Michael Johnson is one of the UK’s best known communication designers. Read his top tips on how to make the list of finalists for Beijing.

I’m delighted to have joined the judging panel as design adviser, and am looking forward to talking to the teams. I have worked on a number of projects for Science Museum that combined science and creative ideas. I know what a challenge that can be and I am really looking forward to helping the teams.

My advice for the first stage of developing your ideas for Dream Lab:

1. Have a lot of great ideas in the beginning.

2. Then pick and develop the one that is truly unusual, and will
stand out.

3. Pick the one that pushes everyone in your team  as far as possible.

4. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Everyone needs advice!

Johnson and his company’s work have been awarded with many of the creative world’s most prestigious prizes, including 8 pencils from D&AD, and 4 cubes from the New York Art Directors club. Johnson has been selected three times as one of Design Week’s ‘Hot Fifty’, is an ex-D&AD president and has dozens of samples of his work in the permanent collection of the V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum). His work has been shown at many exhibitions at London’s Design Museum and Barbican Gallery, and was the subject of a solo show in Tokyo in 2004.

He is an external examiner at Kingston University (before that, Glasgow School of Art), lectures across the world and contributes regularly to the creative press. In 2002 Phaidon Press published Johnson’s first book, called ‘Problem Solved: a primer in design and communication’, now in its 5^th reprint. His blog, thought for the week, has thousands of daily subscribers and sometimes receives 40,000 visitors a week.

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