Jr. Creative Advice: In my thoughts and prayers.

photo by De-ann Black

Yesterday a graduate student committed suicide during a professor's office hours. That professor was Mookesh Patel, he was my professor during my undergraduate studies and is now considered a dear friend. I can not fathom going through or witnessing something like that and I want him to know that his students past and present are here for him as he has always been there for us. State Press Article.

I found out from one of my friends who I went through the program with and we started talking about the program and the stress that goes with it. Many don't understand how the ASU Graphic Design program works, it is a hard, nose to the grindstone program that really bonds a class together. There is no just sitting in a lecture for 60 minutes and then taking a midterm and a final. You are in rigorous 3-4 hour classes making, building and exploring. Your first year it's plaka and plaka and oh yea did I mention plaka . . . you will have nightmares about that stuff. There are insane deadlines and extremely high expectations, we are after all the best design program in the nation.

All this rounds out the year with an application to the professional program consisting of multiple tests and then onto the waiting game til July to see how many of the 200 get to be part of the lucky 30 to get in. After your first college summer, come the three professional years . . . and that is a novel in itself.

As challenging as the program is I wouldn't trade my experiences there for anything, All the professors, Andy Weed, Mookesh and Al, Jennifer, Haywood and yes even Beth . . . are so true to the craft and the pursuance of making us the best we can be. That program really prepared me for graduate school and for real life in the advertising world. There was a stint of 4 months where I consistently worked 80 hour weeks just to make client deadlines. Yes, I have even slept in the agency.

Mookesh, I am really happy you are safe and hopefully can put this tragedy behind you to continue doing the great work you have done for so many over the years. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family during this trying time. You truly are a beacon of inspiration.

Relay for Life

Here is some work that we did for the Marin Relay for Life. Krystha up on her soap box.

Here's one of the videos we did for Mavericks Surf Competition. The window for the competition opens Nov 1st. 

Mavericks Live Tour 2009 Video

Here's the final cut of the video for Mavericks that I worked on. If you want to share it on Facebook visit Facebook.com/Mavericks
and click the share button. The opening ceromonies are going to be held in a week!

Mavericks Surf Competition 09/10

So it is less than one month until the Mavericks Surf Competition window opens and everyone is getting really excited. This is the logo I just finished for the 09/10 competition. We are busily getting all the promotional materials ready for the competition. There are some great shirts coming out for the competition and all kinds other promotional items.

If you are not familiar with Mavericks. It is a surfing competition unlike any other. You can read about the history on their website maverickssurf.com. A basic bare bones of it is 24 surfers get 24 hours notice to get their asses to Half Moon Bay, CA to surf the biggest baddest waves in the world.

Jr. Creative Advice: Break Rules.

I am all for learning the rules of design and mastering them as well. . .but along with that I am for breaking those rules as long as you can defend your reasoning for breaking them, or you just make something remarkable.

So in the spirit of breaking rules here are some tunes from Little Texas: Kick A Little.

VOTE: Phoenix Design Week 09 Poster

So I entered a contest in my free time. Yes I know I am crazy for doing more work when I'm not at work . . . WOO! Anyway click on the poster above to VOTE for my poster much appreciated.

The poster celebrates the Phoenix Bird as it dies and is reborn from the ashes, very similar to the generations of designers. One set goes out and then another comes in all further paving the road than those before him. That is the reasoning for the copy "To those who came before: thank you. To those who will come after: good luck."

Enjoy!

UPDATE: Mavericks Live Tour 2009

The stage has been set . . . Mavericks has released the tour dates for the 2009 Mavericks Live Tour! Above is the poster I did for them and below you can see if the tour will be coming to a city near you.

If you're in San Francisco, I hope to see your there!

October 17 - Calgary @ Flames Central
October 18 - Vancouver @ Commodore Ballroom
October 19 - Eugene @ McDonald Theater
October 21 - Anaheim @ House of Blues
October 22 - San Francisco @ The Fillmore
October 27 - Denver @ The Fillmore
November 2 - St. Louis @ Pageant
November 3 - Chicago @ House of Blues
November 8 - New Orleans @ House of Blues
November 10 - Raleigh @ Lincoln Theater
November 11 - Charlotte @ The Fillmore
November 19 - Myrtle Beach @ House of Blues
November 21 - Baltimore @ Sonar
November 25 - Washington D.C. @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
December 2 - Cleveland @ House of Blues
December 3 - Cincinnati @ Bogart's
December 7 - Detroit @ St. Andrew's Hal

Stan Richards you are my inspiration.

Ever since I met Stan Richards at his agency (thank you Dr. Burns) and then heard him tell his first advertising story, he has become my inspiration.

There is one part of the speech that is also written on the AIGA website. This paragraph has been permanently burned onto my brain:

"Stan started his Dallas career by taking a job with the Bloom Agency. "I hated it," he says. "I hated the politics and the bureaucracy, but I figured you owed an employer at least a year." In 1953 he and his wife, Betty, began selling freelance design services to agencies that were looking for outstanding creative. And soon there was a milestone month when they billed $135. They spent their times looking for the best clients, putting together the best-run shop in town, finding the best people and getting them to do their best work. Looking back on those years, Stan says, "I made a point of seeing every kid who wanted to see me. I hired the most immensely talented people. I taught them how to run a highly disciplined organization, and how to run it profitably. I taught them how to fight very hard for doing things right. It took a while, but soon we dominated the local awards shows. And then my competitive instincts ran nationally."

He makes you believe that no matter what you want to do, if you put enough sweat and persistence into it, you can achieve anything. I thank you Stan Richards for your dedication to your craft and your determination to do great work.

Mavericks Live Tour 2009

So this past week I've been working on the logo, some posters, ads and clothing for the 2009 Mavericks Live Tour featuring Matisyahu. It's been really fun and there is some great work that came from all of it. Once everything is finalized I will post some images of the work but for now enjoy the logo. The tour kicks off in October and hits some gnarly cities along all three of the coasts.

You can read the press release on the tour at Maverickssurf.com

Jr. Creative Advice: Go To Class!

So some pretty cool news on the forefront. KB and I will be speaking at the Academy of Art on October 28th! So get your butt to class and come see us.

Jr. Creative Advice: Give Thanks

photo by loupiote (Old Skool)

So a lot of you already know that I just recently had a family emergency and had to get home fast. What you may not know is that there are seven people that went out of their ways and helped me get there so much faster than I probably ever would have.

It was really nice to know that in a time of crisis there are people in my office that will not only understand, but assist me in anyway they can.

Thank you guys.

Yay/Boo: Thesaurus.com

photo by xorsyst

Thesaurus.com is free, this is a yay for copywriters. So shouldn't the Visual Thesaurus should be free for Art Directors?

BOO: It is not cool that Art Directors have to pay for a visual thesuarus that would benefit us while Copywriters get their word thesaurus completely free and clear.

Little Man Syndrome

Don't get me wrong I appreciate a beautiful truck. Though sometimes . . . it's a little . . . or a lot much. This is one of those times.

I'm tired of looking for Lorem Ipsom generators

Too much time is spent looking for this . . . so here are ten paragraphs for me to have easy access too.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Fusce in sem eu ligula tincidunt sollicitudin ac non ligula. In semper ante erat, sit amet fermentum diam. Nunc tincidunt fermentum ante non egestas. Etiam dignissim, lectus ut convallis laoreet, nisi nisi placerat urna, molestie viverra nunc velit ut sapien. Aenean ut blandit metus. Integer eu quam nec ante semper porta. Aenean dui dolor, dictum at consectetur eu, fringilla nec diam. Donec tempus, nisl et consequat aliquam, est ligula rutrum odio, sed volutpat quam purus in arcu. Mauris dapibus iaculis turpis ut eleifend. Quisque hendrerit, turpis id blandit faucibus, turpis nibh blandit erat, non iaculis velit odio vitae libero. Proin pulvinar quam a nisl lobortis viverra. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas.

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Aenean sit amet eros ut augue auctor vulputate vel quis tortor. Vivamus commodo cursus tempus. Sed et est justo. Aliquam ullamcorper nulla non sapien bibendum fringilla posuere orci malesuada. Integer lobortis metus vitae nulla aliquam cursus. Proin non erat erat. Fusce fermentum consequat quam sed fermentum. Maecenas varius vehicula nibh sed sodales. Phasellus tincidunt libero vel arcu vulputate quis luctus lorem cursus. Sed sed egestas urna. Donec lectus neque, porttitor pellentesque tincidunt eget, vestibulum ac erat. Donec lacinia enim elit. Nullam sit amet sapien ac tellus rutrum hendrerit. Integer non quam feugiat leo laoreet hendrerit vel nec felis. Pellentesque eget lectus dui. Pellentesque leo nisi, consectetur at malesuada quis, consequat ut nunc. Mauris mollis dolor libero, pretium interdum libero. Ut volutpat placerat turpis sed mattis.

Mauris semper sapien sed nulla sagittis ut pulvinar metus eleifend. Donec eget nulla metus. Suspendisse ac leo ac neque cursus tempus vel sit amet magna. Mauris consectetur massa libero. Fusce at quam eu elit molestie tincidunt vel et sapien. Quisque varius enim quis arcu ornare facilisis. Etiam tempor, ligula nec ultrices semper, urna lectus accumsan eros, quis pulvinar lectus felis sit amet turpis. Pellentesque egestas purus volutpat mi facilisis posuere. Suspendisse aliquet magna vel diam auctor ut tincidunt libero cursus. Donec quam elit, tristique quis semper vel, laoreet vitae justo. Maecenas sagittis varius lectus, vitae laoreet purus suscipit a. Sed lacinia feugiat dui. Nulla vitae nunc in nunc euismod faucibus sed id mauris. Vivamus varius nibh a dolor faucibus vulputate. Vivamus accumsan hendrerit nibh, sed rutrum enim congue in.

Nam condimentum est eros, sit amet ornare eros. Nulla dignissim, nibh nec viverra aliquet, leo orci luctus neque, eu consectetur turpis risus placerat ligula. Sed erat tortor, rutrum at elementum vitae, malesuada nec nisl. Vivamus et ligula vel sem mattis commodo at et eros. Sed et libero eget tellus commodo dapibus nec et dui. Sed quis sapien felis. Ut sit amet leo velit, sed mattis nunc. Donec tincidunt enim sed lectus congue molestie. Mauris vestibulum luctus viverra. Praesent egestas convallis odio quis suscipit. Ut at nulla eget sem elementum suscipit. Nullam in purus libero. Ut gravida dignissim dictum. Proin erat lectus, feugiat a tincidunt sit amet, volutpat at orci.

Maecenas neque sem, cursus quis aliquet mattis, convallis a risus. Phasellus ultricies elementum neque a convallis. Mauris dictum elit quis erat vehicula non molestie quam ultricies. In varius adipiscing congue. Suspendisse faucibus est nisl. Sed id ornare ligula. Nulla facilisi. Mauris nisl lacus, mollis eget fringilla a, tempor non mi. Morbi et facilisis neque. Duis bibendum lorem risus, mattis placerat tellus. Nulla facilisi. Duis eleifend sem id nulla vestibulum id rutrum leo condimentum. Nulla facilisi.

Etiam id urna risus, et placerat ipsum. Maecenas volutpat neque non leo varius rhoncus. Nunc ac justo risus, non fringilla urna. Suspendisse potenti. Praesent pretium viverra imperdiet. Maecenas imperdiet rhoncus diam, in posuere massa cursus et. Etiam pulvinar, lorem vel feugiat dictum, dui quam semper enim, eu laoreet leo leo ut est. Donec faucibus condimentum magna, eu venenatis sem aliquam nec. Aliquam velit tellus, mollis vitae feugiat dapibus, fermentum ac nisl. Donec eros purus, sodales nec imperdiet ut, vestibulum non libero. Pellentesque mollis velit eget turpis sollicitudin pharetra. Donec eu mauris ipsum. Donec placerat neque vel orci eleifend rutrum. Mauris imperdiet, quam sit amet consectetur tincidunt, dolor nibh aliquam magna, et rhoncus leo magna non lectus.

Morbi lectus nunc, pharetra sed pharetra sit amet, laoreet nec lacus. Nullam et neque in lectus lobortis mattis. Donec non orci nec ipsum molestie dictum. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Sed augue tellus, adipiscing in sollicitudin vitae, ullamcorper eget nibh. Vestibulum volutpat fermentum massa, vitae laoreet neque molestie vel. Ut a metus lacus. In ut porttitor massa. In vitae purus eget nulla accumsan luctus. Etiam lectus massa, scelerisque ac suscipit eget, elementum vitae metus. Etiam tortor sapien, fringilla vel facilisis nec, lobortis at nibh. Donec aliquam mollis dolor vitae blandit. Duis sed elit a elit porttitor sodales non in magna. Maecenas tristique felis vel dolor commodo eget hendrerit diam aliquam. Nulla nec est a dolor sodales eleifend. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Nullam in felis non purus vehicula condimentum quis sed lorem. Aliquam vel orci diam, quis pulvinar neque. Etiam in dolor et mauris viverra vestibulum.

Praesent porttitor sem eget mauris rutrum placerat. Mauris suscipit suscipit lacus eget vulputate. Suspendisse potenti. Cras id ligula ligula. Vestibulum in lobortis odio. Morbi non erat lectus, in fringilla elit. Aenean interdum tincidunt sagittis. Suspendisse potenti. Duis at dui in ante feugiat gravida. Pellentesque in ante est. Integer quis tellus et massa fringilla varius. Suspendisse eu velit facilisis tellus placerat fringilla. Donec ac convallis odio. Curabitur id mi vel felis lobortis pulvinar. Praesent vitae ipsum nunc, in consectetur enim.

Ut vel nibh at enim iaculis mattis. Integer ut lacus ut mauris aliquam eleifend. Sed lacinia semper scelerisque. In et risus sit amet neque cursus molestie ac sed mauris. Aliquam vehicula mattis mauris ut ornare. Ut auctor pretium est eu hendrerit. Vestibulum malesuada vulputate nulla, eu convallis ante aliquet gravida. Nam hendrerit odio non lectus molestie ut ultrices nulla sollicitudin. Praesent bibendum purus ac diam pretium et facilisis mauris aliquet. Sed mattis imperdiet metus vel blandit. Vivamus tincidunt justo at sapien dapibus luctus. Nullam augue justo, varius vel lobortis in, tempor condimentum augue. Maecenas malesuada, elit non faucibus viverra, libero nulla porta dolor, a tristique ipsum nisl non diam.

Jr. Creative Advice: Listen & Observe

photo by Toni Rantanen

I'm not talking about listening to orders . . . which is just common sense, I'm talking about listening to things going on around the office. Listen to how people think and take notes on how they do things. Use the little shortcuts and tricks to art direct faster. There are a lot of things I have learned in the last three weeks, that have allowed me to work faster. Learn all you can. Don't just hole up in your headphones all day and block yourself out.

Yay/Boo: Save the Whales . . .

This weeks Yay/Boo is definitely covered by Agency Spy and PETAs new poster.

"Sometimes it's fun to look at an ad and the things that can be derived from its message. Here today we have a poster for Peta (yes, it's from Friday). Clearly, it's aimed at fat or scared-to-be-fat people. But it really doesn't make any sense whatsoever when you think about it and luckily we've made a convenient list of our thoughts on the matter." Read More. . .

Yay/Boo: Another ONE!?

So this campaign just went up in the city. It has some decent lines . . . but there are little lines above the glass in script which you can't read until you are right up on the billboard . . . WHO APPROVED THESE?

The billboard would have been better visually without the line above the glass. Though actually now that I am writing about it . . . I don't know which rum this billboard is for. It reminds me of and makes me think about capitan morgan though . . . hmm probably not the goal.

Yay: The white background.

Yay: The layout of the headline.

Boo: Don't remember who the billboard is for.

Boo: Stupid script above the glass.

Boo: Makes me think of Capt. Morgan instead of your brand.

Yay/Boo: WHO DOES THAT?!

This is a billboard I saw on my way to work this morning. It's on the Fourth St exit of the 80 Freeway in San Francisco.

Yay: Good Placement, this is a long red light allowing ample time for everyone to see it.

Boo: I get that the left side is SUPPOSED to be a close up of the bottle's label, but it is too close and thus making it look like a split screen.

Boo: Using Mary Kate typeface for your headline. WHY would you add ANOTHER typeface to this billboard?

Boo: Headline . . .

. . . and the Boos have it.

Jr. Creative Advice: Grab Yur Pardner Dosey Doe

this is Krystha (left) and me (right) our first semester of grad school.

Today's advice is more for the rockstar adgrads still in portfolio. Get yo self a pardner. If you're an AD find a CW, if you're a CW find an AD. Find someone you really mesh well with and don't mind being around for 36 hours straight. Work with them relentlessly. Build a team book and really sell yourself as one cohesive unit.

In grad school I teamed with a lot of different copywriters. At the end of portfolio 3 I was looking for a new copywriter. Krystha had done some good writing and I wanted to work with her. So I asked . . . asked again . . . and again. She put off giving me an answer for about 3 weeks. Then she tells me that she is working with someone else. Alright fine, so I start to work on a campaign by myself. Then a couple days later she comes to me and says that the girl she was supposed to work with was working with someone else. Come to find out she was intimidated to work with me . . . .

We hammered out the two campaigns in two days. These were the only campaigns that needed a little to no tweaking at all and you guys know how long it usually takes to get something approved by Matt, Maria or Sean.

As we left grad school, Krystha already had an internship in New York (lame, jk), and I went straight to LA. Three months later she moves to Dallas for another internship . . . I wasn't so happy but I figured that at least she was slowly moving west. I was right, finally after NY and Dallas, Krystha finally decided to come to Cali and try to sell ourselves as a team. First try, we got hired.

Our current bosses sold themselves as a team when the concept was unheard of, but they have been together for 19 years so it seems to work out well.

I came across this funny posting of two creatives who currently work at W+K talking about how people react when you are talking about your creative partner.