No Posers Part 2

Looking for a relitively quick (49 pages) but super cool and uplifting inspirational read?

Well then, meet Hugh MacLeod, an advertising executive and popular blogger with a flair for the creative, as he gives his 26 tried-and-true tips for being truly creative. Each point illustrated by a cartoon drawn by the author himself.

If you've ever felt the draw to do something creative but just haven't been able to pull it together, you'll love this manifesto.

Here's a little sample of Hugh's How to Be Creative which can be found in the handy PDF format from the smart folks over at one of my favorite blogs, Change This.


Good ideas alter the power balance in relationships, that's why good ideas are always initially resisted.

With business colleagues, it’s even worse. They’re used to dealing with you in a certain way. They’re used to having a certain level of control over the relationship. And they want whatever makes them more prosperous. Sure, they might prefer it if you prosper as well, but that’s not their top priority.

If your idea is so good that it changes your dynamic enough to where you need them less or, God forbid, THE MARKET needs them less, then they’re going to resist your idea every chance they can.

Again, that’s human nature. Good ideas alter the power balance in relationships, that is why good ideas are always initially resisted.

Good ideas come with a heavy burden. Which is why so few people have them. So few people can handle it.

Nice.

That's Right,

HMK

Hugh MacLeod is a brand consultant, copywriter and cartoonist. Born in America but educated in the UK, he has spent most of his life shuttling between the two countries. He started out in straight TV advertising writing in the early 90s but with the advent of new media it evolved into new brand thinking and cultural transformation. Check out his website, Gaping Void.

Awesome Billboard Concept

Very cool. I'd love to see the installation specs...

Agency: Contract Advertising, Mumbai, India.

That's Right,

HMK

London 2012 Olympics Logo

Of the 3178 comments (so far) from the BBC.co.uk site regarding the London 2012 Olympics Logo, here are a few of my favorites:

"Who the hell is supposed to be inspired by this load of old twaddle!?"

"I work in the advertising field, and have seen some pretty bad concepts in my time, but this one takes the biscuit."

"Looks like a cross between underpass graffiti and a Sex Pistols album."

"It looks like a broken swastika"

"Oh dear. Things aren't going well at all, are they?"

'I have seen pools of vomit on Undergound platforms which are more creative, artistic and representative of the city of London."

"This is a really disappointing logo, it is utterly uninspiring and says nothing."

"As soon as i read the headline "the 2012 logo revieled", as said.. I bet it's ****. What a coincedence..."

"argh, my eyes. the burning. argh."

"Bin it!"

And for the record, it cost the people of the UK £400,000.00 or 797,459.31 U.S.


Dang, and I thought the Valero logo was uninspired, dated and flat out lame...

That's Right,

HMK

Apple iPhone: June 29th!

That's Right!

HMK

...for some unknown reason, this kinda crap is way more funny when it's not clogging my email... And I'm thinking the beer might have something to do with it too...

LOL Cat

Passing The Torch

This is an old friend of mine, Phillip Wellman, from James Madison High School in San Antonio.

Back then, I was considered the crazy wild one. I freaked Phillip out once during our senior year by chugging a six pack while we sat at a red light on our way to a party.

We were both 18, legal at the time.

Well, Phillip, congratulations!

As the above video proves, You are the new King!

That's Right,

HMK

FYI: Wellman, 44, is in his first year as manager for the Class AA team. He also was with the Braves from 1988-91, then rejoined the organization in 2004 as the manager of the short-season Danville Braves.

Inspiring Slideshows

Anyone that's been to my Tiki Room, casa or office knows that I'm pretty much a freak when it comes to visual stimuli. To me, it's all subliminal research that keeps my life and my job interesting. The juxtaposition of random images and organized chaos along with equally eclectic audio, sounds and music never fail to create something entirely fresh, new and sometimes surprisingly ironic.


I find this process to be a great tool for brainstorming alone, even better with colleagues and as it turns out, it's a wickedly hip and super fun experience for all during open houses, dog & pony shows or just about any festive gathering in general.

For the past 8 years or so, on any given day, I've typically got either vintage beer commercials, 50's drive in movie previews or a cheesey monster movie on the big screen (sound off and iTunes set to super shuffle) along with digital slideshows of collections I've been compiling for close to 20 years that range from found type, old labels and record covers to garbage, Bauhaus images, logos and matchbook covers.


And here's something cool to know - Flickr, the amazing photo site, has recently updated it's slideshow feature that's awesome for doing almost all of the above via user created pools and groups. I belong to a couple of these groups and thought this would be a perfect time to share those and a few more of my favorite collections to give you an idea of just how fun research can be - enjoy!

To get the full gist of the above you might want to download one of my podcasts from the HMK Mystery Stream. It also works just fine with nothing on but in the winter it can be a chilly experience.

Go to town!

Typography & Lettering

Typography Pool

Design Disease

Retro Eye Candy

Eerie Publications

Retro Pulp Covers

And as always, the comment button is below so feel free to share your comments with everyone. After all, that's what this is all about, right?

That's Right,

HMK

Go Spurs Go!

Yeah, the Jazz Truly Blue It.

Last night my San Antonio Spurs clinched the Western Conference Finals by blowing away the Utah Jazz 109-84 in game 5, earning their fourth trip to the NBA Finals!

It's the Curse of the Mailman!

That's Right,

HMK

The Latest: HMK in Logo Lounge 3 & 4!

The new Logo Lounge 3 book is officially out and I'm proud to announce that it features 12 of my logos!

And this just in - I also just found out they've just chosen 6 more for Logo Lounge 4 which will be out early next year!

You can buy Logo Lounge 3 HERE, and no, I'm not making a ding dang dime from the sale of this book, but I do recommend it highly !

Or, when you hire me for a project I'll buy you your very own personal copy and increase the odds of your company's logo being featured in a future Logo Lounge!

Peace and Go Spurs!,

HMK

Nix Realty

Here's the final, approved version of the Nix Realty logo I just finshed.

Can't wait to start on the site!

That's Right,

HMK

Dove Evolution

No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted...

That's Right,

HMK

Kapitaal

Relax and take a nice ambient little stroll through the world of type courtesy of Smack Studios: Kapitaal




The audio totally completes it for me.

That's Right,

HMK

Mitten

More like smitten - I love this! There's nothing like watching a movie on a rainy day! Check out this sweet little 10 minute film: Vareshka/Варежка (Mitten)

Made in 1967 for the Russian film house Soyuzmultfilm by Roman Kachanov.

And if you want more ultra sweetness with a puppy theme you dig this earlier post:
Dog Visit.

Have a great weekend!

That's Right,

HMK


Thanks to Will Kane.

Cult of iPod Book

Wow. I'm both honored and excited to have a double page spread of my HMK iPod Speakers featured in Leander Kahney's award winning best seller The Cult Of iPod Book, now in it's second printing.

Leander's also an editor at Wired Magazine - check out his awesome Cult Of Mac Blog.



There's more pictures and ordering info here: HMK iPod Speakers.

And, if you're into music and all things audio, you just might enjoy my weekly podcast, the HMK Mystery Stream.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks Leander!

New Directions Book Covers

I have to agree with Hollis Duncan and Michael Beirut, the Alvin Lustig archive is truly one of the best on the web.

Do yourself a favor - take a little creative side trip and check out their awesome collection of New Directions book covers.

That's Right,

HMK

Myth Understanding

Myth Understanding

It's essential to work 60 hour weeks, constantly hire employees and add clients, and fix major problems by yourself. True or false?

Most business owners and entrepreneurs are convinced that in order to succeed, they must work extremely long hours. And that may be true, particularly during startup. But at established companies, executives working night and day may be unwise financially and socially, according to a survey released last month by Schwab Institutional, a division of Charles Schwab & Co..

What are some of those myths?

Well, the first is that every business problem can be solved if the owners and employees simply work longer hours. But what the study showed is that increased hours don't necessarily result in increased productivity. This is a problem for small business owners who think they won't succeed if they're not in the office constantly, and for those who evaluate their employees based on hours worked, instead of performance results.

Read about some of the other myths over at BusinessWeek

I could never understand the concept of the 9:00 am "Face Time" simply to fill up the office to create the illusion of a productive, successful and busy environment - just in case anybody's looking or a client might come by.

God forbid that at times, some employees might be off-site researching or fine tuning an important aspect of an account or catching up on some well deserved rest time after working late. Why it's more important to look productive that to actually be productive - I just don't get it. And the "team player" smokescreen does absolutely nothing to help the client other than persuade them to eventually go somewhere else because the deliverables they're receiving are less than stellar and nothing like what was promised during the initial dog and pony show.

Living the lie is boring, exhausting, and a waste of time, I've tried it. Playing the game for a paycheck made me lazy and my work boring and predictable but it was safe (for a while). That is until one day you ask yourself why you do what you do for a living and realize it's simply a half-ass interpretation of your initial aspirations. Living your life and truly being involved with your clients and folks you work with is so much more satisfying and real, not to mention it's a heck of alot more rewarding and fun.

I used to think that the only way I'd be really happy and successful would be by working on big, high profile accounts with lots of exposure and visibility only to find that what really makes me happy is having the luxury to work with people I not only trust, respect and admire, but people that I really like and want to work with and truly enjoy as human beings.

Like the song says - "What's gonna set you free? Look inside and you'll see".

That's Right.

HMK

Do Not Be Frightened Of Design

Here's an insightful interview with Paul Bennett.

He currently leads IDEO’s Consumer Experience Design Practice globally. Clients include Starbucks, Virgin, The Gap, Proctor & Gamble, HP and Pepsi.

What can other companies learn from companies like Starbucks and Apple?

Two things: one, have a very stong conviction about who your consumer really is, and spend as much time as possible out there in the real world engaging with them. I often say to my clients that their world is not the world of their consumer – they live in cublicles and boardrooms and in focus group facilities observing their consumers “behind bars” so to speak, and that is not the way to be inspired or discover new ideas.

When you see an Apple product for example, your first reaction is often “these people really get me.” Secondly, do not be frightened of design – what both Apple and Starbucks share is an innate sense of using design as a tool for really communicating their values at every possible stage of the consumers “journey” through their brand – the stores, the ads, the packaging, the product, are all designed with equal care and attention.

Not to mention the all important and often neglected ambience factor - in terms of sound and smell.

Read it all from the smart folks over at: Design & Emotion

That's Right,

HMK

form Follows Focus

The super hip Dutch magazine form (one of the first publications to go with an all lowercase masthead) has recently posted their archive of the past 50 years of design!

The best part is that there's an overview of every issue complete with full text search - translation: mucho extensive research opportunities!

Check it out: form

Enjoy!

That's Right,

HMK

Focused?

There are many small design firms out there that use phrases like this in their marketing: “We are focused on branding, print design, advertising, publicity, and interaction design.”

I, too, have fallen into this trap, but I have to stress that a list does not constitute focus. Now, there’s nothing wrong with being an interdisciplinary studio – they have advantages – but if you’re unhappy with how things are going it may be time to examine how focused your firm actually is.

Go read the rest of: Focused?

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to the smart folks over at Ideas On Ideas.

Seventy-Nine Short Essays on Design

Cool! It's finally out.

Even if you're not a design, type or culture freak you're sure to dig Michael Bierut's perspective on design.

Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design brings together the best of designer Michael Bierut's critical writing—serious or humorous, flattering or biting, but always on the mark. Bierut is widely considered the finest observer on design writing today.

Covering topics as diverse as Twyla Tharp and ITC Garamond, Bierut's intelligent and accessible texts pull design culture into crisp focus. He touches on classics, like Massimo Vignelli and the cover of The Catcher in the Rye, as well as newcomers, like McSweeney's Quarterly Concern and color-coded terrorism alert levels.

Along the way Nabakov's Pale Fire; Eero Saarinen; the paper clip; Celebration, Florida; the planet Saturn; the ClearRx pill bottle; and paper architecture all fall under his pen. His experience as a design practitioner informs his writing and gives it truth. In Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design, designers and nondesigners alike can share and revel in his insights.

Michael Bierut is also a regular over at one of my favorite sites, Design Observer.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to the smart folks at Media Bistro.

Afro Coffee

Ah, nothing better than great coffee and good design...

In the beginning it was an ordinary cafe - for coffee. But the Afro Coffee shop at Church Street in sunny Cape Town, South Africa, took it a step further and started designing a tasteful range of products around the beverage: not only beautifying the packaging design of their coffee brand Afro Coffee, but also designing the whole interior of the cafe and eventually enhancing the assortment with their own special tea brand, and fabrics - and even fashion like super cute bags with an African spirit!

Check out this great PingMag interview with the Afro Coffee member Grant Rushmere about alot more than coffee: PingMag: Afro Coffee

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to Uleshka and Verena over at PingMag

Great Advertising Makes A Lousy Product Fail Faster

Advertising Age's recent survey reminds us of the guiding philosophy that keeps a brand relevant. And yup, you guessed it, it's innovation.

Despite shifting consumer needs and wants, "Marketing must be reinvented," said ANA President-CEO Bob Liodice. "In fact, it must be continually reinvented." Reinvention, he went on to say, should be a guiding philosophy in brand building.

According to the survey, the best actions to combat brand deterioration are product innovation, refocusing marketing efforts on growth, exploring new targets, analyzing the root cause of the deterioration and completing a deep qualitative study on brand issues.

Don Sexton, a professor of business at Columbia University, said: "Sizzle alone won't do it, you have to have the steak as well. Great advertising makes a lousy product fail faster."

Read the whole thing over at Advertising Age

That's Right,

HMK

Saul Bass Titles

Check out this nice little library of Saul Bass movie titles.

I really love the fact that you can click through and get a virtual frame by frame look at these awesome gems.

Dig the Saul Bass!
That's Right,

HMK

So, What's The First Thing?

Not sure exactly what The Second Thing In The Morning is all about, but I'm really digging the type.

Oh, I get it - the Gulf News, first thing in the morning. I guess I should have had my coffee first...

Advertising Agency: Team Y&R, Dubai, UAE Typographer: Vikram Divecha.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to the kids at 2WENTY 4OUR.

Who's Your Dada?

Based on Kurt Shwitters “Thesis on Typography”, this is a meld of stop-motion and motion-graphic typography all with influences pouring in from the Dada movement. The underlying idea is that the over-use of graphical elements in a typographical piece may cause the content to become unreadable.

Some very interesting work and ideas that remind me of some my favorite design classes at the Massachusettes College of Art in Boston.

Check out the short film: Thesis on Typography

That's Right,

HMK

Thansk to the folks at Nice to Meet You