Advertising joins the ranks of magazine, restaurant and hotel businesses turning to pay-as-you-want pricing schemes to help them survive in this crazy economy.
At Agency Nil, clients submit a work request form to the agency, which draws from a pool of recent grads and between-jobs business and advertising professionals to get the work done by deadline. Then the client decides how much the work is worth (required charges are agreed upon ahead of time).
At least from the client perspective, it’s hard to argue against crowd sourcing; those I know who have used it to procure services say the work is generally…
The design business is for doers. Designing sites, breaking barriers and defying the norm. No one wants “traditional” anymore. So, in order to succeed in this business, you need to be heard. What do you hate? What inspires you? How would you do it differently? The masses want to know. Why? So they can tell you how they would do it better. That’s what this business is: one-upping one another. It’s the challenge which makes us work harder. So, here are some resources to help you find your…voice. Shout it out!
Estetica Design Forum
Typography, photography, graphic design, print design, logo design…
Today, I am a girl of few words but of many many contests. If someone wins, how about a 10% finders fee? Enjoy the week; it may just be week 23.
InterFaces 2009
Detroit
Saturday, June 6, 2009
10:00am – 6:00pm
Troy Community Center Learn More
Troy, MI 48083
Interfaces 2009, hosted by the International Academy of Design and Technology, is an annual conference promoting the graphic design, digital media and game design industries.
Say Anything
Arizona
Monday, June 8, 2009
6:00 p.m.
SW!TCH Studio
1835 E. 6th St., Suite 18
Tempe, AZ
Say Anything is a roundtable discussion for independent designers, business owners, freelancers etc.
Creative Connect
Arizona
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
6:00 p.m.
TBA
Phoenix Area, AZ
Creative Connect is…
For all you out there that have had interesting vendor relations….not Bill Clinton relations…but vendor relations check this hilarious video out!
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Jinean Robinson is a CCIO (Chief Creative Infections Officer) who has been in the communications industry for over 8 years, specializing in creative strategy and implementation, 360 branding communications, and brand development. Join her at http://twitter.com/germllc or her firm’s website at http://germonline.com/
We’ve all been in this meeting: Four clients and two agency peeps sitting around a huge conference table with images of website (or advertising creative, design, set of designs) projected on a screen in front of us.
We (agency) clear our throats and launch into an analysis of our work, what makes it tick, why it works, why it will help our client move the needle…influence their customers to action…add to their bottom line, credibility, brand value, blah, blah, blah. The client gropes for words to describe their reactions (good and bad) to the work. The agency scrambles to interpret layman’s…
Creatives, hold up on that MFA application, there just might be an MBA option for us after all. The Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University is now promoting its new “Manage by Designing” MBA concept, which integrates design, attitude and skills into its MBA culture and curriculum.
From the display ad in the May/June 2009 Communication Arts Interactive Annual 15: “The Weatherhead MBA program speaks your language and can help you develop critical skills to complement your creative nature and shape the life of organizations and all they create.”
From the website: “Design thinking and design skills play a…
Award winning Australian designers Trust Fun! and international director Kris Moyes will present a series of works titled ‘Glory Holes’ at Monster Children Gallery from April 24, in an exhibition which explores the increasingly blurred line between art and commerce.
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Jinean Robinson is a CCIO (Chief Creative Infections Officer) who has been in the communications industry for over 8 years, specializing in creative strategy and implementation, 360 branding communications, and brand development. Join her at http://twitter.com/germllc or her firm’s website at http://germonline.com/
In the past few days I was able to get some time off from my ever-so-enthralling retail job to head north by about five hours and visit a college friend in the beautiful town of Der Kommissar. While the origin of this trip was indeed to visit my old college roommate Blondie, it also had the added advantage of being close to a university that provided a master’s program I was sincerely interested in attending.
Making an adventure out of my interest, Blondie and I made our way to the nearby city of Taco, at the Dead or Alive School of Spinning…
Ok…ok…so I unfortunately had the wrong time for this screening and was unable to make it with client meetings but I WILL find this movie and review it for ya’ll. Did anyone out there see it?
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Jinean Robinson is a CCIO (Chief Creative Infections Officer) who has been in the communications industry for over 8 years, specializing in creative strategy and implementation, 360 branding communications, and brand development. Join her at http://twitter.com/germllc or her firm’s website at http://germonline.com/
When reading multiple interviews of the greats in design the answer time and time again to the question, “what is the biggest downfall of modern new designers?”– is almost always lack of typographical skills. So dunda dun dun…Typography Tuesdays!!! (VO: echo in stereo “uesday-uesday-uesday”) Each Tuesday we will bust the 14-pt Arial right aligned myth and get a little inspiration to boot.
So, come one come all! Every Tuesday we are going to get a typography fix.
First up…Trochut. NIIIIICCCCE!!!!
Some great work. Click image for site.
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Jinean Robinson is a CCIO (Chief Creative Infections Officer) who has been in the communications industry for over…
I’ve been on a photographer kick the last day or so…Clang?! LOOOOOVE THIS GUY!!!
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Jinean Robinson is a CCIO (Chief Creative Infections Officer) who has been in the communications industry for over 8 years, specializing in creative strategy and implementation, 360 branding communications, and brand development. Join her at http://twitter.com/germllc or her firm’s website at http://germonline.com/
My last post referenced people seeing modern art and saying they could have done that. How many times have you heard that in reference to design work? Why pay someone ridiculous sums of money for something anyone can do with a computer (hello Wordart)? Package design is something people often don’t understand why money would be spent on its development. After all haven’t we been told since childhood that it is what’s inside that counts?
Fair enough there are certain products that I would buy regardless of shelf appeal, like store brand pickles, toothpaste I like the taste of, and the…
There are many principals in graphic design that come together to create great, effective marketing materials. When push comes to shove an effective advertisement will make the viewer go to a store and spend their hard earned money on that product or service. Of the design principals that can be used to turn strangers into customers, Color Theory is my favorite.
Color Theory is an art and a highly skilled trade that goes much further that conscious thought. Colors are used in every design (even monochromatic) and every piece of printed marketing. You are taught basic Color Theory as a child: Love…
Recently I lost someone in my family whom I loved and was very fond of. At a time like this, it makes you think about what that person will be remembered for. Invariably you also think about what kind of legacy you’ll leave behind. When Paul Newman passed away last fall, he more than anyone defined how to both live life and leave a legacy behind that so many people will benefit from.
Arguably one of the greatest American actors of the past 50 years. From the early 1950s to this decade, Paul Newman repeatedly set the bar high for acting…
I stumbled upon this series of work by artist and writer Craig Damrauer and was particularly struck by this piece. How many times have you heard I could do that and how many times have you wanted to respond with yeah but you didn’t? I think this equation could also equal graphic design. Damrauer has a book available on Amazon with the rest of his word math or it can be viewed at morenewmath.com.
It is such a clever concept that stands out even more because of the simplicity of the typography and the quiet color scheme. Some are funny, some…
“After its package redesign, sales of the Tropicana Pure Premium line plummeted 20% between Jan. 1 and Feb. 22, costing the brand tens of millions of dollars. On Feb. 23, the company announced it would bow to consumer demand and scrap the new packaging, designed by Peter Arnell. It had been on the market less than two months.”
Sarah and Mason go out west to shoot a Dove commercial and Mason wants to use the opportunity to work the client’s brand manager for more work. Mason has been teaming up with Sarah now that he and Conner are on a creative time out. Conner soon finds out the extent of Mason’s loyalty to him. But things go awry as Sarah clashes with the insufferable director while Robin from Dove is on set. Never good!
Ok, ok…how many of you guys out there feel my pain.
“Jazz it up, add great graphics and make it snappy!”
This was literally copy and pasted verbatim from an email I once received from a client. Teaching clients the value of what we do is getting old and I refused to forward this to my creative teams because I value them waaaaay more than jazzy, great-n-graphicy, and snappy (sounds like the 8th, 9th, and 10th dwarf). So, glad I didn’t here my all time favorite, “make it pop.”
So I open the floor to two questions:
1) Why, oh why, do strategic communication…
This ad require no help whatsoever…. Brings a whole new meaning to fashion victim.
Joel Kirstein is a Creative Director who has been in the ad agency trenches for 25 years, specializing in shopper marketing, branding, and retail. Contact him on Linked In and www.coroflot.com/joelkirstein
Last week the Detroit Lions, the NFL’s poster child for futility announced that they are finally up grading/refreshing their brand identity. If you’re not a foot ball fan, let me give you a bit of perspective on their plight. The Lions have not won an NFL Championship since Ike was president in 1957. They’ve never made it to a Super Bowl and in 52 seasons since then, they have only made the playoffs 9 times and and notched one post season victory. It gets worse. Last season the Lions became only the second team in NFL history to lose every game and the first to rack up an 0-16 record. Simply put the Detroit Lions have become the black hole of pro football.
I love billboards. The sheer magnitude of their size always invigorated me. The challenges. The possibilities. These are some examples of the best that’s out there, coming to a field of vision near you. http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2009/01/05/clever-and-creative-billboard-advertising/ 
Joel Kirstein is a Creative Director who has been in the ad agency trenches for 25, specializing in shopper marketing, branding, and retail. Contact him on Linked In and www.coroflot.com/joelkirstein
One of the oldest forms of OUT-OF-HOME advertising is the public bench. Here are some top shelf examples: http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2008/12/04/clever-and-creative-bench-advertisements/
Joel Kirstein is a Creative Director who has been in the ad agency trenches for 25, specializing in shopper marketing, branding, and retail. Contact him on Linked In and www.coroflot.com/joelkirstein
It never fails to amaze me how we spend so much time, money and effort looking for answers and then so little time listening or learning from them.
A great example of this are focus groups. A staple of advertising and marketing insights and behavior. I have never stopped learning from consumer insights.
It’s the venue that is used to extract value that I am calling out here…
Focus groups really work my last nerve because the setting is not congruent with the shopping experience. I put a lot of stock into surveying shoppers in the aisles at retail, the point of impact…
Ok, pencils down!
For all you organic, Juno-ish typeface lovers out there, a hand drawn typeface has been developed to save your day and sketchpads.
Have fun! And make sure to send me what you make!
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Jinean Robinson is a CCIO (Chief Creative Infections Officer) who has been in the communications industry for over 8 years, specializing in creative strategy and implementation, 360 branding communications, and brand development. Join her at http://twitter.com/germllc or her firm’s website at http://germonline.com/
So, what is the answer?
In a world of competing designers where everyone with Arial and a Sharpie are now the next Paula Scher, how do you compete for work? Is spec the answer?
Well, as lines have been drawn, there are two sides to the work-for-free war and boy oh boy are the jump drives flying.
One side believes that designers must take a united stand to not give free labor and belittle our purpose and industry. The other side says that in this overcrowded, over-saturated, and any other “over” word you can think of, it is just part of the evolving world…
Hey kids! It’s time for another installment of “Does That Really Happen In Advertising, Joel?” The answer is yes. I know, I know, you haven’t even asked a question yet. That’s OK, this is advertising, so the answer is always YES. Even if it hasn’t happened yet, the answer is still YES. As in, Yes, it will happen, just stick around long enough and reality will make fiction look like a dull, faded mirror. www.tnt.tv/series/trustme/episodeguide
It’s evaluation time at RGM and Mason takes a break in the taping of a radio spot to inform Conner that as his superior, he has to…
- Oh, yeah? Your mother dresses you funny!
After a two-week hiatus, TRUST ME www.tnt.tv/series/trustme is back with guns blazing. RGM is pitching the $45 million Rolling Rock Beer account and things are getting more bizarre by the minute! Tony Mink’s group, looking to get back in a winning mode is going tilt to knock Rolling Rock’s socks off. Simple, right?
Sarah brought in the Rolling Rock opportunity thanks to a past connection and Tony’s group: Mason, Conner, Sarah, Hector, and Tom are a flow with this brewing opportunity. But things get complicated when Simon Cochran’s group is invited by Denise Raynor, RGM CEO…
In an international world, those of us in the communications industry are charged with being able to deliver messages that can transcend all cultures.
Question:
How can we develop brand messages that everyone can relate to?
Answer:
Sometimes it’s important not to say a word
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Jonathan Glazer ’s Cannes Lion Winning Levi’s Commercial
I hear you….I hear you over there!
“I have mad skillz…I mean I’m a design machine.”
“No one can touch me!”
“Just wish someone other than my mac, cat, and mamma knew how ill I am!”
Well there is an answer to your prayers a great way to promote your work! Facebook has a new group called “Artists Group” utilizing FB new iSnap application.
iSnapChat is a new Facebook application. It is a sophisticated visual communication tool to enable artists, photographers, designers and others to and promote their work. To find out more and learn about the launch join this group or click image:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=76846695232
EXCUSES ARE…
Joel 
