I aspire to be an organised creative; this has proved difficult though. Walking and talking simultaneously is often tricky, so remembering deadlines, tasks, meetings, quotes and other vital daily pieces of information is almost impossible. Thankfully I now employ a variety of applications which effectively are my electronic managers. They tell me where to be, who to invoice, who I have to speak to and about what. It’s a system that works most of the time, so I have decided to list the software I use, mention some apps that I’ve heard are useful, and make an appeal to programmers for an application which I think is missing…
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What are the chances eh? You just happen to be at one of Manchester United Soccer School’s training days, and then you just happen to catch a little kid scoring a HUGE goal, right in front of your camera. Tch. This film is obviously just a great piece of luck, and not a viral which I worked on with Creative Spark and Mi. Watch the full film here.
Creatives have a reputation for whinging. It seems we are never quite happy – our work never quite good enough. Some would say this is what keep us improving; this continual dissatisfaction. Just sometimes though, it might be nice to sit back and be able to say, “Yeah, actually, I’m the dogs. Back off!”
I have felt that way a couple of times during my career. Drink is usually involved, or perhaps an astute account handler with a deadline has stroked my ego enough for me to believe I am King Creative. The feeling is fleeting though, quickly to be replaced with the hammering of the ‘it’s not good enough’ voices.
So the voices have won again; my site and blog are undergoing a bit of a rework since I decided they weren’t up to scratch. Hopefully I’m going to get some new work up in the portfolio section soon too.
So the dissatisfaction is good, it is a motivator. Speaking of motivation, have a look at these designers; both young, both Manchester based, and both doing good things: James Oconnell at And Partners, Andy Mallalieu at Creative Spark. And while we’re on the subject of Young…….
So, a little late after it’s release, but here is a link to the finished music video I have been working on with Mi. It has been out for a few weeks now. More blurb, should you want it, is here. And here. And here. Maybe it will just be easier to watch the thing eh? Enjoy.
February 23, 2010 – 8:30 pm
The music video I have been involved with at Mi is nearly ready. There is a bit more stuff about it all here. We’ve just got to give the robot his final polish then all will be ready. In the mean time here is a little teaser of the vid……
February 2, 2010 – 10:37 pm
Alpacas are not llamas. Llama fleece is not alpaca fleece and alpaca farmers are not llama farmers. Which is a shame really, as writing this would be far easier with alliteration on my side. Anyway, I recently designed and built a little website for Farrlacey Mill to direct people to their shop selling alpaca duvets. The website is pretty simple; a few pages, illustrations, photographs and alpaca products, all drawn, or shot, or coded by me. Alpaca yarn is pretty good stuff, and the duvets from Farrlacey are very, very comfy – obviously I had to have a sample duvet to properly design the website. Obviously. What?
December 30, 2009 – 2:14 pm
It’s time again to reviews the reviews of 2009. Some have been good, some bad. Overall they have all been reviews, and reviewing them only serves to review the fact that they have, all in their own way, been reviews. Some have been lists, some have been long-winded TV shows hosted by Jimmy Carr. Here is my round-up of some of them, please feel free to review them, and this list, and add your own:
A review of the year in online advertising
A round up of the year in art.
It’s Nice That review some nice things. Nice.
The Top Ten (really obvious) moments in marketing from marketing magazine
The Top 20 lists to appear on Times Online in 2009. Another list of lists. Listed.
A programme. Strangely without Jimmy Carr. Reviewing all the news from 2009.
A list of culture top 5s from 2009.
November 16, 2009 – 7:12 pm
Smithandjenningscaterers.com is a little site I have just finished. It’s for some caterers called Smith and Jennings. Hence the title. And the pictures of food. And frequent mention of the names Smith, Jennings and the word ‘caterers’. I designed the site, and took the photographs, and built the site. Spending an afternoon photographing food is not easy. The point is to make it look as mouthwatering as possible, obviously. But then you want to eat it – so you do, and then more food has to be made, so you make that look really tasty; good enough to eat – so you do, and then……. Anyway, Smith and Jennings cater for loads of events in South Manchester and Cheshire. And their food is very, very tasty, all their details are on the site. Hmm, I’m hungry.
October 27, 2009 – 2:16 pm
Apparently frivolity outweighs solemnity at Anish Kapoor’s RA exhibiton (showing till 11th December). Well, I didn’t think so. And I know everything about art. Obviously. The exhibition is good fun, the work is accessible, which is probably why it was packed. There is a canon firing blood red wax blocks, a room full of odd concrete wormy things, and even an arty-farty hall of mirrors, which should probably have circus music piped in to complete the effect. Kapoor plays with space and time, monkey-ing about with his audience, and there is nothing wrong with that. The biggest draw is a huge, slowly moving wax block, the colour and shape of a London Bus, which slides through the space in a strangely fascinating way. What does it mean? Who knows – but you watch it all the same.
September 28, 2009 – 9:12 pm
Yes, yes, I have been going on about this. But what the hell, it was fun. Last Monday Mi shot a music video starring Richard E Grant, and I was Creative Director. There is more of a story about it all here. My last two posts were my attempt to blog from my phone on the day. (It sort of worked, I think the wordpress iphone app has got a few versions to go yet). As a creative, most of my work was done before the cameras started rolling, really I was there in case practicality dictated an emergency re-write, or scenes had to be tweaked. I tried to keep out of the crew’s way and stick my nose in as little possible – nothing worse than too many voices in the director’s ear. The 17 hour day went well, and the results should be around in the new year.
September 21, 2009 – 1:22 pm
So, not halfway through yet. And behind schedule. On the plus side the catering was really good, and our Hollywood star is being brilliant. Especially considering he spent all morning getting slapped……
September 21, 2009 – 10:45 am
So you spend months planning, re-writing treatments, getting crew together, juggling budgets, hunting locations, and all other manner of stuff, and then eventually the shoot day arrives. Then, really, you are at the mercy of time, and Lady Luck. Today is that day and so far things are good. I’ll post again in a bit…….and apologies if the picture is gubbins, iPhones eh?
September 10, 2009 – 10:18 am
If you have read this article, or maybe this one, or even this one, you’ll know that I have been lucky enough to become Creative Director at Mi. I have a degree in animation tucked away somewhere, so after 10 years in advertising, design and digital agencies, this is me going back to my roots. Also Mi were graceful enough to allow the role to be flexible – I am not there all the time, so will still be freelancing. This means I get to keep all my existing clients happy, and generally get the best of both worlds. I’m a lucky bugger really.
August 10, 2009 – 10:06 am
Selling. It is sometimes easy for creatives to ‘uncouple’ sales from what we do. Preferring instead to discuss craft, user experience, or brand awareness. But ultimately, everything we do comes down to sales of one sort or another. It is also easy to fall into the usual agency rhetoric: “Of course our campaign will sell your product, trust us”. However, if asked, would most creatives put the selling power of their design to the test?
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Designers know all about typography. (Well, some at least). But some typography techniques that I’m sure a few of us were taught are now often sadly neglected. Maybe the digital age is slightly to blame for this, but I suspect that budgets and deadlines are more of a factor. A lack of time does lead to a lack of craft. And if anyone thinks I am being a bit grumpy old man about this, well, I probably am. Er, Sorry. I have just listed 6. I am sure there are more………..
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