Design Council/Intangible Assets Cards Featured in First Choice, edited by Ken Cato, published by The Images Publishing Group/ Australia in 2003 (ISBN 1 876907 96)
Keaney’s visual work explores the relationship between typography and imagery predominantly the photographic image. Her design process (see output 1) draws on Dutch influences and free-form collage and painterly methods, tempered and tested through working with commissioners who establish tight constraints from and through which she can derive a contained experimental context that provides creative stimulation and professional challenge.
Working with the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) and the Design Council this commissioned project aimed to help to promote design as an intangible asset to business. This was based on the premise that a company’s tangible assets no longer provide a holistic profile that should also include relationships, brand, culture, systems, knowledge and other intangible assets that contribute to the value of a company. The project was to create a game for workshops and presentations that took the form of a set of slotted cards, which featured visual representations of tangible, and intangible assets. These cards had to be won in order to build a successful business and structure. The message was that design adds value through the intangible assets of a business, and this game was intended to bring the idea into focus. The cards feature photographic images illustrating 24 intangible assets and 7 tangible assets. The intangible themes include innovation, values, ethics, perception and process. The tangible themes include land, tools, buildings and plant.
Published as an exemplar in First Choice by Ken Cato, (The Images Publishing Group / Australia (2003), ISBN: 1 876907 96 7; pp104-5); and also exhibited and published in Area by Werner Jeker (Phaidon (2003) ISBN: 0 7148 4325 3); pp164-7. Area is an international peer group selection. It is dedicated to 100 ‘rising stars’ in graphic design who have broken new ground within a five-year time frame.
