Stay Charged: Read A Good Book

Sometimes reading a good book can get you so jazzed up. I loved this book, every word, paragraph and chapter. The cover is what attracted me in the first place and I remembered listening to NPR talk about it one day, here's what it's about:


"They are the "frozen Chosen," two million people living, dying and kvetching in Sitka, Alaska, the temporary homeland established for displaced World War II Jews in Chabon's ambitious and entertaining new novel. It is (deep breath now) a murder-mystery, speculative-history, Jewish-identity, noir, chess, thriller" ~ From Publishers Weekly

HOW Conference: How Good Clients Become Bad Prospects

One of the most interesting and informative sessions I went to during the HOW Conference was by Shel Perkins. Here's a little background I found on his website, www.shelperkins.com.

"Shel Perkins is a designer and design manager who is active on the business side of professional practice. He has served as director of operations for Meta Design in San Francisco and as vice president of operations for Clement Mok."

Shel is a designer and a business manager. He's had extensive experience in both fields and along the way he recognized that we designers have a way of screwing up the relationship by not being business savvy. He wrote a book titled, "Talent Is Not Enough: Business Secrets for Designers", you can find it on Amazon here. His session with us spoke a lot to his book so I'd highly suggest that you get it, mine is on order.

This is what he told us:

1. Design is problem solving. We as problem solvers should be able to handle problems with our clients very simply so we don't have any.
2. We as designers have been suffering by our clients or the company we work for, for a long time. We are in fear that we'll become rejected, which pushes us to make our clients happy so they'll like us. Bizarre isn't it!
3. Clients don't perceive us as the experts. When this happens we become sweat shop designers which bend to the will of the client. Whereas if their perception of us up front was of an expert and professional, then there would be a mutual respect between each other and open to each other thoughts and opinions.
   
4. Shel explained that we have to set the ground rules up front. By managing expectations this way we won't have misunderstandings and problems down the road. I, by the way, have made this mistake a hundred times, you'd think it would be obvious by this point.

This is how you do it:

1. What is the Perfect Client for Me?
2. Set Ground Rules
3. Communicate and Manage Expectations
4. People Skills
5. Resources

1. What is the Perfect Client for Me?

• Match credentials: Make sure it's a good fit for both you. It's good to step into different industries, but when your not familiar with it, it shows and the client won't trust your professionalism.
  
• Creative challenge: If you're not being pushed to do something new then the client won't grow either.
  
• Meet the right prospects for a long term relationship: There have been so many times when I thought I was in alignment with the client, only for the real person in charge to step in and kill the project because we were so off base. So make sure you recognize who the trigger puller is.
  
• Realistic Schedule: Be honest and don't over promise. I've done this more times than I remember. After a while the schedule becomes a joke and the client can quickly loose confidence.

2. Set Ground Rules

• Create a legal terms and conditions proposal that is fully detailed: By incorporating everything in the document you cover yourself down the road. Examples of this can be found in Shel Perkins book, listed above. These examples cover everything from penalty fees, payment, to ending the relationship with the client. This must be done in the beginning so that you don't run into future problems.
  
• Signed contract: It's necessary to have it signed, again to cover yourself.

3. Communicate and Manage Expectations

• Create a tracking system that communicates to the client: This keeps track of all the changes and helps push back.

4. People Skills

• Improve your communications skills
• Active listening: a system of repeating back what the client says to you which confirms what they've said.
• Thank them for sharing: a simple act that can go a long way.
• Talk through the process of working: this helps them understand what it takes to get it done and they can then relay that back to their people.
  

5. Resources

• AIGA Center for Practice Management: go to this link.

The session was over in an hour and it flew by. You could tell that he was a kind man and as silly as it sounds, his goal in life is to make the world a better place. After he spoke he did a Q&A and people got up and talked about issues they've had with clients. Shel would very simply explain what they should have done and all you heard was oohs and aahs from the audience. He's like a Dr. Phil for designers. He's been doing it so long and dealt with every kind of situation.

HOW Conference: Final Day

What an experience. It's Wednesday morning and I'm gonna grab some breakfast, sober up and watch one more final session.

It'd difficult to describe the HOW experience. On the surface is a major learning curve because you are listening to industry professionals and meeting a ton of fellow creatives. But it's something more, its being around people with similar challenges and finding a sort of comaraderie in that. Knowing that the day to day issues we deal with are universal. Everybody is here for one reason, they are looking for answers because they've reached nasty walls. Coming to HOW has certainly opened my eyes to this and I've realized that we are all either growing or dying. Not going to a HOW or any other conference dulls down your spark and I feel that HOW has given me so many things to think about and build from.

HOW Conference: Modern Dog

Today I was fortunate to listen to Robynne Ray and Michael Strassburger speak about their design agency Modern Dog. I found everything they talked about to be really inspirational. Much like Sagmeister they talked about their roots and how they got started and where they are now. Check out their website, ModernDog.com.

They both met in Art School and both had a passion for good concepts, music and art. What defined then was the first couple jobs they started with as a company. A snowboarding company and the cool Blue Q stuff you find at funky stores.

There work never looks the same and they always do the unexpected. The picture on the left is a book of all the posters they've done and it's amazing. Stuff for bands, theater, art events, etc. One of the things I hate is when speakers are arrogant and speak down to you. It's like and ego boost for them. These guys didn't and they were funny and honest with how they do things. There was real chemistry between them and you could tell that they've done it all. The talked about the process of how they develop their work which was really helpful. The reason why is because we designers have a hard time connecting the "conceptual" dots. Sometimes it just happens and other times the concept falls apart becasue you didn't have a base to begin with. Modern Dog is rooted and absurd and crazy ideas that make you laugh or ponder. They take inspiration from each other, the internet, their dogs and from the world around them. They balance their week by being meeting all expectations and goofing off so they have the metal capacity to do the stuff they do.

After they were done I ran to the book store and bought the book shown above because they were doing a book signing. I go to talk with Mike a bit and I can honestly say that he's a really good guy. Thanks for the message Mike! He liked my tats :)

I saw three other seminars today which I want to write about, but I have to run so expect those to come.

HOW Conference: Resource Center

During the HOW conference there's an expo called the Resource Center which has tons of booths. The booths range from paper companies to stock photography. There must be a hundred booths and all of them have shwag to give you.

When the doors opened the the expo there was a sea of people that flooded the room. It was absolutely insane! I now know now what it's like to be a penguin stuck in a mass of other penguins and only being able to take tiny steps.

If you take a look to the left you'll see some of the stuff I got. I got everything, everything! And I'll only be able to bring back a third of it because I have to fit it in my bag. I met some fellow Cola people, Kristin and Courtney who works for Blue Cross Blue Shield was able to get everything for us. She was like a shark to blood, it was halarious! The shwag is mostly crap, like tshirts and hats with a couple exceptions. One company gave away a bobble head, others gave away yo-yos!

Outside of networking with designers I have to say that I liked meeting the companies. Typically it's through phone or the internet. Now I have a face to the name and you can tell a lot about the company by the type of people they have working for them. I have to call some of them out. I met Heather who works for Domtar and I actually worked with her a long time ago. I saw Talmidge who works for French paper who has the best designed paper samples in the business. I met the guys who handle all the work for iStock that's based in Alberta Canada. I talked with a company (can't remember the name right now, arggg) that makes a plugin for InDesign that stores print templates and uploads all the correct score and trim lines so you can design it correctly. One thing about designers is that we aren't to good at math! There are a ton more companies and relationships I've made since I've been here. And it won't be till I've gone though that mound of shwag above that I'll be able to comprehend how good this conference has been good to me.

2008 HOW Conference: Boston

I just arrived in the beautiful city of Boston and I love it. I'm here for the HOW Design Conference and while I'm here I'm going to write about it. The HOW Design Conference is a yearly event that teaches seminars on all sorts of things, from type to design. It's a melting pot of creatives and a place where you can be yourself and rekindle your love for design and advertising. I'm here for three days and it starts tonight with a meet and greet networking kickoff and the opening of the resource center which has tons of goodies.

This is how tomorrow looks:

Monday

• Modern Dog Uncensored: Fearless Design
• Making Your Prepress Files Foolproof
• Arriving at Creativity
• When Good Prospects Become Bad Clients

Tuesday

• The Design Entrepreneur
• What it Takes to Be Your Own Boss
• How to Treat Your In-House Group Like a Design Studio
• Planning, Packaging and Promoting Yourself as the Product

Wednesday

• Email by Design: The Art of Creating Effective Email Communications
• The Art of Leadership

One final note, this is something I typically wouldn't have gone to in the past. But my family, especially Nicole recognized that I needed to go. Thank you Nicole and thank you Nadine and Ulf for helping me out. And thanks to PokerTek for letting me get some fresh air. Expect pics and stories to come.

Stay Charged: French Film

It's been a full week since I last updated you with ways to stay charged and for a lame reason, I've been really busy. In the few moments I've had to relax I've been watching a couple amazing films. Films that truly blew me away. I guess the surprised me because I didn't want to watch them. Sometimes a brainless film can be the best way to go when you just want to relax. But these films took me to places I had never explored before.

I'm not going to write reviews on the films so don 't expect that. Instead I want to focus on why I didn't want to watch them. I say that now after watching them. But why wouldn't I want to watch these three. I had heard of them and seen the marketing and to be honest I wasn't impressed. They looked like your typical art house film and although I like those films, these just didn't grab me.

The Dreamers came out a while ago and it was directed by the famous Bernardo Bertolucci. I heard it was an ode to French and 20s - 40s cinema. I know nothing about that period and I hate films that reference all these famous moments in film because then a feel like an idiot. That and the fact it was a story about a young threesom two guys and a girl. You'd think that would interest me, but no, not really. I did hear and see in the posters that it had three really good actors playing the parts. But how many times have we seen a crap story with good actors. Only to find that you'll never get that time back.

Well I can tell you this, it's amazing. All the concerns I had were unfounded and the story and acting is superb. Eva Green is fearless and all three take risks for these three characters. It's basically three kids who like the local flicks and create a world for themselves that is truly innocent.

I hink the mistake was entirely the marketing. The posters speaks true to the nature of the film. But they should have focussed on Eva Green. Again, she is amazing.

The Science of Sleep by another great, Michel Gondry. I absolutely loved Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind so why wouldn't I be interested in this? I knew it would be really inventive and different. I think it was the fact that it was set in France and there weren't any actors that I was familiar with. That and the abstract nature of the story really didn't appeal to me.

Once again I was floored. He took me into a world where dreams are an exciting thing. The texture and creativity that this film bring is amazing. The next day I found myself seeing things just a little differently. It made me realize how the days actions effect my subconscious and determine the mood I'll be in the next day. I don't like to go to sleep and for the first time I realized that I missing out.

I don't know what they could have done differently to market this film? Perhaps since the story is a half and half perhaps they should have focussed on both world and not just the dreaming part with the toy horse?

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Julian Schnabel. My third french movie and the one that was most haunting. I new nothing about this film except that the guy who made it is a great artist and always where's pajamas. I think I saw this as a big art house film that might be good but like the others above I didn't want to waste my time.

How wrong I was. The story communicates on so many levels and you really really get into the head of the main character who is totally paralyzed. All he has is his left eye and his thoughts. It doesn't take you into imaginative worlds like The Science of Sleep. Instead you live in his harsh reality and to make it worse it's a true story. To compound it more he manages to write a book about what it's like for him and what he has to overcome each day.

I think it was the not knowing anything about this and the really bad marketing that made me uninterested in this film. A real shame because I wish I had seen this on the big screen. Amazing film that'll make you appreciate everything about your life.

I guarantee that any of these films will inspire you in different ways and I'm really happy that a friend suggested them to me.

Liv does the unexpected

It's almost summer, which means Hollywood will release their onslaught of epic bangs, laughs and thrills from now until August. Some of it I'll enjoy, but most it will be very uninspiring. There's nothing worse than wasting three hours of your life in a dark stuffy room. I haven't been to the theater to see a flick since I started this blog. But I'm hungry for something new, something exciting and something very strange.

Around Christmas time I ran across the poster on the left for The Strangers. My first reaction to it was "great another B-Movie". But when I took a closer look I realized that it was Liv Tyler. What's Liv doing in a B-Movie thriller? Why is Liv Tyler crawling away? And why can't we see what she's scared off? These questions make it a pretty good teaser. The one question you can walk away with is the look on her face, she's scared.

The treatment is very reminiscent of "Grindhouse" and although I like it I'm very burnt out on it. The color is also interesting, the warm orange glow goes opposite to the expected which would be dark blue hues. So after seeing it I thought I have to remember The Strangers and we'll have to wait and see what comes next!

Here's the second. Now we get to see who's after Liv and it's immediately disturbing. Everybody has seen a knife and mask in a poster. But what's odd about it is that it reminds me of Child Play and a couple other B-Movie titles from the 70's. The look and the treatment are absolutely a throwback to that era.

The masks are really weird. They reminds me of masquerade balls and the scenes from Eyes Wide Shut. Heightened emotions hiding behind a solemn masks. It plays tricks with you.

I love the look. Back in the 70s they were stepping away from traditionally painted posters and moving to photos, but they didn't have computers to finesse it all together. They had to basically blow up a large film neg and type set the rest. The great thing about doing it like this was the unexpected nature of how it turned out. Type wasn't exactly straight, photos had hickies and dust particles. The color would either be over or under saturated. It was a very difficult process and one that computers completely obliterated.

So now we have two posters which seem to go back to the early 70's. The 70's were a very exciting time in cinema where a new generation came in and reinvented movies into what we have today. So does this mean that The Strangers is a throwback to then. Again I thought, lets see what they do next.

Today this poster was realeased and I immediately fell in love with it. At first glance it's Liv again alone in a dated room with something odd in he shadows. You rarely ever see a scene in a poster, why because it's asking the audience to do some homework. The composition is perfect, she's like a deer all alone in the open with a lion waiting patiently in the shadows. The guy in the shadows is a little unexpected. What you would normally see is Liv really big standing next to her costar or something. This is much more menacing.

It's also interesting that they chose the living room. If you think about it the living room is where you minds dumbs down from the day and it's a place of refuge. So to set the scene in there means that no place is safe. The art direction is also well done, the deer head, shag carpet, wood panel walls. It's my grandparents house where I went to as a kid. Again, something that I think of as being safe.

Normally I'm not crazy about these sort of films. But this looks really interesting. Judging by these three posters I think this film might be more than a B-Movie thriller. After reading the reviews and the trailer it looks like it could be the sleeper hit of the summer. Then again, this could all be the work of some damn good marketing so we'll just have to wait and see!

Stay Charged: Hilary vs. Obama

It's May 6th in North Carolina which means we finally get our chance to vote for our candidates, democrat, republican, Hillary or Obama.

In one of my recent blog posts, Keep It Charged I wrote that each week I'd pick an icon from the 25 Ways To Stay Inspired. For obvious reasons I choose politics this week. Politics have a way of bringing out your own true beliefs and with the way things are in this country it's very important to stand for what you believe in. So this seems like a pretty good topic to discuss.


Right now is a very exciting and fascinating time in US history. It's going to be a democrat in the White House and it'll either be a woman or African American man in the drivers seat. I don't think anybody imagined it a decade ago. This is the second time I've voted while living in America and the last time my candidate didn't win in the General election. That may happen again, but it doesn't matter. Voting in America is a big deal, the leaders of this country effect the whole world, not just in our backyard. The biggest mistake I made since I've been in the US was not voting in the Bush vs. Gore election. Since then I pay a special interest in US politics.

Rather than discussing the two candidates pros and cons I thought it would be more interesting to review their logos since the brand represents the candidates and their goals.

Hilary. On the surface it looks like most political logos, but the intent behind it speaks volumes. Most people view her as a Bill Clinton puppet, bossy, aggressive, serious and too ambitious. So to tackle this they did a number of smart things.

1. The bold serif type face shows a softer side while still being bold and strong for the American people. Imagine how it would look sans serif. The font looks like Times New Roman which is a font that everybody is used to, it's used on every PC in the world.
2. You'll notice it's "Hillary" not "Hillary Clinton" or "Clinton". She stands on her own separate from her husband or any of the negative PR that happened to him or her while in the White House.
3. The flag is interesting, very traditional. They could have done the obvious and put a star in the "i". Instead they chose a long flag, similar to her campaign in that she's in it for the long haul. This might have been intended to represent the terms of her presidency but it seems to have taken on a new meaning now. The three stars are also interesting, they might subtlety mean family unity. This would be the spot where she includes Bill and Chelsea and shows that family is what keeps her grounded.
4. Lastly, the face value. It looks like others which works in her favor, she's not an outsider and she's been in Washington for awhile. This would give people confidence that she know's what she's doing.

Obama. This logo is completely opposite to the previous. Some feel that he doesn't have experience and we're not yet ready for change. Rather than downplaying it, they made that the focus.

1. The "O" in the Obama icon is definitely the focal point of his mark. All his intentions for his presidency and campaign are right here. The sun/moon shows that he is the new dawn for America. The glow from the circle on to the red stripes show that change is coming. Notice how it's not a star, it's all circles which tie into his name.

1. The other interesting part to his logo is the stripes. I guess because I live in Charlotte and I see Bank of America everywhere, stripes bother me because BofA uses them too. The stripes mean the US flag of course, but they could also mean the wheat fields of the Midwest, which also speaks to the working man. What's also interesting is how they point to the right. Pointing to the right traditionally means a forward motion. It's a forward motion because we read from left to right. Pointing to the opposite direction subconsciously means you are going backwards.
2. "Obama" is such an interesting name, very memorable. I like how its kept simple and not complicated with "Barack". "Barack" also makes me think of Iraq?
   
3. Lastly the serif typeface. A similar approach to the previous logo in that it's soft and easy to read. What's interesting is that it's a font I don't recognize. It might have been a font specifically created for him. It's simple, pointed and smooth. Having seen his commercials, posters and website, I've noticed that he has very good designers working for him. It's all been well executed and edgy. This is quite opposite to the previous logo in that it's more of the same. He has a large youthful demographic helping him and it shows in the type. One other note is that this logo has '08 which ties in nicely to the icon and his name. The two O's reinforce his name in the subconscious, say "Obama 'O8".

Two completely different logos, one traditional and the other modern. One has the experience the other has big ambitions. One takes the path already taken while the other will make their own path. Two very different candidates, two very interesting logos. Today is interesting because I like the mark of one but voted for the other. Does the logo reflect your opinion of the candidates? It does and it doesn't. For me, I already made up my mind back when I watched the early debates. For some that have only seen the commercials or the signs I'm sure it has more influence.

For those of you in the U.S., I hope you voted, big things are happening and change is coming.

To see other campaign logos you can go to logovoting.com.

2 be or not 2 be

I love satire, it's difficult to do well. Well the poster for Hamlet 2 came out today, it's done perfectly. Hamlet 2??? The whole idea is absurd, Hamlet is like the Bible, you can't make a sequel to it! Which makes the idea and this poster brilliant, the cheesy, amateur approach just exudes stupidity. Why would anybody think of such a thing. From what I've read about the story it's about a failed actor-turned-worse-high-school-drama teacher who rallies his students to make a politically incorrect musical sequel.

Well this is one sequel that's peaked my curiosity. What's behind the door, I hope it's not Senator Larry Craig!

JSH Portfolio: Keep It Charged

Staying inspired is tough and over the years I've had my high's and low's with it. I used to work at a billboard company called Adams Outdoor Advertising and David Adams and myself would do so much work in a given day that there would be times that we'd just self combust! Our Creative Director, Brian Haselton would urge us to step away, take a break, anything to get our heads out of work for a moment.

Each year we'd have an Adams Creative Conference where every Art Director and Designer from all the Adams Outdoor offices would come to Charlotte, NC for a two days. For the '04 Conference each office artist or artists if there were two were asked to choose from a list of presentation topics. We chose, "How can you stay inspired on a consistent basis?".

David and I chose this for obvious reasons, we were exhausted. But we also realized while discussing it that it's a universal problem and we've been dealing with it for years. How can you prevent the high's and low's on a consistent basis with all that a job or life has to throw at you? We came up with 25 Ways to Keep it Charged.























We quickly realized that it was more difficult than we at first thought because for this presentation our target audience was creative's who are the most ADD and bi-polar of people you'll find. Plus they were artists foremost, writers secondary. So we made it a visual presentation and began to sketch.

David is a brilliant artist and sketcher, so together we came up with 25 and started sketching. He selflessly let me illustrate all the 25 icons. I say selfless because he's good, really good, but he knew I was getting burnt out and I needed to throw myself into something other than billboards. David is and was a great person to collaborate with, we did many great projects together.

I illustrated 20 at home and started to get really into them. Brought them to work and together we created a consistency. Green as opposed to red was the color we chose for inspiration. This is because green signifies nature, always growing. Stick figures because they relate to street/restroom signs so as to be read a directional paths.

I love this piece because it was inspiring to create and fun to present to the creative's. We hand made little quick reference books with famous designers in the back in case they were inspired enough to learn more about design. I love it also because it was a true "designers" collaboration and it really opened my eyes that when two or more people act selflessly and keep there eyes on the prize, then great creative can be achieved.

To review each of the illustrations go to, www.johnshoward.com/02-1.html. Some of them push the edge a little, but it's an honest take on how creative's need to stay inspired: walk away, sex, get high, quit or be romantic, whatever it takes.

Note: Starting next week I'm going to introduce a weekly topic by featuring one of the 25 as a way to stay inspired for that week. We all need a little push, I know I do.