Some Student Inspiration

22 Year old Sara Watson spent 3 weeks spray-painting the Skoda Fabia for a University Class, which also doubles as a publicity stunt for the charity ‘recycling lives’ which kindly donated the car. It’s so refreshing to see artistic ventures like this pay off.

Semi-Permanent hits Brisbane Town

I was lucky enough to attend Semi-Permanent for the second time in Brisbane (this time held in the Convention Centre) and came out with inspiration galore, my creative juices relenished, and my motivation well and truly boosted. It was also a chance to catch up with some old uni buddies and just soak up all that was on offer.

I was particularly taken with XYZ Studios frank talk, Toko’s unusual but intriguing way of looking at things (in particular information displayed in exciting new visual ways instead of conventional graphs and charts), Wired Magazine CEO talk had a slow painful start, but ended up being for me one of the most informative and interesting speakers of the day. And I can’t get away without mentioning The Glue Society who are just amazing, although it seemed more of an Ego Stoking session rather then a talk delving deeper or behind the scenes. All in all it was a rather awesome day and it was super cool to see so many creative people turn up and apperciate the role creativity and design play in our world.

Clientcopia – it happens to everyone…

Sometimes clients can seem like they are from another planet entirely. This happens to everyone eventually, but thankfully there is a web portal called clientcopia.com which is a place where professional service workers can swap client horror stories, and take comfort in knowing that they are not alone, and that they aren’t the first and definitely won’t be the last to deal with client ‘difficulties’. A great stress reliever.

Here is a taste:

Stupid Client Quote #1543

 

Halbie | posted 12-02-2004 | Number of Votes: 144  |  Current Rating: 4.40   

Client: The only logo I could find was a jpeg. I didn’t know how to send it so I put it
in a Word document. Also, I shrunk the logo down really small so you should be
able to download it quicker.

Stupid Client Quote #173 

Brad Webb | posted 08-30-2004 | Number of Votes: 200  |  Current Rating: 3.99   

Client: Just because we signed off on the printer’s proof doesn’t mean we were
happy with it!

Stupid Client Quote #918

 

Ananth | posted 10-17-2004 | Number of Votes: 60  |  Current Rating: 4.22   

Client: The ad is approved…with some minor changes
Me: Which are…?
Client: Revise the headline and the body copy a bit and change the main visual..

Amazing Hologram Technology

Anybody who saw some of the CNN US election coverage had to be amazed at the new hologram technology they unveiled. Although it technically hasn’t been perfected (as the host does not see the hologram), it was nonetheless impressive. And certainly has ramifications for the Television industry. A short video about how it came about can be seen here. I personally get a kick out of watching science-fiction come to life, I’m just waiting for when the advertising industry starts to look like the movie ’Minority Report’. Australia’s own Telstra is already looking at the possibilities and possible applications of hologram technology.

The Sagmeister talks on happiness and design

One of my favourite web portals is TED. I take an active interest in the world around me, and in particular what the future may have to offer. Although, this talk by Stefan Sagmeister is now a few years old, I still find it interesting and of particular relevance to me is at around 12min50sec, when the Sagmeister lists the things that make him happy about being a designer. I think my own list would be pretty similar, but I also realise, that as a designer just starting out on my journey, I will have to earn the respect and the right to be able to do those things. But it doesn’t hurt to dream.

The Art of Story-telling and Experiential Marketing

http://mattjonesblog.typepad.com/think_story_experience/2008/11/the-medium-is-n.html

Matt Jones, a creative strategist, recently posted an interesting article on the B&T website about brand experiences. I was intrigued, and stumbled onto his blog on the same subject, and was quickly immersed in the world of the brand experience. I find this subject particularly interesting because I find consumers these days are not so easily convinced by brands claims. Brands have to prove it too them. And if they have plot holes in the story or cracks in the narrative, then consumers are quick to dismiss the claims. Afterall, a brand is only alive in the minds of it’s consumers. Look at what’s happening at Qantas, who pride itself on being the safest and most respected airline in world, but after months of saftey scares and maintainence problems, is now the folly of comedians to use in jokes about airline safety. When the brand story and the brand experience aren’t aligned, people notice. And they just might vote with their feet.

Design Gangsta

For all the design gangsta’s out in the hood. CMYK bitches. pressCheck it.

Typography Body Art Awesomeness

Gemma O’brien went a bit extreme for a university assignment. I tend to like extreme. I find it inspiring that people are always finding creative new ways to get a message out.