Category Archives for blogs

Advertising is cut-throat.

Or is it?

I’ve worked in advertising now for something like nine months now. That may not seem like a long time, but when your industry is an intense as advertising is, it feels like decades. I’ve moved departments, I’ve witnessed scores of hirings, redundancies and resignations. I’ve cringed when we’ve lost clients and projects, and felt genuine pride when we’ve won others. I’ve made mistakes but I’ve also impressed. I’ve cried, yelled, sworn and …well, danced (albeit quite drunkenly). In an industry such as advertising, you aren’t sure what you’re going to get when you walk into your office. The only sure thing in your day is that copious amounts of coffee will be consumed. Advertising is highly competitive. There is at least five agencies alone in the suburb I work in (Richmond, Melbourne, AUS), many of which are highly regarded nationally and internationally. Five meters from my workplaces door, for example, is the building of DDB Melbourne.

Recently, I have been experiencing some rough times in my personal life. More than once within the past week I have left the office from air and have burst into tears. I have friends and colleagues that are providing me exceptional support, but what happened late on Thursday afternoon (March 14th) left me speechless.

At around 4PM I received an email from reception letting me know that there was something waiting for me. I didn’t have time to go pick it up, so the Concierge bought it over to my desk. It was a large bag of goodies, and sitting on top was this note:

The beautiful note that came with a big bag of goodies.

The beautiful note that came with a big bag of goodies.

So… even though the advertising industry is apparently cut-throat, there is still room for beautiful, kind gestures such as this. Faith in humanity somewhat restored.

The 99 percent.

So, during my downtime at work I don’t want to just sit there and let my brain stagnate. While scrolling endlessly through Facebook reading posts that I, frankly, rarely care about is a past-time and a habit of many, I don’t want to do that at work – even if there isn’t currently anything on my plate. After leaping around like a gnat asking if I can help anyone with anything, I then turn to a sketchbook. But that quickly loses it’s appeal as I don’t feel as if I’m being useful to anyone or any thing except my boredom. So what better to do than trawl the internet for inspiration and information so that I can learn and grow in my current position. I have subscribed to and started habitually reading at least 15 advertising based blogs. I’ve done the same with at least 10 other blogs that are about creative pursuits. Once I’ve organised them in some sort of comprehendible list I will post them – I encourage you all to do the same with your valuable bookmarks.

My favourite blog at the moment, though is The 99 Percent. It’s by the good people at Behance. If you’re anything like me, constantly searching for motivation, inspiration and information then you’re going to love it. Posts I’ve enjoyed the most recently include Are You Ready To Be Lucky and The DNA Of Idea Execution.

Check it out. I have been blissfully rolling around in the Tips section. Seriously.

Things can only get better!

As I’ve been raving on about, the Positive Posters exhibition/party and winner announcement was last night. It was a great night – sweet venue, good company and some amazing work talking about some really important issues. I’m extremely proud and honoured I could be a part of it! I didn’t win or place – which is a shame – but I cannot even fathom being disappointed as I was lucky enough to be a part of the Top Thirty. That alone is an achievement I am beyond proud of – and to think there was work by Yoko Ono at the show? Me, a group show with the likes of Yoko Ono? Wow.

There is a lot to be said about the aura of an artwork – I believe completely in the notion. I had seen work by one of my favourite artists (Artemisia Gentileschi) before – in books and online, but seeing her work in the flesh in Melbourne and Florence was incredibly moving. Maybe I suffer from Stendhal syndrome - who knows! Being surrounded by those posters at the Positive Posters exhibition was an exciting, moving and quite emotional experience for me. What made them more special, I believe, is not just the fact that there was such good work and amazingly talented people surrounding me, but also the fact that these posters were designed to highlight global issues. These posters were, in a way, semi-selfless (it was a competition, y’know) acts of designers who wanted to better humanity. That is a beautiful thing!

The winners can be seen currently on the front page of the PP website, but they are also below. They are thoughtful, witty and clever – well deserving winners. Quite proud to see a Pole in there too! ;) Congratulations!!

  

In other news: had a great job interview yesterday so fingers crossed for that. Got along extremely well with the woman who would be managing me so I am feeling quite hopeful. Today, however, is set aside purely for freelance work. I’m doing some work for a client whose customers are Universal Studios in Singapore. That… is pretty damn sweet.

Over and out!

Sex, Drugs & Helvetica.

 

Yesterday I went to a conference set up by the good people at Positive Posters with the most wonderful title: Sex, Drugs and Helvetica. It was set up to inspire and help design students with how to go about getting into the industry once they’re done with Uni. Though I’m already part of the industry, I am still a student and will take any advice I can get. There was a great line up including: Simon Mundy, Vali Valibhoy, Studio Motherbird, Mr. Singh, K. W. Doggett, EMK lawyers. Even Nick Hallam had a little ramble at the end.

All the speakers were incredible, but one in particular stood out to me and that was illustrator Karan Singh from Wake Up Mr. Singh. Sure, his story runs like a Hollywood movie. Struggle to find who he was, reach success, became very ill, clawed his way back and is currently kicking ass. But that’s beside the point.

He touched on a couple of points that I completely agree with and am so glad that someone else – especially someone so talented and successful –  feels the same way. The thing hooked into me most, though, was finding inspiration in every single thing around you. Take a moment and you are really able to see the beauty in everything you see, and you can take from that.

Check out Karan Singh‘s work. It’s seriously not to be missed.

Inspiring Melbourne designer.

Everyone has a particular designer that inspires them, and most people have a particular person in life that inspires them on a more general level. For me, these particular people are one in the same.

Jen Clark – jenclark.com.au

Posted by Jen Clark on 21st July 2011:

“Despite fear of pigeon-holing myself as some sort of self-deemed, ‘holier than thou’ wunderkind (which, for the record, I am not), I wanted to briefly address a topic that I think has been well and truly sitting at the back of the IKEA Expedit shelves collecting dust among the design books for a little too long – and that is the topic of good ole’ manners.

Remember that word? Yes? Awesome. Please read on.

Every day without fail and, more worryingly, often numerous times per day, I encounter bad manners. Maybe I’m over-sensitive, neurotic, obsessive, cynical or likely all of the above, but for some time now my frontal lobe has been in a knot over how indiscriminating and almost predictable these instances seem to be.

Such instances of manneratus ignoramus can occasionally happen at home, although these events are normally at the trivial end of the scale (ie: one of my cats taking my spot of choice on the sofa, for instance). Outside the home is, however, another matter altogether.

Be it in any number of public spaces, shopping centres, footpaths, car parks, post offices, gas stations, cafes and that all too familiar bugbear…public transport, manners seem to have been inexplicably ‘lobotomised’ from our psyches. I think my partner summed it up best when she recently described long-haul air travel as being comparable to spending a day in a “human degradation chamber.”

I often wonder if I am alone in my concern and if so, if I should take more action to remedy it? For a while there I got so passionately disparaged by the apparent lack of manners prevalent in the public domain today that I considered starting my own ‘Manners Task Force’, akin to Victoria Police, but with the solitary task of fining, publicly humiliating and/or penalising those failing to demonstrate manners or empathy in situations where these sort of characteristics should merely be second nature. My instincts and experience tell me however that I may struggle with gaining the funds (not to mention the legal support) to institute such an initiative. Shame, that.

On the flipside of the coin, as comedian Heath Franklin says in his much-loved impersonation of Mark ‘Chopper’ Read, perhaps I should just learn to harden the f*** up? It’s a mad, mad, dog-eat-dog world out there right? Perhaps I should take on an eye for an eye mentality and no longer concern myself with the pleasantries and courtesies that (I feel) should be mutually extended in even the simplest of everyday human interactions and, like so many who have gone before me, just start concerning myself with myself?

Despite finding the ring this hard-lined tone has to it very appealing, I don’t think I could (in fact I know I couldn’t) follow through. It just wouldn’t be me.

Professionally speaking, my 13 or so years working in design have taught me one very important thing. Long lasting success as a designer hinges less and less on sheer technical brilliance, but is now more reliant on our emotional and psychological acuity – our ability to understand, relate to and interpret the needs of others. Manners, of course, play a big part in this.

Even the simplest of gestures can make a pronounced difference to the way in which we are professionally regarded. A smile, a genuine “how are you?”, offering to pay for a coffee when you’re taking a client out, arriving to meetings on time, making eye contact, expressing gratitude, offering someone a seat, remembering someone’s name, sending through a quote or (god-willing) delivering work by the date you’ve promised – these are but a few of an almost limitless list of what I’ve come to call ‘random acts of manners.’

In saying all of this I am not trying to be in any way patronising or belittling, nor am I suggesting we should all behave like doormats. To the contrary, the catalyst that allowed me to realise and develop an awareness of the impact of the aforementioned behaviours is through the act of not doing them myself in the past.

What I am saying though is next time you instinctively go to take that last seat on the bus, perhaps take a look around first to see if there’s someone who might just need it more than you? You’ll be amazed at what a difference it makes and, how surprisingly good it can make you feel. Either that or prepare to see me coming your way in a few years time in my custom designed, lilac ‘Manners Taskforce’ tracksuit, finger pointing and head shaking. Believe me, that in itself should be all the motivation you need to change your wicked ways.

PS – Please check out this excellent PDF ‘Manners Matter’ by Business Consultant and Author Joel D. Canfield. Totally worth your time.”

That’s all I have to say at the moment. More to come – I’ve been very busy.

Fifty reasons NOT to date a Graphic Designer

Courtesy of A bourbon for Silvia. Highlighted are the ones that are most relevant to me (they ALL are, but the ones that most hit the nail on the head).

Fifty reasons NOT to date a Graphic Designer.

1. They are very weird people.
2. There are billions of them in the world, like colors on the screen of your computer.
3. They will analyse conversations in layers.
4. You will spend the day assembling furniture from IKEA.
5. They drink and eat all kinds of weird shit just because they like the packaging.
6. They hate each other.
7. You’ll come out the last out of the movies because you have to see the full list of credits.
8. They can’t change a light bulb or without making a sketch.
9. They fuck up all the tables with their cutters.
10. They rather study the paisley pattern on your outfit than listen to what you have to say.
11. They will fill your house with magazines and whatever is out there that has drawings.
12. You never know if it is really an original or a copy.
13. They make collages with your photos.
14. They do not know how to add and subtract, they just understand letters.
15. They idolize people who nobody knows and speak of them as if they were his colleagues.
16. They take pictures almost daily and all are cut in weird shapes.
17. They ask your opinion about everything but  they do whatever they want.
18. Everything is left justified, right or center unless they arrive late.
19. They hate Comic Sans with the same passion they love Helvetica.
20. They use iPhone for everything, because everyone has one.
21. You can not decorate the house without consulting them.
22. They steal street signs.
23. Always carry bags painted with something.
24. They buy dolls unfinished for them to paint.
25. Everything becomes something other than what it really is: cards as tickets, cards as …
26. When arguing, you will be nicknamed like the OSX spinning wheel (not affectionately)
27. Do not know how to dress without consulting the Pantone book.
28. They hate Excel.
29. They read comics.
30. They want to save the world only with a poster.
31. You will spend the day brainstorming.
32. On vacation they will take you to countries that you do not know exist and have no beach.
33. Museums are their second home.
34. They know more positions than the Kamasutra.
35. They can’t go to a restaurant without secretly critiquing the menu design.
36. They listen to music you have never heard of.
37. They can’t cook a normal dish, they always have to experiment with new ingredients.
38. They read rare books: stories of children, Semiotics …
39. When they are going to tell you something, everyone has read it in their facebook and twitter.
40. They have own iPods before you knew they existed.
41. The orgasm they remember is when they heard that Adobe was acquiring Macromedia.
42. They have their own shops just for them and there are the most expensive in the city.
43. They want to spend all the money in the Apple Store.
44. You will never understand their gifts.
45. They see ordinary objects and laugh.
46. You wake up in the middle of the night hearing them screaming “When is the deadline?”
47. They see CMYK and RGB like Neo sees the Matrix.
48. They dream of the day nobody will make a single change to their designs.
49. They rather pay for a font than for a special birthday gift.
50. They are always sleepy because they work 24/7.

Do you have more to add?

What is your web presence like?

What is your web presence like? Do you only use the internet for fun, or do you use it as a business tool? If you Google yourself, what shows up? Facebook, twitter, inane forum posts, an embarrassing blog about cats that you made when you were fourteen? Or are there a truckload of people out there with your name, making it virtually impossible to figure out who is who and what is what?

Recently I’ve been filtering through the social networking sites I belong to. Like most people, I have Facebook. I use mine for personal reasons only, and thus it is completely private – only for friends and family. Do you have yours set up this way? If a potential employer looks for you on Facebook, can they find you? Can they see the status about getting tanked last weekend and spewing in someone’s front garden? Can they see your status update about how much you want to physically decapitate yourself when you see George Negus on TV? …What if they think Mr. Negus is the pinnacle of Australian journalism and should be praised as a national hero? It can get a little more tricky too. Is your personal Youtube account linked to your public Twitter account? When you clicked ‘Favourite’ on that video of a baby on a stripper pole, did you want your Twitter followers to see “I liked ‘Sexy baby works its magic’ on Youtube: abcdefg.com”. Similarly, if you post an obscene (but perhaps not unreasonable) comment on Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’ – do you want your boss, potential employers and fans seeing you lose your nut on the internet, being abusive towards people like some troll? Furthermore… was that really necessary anyway? Do you have a Deviantart.com account where you posted erotic vampire poetry when you were going through a gothic phase when you were sixteen? Yeah, you might want to check that.

Your web presence should be used for good and not evil. There are literally hundreds of sites on the internet where you can showcase your work, your ideas and your personality in a professional but personable way. Here are a few I use:

Foursquare – Me on foursquare.
What it is: Foursquare is a service that helps find where your friends are hanging out and offers tips from other users on what to do once you get there. You use your phone to “check in” at different places you visit.

Why I like it: It’s fun to share where you are, and what you’re doing there. It may be self indulgent, but it’s nice to be able to show others the kind of places you like and frequent. Furthermore, you’re able to share tips and comments about certain places – “Great coffee but the waiter smelled like Cheezels” or “Don’t order the bacon – such small portions: I did not get my bacon fix!”

Twitter – Me on Twitter.
What it is: Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that allows you answer the question, “What are you doing?” by sending short text messages 140 characters in length, called “tweets”, to your friends, or “followers.”

Why I like it: I don’t often tweet about what I’m doing (“laying on couch typing furiously about the internet”?!). I follow a mass of creatives, designers, studios and organisations and retweet things I find helpful, interesting, inspiring etc. Okay, fine, sometimes I post pictures of my cats. What of it?

LinkedIn – Me on LinkedIn.
What it is: A business-related social networking site, basically. Like a professional Facebook.

Why I like it: It’s like having an online Resume or CV. Which is great, because I really hate making those things – they make me feel like a hopeless dork. It’s good to be able to put your whole professional and educational history on there and be linked to current and past employers. Not only that, but those people can add ‘recommendations’ on your profile. Easily up-datable, no having to specialise your CV to each job. Just everything, short and sweet. Worth your time.

The Loop – Me on The Loop.
Here’s what they say: ‘By creating a portfolio on The Loop, you get your work online and in front of the right people. We’re out pounding the pavement and meeting as many great employers as we can so you don’t have to!’ True story too – some incredible brands, companies and studios advertising on there. Australia-focused.

Why I like it: They really do have some hotshot jobs posted on there and they are updated daily. Definitely worth getting your work and personality up on there – it really doesn’t matter if it’s a double up of information from another site. Spread your tentacles!

Anyway, you get the point. Go out there and be known. Below are some other sites that I use. Get in amongst it, kids.

About.Me
Cargo
Wordpress
Vimeo
Whohub
Instagram
Flickr
Youtube

Positive Posters.

Now I know I’ve harped on about this organisation before but I can’t help it. People need to know about this. It really gets the cogs turning in my head and makes my cheeks start burning with adrenaline and pure giddiness. If you’ve ever been to agIdeas (Melbourne), or Semi-Permanent (Oceania), SXSW or any other creative conference or gathering, no doubt you know that absolute buzzing feeling that you leave with. You’re excited, your eyes burn, you feel like you’re going to explode because you are so inspired and proud of the potential awesomeness of the profession you’re in. Right? Right. Positive Posters makes me feel like that. Especially when head honcho Nick Hallam drops these little nuggets off on random mornings:

EPISODE 25: Designers CAN change the world from Nick Hallam on Vimeo.

Buhhh…

These mofos are switched on. I’m a believer, like Nick up there, that design is …the best thing in the bloody world. It has potential – it’s a weapon, it’s a tool that can be used to instigate anything. Let’s face it, the world has some serious issues right now. Serious. Issues. A buttload of money isn’t going to fix it – people are. Why aren’t we using design to gather, empower and instigate change?! WHY?! Well, the people at Positive Posters are.

If you don’t know what they do, then go to their website and PARTICIPATE. NOW. DO IT. WWW.POSITIVE-POSTERS.COM

Donate, spread the word, buy some merch. Support Positive Posters because it’s going to change the face and guts of design nationally and globally.

graphic designing in lists.

Any designers out there need a pick-me-up? Yeah, me too.
There’s some good articles out there on how to be successful, how to stay motivated and inspired, how to this and that in the world of design. A great deal of them harp on about the same stuff. Recently, however, I’ve come across two of these such articles that are relevant, helpful and entertaining.

Numero Uno is Austin Kleon’s “How to Steal like an Artist (And 9 Other Things Nobody Told Me)“
Gem:

And B is Jamie Wieck’s “50 Things Every Graphic Design Student Should Know“
Gem: