Daphne, who used to work in the LA office with me has an excuse for missing these viral Dove Ads - she's in our Sydney, Australia office.
But me, who sits at his computer all day in the second largest city in America, blogging about media stuff?
Sadly, no excuse.
But! To make up for it, in case any of the rest of you are recovering Luddites, I'm including two of the films from Dove's Self-Esteem gallery. (On a side note, I've watched these a number of times and my self-esteem remains remarkably low.)
There's been a heck of a lot of controversy about these films and Dove "taking on" the beauty industry. There's even been venting at Ogilvy, who produced these film, because they also produce ads for a well-known girl's doll that is not so loved by many women.
I'm not sure what I think of the campaign as a whole, is it whitewashing or just a step in the right direction?
Either way, the visuals in these films speak for themselves. Whether that changes your decision whether or not to pop into Victoria's Secret or Abercrombie & Fitch, is up to you.
Onslaught
Evolution
Interestingly, Greenpeace posted their own YouTube response ad (below), protesting Dove's use of palm oil in their products. They claim the palm oil industry is destroying the Paradise Forests in Indonesia and that "as the biggest single buyer of palm oil in the world" they need to help stop it.
As a result, Unilever met with Greenpeace and "agreed to support the call by Greenpeace for an immediate moratorium on deforestation for palm oil plantation".
So maybe one step in the right direction, the Real Beauty Campaign, is leading to other right steps?
There's this interesting brainstorming device on the Getty Images site called Moodstream.
Dial up your mood on a sliding scale Happy to Sad, Calm to Lively, Humorous to Serious, Nostalgic to Contemporary then let Getty overwhelm you with stock photography and footage, plus a soundtrack from Pump Audio (it does skew Adult Contemporary).
Editor in Chief at CreativePro, Terri Stone used to recently to help her writer's block starting her newsletter. But it's mainly a good place to see some of Getty's great images and get the juices flowing for creative design work.
For those of you who just love to be a little more interactive yourselves, they're holding a whole People's Choice Awards (which is not trademarked as is TV's popular People's Choice awards) that allows you to look at the pieces and vote on your favorite.
Sadly, there is no ballot stuffing.
You know, there's a public act that's just gone out of favor.
Regardless, this should get your primed for the November elections.
If you're currently on assignment through us, you probably get a number of emails from your Agent about what's going on around town during the summer, but I've been WOEFULLY poor at keeping up on events on this blog.
I'm sorry, so very, very sorry....
To try to make up for my lamedness, I'm giving you the hip tip on tomorrow's designer roundtable down at Barbara's at the Brewery. It's a group called Kernspiracy and is hosted by our friend Spencer Cross, and is absolutely free.
Okay, you have to buy the drinks.
But the friends, networking, business advice, and cold AC are all included in the price of admission.
The great thing about being a Designer, or just appreciating design, is that great design is absolutely everywhere.
(Sadly, it's also the worst thing, as bad design is everywhere too. But I'm getting off the topic here...)
It doesn't surprise me that many of the print Designers I meet also love architecture, but I rarely hear one talking about the structure and feeling of a great city. It's an odd thing, I think. Just as a great coffeehouse can seem to inspire a design, novel, or a romance, think of what creativity a great city like Paris, Amsterdam, or San Francisco produces.
Which is why, if you're a design aficionado, you should check out the Projects for Public Spaces site, which is a non-profit "dedicated to helping people create and sustain public places that build communities."
These are the people behind encouraging local farmers markets, mixed-use developments, thriving downtowns, and better use of public transportation.
I mean, how can you not love their motto? Building Community, Creating Places, Using Common Sense
Maybe you won't agree with all their ideas (and truly, for Designers, dissension is vital part of the process, right?), but it's always great to see their takes what makes a city so right, and what makes it so wrong.
As it may raise your cholesterol level and put you at risk for coronary heart disease.
I like beef, but I find these cliffs disturbing in a bad-modern-art way, which is probably not the intention of the Beef: It's What's for Dinner people.
When I look at these, I'm thinking "Beef: You're Soaking In It".
The rumors of October's Adobe CS4 release apparently have been greatly exaggerated.
Photoshop Senior Product Manager, John Nack is saying the information of the release date, passed around by Gizmodo and TG Daily, is bogus.
"I didn't say anything about schedule...Someone pulled a date apparently out of thin air, and now everyone who can copy & paste is dutifully repeating it."
"The fish story grows with the telling, too. In addition to repeating the date, Electronista is inventing new details (e.g. 'CS3 has already had limited support for graphics processing units (GPUs) for certain filters'; sorry, no; 'An upcoming wave of video cards with special physics processing will also help, Adobe explains'; nope, didn't say that; and more). Where do people get this stuff?"
Electronista and Gizmodo both now have updates with Jack's info, though Gizmodo says to "take it for what you will."
(Either Gizmodo knows more than Adobe does, or....?) >Regardless, Beta versions of Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Soundbooth are all at the AdobeLabs site.
If you have a CS3 license you can download and use these, otherwise, if you're just browsing, you can run the apps for In the meantime, Gizmodo will be predicting the Obama vs. Clinton outcome.
Stay tuned.
CommArts is having its Call For Entries for "the most prestigious juried competitions for graphic design and advertising" with winning entries being published in their November 2008 Design Annual and the December 2008 Advertising Annual.
I believe, by using the word "prestigious" they are not referring to its archaic form: "of, relating to, or marked by illusion, conjuring, or trickery"
Otherwise it'd be a waste of your money and talent.
Regardless,here's the spielio:
"Juried by nine top designers and attracting entries from the USA, Canada, England and 40 other countries, theDesign Annualfeatures the best posters, brochures, packaging, trademarks, corporate identity, annual reports, catalogs, letterheads and signage, and is fully indexed for reference. Only 2% of the work entered is selected for the annual. Detailed captions provide the reader with an explanation of the project's scope, the concept and solution."
Past judges have included Saul Bass, Michael Beirut, Lee Clow, Hillman Curtis, Louise Fili, Milton Glaser, Jeff Goodby, Hal Riney, Sam Scali, Paula Scher, Michael Vanderbyl, Lynda Weinman, Fred Woodward and Jeffrey Zeldman.
Any design or advertising project printed, published or aired for the first time between June 3, 2007 and June 2, 2008 is eligible.
Right before Spring is another, fifth season: The Season of Creative Contests.
I'm not kidding (did you think I would?), AIGA and CommunicationArts are opening the floodgates for contestants for their Illustration, Design, and Photography competitions.
Starting with AIGA's 365 Design competition:
Work in all media that has been designed, produced and used in the marketplace between January 1 and December 31, 2007. (The contest) represents the best work across all disciplines of communication design and strategy and "50 Books/50 Covers" represents the 50 best book covers and 50 best book designs for the given year, both chosen by a jury of industry peers.
The contest includes: Brand and identity systems, Corporate communications design, Package design, Editorial design and illustration, Typographic design, Promotional design and advertising, Experience design, Entertainment design, and Information design.
Deadline is March 7th. Entry fees are $35 for members, $55 for nonmembers, per individual entry.
49th Annual Communication Arts Illustration Competition
Any Illustration first printed or produced between March 14, 2007 and March 11, 2008 is eligible. Selected by a nationally representative jury of distinguished designers, art directors and illustrators, the winning entries will be published in the July 2008 Illustration Annual. Over 70,000 copies of the Illustration Annual will be distributed worldwide, assuring important exposure to the creators of this outstanding work. As a service to art directors, designers and art buyers, a comprehensive index will carry addresses and telephone numbers of the illustrators represented.
Categories include: Advertising, Books, Editorial, For Sale, Institutional, Motion/Animation, Self-Promotion, and Unpublished.
Deadline is March 11th. Entry fees are $30 for a single entry, $60 for a series.
49th Annual Communication Arts Photography Competition
Any photograph first printed or produced between March 14, 2007 and March 11, 2008 is eligible. Selected by a nationally representative jury of distinguished designers, art directors and photographers, the winning entries will be published in the August 2008 Photography Annual. Over 70,000 copies of the Photography Annual will be distributed worldwide, assuring important exposure to the creators of this outstanding work. As a service to art directors, designers and art buyers, a comprehensive index will carry addresses and telephone numbers of the photographers represented.
Categories also include: Advertising, Books, Editorial, For Sale, Institutional, Motion/Animation, Self-Promotion, and Unpublished.
In this digital age, it's nice to see someone freehand drawing for a change.
Sketch Theatre was founded on just such a desire. From their site:
"Here, aspiring artists are exposed to contemporary artists and the various career paths taken by these like-minded individuals who all began their careers with the primary process of putting ideas and expressions down with a pencil & paper. The brilliant myriad of artists featured on Sketch Theatre strip down and expose raw sketches on camera, never failing to captivate and inspire. Enjoy the show."
If you don't like a lot of Metal, then I suggest you turn down your speakers when you watch some of these, btw.
That's not, as you may very well suspect, another of my misspellings.
The New York Times and AIGA National want you to take your camera into your polling place and record what you see.
William Drenttel of Design Observer initiated the Polling Place Photo Project in 2006, which is a "nationwide experiment in citizen journalism that encourages voters to capture, post and share photographs of this year's primaries, caucuses and general election."
Plus, if you bring a really powerful zoom lens, a way to get some early voting returns to the press.
Each photo carries with it some information about the polling place itself, such as type of polling place, ballot type, number of people in line, etc. (They're also interested if you have any feedback of what worked and what could be improved.)
I have the bad habit of leaving at least one of my backpack zippers undone when I go out the door. Which is fun, because my wallet is usually the first thing to hit the sidewalk with a thud, followed by various paperwork, business cards, and Post-It notes to myself ("Remember to zip backpack!")
What does all of this have to do with Layer Tennis, a match where two Designers volley their pieces back and forth across cities?
Gentle Reader, a note to blog about this was on a Post-It which fluttered out of my pack and onto the ground at the VW shop this morning.
Regardless, you should check out Coudal Partner's Layer Tennis site because, whether you're a Marketing Manager or Production Artist, you should see how fast some people go from concept to completion and work on another's piece. (Not to mention how funny they are while they're doing it.)
Here are the rules: "Two artists (or two small teams of
artists) will swap a file back and forth in real-time, adding to and
embellishing the work. Each artist gets fifteen minutes to complete a
"volley" and then we post that to the site. A third participant, a
writer, provides play-by-play commentary on the action, as it happens."
And if you have time to burn on Friday afternoons, you can subscribe to their RSS feed to get pinged when matches are announced and when volleys go live.
If your Friday looks like mine, you'll get to it Saturday.
So even though I have no idea what an intarsia pattern is, I'm blogging ahead!
Chronicle Books is holding a design contest that many of you Designers out there might find interesting.
They're putting the finishing touches on their latest knitting book, Picture Perfect Knits by Laura Birek, and they're looking for...
"the five most creative, most dream-worthy intarsia
knitting patterns. It could be anything, from a jaunty anchor to a
geek-chic argyle pattern to a killer alphabet. Whatever pattern you
would want to see in a knitting book. Five winners will have their name
and pattern printed in the book and be promoted here on our Handmade
Thursdays. Winners will also receive a free copy of the book when it
comes out next fall."
They use as an example this Wonder Woman sweater someone named Practical Polly made.
Once again, I am so lost.
As a young lad I was told if I took up knitting, hooligans would most likely come by and stab me with my knitting needles.
Happily I took up Saturday morning cartoons and never looked back.
But if you're an artsy, craftsy, or just hellaciously talented, go to the contest site and give 'em heck!
When you win and feel you owe me one, a Snidely Whiplash sweater will do nicely.
Aquent HQ is holding a contest to design a Halloween theme for our U.S. Web site with a Flash or animated GIF sequence.
And, just like the contest in A Charlie Brown Christmas, there will be cash prizes. Unlike that TV special, there will also be prizes related to software (in the form of a set of Adobe CS3 reference books).
I don't think the folks at HQ are thinking "My Bloody, Bloody Aquent" or "I Spit on Your Portfolio"if you're already headed that direction.
More like... "Oooh, that's a funny, happy, Halloween kind o' thing."
Stuff that would send young children (or Designers) scrambling for the mouse to click to someplace safer, like the Saw IV site.
All the contest rules, regulations, etc. are right here.
Employees of Aquent not eligible.
Which is a drag, as I've been up all night working on "Silence of the Brands".
Okay, this doesn't really count as a post, but emails were flying around the office today about fun festivals going on around LA this weekend and I figured I'd pass them along...
Swerve Festival is a new annual festival dedicated to celebrating West
Coast creative culture and its community inspired by art, film, music
and action sports. The three-day celebration will be held in Los
Angeles to bring together a dynamic group of innovators and thinkers
and to spotlight some of the most exciting work to come out of these
creative disciplines.
Better, I say, to dance with the robots... (four prototype robots dancing to Beck's "Hell Yes", that is.)
Or the myriad dancers and choreographers from around the world.
I'm referring to the Slow Dancing exhibit down at the Los Angeles Music Center, which features:
"43 larger-than-life, hyper-slow-motion video portraits of dancers and choreographers from around the world, displayed on multiple screens."
Each dancer does a 5 second dance movement, which is captured on a high-speed camera shooting 1,000 frames per second. The 10 minutes of extreme slo-mo are amazing to watch.
If you're in the ADD crowd, there's a choice of four screens to choose from at any time.
Every week on Tuesday evening (EST) we release a limited run of prints
for sale. Email list members will receive a weekly email with
information about the print, the release time, and anything else we
think you might find interesting.
Eight years ago, Teresa Amabile, who heads the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at
Harvard Business School, collected nearly 12,000 daily journal entries
from 238 people working on creative projects in seven companies in the
consumer products, high-tech, and chemical industries.
Working with a team of PhDs, graduate students, and managers from
various companies, she coded the entries "for creativity by looking for moments when people struggled with a problem or came up with a new idea."
What she found is probably not a big surprise to many of your creatives, but may be to some higher ups you may know:
Six Myths of Creativity:
1. Creativity Comes From Creative Types
2. Money Is a Creativity Motivator
3. Time Pressure Fuels Creativity
4. Fear Forces Breakthroughs
5. Competition Beats Collaboration
6. A Streamlined Organization Is a Creative Organization
The full article can be found in this Fast Company Magazine article, which can be easily printed out and placed on someone's desk.
I could go on and on (and on) with outdated Beastie Boy references, but then I wouldn't be able to tell you about the Craftivism event being hosted by AIGA/LA.
Encouraging artists to get out from behind their Macs and get dirty (hmmm, maybe I could put that better), this event promises to let Designers "exhibit your genius, make
some cash and redesign your community" by selling your handmade wares. See, there's the 'dirty' part: glue, paper cuts, ink.
Booths are really inexpensive, $35 for members and $50 for non-members.
I will be selling paperweights made out of ice cream cake. The million dollar idea I've always dreamed of pursuing.
If you're more Consumer than Crafter, you can get in for a mere ten bucks, buy a bunch of stuff, and tell everyone who comes over to your place that you made it.
You may have missed the film Helvetica when AIGA screened it at USC in April, but it looks like it's going to turn up in video stores and Netflix at some point this fall.
What's it about?
Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which is celebrating its 50th birthday this year) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives.
Now you have four months to convince your wife/husband/significant other to sit down and watch a documentary about a font with you.
Once again, has to be seen to be believed. If you have 8 minutes (exactly) you will see an amazing Photosynth demo from Blaise Aguera y Arcas at Microsoft Live Labs, that will blow your mind.
Watch how far he can zoom into each photo (close enough to see each letter of a newspaper, not the pixels) and the power he has grabbing tagged photos from Flickr.
Thanks to the folks at the TED conference in Monterey for posting the link (and Emily for passing along!)
When I was in preschool, this was the grade I got in Cutting: "Needs Improvement".
While going over my report card during the Parent-Teacher conference, my mother said to my preschool teacher, "You know, I was really hoping Tim was going to be a surgeon".
Apparently, my preschool teacher didn't really get this joke. Possibly due to hordes of other parents saying things like this in all seriousness. (Say, those folks who shove a violin in their 3-year-old's hands.)
Working with Designers & Production Artists for 8+ years, I've seen my share of X-ACTO knife injuries. Not saying those folks were being sloppy, it's just a plain fact these knives are a LOT sharper than the scissors they give you in preschool.
Though knives aren't wielded in production as much as they once were, I still think this is a must have for every art department: The Kevlar and Stainless Steel Glove
The Web site touts, "a top choice for laceration protection" which, in layman's terms means, "The best bet for using an X-ACTO knife while talking to the Art Director about your wacky weekend."
These are popular in the restaurant industry where, apparently, Cornmeal Encrusted Trout with Heirloom Tomato Salsa cannot be created in Photoshop.
A friend of mine who works for the LA County Museum of Art (or LACMA, if you must) just told me about this ongoing Bank of America promotion.
Present your B of A ATM, check, or credit card at any of the selected 95 museums across the US and you and a friend get free admission during the month of May. Though not a huge selection of museums in the local area (weirdly, LACMA is not one of them) if you'd been wanting to check out, say, the Japanese American National Museum, Skirball Cultural Center, Ocean Institute, or the OC Museum of Art it's an inexpensive way to do it. (If you're reading in NYC, the pickings are a little more substantial: Guggenheim, MOMA, and the Whitney.)
Speaking of sponsored museum deals, LACMA is always free after 5pm, thanks to a sponsorship from Target. Details here. And the both the Getty Center and Getty Villa will only cost you $8 for parking, since entrance is always free.
Here's a fact I didn't know, and me a UCLA Extension student (from AIGA's site):
In 1990, UCLA Extension creative director InJuSturgeon approached a
75-year-old PaulRand with a request to design the cover of their
winter quarter catalog. After much persuasion, Rand replied with a
snow-covered orange that ended up making graphic design history. Since
then, Sturgeon has recruited legends of design to contribute their
interpretation of Southern California culture, resulting in one of the
most sought-after continuing education catalogs in the country�some
people collect these as if they were design magazines themselves.
Thanks to all who showed up at the Kernspiracy Portfolio Review that we sponsored last night.
Far as we can figure, 60+ people were inside and out of the newly expanded Machine Project in Echo Park for two hours of a minglin', reviewin', and wine/beer/water sippin' good time.
Everyone I talked to came away with (far as I can tell) some pretty insightful info about their books. Thanks to Spencer from Kernspiracy for putting this shindig together.
If you went, feel free to email me or leave a comment (in case I didn't talk to you last night), I'd love to hear what you thought.
(And boy do I hate Typepad's ability to lay out pictures. Apologies to all the Designers among you.)
There are reasons I like to be in a room alone when I'm writing. One, the sound of the ever-ringing phone at Aquent is finally quieted. Two, I can talk to myself without anyone else in the room thinking I'm crazy. (Sharon...)
The third is the one that causes me the most irritation, I go into a room so no one can stand behind me and read while I'm doing my work. My wife did this a few nights ago while I was blogging.
I stopped.
"Whatcha doin' back there, Wend?" I asked
"Oh, just looking," Wendy told me, still standing behind me.
"Um, can you not do that? I'm trying to write. It's kind of personal."
She retorted, "Personal? This thing that you're putting up on your blog so thousands of people can see?"
"It's only personal now. Once it's up it'll be public. You can go back and read it when I'm done."
She did leave, but only after I threatened to write something about her (instead of saving it until today).
I've heard Designers say the same thing about people commenting while they're working.
"Shouldn't that image be a little more to the left?" "Does that font seem small?"
Constructive criticism is good when it's after your work is completed, when you've already signed of on a draft or version, but man is it irritating when you're in the midst of the creative process.
Honestly, people, we'll get back to the font and the comma issues before we give you the draft. If we haven't, then you can go ahead and point it out.
In the meantime, please don't irritate the heavily caffeinated creative.
Why don't you ask them if they want a cookie instead?
I'm letting Emily take the heat for this one (well, she did okay with Olivia first...) But she sent this out to a some of the Aquent Talent today:
So, it is my co-worker, cube mate and best buddy Olivia’s birthday on Sunday. As some of you know, we are big on birthday desk demolition here at Aquent. If it is your special day, you best watch out, ‘cause your desk will be under 12 pounds of “decoration� when you come in. We try to match the demolition to the interests or something of importance to the person. But the longer you are here, the more creative we have to get because you run out of the obvious choices. Like for Olivia. We already did the French thing (because she lived in France), and this year we were hard pressed to think of a compelling theme for her desk. Until my co-worker, Tim, reminded us of a Halloween a few years past where Olivia dressed up like Joyce. Why you ask? Joyce had made a list of the worst album covers of all time. It really was a special day here in the office and we wanted to relive the glory, as she is still called Joyce to this day. So, for my Friday check in, I wanted to spread the joy(ce). In honor of Olivia’s birthday and her desk demo, I have attached two album covers that just can’t miss!
Happy Friday!!
If you need more information on Joyce, you need to go to Snobsite and you will laugh. You will cry.
Aw, happy birthday, dear Olivia..... Happy Birthday to YOUUUUUUUUUUUUU.
I'd originally bought my iPod for music. Seemed like a good idea. Get rid of lugging the CDs in the car, to and from work, into and out of the office... But the weird thing is, now podcasts take up the majority of my playlists.
Really.
For years I'd been trying to figure out how to record favorite shows so I could listen to them on the 40 minute drive home. ("Hmmmm, I could record it at home with a series of taped buttons on an old cassette recorder...") The morning commute has a number of choices, but at 5pm I've got.... well, I've got bupkis. (And yes, bupkis includes Tom Leykis.)
For the commute, the airplane ride, bike rides one the bike path, and those long periods in the dental office where the sound of drilling is driving you to the point of running out of the building screaming, there's podcasts.
And now instead of old issues of Highlights for Children (in the case of the dental office),I've got free, yes free, downloads of This American Life, NPR's Story of the Day, KCRW's film review show The Treatment, NPR's Science Friday...
I didn't know, until today, that iTunes also has a ton of Design podcasts from Debbie Millman's Design Matters to Paul Browning's Logo Design.
Just go to the iTunes store>Podcasts>Art>Design (under "More Arts").
And ducks on film. And buildings. Church steeples. Dogs. Beer cans. Rusty trucks.
The point is (and you were waiting for an end to this, right?) Communication Arts is hosting their 48th annual Photography competition, which is the "largest and most important juried competition for photography" in the known universe.
I copy edited that last bit to make it more impressive.
Pieces that win will appear in their Photography Annual of Communication Arts magazine in August.
Don't delay! The deadline for entry is March 13th.
The categories (and entrance fees are):
Advertising: $30 single entry/$60 series
Books: $30 single entry/$60 series
Editorial: $30 single entry/$60 series
For Sale: $30 single entry/$60 series
Institutional: $30 single entry/$60 series
Motion/Cinematography: $60 single entry/$120 series
I don't why I like New Year's resolutions, because I'm not really a "glass is half overflowing" kind of guy, but for some reason I do.
Maybe it's because of the crazy idealism behind many of them ("Create World Peace", "Invent Perpetual Motion Machine") or their sheer optimism in the face of staggering odds ("Quit Smoking and Lose 45 Pounds by Summer"). Regardless, I make resolutions every year. I do blow off about half, but that's still pretty good odds, considering. (I should probably make a list of the ones I never hit, there just might be something going on there.)
If you're a Creative Talent, Eric Adams over at creativepro.com has a nice article on getting your creative juices flowing again this year.
The two I like best are Create art for art's sake and Do pro
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