Humor
Video: Vendor/Client Relationships
Special thanks to Ryan Weber from Radiant Photography for sharing this video developed by Scofield Editorial. It’s painfully relevant in 2009. I couldn’t have demonstrated this practice any better. It’s basically robbery, and it happens to creatives all the time.
AIGA | Aquent Survey of Design Salaries - reviewed.
I gathered my mail tonight and saw that my annual AIGA | Aquent Survey of Design Salaries 2009 arrived. I rolled my eyes and thought to myself, “Great, just what Las Vegas creatives need: a reminder of how much money everyone left with a job in our profession is making.” From my involvement in a various creative organizations here in Sin City, I can tell you that we have a pretty bitter bunch here “in times like these,” since the design, print and advertising industries have been dragged through the mud over the last year and most are still wallowing in it, collecting unemployment checks, bidding against craigslist, or packing their boxes and moving back to wherever they came from in hopes for a new start. (I read today that the Venetian & Palazzo laid off 200 more employees - in the last 3 days).
You might be able to tell, but since I first saw one, back in 1998-ish, I haven’t been a big fan of this Design Survey.* But check this out: I’m going to recommend that every creative who reads this gets their hands on this publication. The first 15 pages of this document are freakin’ priceless. Kudos to each of the ten senior creatives who share their advice on what the heck creatives should be doing right now. Some are very Dad-like: “Adjust your expenses,” “Be stingy with your money,” and “Be broadly talented” - but some are absolutely brilliant! There’s something relevant to everyone in each essay. To my dismay, more than one said “hunker down” - which has replaced “times like these” as my new most hated catch phrase. It’s so G.W. Bush.
* Look, AIGA and Aquent, it’s nothing personal, it’s just that the cities I have resided in over the last decade are not fairly represented in the survey - Cheyenne, Denver and Las Vegas. These were or are currently lumped into vague “Mountain and Pacific” categories. This survey, our organizations and publications all do their best to impersonate the antiquated Electoral College. Huh, you say? That is, they ignore and discredit creatives from small cities and rural areas. Anyone can tell you that salaries in Las Vegas don’t resemble the same positions in L.A., San Francisco or Seattle. Never has, never will. I will urge my local AIGA chapter to push for better representation for the 2010 survey. Let me know if you need names & numbers.
Black Diamond Digital Product Samples
You can see some of these in the Black Diamond Digital portfolio galleries, but recently, there have been a few inquiries into what type of products I shoot, and how they turn out, so here are some recent samples for your viewing enjoyment.
Give me a call to set up a product session anytime.
So this is the guy responsible…
Let’s face it, there are tons of really, really great uses for the typeface Comic Sans. OK, make that two. Snackers convenience stores, and The Simpsons. Everyone else: RESIST the urge to emulate every secretary with a PC and an itch to be creative and/or witty and just stay away!
Today I discovered a really interesting article by Emily Steel from the Wall Street Journal about the typographer who created Comic Sans. “Vincent Connare designed the ubiquitous, bubbly Comic Sans typeface, but he sympathizes with the world-wide movement to ban it.”
Thankfully, the guy has a sense of humor. Check out the article in the Wall Street Journal. And please - I beg you - don’t use it. Just don’t. While you’re at it, you may want to steer clear of Copperplate Gothic and Papyrus, too. You run the very serious risk of finding yourself wearing flannel, sportin’ a mullet, or rockin’ some Oakley frogskins with a walkman in tow. It’s just not worth it.
DIALOGUE: A big fat success!
Special thanks to the creatives who joined us at last night’s DIALOGUE event at our studio. We had a great turnout, and unbelieveably great conversations. I got tremendously positive feedback from several of you! Here are just a few topics that were covered, in no particular order…
1. Social media pros/cons - facebook, twitter, myspace, etc. - Special thanks to Hernan (The Construct Creative), whose impromptu Twitter intro was really cool. You should be on their payroll, Hernan. Nice job. We talked about the launch of R+W-live.com for their new “siteless site” that takes advantage of real-time social networking under the skin of their own site. Pretty cool concept.
2. Spec work and crowdsourcing - I’m pretty passionate about this topic, and I talked to some creatives who are participating in some of the online spec sites. I can see their point, but I still think it’s ruining the graphic design industry, and the PR behind the sites peddling spec work is nauseating.
3. Membership Organizations - pros/cons. Some big fans, some not so much. I’m an AIGA member, and I fielded several questions that I’ll have to forward to the local board of directors, because I’m unable to answer any of them. AdFed was not represented last night, but the Addy Awards are coming up in a couple weeks, and it was discussed. IABC had some folks there, and we talked about the several Bronze Quill Awards Victor and the gang at eurie recently earned. Congratulations to the gang across the hall for that. Las Vegas Graphics Group and a few other Meetup groups and Yahoo User Groups were strongly represented, and brought some great folks. UNLV’s SAGA students came by, and it was a great pleasure for me to speak with some of the near-grads who are the future of our industry. I’ll be looking at some of their portfolios in the coming weeks.
4. Myself, Krystal Hosmer (Spark Creative) and Martin Lapid (Pixel Pusher Media) plugged our upcoming UNLV Continuing Education Classes coming up this summer, and we were all glad to see that they all got considerable interest. More details on that next week.
5. Lots of buzz about who’s hiring and who’s laying off creatives.
6. Awesome impromptu showcase by the Rowlands from S2 and their insanely awesome fine art duplication services using 8×10 photography and high-end inkjet processing. Very impressive!
7. Third Thursday is coming up in Henderson. Thanks to photographer Nicky Watts for representing - and for bringing by some killer sweets!
8. Many of us felt that the event was a success, so much of the later part of the evening was spent discussing what’s next for the DIALOGUE events. Nothing is set yet, but I’ll be posting details on this blog and via Twitter. We’re going to build off the momentum and keep the “dialogue” going.
The plan was to connect, talk some shop and to fuel the fire of area creatives. I think collectively, we did that. Those who attended last night have my sincere thanks for being a part of a pretty special evening.
Thank you,
Nate
Twitter: @blackdmddigital
- I'm moving an old #wordpress blog to a new design. Y'know when something seems too easy? 2009-07-30
- You never realize how much you use your thumbs until you accidentally shove a flatblade screwdriver thru one. iPhone hell! 2009-07-30
- RT @wax_fm: You've really got to get Morphine Yes on vinyl http://bit.ly/lptja yes! Bootleg Detroit, too. But where? 2009-07-29
- YES! Thank you! RT @andrewhyde:the @crowdspring legacy "equivalent to 41+ yrss of unpaid design time." http://bit.ly/tEYJt 2009-07-28
- Today I just finished a 99 ft. fence graphic. Those are fun to design. Sort of a 3-panel billboard. Important to keep it short & sweet 2009-07-28
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