RED BULL AS A DESIGN TOOL

It was kind of like jumping into the cold water dip after languishing in a hot tub for an hour. A shock to the system, but ultimately good for you, or so they say.

Last month I spent 3 weeks in Mexico, reflecting and renewing and learning to appreciate the value of quiet, of taking whatever time a design or creation needs to be fully realized. Last Thursday I threw myself into The Opposite of That, when I attended the annual San Francisco Cut & Paste design tournament.

My friend Flo, an art director at a Silicon Valley ad agency, mentioned it to me. I was reassured by her declaration that she had no intention of participating, only spectating. Plus, there was beer.

It was held at the Mezzanine night club, on Jessie Street which is essentially an alleyway between 6th Street and Mint Plaza. (Incidentally, you’ll want to take the Mint Plaza approach over the 6th Street approach; trust me on this one). I arrived at 8:15, which was supposedly 15 minutes late, but nothing had really gotten started yet (these kids nowadays).

The guy at the door asked for my I.D., and (it’s always so cute when they do this) charitably waited several beats while I dug through my wallet before he offered the more sensible “Don’t worry about it” and waved me through.

Inside the high-ceiling converted-warehouse club, music was already pounding and a good-sized crowd had gathered. Up on one wall, about 8 feet above the crowd, was a row of four enormous flat panel monitors – these would display the contestants’ work as they competed. I realized I hadn’t had dinner and asked the Coat Check girl what kind of food I could buy. She held up my options: a bag of Ranch Doritos or a bag of Fritos.

The Cut & Paste tournament gives 4 contestants around 15 minutes to produce their entry, based on a central theme. It’s like Iron Chef if Iron Chef had club music instead of Alton Brown’s babbling, and if the cooks didn’t have to allow for cooking times for proteins.

At the far end of the club was a stage full of tables and computer equipment, and a very energetic emcee who kept the caffeinated energy going. The four contestants for each category (There was a 3D round, two 2D rounds, and a motion graphics round) took their places at their respective computers and when the emcee shouted “Time starts now!” they frantically began designing, while the club music pounded and the semi-inebriated crowd looked on.

Flo and her friends and I watched eagerly, I think we all wanted each contestant to succeed because it seemed like such a crazy thing to do: Put yourself and your work up on the screen and guarantee failure by only having 15 minutes to make a thing.
We watched as what seemed like random hopeless scatters of bits of things suddenly came together into a realized design as the crowd shouted “5! – 4! – 3! – 2! 1!!!!”.

Ultimately the entries were of inconsistent quality (it’s only 15 minutes for pete’s sake). Which made you like the people up on the stage even more. But what a blast – and it made me realize that there’s a time for “slow and careful” but it’s also a good idea to occasionally see what you’re capable of if you have to go as fast as you can.

GALLERY OF (SOME) COOL PORTFOLIO DESIGNS

Recently I read an article that offered that one of the most important things you can do to create successful pages now is to "be bold" and that goes for your presentation of your samples. Some of these do that better than others, but there are some nice ideas here.

From Web Design Ledger: 21 Portfolio Designs

REASON FOR BEING

I've been searching for a soul for this poor forsaken blog for a couple of years and here's what I landed on:

I'm a Boomer. And I believe that a Boomer has a unique perspective on trends in design, web, advertising and social media.

Few understand the need for continual self-examination and self-evolution that someone who's worked through several iterations of "what advertising is", has. We are the first modern progressives. We have a long-term love affair with all that is cool, provocative, un-heard of.

Let's see if I can serve up information and ideas for anyone who's interested in Design, Social Media, Advertising, and Web and where ever possible, work in some insight and perspective.

Here and there, there'll also be some personal ramblings that are semi-relevant.

OK, go.

HOW I WAS REMINDED IN MEXICO THAT MIDDLE-AGED PEOPLE ARE AWESOME

January in this part of the world is defined by the wind. It's known as "El Norte" and sweeps lustily southward from the U.S. mainland like hordes of Americans seeking cheap Viagra.

I'm standing on the beach at Baja Joe's, a prominent (if rustic) kitesurfing venue. I'm taking in a magnificent panorama: brilliant blue waters of the Bahia de Baja California, swept with frequent lacing of whitecaps thanks to the 26 knot breezes that are prevailing. There are a breathtaking number of brilliantly-colored kites dotting the air before me; this is kitesurfer nirvana, cubed.

I notice one kitesurfer in particular, somewhat slender and diminutive in his/her black wetsuit. The surfer indicated to a beach bystander that they needed a "catch" and began making their way in to shore. It wasn't until the surfer stepped out of the water that I realized it was a man clearly into his seventies.

The principle enlightenment that R and I have gained since getting acquainted with the El Sargento community is how many middle-aged and senior citizen kitesurfers there are. And they're having the time of their lives.

Part of my mission this trip is to reflect, redfine, update my style, skills and "brand" and this makes it all the more reassuring to know that you should never ever ever second-guess anyone on the basis of their age.

Now if you'll excuse me I've got another chapter on jQuery to finish.

DESIGN AT A CROSSROADS

This was a tailor-made antidote to the events of the previous post: An inspiring and thought-provoking article by Cameron Koczon on how "design" is shaping up to experience an era of unprecedented influence on business products and communications, if not life itself. But only if the design community meets the challenges therein.

The key is to elevate the design process to the level of a company or product's very DNA.

It's a fascinating article that ought to be a cover story on Business Week.

IN WHICH I OFFER CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM ON ASKING DESIGNERS TO WORK FOR FREE, MAKE PEOPLE UNHAPPY

This morning, I received a Meetup.com message for the Creative Suite San Jose group this morning inviting volunteers to do Photoshop work at the US Figure Skating championship. Here's what it said:

"The US Figure Skating Competition is in need of a few people who are skilled with Photoshop, to help with retouching photos at next week's competition.

PLEASE ONLY RESPOND IF YOU ARE SKILLED WITH PHOTOSHOP. THIS IS NOT A LEARNING POSITION. THEY NEED PEOPLE WHO KNOW THEIR WAY AROUND PHOTOSHOP. There will be computers on hand loaded with PS CS2 (I have not control over that).

Great resume builder, good experience and should be interesting work!"

I moved on down through my inbox, but the email stuck in my craw. "Wait a minute," I kept thinking, "since when is the US Figure Skating Agency (or whatever they're called) too poor to afford at least $20 an hour for this?"

Finally, I sat down and typed this very carefully-worded email to the group moderator:

"Hi,

I'm excited to begin membership in this group. I do, however, feel compelled to respond to this message as it troubles me that we are perhaps assisting in promoting "free labor" to an entity that (I would think) certainly has at least a modest budget and more likely, a healthy one.

There is a preponderance of solicitations out there right now that ask for design and graphic services for "resume-building" or "portfolio-building" ... some are more legitimate than others (public service, or a one person startup) but there are many others just looking to take advantage of young talent and pay nothing.

It would be different if this were an internship, where the individual actually gains learning in exchange for their effort. But the message states it's not a learning position.

Please consider this and let me know your thoughts, thanks. I am concerned we may be propagating a bad message to new artists: that they need to give their work away for a line item on their resume.

Cheers,

Stephanie Lucas"

I was expecting to get an answer somewhere along the lines of, "Dear Stephanie, Thanks for your feedback. We're going to see how other group members feel about this, bla bla" or "Dear Stephanie, good point, bla bla"...

Well, instead, I received a terse email response (with no greeting/salutation niceties I might add) explaining that she was "helping a colleague at Adobe with this," and that if I didn't care to participate that that was my choice, that she was not promoting "free work," and that "In the three years this group has been run, this is the first time I have asked for volunteers."

Helping a colleague..what does that have to do with any of my points? Did she even read my email? And how in the world was the message she sent to the group not "promoting free work"?

My personal views on this are pretty well expressed in my email to her so I won't belabor them. But suffice it to say that until people speak up about this kind of stuff it's going to keep on happening, and worse, kids are going to think it's normal if it comes from a vaunted company like Adobe.

And as a group moderator, I'd certainly expect someone to have thicker skin than this. Anyone who is paying any attention to trends in the graphic design market right now, has to know that anything that smacks of "crowdsourcing" is going to spur controversy, and much of it rightly so.

Your thoughts?