Customer = Customize

Customer = Customize

C'mon, try it, everyone is doing it... seems to be the corporate theme today. Customization is what I had been dreaming of since I was a wee lad. Painting my G.I. Joes and adding badges and new uniform mods, crazy gluing new panels to my Transformers to get them to the exact ultra coolness that I desired, even putting stickers on my old NES to get that perfect custom look I needed to have. I even wrote an article on this exact topic discussing how all the girls in junior high were so sweet on all my custom bleached Champion sweatshirts. The CONSUMER MASSIAH HAS ARRIVED!

Every company out there is working on some new customizable product, something that they can sell the masses but make every single one of those people feel like the product they have is a one of a kind. Granted some products are simply very difficult to customize but items like clothing, shoes, paint, computers, and yes even cars are all now available to be customized.

I attribute all of this to the Internet. When in history have we been able to log into a site and choose the color, size, fabric, trim, paint, roof, tires, flavor, and whatever else is offered up on a particular product? Trendwatching.com says about customization and I quote "still the biggest, most promising trend in the world of business." I simply love the definition they posted on the topic its as clear as I have seen it anywhere:

“The phenomenon of corporations creating goods, services and experiences in close cooperation with experienced and creative consumers, tapping into their intellectual capital, and in exchange giving them a direct say in (and rewarding them for) what actually gets produced, manufactured, developed, designed, serviced, or processed.”

Well said TrendWatching.com!! So companies finally decided that it is the consumers who have all the answers and that we actually do know what the hell we want and not only do we give the corporations the ideas for the products but we get to pay full price for them as well. Does this seem weird to anyone? Basically they tell us, we will let you tell us what you want, we will let you help us build it for you, design it and even market it and then we will let you go pay even more than you would have paid for the product before you customized it, now thats amazing! What a concept!

Lets take a look at the past. You had a tailor who would make you custom clothing based on your exact measurements, you would choose a collar style, cuff style, fabric, color and all the little details that go into making a customized piece of clothing and then he would sew it and deliver it personally to you and you would pay him top dollar for it rather than going to a department store and taking something off the rack. Makes sense?

Now you have companies like Nike, Scion, Fila, Puma and Mini all letting customers customize their products and you have companies like MasterCard, FireFox (Mozilla), L’Oreal and Chevy actually letting people create commercials. Trust me this is only a small list of companies leading the charge. Now that we have identified what is going on, lets ask another question, what does this mean?

The way I see it is that we are all humans, we all have common physical desires, interests and we all more or less fall into specific genres or interest groups, tribes and clans. We cannot escape human nature and its need to progress, to hunt and gather in its most primitive way yet using all of our wonderful technology and progress to drag back the most perfect Bison back to the cave. I use the term Webicratic for my Blog because I want to illustrate how the web is unifying and giving a voice to the people, actually allowing for a visible creative and collective consciousness to occur, so lets term this new wave Consumercratic as in letting the people drive the types of products that enter the market and literally dictate not only how they want them delivered but even how they want them marketed to the people.

Customer to car dealer - "I would like the car in Black, with Silver trim, Red seats, Orange panel, a killer MP3 system, 5.1 speakers, rear wheel drive and by the way tell me that it will make me sexier and faster than anyone else out there." Thanks!

Steve Ballmer has no shame

Steve Ballmer has no shame. He is personally trying to stand up and become the hero at Microsoft as its cold war against Google continues.

Microsoft, a hint: BUY YAHOO!!!

I have been saying for years, and actually developed and implemented what I have been preaching, ONLINE APPLICATIONS!!!! The web can now serve full blown applications that most businesses use, be it eMail, document publishing, interactive, whatever!

In my opinion Microsoft is looking worse and worse by the day. Ballmer is the worst "knight in shining amour" I have ever seen not to mention this past week Bill telling the world he wishes he weren’t the richest man alive!! What is going on? I have noticed that while every other company in the world is stepping up their images and getting into all kinds of cool viral, interactive, brand experience type of campaigns, Microsoft has done the opposite, no cool ads, nothing breakthrough and honestly no buzz whatsoever, how long do they think they can ride the dominance card they held for so long?

Apple is approaching... Apple is coming and Apple plays nicely with what the consumers want and need. iLife is taking the video, audio, iPod and every other personal application by storm, GRANDMOTHERS HAVE iPODS!!! Now that is penetration and conversion!

I’m ranting, happens when I get emotional and forget the rules of writing. Buts it’s my Blog so I can do that here.

My point! Microsoft has issues, major issues...

The name Microsoft - nothing cool about micro and only makes us think about how big their vision is and soft, well who wants soft? Even those cool Swedish pillows I love are hard, soft is done!

The Domination - Done, over caput! Google has offered all of us regular folk word processing, image, mapping and every other app FOR FREE!!!! and no one even thinks twice about making Google the home page on their browsers. Perhaps Google should create their own Broswer... OH WAIT! isn’t that Fire Fox?

The Image - OLD! People with dinosaur heads? C'mon that’s probably what it looks like over at Microsoft corporate headquarters.

Products - When will Microsoft fall? I predict when they fail to launch the new Windows OS. Apple is light years ahead of them in that realm. Soon Google will launch a word processing app as well as a spreadsheet and then its over, done, bye bye Microsoft, it will be a period of transition where companies will need to have whole staffs employed in burning all of the old Microsoft apps.

I love revolutions, I am a fan of Russian history, this is American history, and we aren’t involved in bloody battles of ideas rather corporate battles of position within markets. Bill had his run, it was good, got us to where we are today, he set the bar and it was smashed twice over, now step aside and let the real creative take over and run this industry into the next phase.

Google, Apple, Adobe come on up, its your turn...

Microsoft, IBM, SUN see ya guys, don’t let the door hit you on the way out...

Channel Internet - Video

Video has become the new trend on the web these days, so many sites are popping up offering to host video online for free.

Sites like Youtube.com and Google Video as well as corporate sites like Chevy, Old Spice and even a great site from PBS letting young kids create powerful content as well.

I recently had a friend of mine who is living in the Ukraine and who is a film maker tell me about his ability to post his films online and get a massive audience and even get some calls from news services and agencies that want to use his content. I find this to be revolutionary. What I love is that corporations, BIG companies are posting commercials and allowing users to post their own home made commercials online for everyone to see. This is truly viral, and in my opinion as Webicratic as it gets. I was amazed at some of the talent out there, high school kids creating amazing content. Where will this take us? What i like about this new trend is that it raises the bar for Hollywood content, with Flash going where its going and video being as easy as it is now to create we may find ourselves faced with an opossing force. The Public Vs. The Industry. I like competition, its healthy and it gives everyone the opportunity to "make it". So to all those starving artists out there fire up those computers and get to work, the stage is set now create!

FLASH in hand!

FLASH in hand! I am very excited about the new possibilities of Verizon and Adobe partnering up to enable and create FLASH content for cell phones. I think that FLASH has been quietly smiggling in a new breed on content developers. FLASH is now the most widely deployed video platform on the web, click here for an example, now anyone with a decent design prowess and a passion for creating media can develop for almost any platform out there using FLASH. To me the internet has now truly democrasized the world by giving everyone out there the tools to create impactful media from a home computer. Anyone with a voice, a poem, a product or a cause can move millions with powerful content that can now be viewed on cell phones lighting fast. FLASH files are tiny and easily saved, you can download them, pass them along and post them almost anywhere. Advertisers will especially love this new trend because they will now be able to send highly targeted engaging ads to cell phones everywhere. Will cell service now be free? Something to think about...

COMING 'ROUND THE BEND ITS INTERNET BY A HEAD!!

Each day I open up my web browser and peruse the various "ad" news, blogs and gossip sites I see a very clear path, this path is not only clear to me but to those who are seemingly being trampled along it. Television stations are now using their websites as a means to drum up more viewers and advertising. Since the inception of the web, television has been pounding its proverbial chest and standing tall atop the media mountain, some would say King Kong would be a great metaphor, the obvious signs of defense and protecting its realm. The humble and quiet internet kept chugging along keeping a steady pace not looking forward or back to see where TV stood. This is the part of the race everyone enjoys and is the reason people tune in... INTERNET HAS NOW TAKEN THE LEAD!!!! COMING 'ROUND THE BEND ITS INTERNET BY A HEAD!!

Television stations have now started to wave the white flag (I love when Lex Luthor does it in Superman 2) and realize that rather than dominate the media realm we can all share it happily. Does TV have to worry? YES! Will the internet have mercy? NO! But that is life, no struggle no progress type of attitude. What i find really interesting is that smaller affiliates are the ones embracing the internet, The smaller egos allow them to, they have amped up their websites and are doing some really cool stuff, one affiliate in Plattsburgh, N.Y. is letting people pitch commercials for local car dealerships. I think just like those cute rediculous commercials we all saw growing up on our local affiliate stations had an effect on us with jingles and local familiar celebrity, so will the web in featuring Bob's Used Cars in a super cool flash mini site that will be as rediculous as ever!

Thats what the web is all about, low cost interactive mass media.

Agency Disconnect

Recently I have been noticing a bit of a disconnect between agencies and interactive partners. Not understanding fully what is involved in creating an interactive module, or mini site can create havoc on a schedule. Small things like files sizes in FLASH and backend integrations can be easily overlooked by an agency producer and can result in them over promising on delivery dates. Unlike print, or traditional websites there cant be pushing and pulling on a schedule once set in place, especially when jobs are bid on a time and resource basis, making sure agencies understand what is involved in the job of the interactive producer and I admit that I have stumbled in that area a few times because I assaumed that the agency knew what was up. With that said, you fall, you get up and you move on, hopefully within the next few years there will be a merging of expierience and we can once again live in contractual and scheduled harmony with one another!

HD BLEW! BLUES!

Hardrive blew this morning.... doesnt it suck when you love and embrace technology, support it and advance it, dedicate your life to its functions and how to make it better for all human kind and it just spits in your face? ARGHHH!!!!

Take the Lead is taking the lead

Take the Lead is taking the lead and showing the rest of Hollywood how to properly advertise their films properly. The newest Mash-Up site to allow users to manipulate assets and create their own clips is taking the web by storm. I recently used the Chevy Tahoe site that allows you to create your own commercial for the car and send to friends and even send to Chevy and it was FUN! I really enjoyed "mashing up" the content and creating my own version of the commercial, in doing that I was instantly familiarized with the Chevy brand and its messages, it really works!

Now the movie Take the Lead, the newest chapter of A-list Hollywood actor to "teach" inner city kids some life changing lesson, now its dancing. The site is www.taketheleadmovie.com
you can go to the site and create dance routines, mash up music, scenes and more! This is where marketing dollars need to be spent, TV sopts have proven to be limited and tickets at the box office have dropped, but now giving someone an interactive expeirience before they see the film and after they see the film will make the connection with the consumer much stronger and it may even result in higher DVD sales or even repeat visits to the theatre to see the flick again.

My hats off to Take the Lead for taking the lead and showing the rest of Hollywood how to really promote a new film!

Interactive expieriences

Interactive expieriences are something that seem to have evolved to become a theme in my life. At work, I am an interactive multimedia producer, we are trying to achieve the perfect blend and balance of the traditional ad campiegn with creating an entire interactive expierience behind the brand. (Most of my readers know my spelling sux) So I recently saw this act starring Sxip Shirey and Adam Matta that was seriously something amazing! These two guys were able to create an entire scene by using kazoos, harmonicas, their mouths and tiny bells and flutes. I was blown away by the simplicity of what was on stage and how complex the emotions and visualizations were for the crowds enjoyment. I encourage you all to check these guys out because as the ad industry and the movie industry as well as all media in general becomes more interactive you will see lots more of these types of groups becoming bigger and bigger, check em out! http://www.sxipshirey.com

Rebirth!

Rebirth! I am loving the news I read each time I open the New York Times and other industry rags about how much momentum is gaining for the smaller interactive shops within the ad industry. For years the BIG agencies have been running the show and now us small guys are starting to make some noise. Ron Berger said it so well when he used George Mason as an example from this years Final Four (I love sports mataphors) saying "Is George Mason being in the Final Four a statement that big-time college basketball is dead? Or is it a statement that the sport has a great vitality because talent is all over" To me this is another huge statement by an industry leader who recognizes that in order to achieve success in a multi tiered ad campiegn you must realize that the web and the interactive folks are just as big a player as the rest of the traditional media partners. Mr. Berger also said regarding the upcoming ad exec conference the 4 A's, that "These are people for whom the 'new media' isnt 'new media', Its 'media' " I love this statement because we were using the term New Media about 10 years ago and then it was really NEW. Now we have people like myself who have been toiling in Flash and interactive content for some time now and it refreshing to hear that the meduim is becoming not just the norm but the standard in which success is achieved.

Moving forward I think that the agencies will either put more money into serious interactive projects and rethink thier approach when putting together a campiegn or they will rebel and try desperately to hang on to the old standards of TV, Radio and Print and the rise of the smaller well established interactive houses that survived the .COM debacle will take place!

To me this is all so very revolutionary and I am simply loving it. Being a divorced father of 2 and a soon to be re-married father of 4 I am really hoping that my expierince of being an interactive producer will pay off in the paycheck department. Sometimes when you do what you love you dont think too much about how much your worth because you simply love doing what you do but when kids need to go to college and life starts shifting gears and coming at you fast (see www.lifecomesatyoufast.com) you have to start thinking about these things.... hang on folks its gonna get exciting!

A Profound Question

Recently I have been writing a lot about a profound question that was asked by Jim McDowell, the head of the Mini division of BMW. His question was:

"why do we start from a position of assuming that traditional media must be the core of a marketing plan, and that non-traditional elements can be added in only after clearing some threshold of justification?"

If you read the questions a few times it will become clear that this is not simply a question about what comes first rather he is questioning the entire advertising industry as it is today.

Traditionally you have your big agencies using smaller firms and even smaller firms and then even using freelancers to handle what until now was considered the minor part of the campiegn, the "web".

For years I have been having to justify the web to many clients and how its importance to advertising is basically biblical. I would get questions from old timers asking "is the web here to stay?" or "it a passing trend" to "no one really pays attention to those annoying ads anyway"... on and on and on...

Guess what folks, not only is the web here to stay, and not only is internet advertising extremely effective but it has now surpassed television as the pipeline into our minds. More and more people are watching television on the web, downloading movies, and looking for fresh and entertaining content rather than another Seinfeld rerun. YouTube, Google video and similar sites have become serious competition to the same old syndicated crap on TNT or TBS, im talking 12 - 15 million viewers. Even sports has become a popular web content viewed on screen along with its many statistics and interactive components, watching sports on the web will become something more and more common. Look at this years College Basketball tournament.

So when you examine Jim's question you have to really appreciate what he is asking. Why start with traditional means of advertising, print or TV? Why not start where it is most effective and then base your print and television ads on the interactive content and viral aspect of your web initiative?

Genious! Finally the power is starting to shift and us "web people" now have the ball in our court.

Worthwhile

I snagged this from a website i had come across and its so worthwhile to post:

"Even if you're not a genius, you can use the same strategies as Aristotle and Einstein to harness the power of your creative mind and better manage your future."

The following eight strategies encourage you to think productively, rather than reproductively, in order to arrive at solutions to problems. "These strategies are common to the thinking styles of creative geniuses in science, art, and industry throughout history."

1. Look at problems in many different ways, and find new perspectives that no one else has taken (or no one else has publicized!)

Leonardo da Vinci believed that, to gain knowledge about the form of a problem, you begin by learning how to restructure it in many different ways. He felt that the first way he looked at a problem was too biased. Often, the problem itself is reconstructed and becomes a new one.

2. Visualize!

When Einstein thought through a problem, he always found it necessary to formulate his subject in as many different ways as possible, including using diagrams. He visualized solutions, and believed that words and numbers as such did not play a significant role in his thinking process.

3. Produce! A distinguishing characteristic of genius is productivity.

Thomas Edison held 1,093 patents. He guaranteed productivity by giving himself and his assistants idea quotas. In a study of 2,036 scientists throughout history, Dean Keith Simonton of the University of California at Davis found that the most respected scientists produced not only great works, but also many "bad" ones. They weren't afraid to fail, or to produce mediocre in order to arrive at excellence.

4. Make novel combinations. Combine, and recombine, ideas, images, and thoughts into different combinations no matter how incongruent or unusual.

The laws of heredity on which the modern science of genetics is based came from the Austrian monk Grego Mendel, who combined mathematics and biology to create a new science.

5. Form relationships; make connections between dissimilar subjects.

Da Vinci forced a relationship between the sound of a bell and a stone hitting water. This enabled him to make the connection that sound travels in waves. Samuel Morse invented relay stations for telegraphic signals when observing relay stations for horses.

6. Think in opposites.

Physicist Niels Bohr believed, that if you held opposites together, then you suspend your thought, and your mind moves to a new level. His ability to imagine light as both a particle and a wave led to his conception of the principle of complementarity. Suspending thought (logic) may allow your mind to create a new form.

7. Think metaphorically.

Aristotle considered metaphor a sign of genius, and believed that the individual who had the capacity to perceive resemblances between two separate areas of existence and link them together was a person of special gifts.

8. Prepare yourself for chance.

Whenever we attempt to do something and fail, we end up doing something else. That is the first principle of creative accident. Failure can be productive only if we do not focus on it as an unproductive result. Instead: analyze the process, its components, and how you can change them, to arrive at other results. Do not ask the question "Why have I failed?", but rather "What have I done?"

Games Galore!

Games Galore!
Flash 8 has provided developers the ability to really produce some amazing games for the web. Coprorations are jumping all over this to create brand expieriences for users to come and play games that will not only make the corporate brands more recognizable to them but online games usually feature a send to a friend outcome that allows the user to pass the game on to friends and family.

Who doesnt love to play games? I recently played a game that was created for the console video game called BLACK. The game can be found here http://www.myblackvalentine.com this is certainly a great example of an addictive game that embeds the product into the mind of the player. I played this game for about 15 minutes. The firm I work for has developed similar type games for companies that are lots of fun. Another absolutely addictive game is http://www.sithsense.com for all you Star Wars lovers out there. YUP we did that one...

Get online and look out for games like these from some of your favorite brands. Building a relationship with the brands you use and enjoy is not only fun but informative. In my case whenever i find a product i love it always becomes harder to find once i am absolutely addicted to it but now with the Web you can always find and order the hard to get stuff you cant live without.

BOOM!

BOOM! Im starting to see that silent explosion again, media companies and tech companies just cant help themselves from buying up those cute websites that offer utilities that seem to be worth millions upon millions of dollars. I guess we never learn from our mistakes. The way I see this current tech boom is similar to the guy who has every gadget sitting on his desk that he paid top dollar for when it first came out and now he rarely ever looks at it. An old Newton hanging off the side of the desk with an OGO and a Sega GameGear peeking out of the bottom drawer, a PALM III along with the first iPOD, hey... that's my desk!!!! Well anyway, this trend is starting to pick up speed again and I see more and more technology being developed for the sake of selling it off to larger companies.

What surprised me was that even new search engines are coming out, with Google in town you would think everyone would shaking in their shoes but I guess that's what we were all saying when Yahoo once ruled the web. I recently took Acoona (supposed to be some play off of Hacoona Matata the single most annoying term to ever come out of the 90's) for a spin. Apparently these guys have 100 million dollars to play with and some people are actually impressed! http://www.acoona.com/

I created a search engine like that in 98 called BigLinx and learned that people simply don't like refining their searches, even though our minds may tell us we do, we are creatures of habit and refining anything especially the all mighty instant gratifier, the web, is simply too much. What irks me is that when they designed this thing they completely copied Google, if your going to get in the ring for a fight you better bring something different or people will just see you as some cheap knockoff of the real thing. A search engine is where the web starts, its home page should be elegant and classic in design, the web has been around long enough for it to start taking on some of the more traditional looks of our culture. Google is boring, simple, the way geeks would design everything if they could. You'd think with Google's BILLIONS they would put a tad more effort in engaging some more users by offering many points of entry based on what a person or genre wants... for example, how about a Goth point of entry? A Fashion Mod point of entry? A Sports fanatic point of entry? Each point of entry being sponsored by the top name in that genre. Imagine sports fans! An ESPN sponsored Goggle home page that offered you sports related news, stores, scores, etc... your page could look like this...

We don't need more search engines, we simply need better branded ones. Take a look at today's New York Times and you will see the pathetic pings of another technology boom, just like gadgets on my desk the world will always want the next latest and greatest until they figure out that another one is going to come along a few months later and it will be better. Very few things today stick, the iPod stuck! The Playstation stuck, DVDs stuck, energy drinks stuck, the flip cellphone, sushi, jeans, cigarettes, pizza, beer and i cant leave out coffee. All those things have been around since they have been invented and their popularity has only grown since. There seems to be a trend in the technology world that challenges everything that emerges, and that's a good thing, but we need to not let it become this Junior High School lunch time routine... remember in lower school when food would come out and you all grabbed for fear there would be nothing left? Exactly!

Viral - Of, relating to, or caused by a virus.

Viral - Of, relating to, or caused by a virus.

I was talking to some family members the other day and was trying my best to explain exactly what I do. I mentioned the word "viral" as part of the type of advertising/marketing that I am involved in and they all stepped back for a second and said to me "Are you the one who is sending out all these viruses and destroying peoples computers?"

WHOA!!! hold on! NO NO NO not viruses, viral! like spreading out like a virus. They looked at me as if i were some rapist, chold molestor, killer, or even worse A VIRUS INFECTOR!

It seems that one of the biggest downsides of the computer age is that so many people who are barely computer literate own computers so they can have access to the WWW yet they surf and click on any link that comes their way, they download and install all kinds of tool bars, cute (annoying as fuck!) cursers, themes, icons and all kinds of other shit from the web. They will download smiley faces, illeagal music, desktops, screen savers, animated gifs and oh the clincher, PORN!

Companies like Norton, McAffee, Microsoft and Virex along with a host of others all make million of dollars on these poor fools because they infect, contaminate, spread and email their viruses all over the place. They infect their computers, external drives, jump drives, XBOX, Blackberry, cell phone someone even told me a story about how they thought that their TV caught a virus from their computer and trust me this person was serious.

Computers are like toaster ovens, VCRs and other devices that require responsability and care. My brother often calls me up yelling at ME! because i know about this stuff and accusing me of causing his computer to be filled with viruses, why me? BECAUSE YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS STUFF! What a rediculous answer! He along with my mother, friends, grandmother, ex-wife and a host of others all feel that they can freely surf the web and click on any damn link that flashes its wares at them and then expect someone like me to fix it! Well IM DONE!!

First they accuse me of being the one to spread this shit, now they want me to fix it. I tried to explain to my brother once that I carefully set up all my computers to have seperate partitions for applications and for files, that i only go to sites i trust and i hardly ever download anything that i havent purchased from a reliable source. He looked at me as if I were mad! People today feel like they can simply ride the web without harm, this is simply not true.

So now i am officially branded within my family as a Virus spreader, no matter what I say to them they will never think otherwise because they are limited in their minds and cannot seem to think beyond their limitations in understanding technology. Isnt it ironic? Well for all you nerds out there im sure you have been in similar situations... lets hear some of your family computer nightmare stories... send em in!

Technology is so cool

Technology is so cool, as a kid I was always enamored with Times Square. Today the place is full of digital billboards that stream all kinds of content. For all of you who would love to see yourself or a loved one posted on a huge billboard in Times Square check out www.lifecomesatyoufast.com you can post an image and if your lucky it will be chosen. Its a really cool site, and im not just saying that because my firm did it, ok it is cooler because we did it, but really how many times do we small folk get an opportunity to see our ugly mugs up there with Gisele and P.ditty. Take a look at this picture of my daughter Maia who was chosen and her beautiful face adorns Times Square each day at 4:30. Now thats cool! As a designer I always wanted to design a huge billboard, I guess in a way I did.

Sarah was also chosen and posted in Times Square, there is a Jewish term called Nachas, it means to be proud, muco nachas here!

Simple Introduction

I figured a simple introduction would be in order. My name is Craig A. Elimeliah. I am a producer at a NYC interactive agency. I am also a writer (working on a novel now) and an artist (always working on something) as well as a father (2 amazing kids, soon to be 4 when my GF and I wed this summer). I am 30 years old and have lived quite an unusual life to say the least. My past has taken me around the world and back, then around the world again and back in both spiritual and physical. Needless to say life is just beginning AGAIN for me. I assure you that this blog will not be boring.

Consolidated

Im so glad I finally consolidated all my blogs and started this one, I admit I hadnt taken Blogging as seriously as I should have and I sort of let myself spill my words all over the place. Like most people who Blog I wanted to start something viral, some buzz and some excitement. Im not looking to get rich like some of the other bloggers out there who are writing for the attention of the publishing world or to generate enough traffic for Yahoo to buy them out for millions of dollars. I want to inspire dialog and ignite discussion on various topics involving culture, society and the future. Who are we? Where are we going? How quickly are we going to get there?

I promised myself that I would use this space to let my mind go and simply write whatever came to mind as my day, week, month, years passed by. I have been so busy working with a major client that I havent had time to even think. Tonight I go home to pick up my laptop and finally dedicate myself to updating and consolidating my writing and this blog... stay tuned its gonna be a blast!

Overwhelmed

Everytime I think about the power of the web and how instantly a person can voive an opinion I get overwhelmed. Then I think of how much shit there is out there and then i get down on humanity. Never before has the common man/woman been able to create an entire image of themselves and present it to the world. For centuries a lowly person with big ideas had to know the right people in order to make their way into the right circles and even then they had to kiss some major ass in order to have a say in anything worthwhile. Now we can filter out and select specific groups of people, target messages and images that can all be created from a computer and posted instantly. Why we havent seen new leaders emerge from the depths of the web is beyond me. Surely there are great souls out there who can figure out how to start a Blog, a website a podcast or any of the thousands of ways a person can spread a word. The playing field is now level for those with passion.

I am officially posting my banner, my flag for my own personal voice, revolution, coup, whatever you want to refer to it as. I would love to see more people creating images of themselves as if they were a country or a state of some sort. With rules, morals, goals, budgets, visions and passions that they would like to share with the world. Wake up people, join the culture that will finally empower you to be heard. Say something worthwhile, share a feeling or an emotion. Become angered or aware about something you never thought about, read the news and pick a topic, become more educated, better read, expose yourself to something new each and every day. The Internet is here to stay and it houses worlds of opportunity for each and every one of us. Lets hear what you have to say!

Art Vs. Design

Art Vs. Design

I have read so many books and articles on design and on art, what it is and how it should be executed. I must admit that since becoming a Producer my designing days have taken a backseat to management, i enjoyed being a designer and now I enjoy working with designers as well as every other aspect of production. I was at home contemplating what the difference between design and art is and I think I have come up with some pretty clear lines between the two and have also identified where those lines have become blurred.

Now it is my understanding that design in the commercial sense is a very calculated and defined process, it is discussed amongst a group and implemented taking careful steps to make sure the objectives of the project are met. A designer is similar to an engineer in that respect and must not only have an eye for color and style but must adhere to very intricate functional details that will meet the objectives of the project. The word "design" lends itself to a hint that someone or something has carefully created this "thing" and much planning and thought has been executed to produce the imagery or materials used for the project.

On the other hand Art is something completely separate, any good artist should convey a message or inspire an emotion it doesn't have to adhere to any specific rules, the artist is creating his own rules. Art is something that can elicit a single thought or feeling such as simplicity or strength, love or pain and the composition simply flows from the hand of the artist. The artist is free to express themselves in any medium and color scheme, using any number of methods to convey their message. No artist ever has to explain why they did something a certain way other than that this is what they felt would best portray the feeling or emotion or message.

Many designers are artists and many artists are designers, the line between the two is complex and intriguing. I was perusing some art books and something strange caught my eye, i had noticed that many of the artists were not creating a unique, almost chaotic portrait of their innermost selves or inspirations rather they were clearly using popular trends to capture the attention of the viewer. I noticed that many of the pieces being shown were "throwbacks" of past artists styles or color and simply refreshed for public consumption. The very fact that older artists inspire newer artists seems to contradict the whole definition of art. These artists are following a method, a pattern or a standard that has already been established by another artist and therefore they are not creating something completely new rather following instructions laid down by a previous artist rendering that piece to be more design than art.

I can completely appreciate the paths laid down by past artists who establish a style or method but at this point it seems that when that style or method is used the art then turns into design. I looked through some older books and saw a rather obvious occurrence in the art being displayed, many of the newer artists were simply copying things from the past. I admire a persons talent for picking up a brush and creating an image that has an impact on its viewer but when i see it over and over again by different people who are all claiming to be "of the school of...", and that this is legitimate, unique art, i find that a bit hard to swallow. If the artist said "I have designed something in the standard of Picasso" and this is simply a design based on his style but a new twist has been added then I would feel more comfortable accepting it for what it is, a design. But when an artists style and methods are completely the same as someone else's and even if the message is different I feel that this cannot be passed off as art because the newness and the chaotic nature of it simply flowing from the source seems to be absent and it becomes more like a paint by numbers project than a creation that has never been seen before.

I do not claim to be an expert on defining what art is and what it is not but i do know that if we look at the differences between art and design we will see a very clear line drawn between the two. An engineer, if given the exact coordinates to place different colored pixels in specific places could render a beautiful web site or ad simply by following instructions, most design projects have a detailed set of instructions and most design is based on current trends and influences. An artist on the other hand could never be given any specific instructions in creating a new chaotic and unique masterpiece because his emotions and soul is dictating the movement of his hands and the impulses for the usage of the medium. No art director is going to yell at an artist for producing something completely unique because that is what makes an artist an artist and not a designer.

I feel that designers who are passionate about their work should try and dedicate time to create "art" for art sake and train themselves to express emotion and feeling through their designs. Uniqueness comes from passion and not adhering to any rules that may force the artist to make even one stroke that was unintended. Commercialism has been dictating the course of design and has made a clear and thick line between the artist and the designer. Following trends and applying imagery based on specific needs and goals is the easy part, allowing yourself to express a message or emotion free of any specifications is where true beauty is born. Designers who are looking for the next big trend or who want to be the one to create that trend must create chaotic and truly original pieces to display their artistic prowess and then apply those unique methods to their design at work and i think this will create a truly harmonious balance between art and design.