The real issue is not talent as an independent element, but talent in relationship to will, desire, and persistence. Talent without these things vanishes and even modest talent with those characteristics grows.
_Milton Glaser
MADMEN is a phrased coined by Advertising Agencies executives on Madision Avenue in the late 1950's to describe themselves. “Madmen” It's a perfect title for the AMC origional TV series that just started it's second season.
If Madmen stands for Madison Ave Advertising Agency, then would I be a Sadman? Stands to reason that people who work in San Jose Advertising Agencies could be called SADMEN. But that just doesn't sound right. Maybe we're all Madmen, regardless of location or historic period. It can be a crazy industry. There was a San Jose/Silicon Valley advertising agency some years back that had a great slogan. Back in the 1980's the Advertising Agency of Lutat & Battey used the classic phrase, “Madison Avenue Savvy. Silicon Valley Smarts.” The tagline was great, it barrowed from the creative legacy of those pioneers of madison avenue, yet showed that they understood the High Technology marketpalce. I think we, as an industry, all have an appreciation for the creative work of previous eras in Advertising and Design.
I’m jumping on the MadMen TV show bandwagon a little late. Last year I heard a little buzz around the office, but failed to catch a single episode the first season. On a whim, my wife picked up a copy of season one at the store. Did I really want to get hooked on another TV show? How could I not like watching a show about an advertising agency in the 60’s. The characters depicted are truly old school ad guys. Reminds me of some of the oldtimers that where nearing retirement when I broke into the Advertising business in the early 1980's. Especially some of the printing and paper company reps.
I find it a little hard to believe that, in any era or industry, men would have treated women the way they do in this show. Perhaps it is only meant to illustrate the difference from today’s ultra sensitivity to sexual harassment and political correctness. It makes for good TV. And they certainly had their “Three Martini Lunches” more then than now.
Regardless, the show is awesome! It is well written and has great characters. What I really love are the parts that have to do with the actual advertising agency. I saw the tail-end of advertising as they (The Madmen Characters) knew it. When I started in advertising and design business, we still did things the way they had been done for years:
Thumbnails and Pencil sketches (which I still like to use)
Felt marker comps for presentation
Letraset press-on type (Wow, theystill make this stuff)
These are all parts and memories of how I learned the Advertising business. This was the pre-computer era. Just like how they would have done things in 1960. Only without the (cigarette) smoking.
I got a big laugh this week (season2 #3), when Harry Crane walked into Salvatore’s office. Salvatore was using a big electric pencil eraser. This was not a little battery operated gizmo. Plug it in and you have pure Industrial strength erasing power. This would be the 1960’s version of today’s “Command Z” or the “Undo” buttons on your computer. So was Salvatore revising the Mohawk ads campaign into American Airlines ads?
I was very young in the 60’s. I was born March first 1960. A scene in the pilot episode shows a calendar on the wall. It’s dates March 1960. Ironically, I feel like this show and I share two things in common. I was born the same month and year the pilot episode is set in, and I work in at an Advertising Agency. San jose is a long ways from Madison Ave. Think if I whore a Fidora I'd look as cool as Don Drapper? I'd like to think so, LOL. Atleast the hat would be cool.
In the past few years I've worked on nearly 50 electronic magazine cover designs for Linear Technology. They range in degree of conceptualization. These covers pose the challenge of communicating a desired concept and finding a balance of elements in the design and on the printed page. The objective is always to present Linear in the best light, communicating the message quickly to entice the readers to read the featured article about Linear's product. Sounds like an ad, but it isn't. Last thing the publication wants is the design to look like an ad. Some publications even limit the number of logos (this is a good thing).
The process starts with a concept meeting. Our team, at DRB Partners. usually meet with the key engineers and marcom specialist for the specific product. Lots of ideas are tossed around. The cover illustration for the recent issue of, the German publication, Markt & Technik is a good example of the how the process works. Right off the bat there seemed to be a move toward having a video game theme. Something like Space Invaders. We really had to look at the merits of such a concept. One member of the product team even had sketched out a concept. It was a good talking point to get things rolling. Plus it gave us an idea of how certain members visualize. We pointed out the we didn't want a space ship that was shooting out lasers and destroying things. Then toyed around with tractor-beams grabbing key features. Visually this could have been exciting, but this would make the product appear to be customizable. We determined that what the product really did was gave the customer a choice. They had the choice of parts from a product line. So, off to the drawing board I went.
Mainly focusing on the “choice” concept overall. The engineer just had to dial in what part worked best for their project. Showing pencil comps at this stage saves a lot of time and frustration. If I had worked all the following ideas up to near final I would have been way over budget. Had I choose one, I might not have opted for everyones favorite.
Well, our verion of the space theme went over well. Everyone seemed to "gravitate" to the retro space idea and felt it still communicated the concept. Here is where the pencil comps really accelerate the process. Now the clients are in edit mode even before you do final art. Nothing worse than having to edit a conceptual illustration after you've spent hours finalizing. Now you have the client starting to visiualize the finished art. They feel as much a part of process as the designer.
I had a designer friend email me the other day. She vented about a recent client. I read another designer's blog where he let off a little steam about one of his clients. If you've been in the business for any length of time you're bound to have your share of frustrations. But design can't exist without clients. It's all about the client and their target audience. Nevertheless, there are those times when you just wonder why you wanted to be a designer.
I’ve joked many times in my career that I sometimes have felt like Tooter Turtle calling out to Mr. Wizard. “Help…help me Mr. Wizard I don’t want to be a Graphic Designer anymore.” Every episode starts when Tooter tells Mr. Wizard he wants to be something like a Spaceman, Fireman, or a Football star. Imagine if Tooter asked Mr. Wizard to be a Graphic Designer. Mr. Wizard would tell Tooter to be careful. Just like always the misguided Turtle would then magically be sent off to be a great Designer. He’d arrive expecting to find a visual communications utopia, a place where you could instantly create art that was ultra creative. Tooter’s designs would always communicate the client’s message, increasing sales instantaneously. He would always be the hero. I know now that this place does not exist, but Tooter has yet to experience design with out a foundation. He sets out on his journey, disregarding the creative process, only to find outside variables standing in the way. The design world eats him alive. Tooter soon would cry out for Mr. Wizard to save him from peril. Mr. wizard would say “Twizzle Twazzle Twozzle Twome Time for this one to come home.”
Funny thing, while writing this blog entry I realized that almost every episode of Tooter Turtle could easily mimic life at times as a designer. Example, watch Quarterback Hack and image the opposing team is every obstacle you’ve ever encountered. By the end of the cartoon you may find yourself mumbling for the aid of Mr. Wizard...LOL
Hard to imagine being rescued from budget restraints, approaching deadlines, weak copy platforms and unrealistic expectations. (Hopefully our need to be rescued is never the result of a bad design.) Tooter’s mistake is usually simple; he disregards the effort it takes to be successful at any endeavor. Talent alone doesn’t always carry you. You could have the perfect design solution, be the greatest designer the world has ever seen, standing at the gates of design utopia, and then suddenly pulled back to reality. Design doesn’t happen in a vacuum. We will always have too many variables to contend with to ever be the perfect designer for every client, for every project. So I may jest about crying out to be rescued by Mr. Wizard. I always heed Mr. Wizard the lizard's advice, "Be just vhat you is, not vhat you is not. Folks vhat do zis are ze happiest lot." I am what I is, a creative guy, working in an industry I love, doing what I love to do.
In design there is an endless source of inspiration. One source I like is to look at is the work of the old masters. Study design (even if your clients could care less). Over the past 25 years I haven't studied design as faithfully as I would have liked. Recently, I found my old college text book on the History of graphic design by Philip Meggs . To show you how old I am the book is a 1st edition(circa 1983). Think the book is currently in it's 4th edition. Looking back at all my yellow highlighting I use to like the Russian Constructivist. or maybe I had to write a report. Today, I tend to gravitate to the works of the Modern movement in the U.S..It seems to be the melting pot of design at it's best.
I was looking on ebay for old magazine ads when I came across a 1943 Fortune magazine cover, designed by Herbert Matter . The image was intriging. It was an abstract view of ball bearings. A black and white photograph with primary shaped colors overlaid. Amazing. When you think of the vision that it took to put this together. This was the days of oldschool prepress. No computer aided design back in 1943. Well, I had to purchase the old magazine cover and it is now framed and hanging in my office. It's a work of art. See for your self. Google "Herbert Matter". There is even a movie on Herbert Matter scheduled to release in 2009. I look forward to seeing that.
For the last few evenings I've been playing around with some concepts. Working them up for some new art to go up in my office.
I'm a big fan of baseball history, especially the old Pacific Coast League. Have to say, Lefty O'Doul is one of my favorite characters from the Old Coast League. So I worked up a little illustration design of Lefty.
I've been going through my old collection of textures. Textures can add such a warmth to an illustration. For those who love textures and want to add a little something extra to your work, check out the texturebook by Von Glitschka . I've been plugging this book alot this week. Lots of textures on a CD, plus inspiring illustrations.
