This post contributed by Joe Rinaldi, Aquent Agent in Philadelphia.
From the New York Times to network news, Facebook "Notes" (25 Things, 15 albums, A-Zed iTunes) are a hot topic. A recent favorite, the "Album Cover Generator," has people not just navel gazing, but creating original content, kind of.
Here's how it works: 3 separate links provide 3 randomly generated assets. Wikipedia provides your band with a name, Quotationspage.com provides your album title and Flickr gives you the first step toward your cover art. Then, combine all the components in Photoshop to create your album cover. Lastly, you tag some peeps in your Note and you pass it along...
This begs the question: Who started this meme, Adobe or Flickr? Whoever started it, more and more folks (really talented folks in some cases) are doing it. In my little network alone 3 Aquent contacts, and one contact I wish was an Aquent contact, have taken time out of their busy days to build their album cover - and the results are impressive. But why are they doing it?
Kel Smith, Director of Interactive at Euro RSCG Life Catapult did it "at the end of a very long workday, as a way to recharge the neurons and engage in dialog with old friends. Like most Facebook-related activities, it's a combination of omphaloskepsis and reminiscence."
Chuck White, Director of Design and User Experience at Comcast, says, "It's a cool idea, I knew it would be quick and easy, and I wanted to see what some other people would come back with. As far as taking time out of the day, it was a good way to step away from a batch of stressful projects to re-focus because I knew it would only take ten minutes anyway. I'm actually thinking it would be a cool, quick test to assign when interviewing visual designers to see how they would compose a page and to check out their typography skills, etc."
I know when I filled out my '25 Things' I cranked it out in about 15 minutes while watching Top Chef. When I created my album cover I contentedly sat in front of Photoshop (how many free plugs is that so far?) for an hour after the kids went to bed and put together a cover that pales by comparison to what the designers I tagged put together.
Does it pleasantly recall a time when we had art school deadlines and not budget deadlines? Is it a way to feed our self fascination? Whatever the motivation, it's a really fun way to engage with the people in our field and see some truly talented folks flex their creative muscles. I've seen a tremendous shift in the landscape over the last 18 months as applications like Facebook, Twitter, and Plaxo enable me to interact with colleagues in a more personal way. We talk about parenting, TV, the economy and sports around a massive virtual water cooler. Now it appears we've adjourned the conversation to the studio for a quick crit.
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