Order, Disorder And Creative Chaos: What's Best For A Sticky Brand?

Ali is joint Head of Planning at BMF Advertising in Sydney. She works on brand strategy for a range of clients including ALDI and the FFA, as well as overseeing BMF’s research program.

On discovering that her Masters degree in 8th Century Social History was fascinating but qualified her for... not a whole lot, Ali eventually found herself in the slightly mad world of a London ad agency. Loving the pace of the work and getting to spend her time chatting to people in the name of research, she developed her career from there and has gained experience in agencies including TBWA, Wieden + Kennedy and client-side at Apple Europe. Ali has written several industry articles and commentary pieces, and recently appeared on Gruen, which was nerve-wracking and awesome in equal measure.

Ali is speaking at Order, Disorder and Creative Chaos: What's Best for a Sticky Brand? Her interest in wabi-sabi, disorder and chaos comes partly from trying to justify a naturally untidy mind and partly from a long-held interest in all things Japanese... though attempts to learn the language have not been successful.

Branka Spehar is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of Undergraduate Programs at the School of Psychology, UNSW. She studied at the University of Zagreb, Croatia and Rutgers University, New Jersey USA where she obtained her PhD in Experimental Psychology in 1994.

Branka’s research interests include diverse aspects of visual perception, attention and aesthetics. She has authored over 80 publications and has attracted research support through the Australian Research Council and National Health & Medical Council.

Richard P. Taylor is a Professor of Physics, Psychology and Art, and is the Director of Materials Science Institute at the University of Oregon, USA. He has worked in the USA, UK, Canada, Japan, Australia and NZ and has published more than 250 papers.

In addition to his career in science, Richard is a trained painter and photographer. He adopts an interdisciplinary approach to studying natural patterns - called fractals - exploring them across physics, psychology, physiology, geography, architecture and art. Richard uses his interest in fractals to encourage collaborations between the arts and sciences and to promote public awareness of science. His work has been featured in TV documentaries including The Art of Science (ABC, 1998); Hunting the Hidden Dimension (PBS, 2008) and The Code (BBC, 2011).

His work has also been the subject of popular press articles in publications from The New Yorker to New Scientist and Time magazine. He regularly lectures around the world, commissioned by organisations as diverse as the Nobel Foundation, the Royal Society, the Pompidou Centre and the Guggenheim in New York.