The End Of Advertising As We Know It!

A story is a thing that can get passed around. Everyone talks about story-telling as being what works and what's needed. The writer, the construction of a great story. That is what drives us to engage. We know when a great campaign gets to us. It morphs, it becomes a part of our lives. That is what a brand is. It remains with us even when the product isn't there. So why is it that the advertising industry is so slow at getting at it. Sure there are some remarkable exceptions and I am from the industry and I was once very proud of that. Once.

Lamentable was the word - the overriding opinion in the room. I was listening intently to a group (of various ages) talk about brands and advertising - what works (what doesn't) - but very interestingly talking about how stupid the marketers must think we are. Marketers still justify that their sales are directly because of their ads. Even in the face of strong arguments against that fact. A stupidly large proportion of the mush that I see passing off as marketing and communication has zero story, zero content, zero interest and zero value. Not bad huh?

The word lamentable struck me because it contains an acronym I've used a lot over the years – LMT - Lazy Media Thinking. That got me going and I scribbled away - Lazy And Mediocre Effort Nevertheless Translates As Bullshit Literally Everywhere. Sorry!

A bad idea is a bad idea. We've all experienced the derision. The rapid clicking past a pop-up - another dis-believable piece of marketing nonsense. It is still a bad idea. It succeeds in creating a groundswell of anti-attraction and eventually hate mail, even to the less sophisticated. Why are these blunt instruments getting bought by clients and who are the villains still peddling this crap! 

Actually I don't care really. I believe the advertising industry will either die or change beyond all recognition and that that will be the best thing. More opportunity as a result.

It will mean a return to smaller teams in their own niche or boutique businesses doing quality work. Much more creative work done with care and precision. Much good stuff is being done already. The fact is to get traction and work well in the current media world is to be far more smart. More creativity. The art of it all now needs to get matched by the science and physics of it all and sadly the advertising industry is at best 5% creative and 95% administrative and financial and accounting. The second part of that equation is most definitely and rapidly redefining the word overhead.

Clients now know this too.

“We’re very good at organising and collecting data now – one thing we’re not good at yet is re-presenting and humanising data, turning it into narratives and stories” - Tom Uglow, Creative Director - Google and YouTube – Europe.

I have written a bunch on this recently but when I find someone who has written what I feel better than me then why not give the guy the credit. I like what Tom says. He observes what's going down a lot like I do. I don't know him. He doesn't know me. Therefore what follows is at least a micro-zeitgeist.

Tom is the European Creative director not just of Google but also You Tube. I find it very hard to watch You Tube actually. I'm not an avid or habitual watcher of video on-line. Photographs definitely. Video's have to come highly recommended or I can skip easily. I think it's a speed of processing thing and perception of quality thing. Tom sums it neatly  -  

"Online is such a fragmented way of watching anything - infinitely more distracted - and more flighty - actively consuming but entirely fickle, not attentive to arcs, or detail or narrative. On Demand - where I carve out time and stop and actively watch. I'm looking for story, script and immersion, but not production quality. I actively want to watch a programme and I am committed to it."

100%! It certainly isn't true for everyone - but increasingly it's becoming true for many more people every day. I think as I get older I'm becoming less set in more things. I rarely watch TV but want the times I do to be very high quality and more of a special thing. A big movie, a match, a seriously high-production documentary. Mainstream entertainment on TV leaves me nauseous.

And my new mentor Tom's viewpoint? - 

"On TV - where I (rarely anymore) sit and let the TV wash over me. It's passive. Time passes really fast. I'm not engaged nor am I proactively changing the channel. I could comfortably consume QI til I die. On DVD - I am attentive to the narrative, atmosphere and nuance. But in my slippers and a hoodie. On the big screen - I am completely committed, I have physically visited a theatre and am attentive to intimate detail, I will follow complex story-lines, loops and twists and I will analyse and contrast."

Because he is a 'someone' from Google, Tom is all about the little ads that are like granular and seemingly disconnected parts. But they are so not disconnected. Again I agree with him that this is now the way all marketers should think. But many may be too lazy to put in the energy or creativity required to pull off what this means. This is why they will need to change or die.

This used to be hyped up (dressed up) as one-to-one marketing, back in the day. A perfect idea spoiled by hijackers and the usual and predictable bandwagon. Whatever. Nowadays we have a million channels and creative tools, platforms or ways to surround the 'one' and communicate with 'one'. Treat them like an idiot at your peril. Although that's how it will feel in the main and in the short-term. This new media is all about attention to detail.

Tom again - 

"I don't come from an advertising background, and the other day a prospective copywriter was patiently, (and somewhat patronisingly) explaining to me how a creative team is made of two, not three, and certainly not one, and how a copywriter and a creative should go off into a room and come up with a range of ideas backed up by visuals and copy, and then the artwork would be created from these concepts across a range of media.

Once I came round I suggested that an advertisement is like a phone call. It's an interaction where you receive some information. A phone call is just little packets of data. So why can't an advertising campaign be broken into little packets of data.

In fact better yet why can't the information be broken down into little bits (like the internet) and then shared around by, well, the internet. Like an idea. And then the next part of that is that the bits should really be the information, not an association, or implication, or a complete abstraction (e.g. Coke = Happiness. Really? wtf? it's a brown fizzy drink.)"

Making an idea into something that is (and evokes) the brand when the product isn't there is the holy crucible! But think about that. This is not straightforward. It requires society, and all your peers, trusting and knowing the thing – your product - like we know what milk does.

Tom - 

"To me a good advertising campaign is one that *is* the product, and the message. The famous Word-of-Mouth does this, but rarely does it involve your colleague standing on the table and insisting (every 15 minutes) just how much you have to go see True Grit, starring thingy, by those guys, the ones who did Fargo. It's fucking awesome. Advertising should involve small, reasonable, undemanding, unthreatening and often very brief moments in which a small amount of directly relevant information is shared, preferably in a way that is useful, timely, personal, fun and contextually relevant."

I left the Advertising Industry 15 years ago because I felt that all those around, in the sales-cycle and in our creative process - at the agency and at the client just didn't get this or if they did, they lacked the power of orchestration to be able to execute it. With some notable exceptions many still don't. It involves real energy, detail, planning and courage and that all done within earshot of the majority of people who won't agree with the approach in the first place.

Did I say tough? This stuff requires thinking. It requires skill and it requires creativity by the real definition of the word. Final word goes to Tom!

"I suggested that all campaigns should start by breaking what they want down to those pieces of information, understanding them, and then working out what they would look like in a map, or a wiki, or in a game, or sponsored links, or a fortune cookie. or on twitter. And in a bigger way how the information would behave if you got to make a video, or a banner campaign, or a poster, or had to explain it to your mum, or to the woman next door, the one with the dogs. 

And then finally how would you let that information go, how would you open-source it so that the world could take the idea and make it their own and your campaign would live for the next five years despite no media spend or new creative because people actually used that idea to break up and share their own information, maybe about something completely different.

And I suggested that when you think like that digital feels innate and obvious and easy. And that's what I think copywriters should do. It's about ways of seeing, not physics.

Posted via email from Just Thinking!

Death, Me & Creativity - Hanging Out At The Border.

A familiar and murderous paradox of agony and ecstasy hangs heavily in the air. The tumbleweed of thoughts fly by and get stuck – but only for a second - on the petrified tree of the task at hand.

Last week my specific creative challenge changed for a third time in 24 hours. The brief was the same but the space and time available to do the work altered. It became uncertain, unknown and unspecified. That may sound simple but imagine designing the Louvre but getting told halfway through that it needed to fit in your back yard.   

How to solve? What to do? How will this work? Can I find that clever fix in my stupid head? Can I do the right thing? Something that nails the challenge facing me? An idea that will work with all this uncertainty? Well can I?

Trying to be a creative person involves balance alright. Living with that dull ache of potential failure and the thrill of firing that gun. Snipers forever sitting and waiting - watching me walking the tightrope of melancholy and orgasm. At the same time the evil twins - 'ho' and 'hum' - sitting on my shoulders twiddling their thumbs - argue a while and them sum it all up for me in two words. Useless Cretin.

If you have ever had a good idea have you tried to recall how it came about? Even writing about the process of creativity baffles me. I've tried but it's not really a topic that can be explained. Developing an idea is about making all the right choices. To get to the right thing – a brilliant idea. And I've realised I don't actually enjoy explaining what I am doing or how I got there. It just gets in the way and it's the wrong thing to discuss.

What are you doing?

As it is every day riding on the plains - no matter what gun-slinging town I'm in – people are always firing off irrelevant questions about the wrong thing. Why? What and How? demand answers. I am beginning to think I am not wired to answer questions like these sometimes. Questions about the wrong thing.

I do try hard to answer everybody politely but some things quickly tip me into a kind of defensive sarcasm and derision. It's unintentional but I can lose patience very quickly amid the need for explanations. It reminds me of my pet hates – the TSA, stupidity and neediness. They don't deserve the respect of an answer. They are all about the wrong thing.

My body language is probably deeply objectionable to many people when they talk about the wrong thing - but I'm simply not interested (capable) of explaining my reasons to people anymore. It just is what it is. Get over it. 

Anyway back to the point…

I have decided to share my principles instead. If you want to ask questions about being a creative, ask me something about these. They are my principles of creativity.

Principle 1. French Kissing The Artful Dodger.

Figure out how to lie, cheat and burn the evidence. I have long held that when it comes to creativity you have to be completely happy with the idea that you may actually be a complete fraud. I'm utterly convinced that luck and practice (mixed with serious theft) are the raw materials of 'being' creative. Don't ask me how you get to learn luck.

Principle 2. Eating The Twilight Trash.

If you're not a voracious 'rat' sniffing out brain food then it's going to be hard for you. Without the primal hunger for edgy stuff that others would question then consider quitting now. The more people frown at your habit the more likely you are that you are onto something. You have to snuffle, harvest, grab, snap, graze and glimpse with equal measure. Use whatever capture tool you have to hand – but make sure you store the stuff for immediate recall. 

Principle 3. Emptiness is Your Nature.

Your normal habitat is solitude on a Sunday. Your home terrain is sparce - a cold expanse of zero. An ice field in Winter. You wander around the streets early or late - but always on your own. Definitely on your own. As you crawl emotions are shooting through thick and fast through your veins. This is bad heroin but you are good with it. When your mind is that blank and running on empty it will work on its own. You will get that nudge. - "Psst. What about glass walls?"

Principle 4. '10 Easy Steps to Creativity!' - Get the Fuck Outa Here!

No. There are no steps and it's not easy! Creativity drives me crazy. It needs to drive YOU crazy too - or it isn't real. Creative things happen in the penumbra. You will never know where the idea really came from or why. You just have to try to get the majority of conditions right. For me that means (A) Quality of Input - Trusting the source and the context you are working in. (B) Splendid Isolation - Being left alone to 'be' but in good company. (C) Coordinated Chaos - Managing the time for distraction within messy dynamics. (D) Publicly Pressured - Knowing that I'm accountable - on point for a result. Pressure is the framework. Always.

Principle 5. Be annoyingly connected to everything.

Making connections between (and amongst) weird - ostensibly unrelated stuff seems to me to be at the root of it all. That grape, those cars, this axiom, the idea of Giraffes, that political movement. That would make a great opera. If you are not making these connections then you are probably not made for the high wire. The air is a bit thinner too so make sure you fully understand the idea of Giraffe.

And…

In order to maximise the 5 Principles - stop the existing soundtrack of your life. Stop being the same person you were last week. Change yourself and your dopey habits, be different. Learn a different accent - use different words. Download new music. Change your bugbears - they define you. Get a life. Get a better camera. Write a protest song. Eat an eel. Don't remain that boring, sad unhappy idiot. Get out. Look at yourself and remember you are one day closer to death. I try. It's hard.

What did creativity do to deserve me?

Posted via email from Just Thinking!

The Instant Message Is The Media.

Scapegoat Alert!

No surprise that the media 'system' is feverishly reporting on how the leaderless Police Force (back in the UK) are failing to stay even one step ahead in the riots. 

1000's of teenage rebels without a cause but with a 'smart-phone'.

"The mad are happy, the sane ignorant; those of us stuck on the sane side of madness or the mad fringe of sanity are in a purgatorial cage." - Anonymous  

Telco's and Device manufacturers the world over are probably laughing all the way to the broken bank. They couldn't have paid for this amount of promotion. Priceless! 

You can hear the sound of countless 'groups', 'lists' and Sid Vicious (Google+) 'circles' being clicked - then split seconds later angry hordes of tech savvy, smart-phone wielding 'hoodies' hell-bent on tearing up their own 'hoods are mobilised. At the same time PC plods around with out-dated technology – 'systems' built for far quieter times wondering WTF.

Designed to cope with more sedate times, the police operate a system that teeters comfortably on the precipice. Nervously observing a low bandwidth - mostly obedient public living within a simmering, variously sick and certainly cynical system - that doesn't really give a damn.

Now everyone is blaming this on their favourite issue.

That we are now shocked to find that the young people are up fo it! - looting the shops - pretty pissed off with their lot - no services, quality of life, parents who care or futures - the shock is that it's a shock! What do we expect in such a stupid self serving system.

IM - A system of Instant Messaging.

Yep. - 'Get down here - set fire to the Town Hall and bag some cool MP3 players - right now please.' I'm able to report that I have no idea how they would actually phrase the command.

150 people on your list multiplied by 1000's, then 1000's more - all eager and bored recipients. All that energy in pursuit of a quick hit. This is a system that works. It knows its function. It's designed perfectly to do what it has done.

Where is the surprise in all this - this unrest within the system of society? That it didn't happen sooner? This has been coming for quite some time. Well before 2008 but that was certainly the big catalyst.

As George Friedman suggests - "After 2008 a sense emerged that the financial elite was either stupid or dishonest or both. The idea was that the financial elite had violated all principles of fiduciary, social and moral responsibility in seeking its own personal gain at the expense of society as a whole."

I doubt whether the people on the streets of London are complaining about the recent demise of their Sunday paper, nor the sovereign debt crisis - they are simply having a laff at the expense of a now underfunded Police Force. But systems are always subject to insidious shock. Always.

No question either that we ain't seen nothing yet. It's all very much a foretaste of things to come. All the intertwined and self-serving systems, for the benefit of the 'elites' of business, politics and other big systems now find themselves on very rocky territory indeed.

Do they get it though? And what are 'we' doing?

Where is the vital dialog taking place? Is the truth being drowned out by talk of Blackberry's Instant Fucking Messenger System? Just another way of diverting us from talking about the bloodsucking systems that we have to live within to the benefit of these 'elites'? A few days ago the Murdoch's were an elite, as was Gaddafi, Bashar al Assad, Laurent GBagbo - days ago.

Profit From Gloom or Prophet Of Doom?

Is anyone surprised by the riots and weekly diet of doom and gloom in the systems? - Really? I'm not and an I doubt those of you who are bothering to read this. Given the intense and cynical conditioning we've been subjected to for years within a (any) Nations system I am continually surprised this hasn't all kicked off earlier.

Unless you are lucky and are borne into money you are -

1. In a crap shoot that requires either courage and determination and a huge slice of luck or -
2. Have great parents who know how to keep you safe, courage and determination and a huge slice of luck.

The system isn't on your side unless you are buying into the systems money machine.

It's an economic machine designed to keep the Nation going and you are a cog. 

Unless you conform to playing nicely and living the lie. Unless you sign up to the tacky celebritized world machine. Unless you are prepared to turn a blind eye to the minority of scum bags laughing all the way to their own banks or the corrupt politicians and business people who are keeping it all in place anyway.

The issue has to be what takes the place of the system as we know it? We can see the alternatives in the extremists and terrorists. Not much fun going there right? So where is the caped crusader, the masked man - the new Robin(s) of the Hood.

This is probably the biggest question and fear for any thinking human. Because there is no WE - we are are not represented other than in our small communities - by ourselves. There is no grand system that represents a fair alternative the sewage and rat infested system we live amongst. The system we live within knows this and tries to defend itself but as we can see it is perilously close to tipping.

"The Police Are Outnumbered and are giving up." - Twitterer.

Just different rats prepared to become a new form of elite. Is that true? Well if it's worth putting all our collective brain power into one thing it would be hard to imagine anything more vital at this critical time.

A final Instant Message:

"The real problem is that, while the challenge to the elites goes on, the profound differences in the challengers make an alternative political elite difficult to imagine." - George Friedman  

Posted via email from Just Thinking!

Pretty Awful!

Awarding a place the title of 'Nations Prettiest Village' is the kiss of death.

I'm sorry - here's a rant!

I recently drove through one of the most stunning villages on the planet. A lofty spectacle, a jewel in a beautiful land.

An impressive 14th Century castle breaks into view as I round yet another mountain hairpin. You begin to make out the scale of it and then marvel at how it could possibly hold onto its perch. Part miracle, part magnificent ostentation - all hard work.

There it is high above its very own village - built impossibly by hand straight from the rock. As we all like to say (and sadly most likely true) - 'We just couldn't make one of those these days!'

The indescribable impressiveness of it all stays - but thankfully us humans come and go.

And so it remains 700 years later looking down on its precious, ornate houses where servants and merchants once lived. In its glory days this place was the focal point of trade for miles around.

As if to underline its impeccable positioning there is a mighty teeming, steaming river bending around its base.

The massive rocky edifice with its impeccable testimony to bygone times is a powerful picture. Dark green trees and the baking hot sun filling in the rest.

Inglorious Basterds.

As I drew closer I began to recoil with horror. I can't recall being as sickened by a sight quite so much as this. The disparity of the place and the cynical stupid commercialisation of it. Just plain wrong.

The village and humanity have both paid a high price in my mind. Who is responsible for this?

I'm sure I had been here years before so maybe that's what bought on the nausea. I couldn't get away fast enough. Boiling oil, a storm of arrows and cannon shot would not have made my retreat any speedier.

Apart from there being no place to damn well park, without paying large sums, (that turned out to be a plus) there seemed to have congregated a type of humanity, so incongruous to the idea and tradition of the place, that I'm still shocked as I write about it days later.

Even the 700 year old castle seemed to be shrugging its ramparts at what was going on down here.

The expensive shops and tacky (and expensive) restaurants that lined the river all competed to sell the same junk. Plastic beach-balls, cheap postcards, every gaudy colored children's fishing net you could envision, over-priced pots and figurines of donkeys with breasts - made in China. Souvenir shop upon bloody souvenir shop! Queues outside every one. I cannot do justice to putting into language the disgraceful tack on display. I was able to observe this diabolical spectacle as I was forced to crawl through the village in what was now a 30 minute tailback.

This is so not progress.

This jam was caused by thousands of super-sized tattoo bearing '7 Children Families' presumably up for a wander from their despicable trailer park. A trailer park that had hijacked (officially it would appear) a sleepy farmers meadow by the side of the river. Redefining the word blight.

These lager bearing hordes were now making their way to a bizarre fun-fair! In the midst of all this medieval beauty a violently loud-musicked, neon-lighted series of horror 'attractions' was dragging them in. All of this vile pointlessness in what used to be a reasonably useful car park under shady trees.  

The smell was all too memorable. A deeply unpleasant mixture of fake-tan, Chanel V0.5, turd-burgers and cheap cigarettes.

The river itself hasn't got away with it either. Hourly trips on fake pirate ships. The jostling of hundreds of canoes painted bright lemon yellow and angry red - everyone fighting to ram each other - to capsize and drown an unsuspecting enemy - each canoe kitted out with three or four screaming, oar-flailing obnoxious sun-burned fat kids with headphones - their ugly fat faces badly grease-painted.

It truly was a Lord Of The Flies moment!

I just can't imagine where 'civilisation' goes from here but I am either too old or still not ready for dealing with what we are becoming as a society.

Sorry Castle. Sorry Village.

Posted via email from Just Thinking!

Don't!

Francisco Perez : Acido Lisergico

Don't you think we should be in better shape by now - with all our so called civilisation?

• Don't we deserve more honesty from those in power? Honesty about the system that controls us? The dirty (no-longer) secrets of how the system works to the advantage of a few?
• Don't you think the mountains of plastic in the ocean are big enough now?
• Don't you think it's time we told the trash TV channels that we don't want to turn our kids minds to mush anymore?
• Don't you think it's time we asked the really tough questions - encouraged the real debate? EG: Too many people on the planet? Who actually cares whether products are killing us - the food that causes obesity - the entertainment that causes school shootings? Don't we get it yet? - it's only about the economics? Why do we keep the sick - who should have died - from dying?
• Don't you worry that all the things that individually frustrate you has literally no recourse - nobody's listening?
• Don't you think the politicians would be braver now - and actually talk the truth - since they are mostly outed as liars?
• Don't you think it's a shame we can't speak about the massive disasters that the last 2000 years following religion has caused and continues to cause?

Don't you think? Or Don't you care!

From the League of 'Democratization Of Next Thinking!' (Don't Ever Abbreviate Dialogue)

Posted via email from Just Thinking!

iCloudius - Entering an Arena near you very soon!

Imagine The Power. 

You get to kill millions of 'Subjects' with a single decision. You choose to 'Save' only those who serve your immediate need. 'Delete' or 'Trash' those that displease you at a whim. No Attachment. The joy of slashing burdensome systems at the downturn of your stubby thumb! No-one dare stop you, indeed you will be encouraged! It is blood-curdlingly good.

Like all distant nieces, cousins and nephews of Caligula you can now jive with equivalent power. 

Emperor of all you curate! iClaudius we praise thee. You bring awesome freedom to each of our crusades. 

It will be a great feeling (and one I thought impossible to repeat) some 2000 all bar 30 years on! Crazy revolutions on top of crazy revolutions further along and nothing short of Epoch making. Every bit as meaningful for the citizens of today as the sinew extracting excitement of the earlier Emperor!

As well as conquering much of England - with only 40,000 troops – the Big 'C' did his bit for the world by building Roads, Canals and Highways (taking a few souls with him as he went) as is Cupertino Steve. With the same number of people he has put Roads, Canals and Highways in the sky just so that we can move all our shizzle around.

So alright, I can't wait, my thumb is up. (Yes I know it used to be down! - you crazee history buffs.) Whatevs!!

Just imagine our new found 'Power' and domination! 

The whole back catalog of The Beatles, Neil Young or The Stones just waiting on your prompt. Ready to enter the amphitheatre and perform whenever the mood takes you! AND on all your devices. John Mayer, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Mozart or Massive Attack's bootlegs - no problem - unrestricted playlists. 

DJ Konka, Seasick Steve - mixed with Neko and all your Album Art - wherever! Check! 

And that’s cool because typically these are not on your 'iThing' because you are too cool and currently packing Ed Sheerin, Mount Kimbie and the Fi-Tones - 'Cos you can right? - Well in 'Cloud Future Land' you can juggle all this like Anthony Gatto!

Just think! All those images you've got - that you know one day (yeah right) you would sort into 'Drunk', 'Not So Drunk', 'Odd', 'Whacky' and 'NSFW" - well now an App will automatically take the whole lot and give you them in beautiful arrangements that are designed - in various degrees of - 'breathtakingawayness'.

Making you feel ever so clever. It's all sorted out for you!

But wait! Surely the iCloud has more to offer! You bet.

Although not immediately - we can expect a whole new array of lighter-weight devices - devoid of defunct storage devices. Apps that bring complete archives of everything and anything from any source right into your Ray Bans.

But the really big thing has to be this - the seamless juxtaposition of 'ALL YOUR STUFF' and all your 'platforms' that manage 'ALL YOUR CONNECTIONS'. 

If you like me are totally ridiculous when it comes to collections of things that 'will-come-in-handy-one-day' then that day is surely near. Don't expect it immediately but the perfect 'App' that arranges things you already own and know in a brilliant display. Alongside whoever you want to connect with. The world if you like. Things that are no longer strewn all over sprawling folders, devices, hard drives and 'other' computers! Arriving at an App Store near you very soon!

Fancy That Emperor? Persecution of the PC's anyone? Lugula. Lugula. Thumbs UP!!!

You can hear the roars of approval from the Clouds already!

Posted via email from Just Thinking!

Drawn To Wild. Part THREE

Graphic Riffing.

OK my final ode to Andrzej Klimowski. Promise! 

A short riff with him via selected paragraphs from his book 'On Illustration'. http://oberonbooks.com/on-illustration.html I set out to find 47 pieces of brilliance from his writings. Not difficult but I've run out of time - you will understand why 47 pieces in a second.

AK - "Drawing is perhaps the most immediate medium through which an idea can be articulated. Illustration takes drawing into the narrative realm."

JC - Graffiti is societies release from social absurdity and a chance at personal expression. The numbing persecution of society and the corresponding frustration - perfectly orchestrated by the minds eye - leads to an unleashing of the natural forces of representation. 

AK - "The time within which an illustrator is given to respond to a message or subject is short. It's dramatically referred to as a deadline. Yet the speedy response to interpreting a subject is part of the quality and value of a good illustration. It should look spontaneous, fresh and vital. This is where its vibrancy and intelligence lies. And this, perhaps, is what the audience does not see nor fully appreciate. 

JC - One big buzz for the creative mind is time pressure. Like a sign saying 'Do Not Cross' - that you have to cross, time is a Ninja Warrior with one of those unbreakable swords that you know will break. It is an enemy as long as it stops you thinking and then it is your buddy that flies you through space to hero-dom. Only as long as the work is pure genius.

AK - "They may think that the illustrators dexterity is a pre-ordained talent. This is a misunderstanding. Spontaneity, dexterity and intelligence come with practice, just like the musician continually playing and practicing on his instrument. The musician also needs a good composer and an illustrator's art can only flourish when there is an intelligent and visionary client."

JC - Any audience is a part of the act. The two cannot function apart. Drawing for my own benefit has never been my thing. I've always done it because it's how I figure stuff but working with the audience puts it on fire. There is no feeling to match the creation of peoples inner thoughts - in front of them - within the gift of their own eyes.

My Very Own AK-47 in a safety case in my office.

Posted via email from Just Thinking!

Drawn To Be Wild. Part TWO

Where do your ideas come from Andrzej?

AK - "Well I was walking down Queens Gate in Kensington when I noticed an unusually tall and slender young woman walking a few yards ahead of me. Her sprightly bobbing ponytails could be mistaken for antennae and I could imagine translucent wings unfolding from her rucksack. I quickened my step but before I could draw level to her, she turned and climbed a few steps entering a building. There was a sign on the door. It read: 'The London Institute of Entymology.' Sometimes life comes up with a ready made scenario; the imagination fills in the rest.'"

JC - Always looking around - and often feeling really clumsy by not seeing - I hate to admit to myself that I just missed the thing. I have always loved photography but know I miss the best shots by a few seconds. I don't see the shot until I have re-calculated a split second late - having just seen the shot when it has gone. Drawing can be like that. A big mark suggests a yet better mark but you would not have known it before.

AK - "Illustration lies somewhere between graphic design and painting. Its context is graphic design. An illustrators work will find its way onto a newspapers page, into a magazine, a book, a poster, on a webpage or a television screen. It will accompany text, illuminate it, comment on it, punctuate or counterpoint it. Its function can be reflective, provocative or decorative. It enlivens visual communication."

JC - I can't read long web pages. I just can't. I need the joy of a graphic to spice it up. To add piquancy to the mood or the idea. Maybe it's a Twitter generation thing (apparently everything is…) but most texts are so turgid and repeating (and repeating) that it's given birth to the need for images again. Everywhere. PowerPoint, Newspapers. Video. Anything but long texts without pictures. And now Infographics. And now I'm beginning to seriously loathe them too! (Well, bad ones)

AK - "What Illustration shares with painting is the desire for self-expression. It expands the imagination. Illustration is a pictorial lexicon, a new grammar. It has its own formal values, its own language, its own voice."

JC - So many people I meet say they think in pictures. They do but why do so many people feel they can't draw. This often means that they can't speak in pictures so conversations seem to lack the element of story. In fact people just need to be encouraged to draw more and that way they will construct better stories. Dinner Parties would start to be enjoyable. (Well maybe)

AK - "Learning from Tomaszewski - he looked to aphorisms for his subject matter. Imagine this - depict the idea of "In unity there is strength", or the idea of a "Big Nothing" or a "Small Nothing" in a poster form."

JC - Wow! My kinda teacher! Just off to draw a piece of mind.

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Drawn To Be Wild. Part ONE

Illustrating. My Point.

"It was nightfall. I had 300k's still to go. Stretched over the blazing hot fuel tank of time whilst grabbing the handlebar of thought by the scruff of its neck. I'm sucking oxygen through my eyes to complete the picture. The storm clouds roll along over to my right keeping me in a petulant company. I know i'm flirting with a certain death if I get caught sleeping on this highway of creativity. I could now see the enemy on the hill ahead."

Nope that's not going to work. 

I like some of the images it conjurs and you are definitely still reading. It needs another picture though right?

Whether for business or pleasure most people scratch out a scribble or two to make a point. Usually it's quite an important point. A point so important that it could only be described by being drawn. Communicating what we think or want by clever words is capable of much applause. Verbal dexterity impresses me enormously but it's usually the visual that steals the show.

Drawing then is a serious responsibility.

It means making a mark. That's a choice. That carries serious risk. There are side effects - a health risk. But most of all it is a privilege - one of the most decisive acts in business. To 'draw a line' is to declare a decision. To bound a direction for a business by saying what's in and what's out of scope - it's a big step.

The skill of the person drawing becomes far more about thinking, judgement and expertise than art, flair or craft. To get both ends of that to work together though - is a real bonus because that adds to the overall idea. It is the real value of the whole calculation at a critical point in time.

I'm mad on Andrzej Klimowski at present. He is Professor of Illustration at the Royal College of Art. He's a dude. He's written much of what I think so I'm paraphrasing his stuff and then dancing with his rhythm. To jazz with the points.

AK - "Every work is a new beginning. It is a magical moment when a germ of an idea is formed. Often it is not a 'grand idea' - it can start with an anecdote, a small incident or feeling. A work can sometimes start without an idea, it can emerge when running through random images or words and making connections between them. Patterns emerge - the artist or designer gives the patterns form, creates structures that invite the spectator or reader to interpret them and give them meaning.

JC - I like to draw deliberate things. Things that evoke a reaction. I want a response. Agreement or derision - I can be happy with either. At least it makes people think. A great drawing is not about recreating a photograph. While that requires skill it can be very one dimensional and superficial. You will be depressed by the reaction it gets. Stretching peoples imagination and busting paradigms for a living is amazing.

The simple act of pen to paper is truly a mighty thing.

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Illustrating Irony

Brevity is such a wonderful idea. Irony - a close cousin. 

I suffered 45 minutes of being presented at last week. Unable to break the damned flow of the presenters schtick. Although I'm supposed to be good at it I couldn't  create a dialog with the 'presenter'. It nearly killed me. It was unpleasant. A relentless, rehearsed tirade and worse - done through a broad smile. Meanwhile I sat fuming - incapable of altering the persistent thrust of the attack. Ironic when the topic was an approach to creating powerful engagement with ones audience. Empathy. It was genuinely an assault on my senses. Maybe I was caught on a bad year. I thought I should draw how I felt.

The news is incredible right now. That’s how I felt.

The dirty little secrets of power and politics - the unravelling of media control on our lives. The diabolical (and extreme) statement in Norway. The death of the Euro. FIFA! The depravity and waste of Amy Winehouse. For me it is a visual cacophony. I have images of Lisbet Salander and dragon tattoos in my head. The work and writing of Andrzej Klimowski the only thing capable of lifting me out of my mood. My mind was on fire after reading him - making me want to shout out loud with inspired representations.

How can I put it? I want to be brief.

What should our response be? Well, on the media story "Don't write crap!". That would seem to sum it all up. Along with "Surprised about Murdoch? Really? Was it really news that our politicians are so corrupted?" On Norway. "Is there a more wicked problem than competing religious ideologies? On FIFA - "Smoking Gun?" On the collapse of Europe? - look at what actually goes on in Bruxelles in our name! And on Amy - well "RIP" Amy - we will all miss you.

Powerful engagement with one's audience or cynical exploitation of the senses? I guess I am overly sensitive to having my senses abused. There is no subtlety to that and it pains me because I draw for a living. I need empathy and brevity to get it done.

What would Andrzej draw to sum this all up?

AK - "Visualisation of intangible ideas or thoughts is a collage of notions. Clashed together from memories, suggestions and fragments of the mind. Found, archival material, springing a visual surprise on the viewer and encouraging him or her to intellectually or emotionally process the effect and arrive at a possible interpretation."

JC - I think he would find optimism and agony in some kind of embrace. The bittersweet affair of paradox. It may have a dash of eroticism - a doorway to oblivion but as the ultimate illustrator he could not fail to catch your breath with sadness woven into graphic truth.

AK - "The immediacy of drawing is what characterises good designs and illustrations. They give the impression that something is being acted out before your eyes - the energy of the drawing process still evident. I see the illustrator as a transmitter, one that receives messages and transforms them into images." 

JC - As an illustrator I am reeling from the last few weeks. All my senses have been assaulted and i'm awash with adrenaline. I have long loathed the plain truth of societies sickness and tried to put thoughts down just in my own vain attempt at reasoning it all. I want to draw my own personal Guernica for the 21st Century but I know I won't have the time. Nor would they give me the facade of the Houses Of Parliament as my ideal canvas. Facade is a funny word.

"Drawing is perhaps the most immediate medium through which an idea can be articulated. Illustration takes drawing into the narrative realm."

JC – I found out that I cannot draw without telling some truth or other. Some story. It is not possible for me to put pen to paper without a journey or conclusion of some sort. This drawing below took me 8 months. It was not a creation of brevity. It is 4 feet by 3 feet and done in a 0.4mm Rotring pen. Remember them?

AK - "The time within which an illustrator is given to respond to a message or subject is short. It's dramatically referred to as a deadline. Yet the speedy response to interpreting a subject is part of the quality and value of a good illustration. It should look spontaneous, fresh and vital. This is where its vibrancy and intelligence lies. And this, perhaps, is what the audience does not see nor fully appreciate. 

JC – It works when there is pressure. To be told I couldn't draw people was a day I will never forget. I actually don't go in for drawing 'people' that much. I prefer surreality. That didn't mean I could forget the day I put pen to paper to prove them wrong though either. That keeps me looking for things that I can't do.

AK - "They may think that the illustrators dexterity is a pre-ordained talent. This is a misunderstanding. Spontaneity, dexterity and intelligence come with practice, just like the musician continually playing and practicing on his instrument. The musician also needs a good composer and an illustrator's art can only flourish when there is an inbtelligent and visionary client."

JC – Now I do what I do. I like the tune it plays. I enjoy the sound of pen on paper. When the paper works. I create drawings a hundred times bigger than the one above in a day. That's a fresh kind of brevity. But only when the pens work! http://johncaswell.posterous.com/apple-please-make-pens I wouldn't be able to do it at all if people didn't listen and watch what was going on. That’s empathy.

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Imagine Nation.

Developing. A Photographic Memory.

Wherever I go there are people with smartphones - festoons of small high powered cameras snapping at my heels. Really. I've seen images of my heels. I studied a bit of photography at college. I've forgotten it all. I love my Leica's and also my iPhone though. They go with me almost everywhere. I never forget them.

Automatic cameras seemed to take all the craft away - they made it possible for anyone to snap a great shot. Well maybe. That's not such a bad thing but it made it less intriguing for me. It stopped me from being that bothered for a long while. Now the buzz is back.

The whole world has gone visual.

I've become hooked on photography again. 

Perhaps as much because of what it teaches me about myself as much as it is a creative thing. To me the creative part is no longer the snapping bit – it's the observing bit. Coupled with the pressure bit. And now I'm a bit worried that there is an obsessive bit. It's all about the bits these days. A bit.

Link photography to sharing (Instagram/Extragram - building a bunch of folk who seem to appreciate it) - 'say cheese' - and you have a whole new way of communicating 'you'! If that's your thing of course.

Where this goes? - who knows. What's with the shares? - who cares.

All of this has reminded me about what I notice and what I don't. And what is intriguing and valuable in the litter of everything. In fact I can easily see art in the litter. Litterally.

I've always loved graffiti. I love what it represents. To me life and looking at everything is to observe the graffiti of life. That’s how I experience my life. The wabi-sabi, the mess, the chaos, the disarray of it all. That's what make it natural and vital. That's what drives me and makes me want to grab it.

Interesting thing - noticing. It's like a drug once it grabs hold. I've noticed.

Thing is it tricks you. Did I notice something that isn't there? Something that wasn't said? Well that's something else I think. That's projection of a kind. It's dangerous. Projection is wishful noticing. Projection is a big part of photography but only when you are proud of what you have and want to show it off.

Noticing is a special skill and brings responsibility. 

To notice is in some way to judge something and if recorded faithfully then that's a good thing right? I store it in my brain in chemical pixels. What I'm noticing is that an image is a tiny record of an experience that was in my mind - I wanted to grab hold of it in case I lost that thought. Or I thought that I wanted to share my thought with people who might like it. Or I could get back to it again as if it might spur me on to something else. The literal nucleus of an idea. That one dot - a single but nuclear power. A carousel of chemi-pixels. Mercurial. Gone.

I need to be sure my photographic memory is in good shape before I'm ready to publish an idea – a shot. I need to be happy with it. I need to make really good decisions about it. It always needs more work before it meets that projector.

It's also increased what I notice in language. I think I have increased what I notice when listening or reading. The meaning of a word or phrase is also an image to me because I represent it in my mind with those crazy atoms. The pictures are in a mad orbit - and my mind always wants to pick something from them. I mix them all up.

Mixellation.

That's a whole lot of pixels! Each pixel a time-bomb of stimulation. All likely to send a surge through my visual cortex without warning.

Watch out Cloud my memory is on its way.

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News Corpse. Balance Or Compromise?

What's that sound?

It's the thud, thud of grudges and scores being settled. 

It's an unpleasant and highly predictable pounding noise. Pound. Pound. A flurry of punches. A slurry of lunches. It's the pounding of flesh. The smell of sackcloth. The crispy underfoot crackling of ashes. Rotten stinking flesh. The political parties scoring points, the competitive press scoring points over each other. Everyone jockeying for the best place to crow from after the apocalyptic meltdown of the free press.

The blogosphere/mediaverse is having a field day trying to make sense and predicting an outcome of it all.

Dual standards at dawn anyone?

Well what do I know?

Clearly a very very small amount. If anything. Most of what I believe has to be an illusion anyway. It's all all so bloody deja vu. My fixed bias and sceptical mindset defends what I know while my conscious mind tells me to chill the fuck out and learn something!

I'm in a very strange place on all this right now. Like everyone in the UK I hear the daily chatter of political parties feeding on the body of News Corp with a sickening righteousness and hideous lack of grace. But actually it's really quite refreshing. Like somebody has taken the cork out of something. And yet I also hear the chess pieces slithering in the grasping hands of the evil Murdoch Empire. May your source be with you. Until your grave. 

I live near Wapping and I can hear the Pound. Pound, Pound of it all live. (Becoming less ker-ching, ker-ching, ker–ching.)

What is actually going on in my head – what do I really make of it all?

Well of course I loathe the dumbed down society that all of this industrial and political mediocrity has created. I see society continuously and insidiously fed and watered by a cynical media - one that grows fat from the lowest common denominator of celebrity trash talk - passing off as news. All in league with each other. Literally in each others pocket-phones.

I loathe the corrupted politics of our society which we all know is bloated and protected by the turkeys who hate Christmas. I am fatigued by even discussing the unfathomably complex systems/policies/traditions that keep us locked into this abominable condition.

My own take on all this sounds cynical - even to me. And I think we ain't seen nothing yet. Maybe we never will actually see it all - but surely we all know how this goes by now. Bribery, corruption, busted, scapegoats, nod, wink - situation normal again. 

How will this all get resolved? Do we want that normal again? Will it ever be resolved in societies favor?

So. A Question Of Balance?

We will see some new dynamics to be sure. Outrage by society has been measured by the amount of noise on the wires. Twitter, Blogosphere, the Zeitgeist all up in arms. Murdoch has flown in to put sparkling water on troubled oil. The media is cowed and backing off at speed in expectation that somethings been rumbled. 

All of this to be balanced against the oh so predictable back-cloth. The so called 'we' are deeply 'disgusted' and yet oh so implicated. So after we have fed on it until we have sated our appetite for blood - it will probably all die down for a time - and then the primal urges of commercial reality will rise up again under new branding – and all of it under the name of reason. 

Will 'we' get the ultimate prize? A better society encouraged by a more intelligent press? A press less besotted by sleaze and trash and in turn driven less by 'marketers' seeking easy audiences who are (in turn(!)) attracted to read sleaze and trash alongside advertisements for their clients products (often also sleaze and trash)?

Or. A Question Of Compromise?

Will we get bored with it all and, as usual, shrug and forget - accept something somewhere in the middle. Will we just get fatigued by the feeding frenzy? Will we sigh and just let it all happen like we did with the Financial debacle of the economic crisis of 2008. (Our memory lasts 3 years?) I worry that we might. Will we get frustrated/confused by the clever language of the usual commentators? Will we be blinded by the bias and self-serving agendas of the players weaving deliberate confusion and fog back into all of this. Who will be the protector of truth in all this. Not the NOTW right?  

Making a decision seems a final thing. Making a balanced decision of this nature seems a bit far away. Making a compromise would be a massive missed opportunity. A compromise just rambles on and on – like this post.

Better the devils we know? Agitate to make it better? Hope that society wakes up and votes by not buying into any of this? So is that a question of balance or compromise?

Posted via email from Just Thinking!

I've got myself into a real Metz!

A good friend gave me an idea. Well it's her idea but I really want to steal it. I am stealing it! - 'Flash Mobs for learning.' Thanks Betty!

OK so I need a Flash Mob!

Learning is the operative word. It's an idea in its own right. We hear a lot about our individual learning styles and of course that's a big factor. We can only really ever speak personally - and for me I've never - ever considered what my learning style is. So I tried to figure it out.

Firstly I realised that I learn by trial and error, mostly error, but it's certain that unless I put my hands, eyes and attention onto the real thing, I find I haven't really learned it. I may have read the guidebook or seen the video but until I do the 'thing' - I don't think I ever really learn the thing.

So then I moved my thinking onto the difference between explicit and tacit knowledge.

Learning explicit knowledge (E.G: Reading text and diagrams in a book on how to tie your shoelaces.) is different to tacit knowledge (Actually knowing how to tie your shoelaces). The 'tool' of knowing how to tie my shoes has stood me in great stead. Now I know sheep shanks, bow-ties, windsor knots, reef knots, slip knots and nooses. Especially nooses!

Apply that idea of learning to how to use a fairly sophisticated flashgun!

A 150 page guide of explicit knowledge in 6 languages about a vast array of modes and settings, instruction and definition - not one element of which 'teaches' me what I want to know. Like really know. You know, like the key idea of how to balance the amount of light the gun produces with the available light in the room!

Learning for me is NOT to be done 'In Camera'!

Learning (for me) is the deep and meaningful application of what it is I can get to know - but in an applied and richly understood way. Practical, hands on and with someone who has been there before. Eyes and ears open. Able to interact freely with someone who doesn’t patronise me. In public if necessary.

So then I realised that I don't want a guidebook I want a coach/mentor or personal expert who can show me how it works but who I trust and probably respect too. That way I would learn. That's my learning style.

So how do we get to that level of support, teaching and learning so that I understand my new flashgun!!! 

Flashmob! Now for chrissakes!!!

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Is it possible to learn how to have ideas?

Initially let's just imagine that the idea is neither good nor bad - think about IDEA - the idea of that word even. The Idea of Idea.

Sit still and think about that for a minute. Think about what Albert said in one of the worlds best ever quotations!

“Everyone sits in the prison of his own ideas. A human being is a part of the whole called by us “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” – Albert Einstein

How do the ideas you have even happen? Whether the idea was 'to go on holiday' or crack a complex business conundrum - the idea still has to emerge. Have you ever thought where and how that happened?

The mind is still mostly unknown to us humans - so we can only really use our current language and concepts to even have this discussion. But basically it 'drags' bits of 'data' into view - into the minds eye. Ergo the more input - the more stimulus - the better chance of successful ideas. Right? Hmm. Well I'm not so sure about that.

Other factors need to be considered I think. 

The quality of that input is certainly important - but also crucial is the value and relevance we ascribe to each chunk of that data. In addition there is a curious constant - a mercurial 'dynamic-ranking' process going on. Let's call that the 'context' for our decision making.

Depending on this context there is a bias, a lens applied to the way we think. The mind then 'games' the data against its own paradigm (frame of reference). This happens in a heartbeat. Suddenly the idea is there. Half formed or less. Sometimes it can't be grasped. It's often like a dream that disappears the moment you wake. The mind will base the 'idea' on all this stuff going on. But more importantly on what it feels is missing.

So an idea being birthed has to make it quite a long way but what sparked that initial explosion, that spark to occur? To me it is the void, the gap and a given need - these factors force me to 'think' and that draws on my mind to (almost) immediately pull on the resources it has - and in so doing come up with yet more creative 'ideas'.

The question though is can this process be learned (or indeed improved) in some way? (We are all born with the ability to think)

This intrigues me so I list the principles which are important for me. I think they are vital to the seeker of better ideation. Those who want to learn. I want to see if we can add or improve the pool of idea wizards!

1. Obsessive curiosity for everything. Everything that's relevant to your field of study and everything that potentially could be. That's everything!

2. A palpable consciousness that everything you currently know is merely context for what you didn't know. And when you know something new you are prepared to re-assess everything.

3. Comfort with the antithesis. Get ready to embrace the unacceptable. Be cool with what you don't like or understand. Just because it's an alien concept to you doesn't mean there isn't a lesson in there somewhere.

4. Exercise your brain every day. Try to discipline your resident cynic, your sceptical demon, your default behaviours on certain things. Be prepared to widen your definitions on the words and phrases that you dish out every day.

5. Become conscious of your own ideation process. Try to sense when you are having an idea. The chances are it's not the right idea - yet - but if you follow it and let your mind free to explore where it went or came from then you might find a richer seam.

6. Learn to feel your brain 'thinking' - it comes from your whole body but the brain is the place all the adding up gets done.

7. Define the values that contribute to being an 'idea wizard'. Humility, Persistence, Curiosity, Humor, Eclecticism and so on... Figure out what drives your own version of these values and causes you to bring on better ideas.

8. Constant benchmarking. Ideas are a joyous thing. They are the raw material of life. They bring refreshment to conversation or solutions to the planet. Check in with them to see if you think they have value when compared to your benchmark of acceptability. Then raise it!

Any ideas?

Posted via email from Just Thinking!

Jack in london

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Mountain Unpleasant.

What's going on? Are agency people just completely stupid? Or is it just greed for the cheque coming in?

Along with those pop-up ads that are long proven to not work, are in their death throes - but are still around - the lady running Royal Mail needs a yellow card. (Soccer term for warning - one more mistake and you are off)

I shouldn't really single her out but hey. It simply serves to make my point. Royal Mail delivered 18 Million fewer letters since last year - due to e-mail – they say. (Doh!) But actually doesn't that sound like a small reduction in this day and age? I haven't sent more than a dozen letters in 10 years.

Anyway incoming mail is a totally different story and it astonishes me. The waste and stupidity of it.

Well I added up my letters having been out of the country for 2 weeks and there were 29 items. 6 were statements/bills, 8 were imploring me to sell my flat. The rest were direct mail shots from insurance companies and garden furniture manufacturers. In addition to what Royal Mail delivered there was also half a dozen dodgy ethnic style home delivery food things.

The CEO earns over £600,000 a year for running a business that delivers at least 80% rubbish through my door each week. The fact that the 80% goes directly into the trash without even being opened means that the value of the business is already way below anything sane.

So if it sank by 18 Million last year it should really be forced to sink 80% more. That should be quite some incentive for us to lobby for Direct Mail in envelopes and Robotic Call-Center sales calls to be illegal. I have disconnected my phone and thrown it into the trash too.

The same figures occur on-line with one big difference. My auto-junk filter sends them straight to the bin so I don't have to see them. No trees or precious fuel consumed, no climate impacts to speak of, no precious time wasted.

One other thought I had was to redirect all of this junk back to the folk that encourage all this. FAO The CEO. Royal Mail Group Ltd, 100 Victoria Embankment, London, EC4Y 0HQ. D'ya reckon?

--------------------------------Losing Battle?-----------------------------

Facts:

• The Group made a £39 million (2009-10: £180 million) operating profit after modernisation costs. This was primarily due to a decline in revenues, offset by a reduction in operating costs.

• Total revenues declined to £9.2 billion mainly because of a 4% fall in core mail volumes, (2009-10: £9.3 billion). The profit margin, after modernisation costs, fell from 1.9% (2009-10) to 0.4%.

• The UK Letters & Parcels and International business lost £120 million in 2010-11, (2009-10: £20 million profit). Revenue decline was mainly driven by a fall in volumes. This is just over £2 million a week.

• Profits at the Post Office declined from £33 million to £21 million as a result of lower revenues from traditional business. The Post Office is embarking on a plan over the next four years based on the Government’s confirmed funding commitment of £1.34 billion.

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