October 20, 2011
May 22, 2011
March 14, 2011
3 quick observations from sxsw
1 :: People want to learn.
Yes, there's connections and the everpresent networking vibe. And all the great block parties. And too much waste and posturing. But in every session, at each speaker, people gather with full expectations of being inspired, of changing something. If this isn't a call-to-arms on providing inspirational content to a hungry audience, I don't know what is. And on that note, over half the panels + speakers need to prepare better for opportunity. #panelreject became part of the vibe. Man up, presenters. Be here to provide great thinking, well-crafted presentations. Teach, if you will.
And yes, I think Glenn and I did a pretty good job of delivering well-planned, smart content. SRO crowd. Good commentary. Nice. And our book signing ended early because books sold out. After a triumphant talk:
2 :: OgilvyNotes is awesome.
What a smart way to jumpstart conversations and provide evidence of our time here. "Sponsoring" exhibits is one thing. Bringing evidence and connecting people with real data vis done well is exceptional. Bravo!
3 :: Exceptional opportunity if you use it.
Our #uosxsw crew has connected to some of the leading thinkers in the area. I've watched them network ("this is not as easy as it looks"), make use of our connections, leave their comfort zone, learn, add to the discussion. The 9 UOregon students in attendance got here on schoalrship and through our student public relations and advertising agencies. The work they're bringing back makes me know this is a smart place for them to be. They've reinvented accounts, thought about agency and collaborative culture, understood more what their aspirational mission is. They know the players. For Mark Blaine, Kelli Matthews and I (all Oregon SOJC faculty), it's a place to imagine. We've sat down to redirect curriculum, think through how threads of information might work as project, consider how to break silos.
And from talking to people, other people here -- CCos and interns, entrepreneurs, big brands and creatives -- attend to do the same. They want to reimagine the place they're in. Use this gathering as change agent. Cut through bullshit -- here and at home -- and find something worth growing.
What an opportunity.
February 21, 2011
February 14, 2011
critical conceptual creative
In 2002 I put together a class at The University of Texas called Agents of Social Change. I was inspired by a chapter in Warren Berger's Advertising Today (still such a great book to read). It talked of advertising pushing boundaries and solving. Something told me then that we were on to something beyond the product, beyond the idea of creating another message. But I'm slow.
It hit me again at SXSW in 2009. I was listening to Alex Bogusky talk about his Bicycle venture. He was solving a problem using those bright amazing skills. Love Bogusky or hate him, the guy reimagines everytime he jumps into something new. Someone in the audience asked what gave an advertising dude the gumption to solve bike and transportation issues. A dot of silence and then a manifesto: creative people have the absolute responsibility to stick their nose in everything, find a way, solve problems.
Wow.
And so we're here. I'm teaching a new course, Communciating Sustainability. I've been trying hard to make it fit academic expectations and review, list, analyze, when I realized what we should be doing is accepting a challenge and sticking our nose in stuff. Finding a way! Solving. Last week we reinvented the course.
This week we had Edward Boches in, a true problem solver and Chief Innovation Officer at Mullen and a Pied Piper thru hus blog and twitter. His Innovation Brief to our students energized everyone. We are solving. That's been the case for the past couple of years but I think it sunk in now. We're changing the way an advertising program acts. We're building the stuff that solves problems, making things worthy of messages.
I'm a slow learner but I'm glad I got here.
December 04, 2010
October 01, 2010
September 30, 2010
good new york opening
Exhibit and reception. We also saw the premier of the YouTube Show+Tell mini-docs featuring Kevin Roddy, Craig Allen + Eric Kallman, Terrence Kalleman, and Benjamin Palmer. Those will be posted by Monday on YouTube and I'll link then.
> Creativity Workshop for high school students, sending them ideabooks as a thank you
> Great bonding with Jim Mountjoy
> Realized(again) how cool and relevant The Art Director's Club is
> Saw great friends and terrific response to the book
> Skyped into class at home
September 19, 2010
hello,world. this book thing is awesome
Just an update on all things Creative Process Illustrated:
• Our Book Launch Event happens September 27 at The Art Directors Club in New York. Flora Moir, the Education and Events Manager, has done an amazing job of putting together an exhibit, a teaching workshop, and the accompanying YouTube documentaries. Bravo, Flora!
• The book has managed to climb the Amazon lists several times, thanks to great press from Simon Mainwaring, Luke Sullivan, and our friends at Campaign Magazine in the UK. It's interesting that author excitement ebbs and flows with Amazon ratings. Glenn and I have watched this go from #25,712 up to #2497 down to #9416 then up again to the 5000s. Wow on that.
• The Book Launch and Exhibit is part of Advertising Week in New York, which gives us great visibility. We're listed here as part of the great schedule. Please note that our schools -- University of Oregon SOJC and the SMU Meadows School of the Arts -- are sponsors of the event. Such wonderful visibility! Thanks, Dean Tim Gleason, for your support. In fact, Tim will be at the event.
• On the Tuesday the 28th, we'll be premiering the YouTube Show+Tell videos. Glenn interviewed Kevin Roddy, Benjamin Palmer, and Terrence Kelleman. I interviewed Craig Allen and Eric Kallman. Here's the invite:
August 19, 2010
June 05, 2010
March 20, 2010
process illustrated
Many know the saga of the project I've been working on with Glenn Griffin. Wowser idea that grew off the thinking of his dissertation and asks the simple question: how can we better understand the creative process in advertising? We turned that into asking creatives to visualize their creative process, and then found beautiful moments in studying the collection.
Very long story short: we collected the visualized processes of a collection of great ad people, edited down the 80 or so possibilities to a great 36, explored broad theory plus individual anecdotal evidence for each person, collected work they've produced, and -- voila! -- the book published by F&W Media/HOW Design comes out this summer.
It is truly a wonderful collection exploring thinking about thinking. Consider seeing the brains of Randy and Doug, along with Kevin Roddy, Simon Mainwaring, Rachel Howald, Nancy Vonk and Janet Kestin, Danny Gregory, David Kennedy, Andy Azula, Chris Adams, and a couple dozen more. Wow.
Today, Glenn and I presented to the American Academy of Advertising in Minneapolis. Our great friends -- and participants in the study -- Randy Tatum and Doug Pedersen were there to talk about the process of doing the process drawing. Glenn's Keynote on the theoretical work leading to the study was simply awesome. He's the creative scholar everyone is talking about.
And the cover of the book offered here. Thanks for all the good commentary happening about it right now. Big kudos to Glenn Griffin for simply being outstanding. Please spread the word.
March 16, 2010
evidence
I'm thoroughly convinced that people who produce simple ideas like this:
One year in 40 seconds from Eirik Solheim on Vimeo.
or this:Procrastination from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.
or this (lookatbook.com):
make the world bearable. They probably have cocky grins. They're laugh quite a bit. They're probably at work right now, making something.
February 20, 2010
February 16, 2010
February 14, 2010
January 21, 2010
January 09, 2010
a few great ideabook directions
Our ideabook emphasis has its roots in smart brainstorming, careful journaling, serenpiditous learning and thinking, and visual/verbal fun. My great joy is looking through them at the end of term. Here are a few samples of stuff that is bright an remarkable. Thank you Evan, Kaleigh, Haley, Rachel, Chris, Nicole, Jessica, Jenny and a couple of unknown authors....in no particular order.
December 05, 2009
bio-diversity from christoph niemann :: leaf collection
I love collecting inspiration. These are exquisite. Visit his site and the nytimes.com link to see more.
Christoph Niemann's illustrations have appeared on the covers of The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine and American Illustration. His work has won numerous awards from the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the Art Directors Club and American Illustration. He is the author of two children's books, "The Pet Dragon," which teaches Chinese characters to young readers, and "The Police Cloud." After 11 years in New York, he moved to Berlin with his wife, Lisa, and their sons, Arthur, Gustav and Fritz. His Web site is christophniemann.com.From the NYTimes.com today, part of the beautiful collection:
5 books that promise to rock my world
Interesting that the academic life offers intense periods of work and production with bookends where you find your life again and make some sense. Maybe. I try to return to books on the night table and keep adding to the list, finding things for class or writing that bring our thinking to the next level. (A note here: Dan Morrison reads two books (at least) a week, so I'm the weak link in the Morrison chain. He'll read Voltaire's biography and another history of VietNam, along with a book on military strategy and be able to recall all. Wow.)
So here are my picks for this break, after I finish Gringa by Melissa Hart (wonderful UOregon SOJC Lecturer), a lovely memoir of growing up bridging cultures. Great read.
Lord, we live in an interesting world. Read these:
Daniel Goleman's Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything (2009) is proving to be a great guide for the new Green Brand Strategies course we're offering in the Winter. I listened to the audiobook on a drive to Portland, realizing that advertising professionals need this thinking. Great inspiration.
Grant McCracken's Chief Culture Officer: How to Create a Living, Breathing Corporation (2009) should be required reading for anyone involved in an evolving organization (which, of course, makes you wonder why anyone would be in a non-evolving org). This is marketing, responsibility, future thinking, digital relevance, and anthropology come together.
Warren Berger's Glimmer How Design Can Transform Your Life and Maybe Even the World (2009) puts meaning to the concept of Design Thinking and how it pushed relevance in what we do and where we do it. Berger is a master at taking ad-think stuff and showing us how it indeed changes culture and people. By focusing on the awesomeness of Bruce Mau, grand thinker, he has a winner here. I can't wait to dive in.
"Design is the glimmer in God's eye."
Garr Reynolds is so dead-on with Presention Zen Design (2009). The reviews I've read and spreads I've been able to see will make it required for a professional finishing class for our Creative Strategists. It takes the real design thinking of presentations he introduced in PZ and gives it meaning with a stronger design push. Famed Nancy Duarte (duarte design -- beautiful site) and slideology) loves it too, which is good enough to make it required reading for us.
Must do this: The Creative Process Illustrated: How Advertising's Big Ideas are Born by Glenn Griffin and Deborah Morrison (2010) has been sent to our HOW Books editor, a 350-page manuscript. It's a wonderful collaboration, but I have to tell you Glenn Griffin is pretty much a genius. When such a robust, inspiring work comes grows from a dissertation chapter and is done with such ferocious attention to detail and spirit, you have a winner. If you want to see the creative process thinking of Bogusky, Mainwaring, Roddy, Azula, Howald, Kennedy (yes, David Kennedy, the icon), Mountjoy, Rice, and about two dozen others, get ready for the book out from HOW Books in Spring 2010. To that end, I'm reading the manuscript one last time in the next week.
December 01, 2009
lovely art directors club + texas::oregon mashup
So honored by the Grandmaster status conferred by The Art Directors Club of NYC. It shows what happens when you work with brilliant people.
A photo from that night below. Oregon and Texas alum together; I saw some of the best parts of my life meet and mingle. With that I learned 3 important things:
1 -- there's something absolutely affirming about seeing people excited about their careers and this possibility
2 -- your old friends and your new friends can indeed end up in a happy place together, on the same day
3 -- do good work, love your family, don't be an asshole
November 23, 2009
people to know
in one place
worth studying
read + think
- W. Glenn Griffin and Deborah Morrison: The Creative Process Illustrated: How Advertising's Big Ideas are Born
- marty neumeier: The designful company
Brett Robbs: Idea Industry: How to Crack the Advertising Career Code
Teresa Amabile: Harvard Business Review on Breakthrough Thinking
ways to learn
- 100+ stories
- advertising technology
- afterthesemessages
- billy collins + forgetfulness
- change this
- design observer
- design sustainability : re-nourish
- dreamy tools
- fast company
- good magazine : what matters
- green team
- i have a dream
- ihaveanidea brainiacs
- infosthetics : data + visual design
- latitude and longitude convergence
- naming and branding
- rebrand philosophy
- small agency diary
- the creative class : place as inspiration
- the hidden persuader
- the humanist
- the one club for art & copy
- typographica
- verbatim
- zefrank extravaganza
creative commons
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 License.- creative commons
