, smart people
"I’ve seen it both ways. Working in a teams where the vast majority of the staff were multi-disciplined, and in teams where each section was clearly its own echo chamber to the point where it felt like the considerations of one team would always be ignored by the other. I can tell you that the former was not only infinitely more productive, but that the results were exponentially better."
Inventive Labs
Virginia came to visit recently. Props from one lab to another.
Unit 3/1, The Metropolitan,
1 Gordon St,
Canberra City ACT 2601 Australia
Telephone +61 2 6162 0241
Facsimile +61 2 6162 0242