2.1) Austin Kleon
Designer, author: austinkleon.com, Austin, TX
"How to Steal Like an Artist"
- in high school inspired by Green Day Insomniac album art - collage work by Winston Smith
- as a class assignment, wrote a letter to Winston Smith (in Microsoft's ransom font) - got a handwritten, 12 page reply - changed his life
- interested in redacted newspapers - "CIA haiku" - blackout poems
- soon discovered this concept was NOT unique; previously done by:
- William Burroughs
- Brion Gysin
- Tristan Tzara
- Caleb Whiteford et al.
- nothing is original; therefore, steal everything!
- stealing has been used or endorsed by many artists:
- Pablo Picasso "Art is theft."
- David Bowie "[I'm] a tasteful thief. The only art I’ll ever study is stuff that I can steal from."
- Woody Allen
- Kurt Vonnegut
- Bob Dylan
- TS Eliot "Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal."
- Francis Ford Coppola "Ripoff everyone you meet."
- imitation is not flattery; transformation is flattery
- take what you know and share it
- learn, teach - repeat
- just keep telling yourself: it's art.
2.2) Manuel Lima
CodeAcademy.com, New York, NY
Author: Visual Complexity: Mapping Patterns of Information, The Book of Trees
"Visualization Metaphors: Unraveling the Big Picture"
- we are in a data deluge
- similar transition happened in the Middle Ages
- overhaul in book production
- cheaper printing created
- emphasis on classification and organization
- beginnings of visual communication - graphics replacing text
- search for universal language
- form vs. function - should be no distinction
- TREES = source of
- food
- medicine
- energy
- shelter/wood
- TREES = visual metaphor for
- virtues/vices
- consanguinity
- geneology
- law
- knowledge/science
- trees vs. networks - tree metaphor can no longer handle the complexity of the modern world
- the 21st century is characterized by organized complexity (Warren Weaver)
- the brain should be seen as "an orchestra" (not a series of compartments)
- humans do not conform to rigid structures
- tree = spider = centralized - can be destabilized by removing source
- web = starfish = decentralized - any part removed only grows back
- value of multiple viewpoints (Thirty-Six View of Mount Fuji)
- networks/"networkism" - new visual trend/meme - seen in art - emerging as a zeitgeist
2.3) Chris Dixon
Design Director, Vanity Fair, New York NY
"Telling Stories with Words and Pictures"
- job at Adbusters - learned through trial and error, experimentation, flow and pace of a magazine is like a film
- job at New York Times - learned about quick turnarounds (9/11)
- job at New York Magazine - learned about making photographic solutions
2.4) Sebastian Padilla
Co-founder, Anagrama, Monterray + Mexico City, MX
"Going Fast to Nowhere"
- as a child, had ADD, was not passionate about design
- graphic design was the easiest program to get into
- was CURIOUS
- embraces "Mexican happiness", camp, and colour palette ("Mexico invented colour")
- experimented with "norm-core" for taqueria rebrand
- success = balancing small clients (interesting) and large (well-paid, good exposure)
- no harm in admitting "I can't do it on my own"
- you can do just about anything if you find someone who has/values
- energy
- diversity
- sharing
- principles
- skills
- trust
2.5) Michael Lejeune
Creative Director, Los Angeles Metro
"The Power of Staying Put"
- "stay put" = let something grow and blossom
- LA was awarded "worst traffic in the country" 25 years in a row
- campaigns begin to address this - ie. "what do you see when you're not driving"
- "Stay put to learn your corps."
- know your team, your people, your community
- replace out-of-the-box solutions
- "design works"
- "Stay put to change your corps."
- everything is an opportunity for clarity
- do what is not expected
- "Stay put to be where you are."
- Metro campaign "the agency of MORE"
- more savings
- more lanes
- more jobs
- "Stay put to see the future."
- you are not fully committed until you are full committed
- "Stay put to be valued."
- "Stay put to rock."
2.6) Paddy Harrington
Founder, Frontier Magazine, Toronto, ON
"A Field Guide to Creative Adventuring"
- "Make it big and put it in the middle." -Bruce Mau
- the number of objects an average human can hold in working memory is 7 ± 2 (George Miller)
- memory power (rational brain) decreased when faces with emotional decisions
- we live in saturated environments where we are bombarded with information
- the tree vs. the web - combine the two?
- Frontier = part magazine, part studio, part ventures
- power of making something you can hold
- "Christian Bale-ing it" - turn problems into opportunities
- "calm makes calm"
- finds inspiration from NFB archives
- find what you love – no matter what it is – and embrace it
- take creative risks - the promise of BETTER
- balance risk taking and protecting your job
- most people in the world have no idea what it's like to create something NEW
2.7) Frank Chimero
frankchimero.com, ofanother.com, Brooklyn, NY
"Design is Borderlands"
- on creating the ultimate New Yorker comic caption: "Please add me to your LinkedIn professional network."
- went viral, acknowledged by LinkedIn (sort of), published in New Yorker = success
- things Frank didn't do:
- draw the cartoon
- write the original LinkedIn email
- write original caption
- write Atlantic article, etc.
- things Frank did:
- heroicly and geniusly copy and paste some text
- apply this lesson to daily client work - be more humble, modest, turn down bravado
- drop the baggage, ego
- design as method of decoration
- got bored - became "sad clown designer"
- change frame of reference - do something different
- design as manner of construction
- design as process of articulation
- earned through self-reflection
- give yourself space to learn, room for doubt, self-ignorance
- doubt should not be feared but welcomed
- from doubt comes opportunity
- find a place for doubt in the designer's toolbox
- accept "I don't know"
- "sometimes a rose can grow out of bullsh*t"
- how can you find what you don't know...
- the question is more important than the answer
Day 1 here.
