Tue Jun
8.10
An artist interview
Client: TIME for Kids
Art director: Drew Willis
Title of Project: Earth Day Cover
Target audience: Elementary School kids
What was the creative challenge? To create a composition that depicted believable characters and make-believe environmental super-heroes, all in a very short time frame.
How did you resolve the challenge? I owe a lot of my creative ease to the unseasonably warm weather. ☺ And the neighborhood kids that were out taking advantage of a beautiful day in which to play. As I was out walking, contemplating how I was going to approach the subject for this cover, I stumbled on a group of kids playing in their front yard. After explaining to them and their moms what I was up to, they were more than happy to pretend to be super-heroes as I shot some reference photos. The photos were then used to create with Vector, emulating a vintage poster style.
I approached this cover aspiring to capture a Rockwell-like, Americana moment – to convey clearly that we were seeing fantasy, but then add a touch of the heroic so we could also see how the kids must have viewed themselves.
Art director Drew Willis said, “We love it. Everyone here loves it. It’s exactly what we envisioned. Mark really did a great job and exceeded all of our expectations. Especially in getting it in early in the day. That really saves us a lot of stress in terms of getting it out the door on the same day.”
http://scotthull.com/artists/blog/may2010-4/
Thu Jun
3.10
Curtis Parker – The New Republic
Curtis Parker – Tampa Bay History Center/Christopher Chadbourne Associates
Penelope Dullaghan – Vegetarian Times
http://scotthull.com/artists/blog/apr2010-4/
Tue Jun
1.10
Everyone has a brand whether they like it or not. I am not talking about the clothes you wear or the car you drive either; that’s definitely part of it. The brand I am talking about is your attitude, how you carry yourself and the perception that others have about you; not that you have of yourself. Do you have a mediocre brand or one that is stellar and stands out from the crowd? Whatever the case, your personal brand is a direct reflection on the company you work for; especially with this new dynamic called the social web.
Some may say that there is no conflict, but I beg to differ. I have worked for some really large brands and over time built up my own personal brand because of it. There is always a potential conflict but there is also a way to manage it effectively.
The personal brand
So you’ve got a new gig, you report into duty, join or lead a team and then you have to figure out how to deliver value to your customers. Value can mean just about anything these days especially if you work in social media in some capacity. Along the way, you develop your skills; earn some street cred, gain a few thousand Twitter followers and then start speaking at events. And if you’ve got a good head on your shoulders you will figure out how to differentiate yourself from your co-workers. Maybe you start a blog, podcast or do something insanely awesome that gets you quoted in the media. At the end of the day, you become your new brand and you are lovin’ life.
The corporate brand
The corporate brand is much bigger than you. It’s probably older than you and it definitely has more coin than you. They are backed by investors, engineers, executives, lawyers, shareholders and other really smart people. They’ve been around for a very long time; long before you existed and will probably outlive you as well. Yeah, they may go through a few logo changes and maybe even an acquisition or two but they aren’t going anywhere. Not anytime soon.
They hired you for a reason; to be awesome. I can only assume that the job description didn’t say something like “have a strong personal brand” under the job requirements. And I am almost certain that the recruiter didn’t tell you “as a result of working for our company; we are going to help you create your own personal brand.” But being the smart cat that you are, you did it anyway or maybe it just happened by accident.
Now when the people in your inner circle think about the brand; an image of you pops in their head. Maybe it was a conversation on Twitter, Facebook or some other online interaction. The brand is not just you anymore; it’s a hybrid between you and the company you work for which is where the potential conflict can begin.
Mending the two together
Building a strong brand means leaving the ego at the door. Egos complicate everything and most corporate brands don’t do well with them. Having an ego will cause the legal and PR departments to watch you like a hawk and monitor everything you say or do online. Why? Because egos have a way changing the context and meaning of a word. It also clouds judgment. I think we all have egos, but it’s important to keep them in check.
Blatant self-promotion is an example of what NOT to do when talking about the corporate brand. If all you do is spam your community about you, there is a problem. Instead, try and provide value to the community. Be relevant. The best piece of advice I can give is to “say what you mean & mean what you say” AND don’t pretend to be something you are not. Liars are always exposed on the social web and it can even get you fired if you are not careful.
Be smart when you communicate and don’t forget that others’ are watching. If you build the corporate brand the smart way (i.e. say what you mean, mean what you say, provide value), your personal brand will grow and grow with credibility. You will become a trusted source of information; maybe even a subject matter expert about the company you work for.
It’s really not hard if you pay attention and think before you speak.
http://www.britopian.com/2010/05/03/managing-the-conflict-between-a-personal-brand-and-a-corporate-brand/
Tue Jun
1.10
It’s amazing. Not only will my work be featured prominently in the Young Scientist Exhibit at the Yellowstone National Park, but I also got the pleasure of creating it during an incredibly eventful and interesting time in my own life. So while there were a lot of great things about this project, I’d say the greatest was the timing. Here’s how it happened: I was already on my way to go live with a close friend in Boston when I got word that Christopher Chadbourne and Associates, the design firm heading the Yellowstone project, was based there! I’d love to take credit for the synchronicity that happened there, but it remains a mystery that still makes me smile.
I remember the first phone call about the project, in the late summer of 2008. I proceeded to sit dumbfounded on a conference call with Scott and the project manager Ernesto Mendoza. The idea that I would be creating characters to be made into giant signs for the Young Scientist Exhibit at Yellowstone National Park was something I could not have predicted or imagined…it seemed so massive, so out of my league, so…perfect!
For the next year, I was on a giant high that even carried me all the way from my home of San Francisco to a place on the East Coast that I’ve always wanted to live. The project began in the early fall of 2009, a particularly scenic time to live in Boston. I would take long walks to the Christopher Chadbourne (CCA) office building and have face-to-face meetings about the work with Ernesto. Being there in person helped me recognize and solve visual problems much quicker, because they could be pointed out to me on the spot. I felt close to the project, and it made me feel so much more engaged. Of course, the whole walking-to-the-meeting thing was cut short by the onset of winter, but communications with Ernesto and CCA stayed strong, and thrived.
In the beginning stage of the character development, I referred to the mockups from CCA and reinterpreted the style to fit my own sensibilities. Once sketches were submitted, I would spend several rounds with Ernesto on the phone and via email. We would also plan additional face-to-face meetings about a week in advance, where we would have conference calls with the client. We discussed details about each character, we brainstormed and analyzed the positioning of the limbs, the facial expression, as well as the overall composition and background pieces. Every round felt closer than the last, and with Ernesto I was able to strike the perfect balance between my stylized tendencies and approachable, friendly-feeling elements.
Once sketches were client-approved, I was able to take them into Illustrator and lay down the vector linework. I was also briefed about how the layering and ordering of the vector file was crucial to the final manufactured product, since each sign was going to be made out of several layers of MDF. The color work was done using Pantone colors, a method which was rather unknown to me at the time. It was startling to see how different the colors looked onscreen. I know I had a few moments of doubt where I pictured the images being several feet tall and printed all sorts of goofy non-matching colors…ahhh, what a nightmare! However, once the images were printed out to check the real appearance of the color, my fears were eased.
After spending part of my time moving back from the East Coast to my home base of San Francisco, I resumed the last leg of the project by tweaking colors, and playing with the sizes and placement of background elements. The heavy lifting was indeed over! I still can’t even imagine how my work will look once it is in place at Yellowstone. It’s one thing to see it on a screen, and another to see it printed out, but to see it several feet tall and mounted on a wall? Now that’s a step up! I plan on being there in person at Yellowstone for the opening of the Young Scientist … besides, I always enjoy a good cross-country trip.
Fri May
28.10
CREATIVITY.
So I’ve been trying to understand how the creative process is affecting today’s businesses. What does it take, I wonder, to make the collaboration between creativity and corporate more fluid? To find out, I’m gleaning information from lots of websites and magazines like Harvard Business Review and Fast Company. It goes pretty quickly, though, because they are all saying the same thing: Old ideas aren’t working. “What we learned in business school is upside down and sideways,” they say. “Customers control the company, advertising is driving customers away, and demographics have less meaning.”
And sure enough, when IBM’s Institute for Business Value asked 1,500 chief executives to name the most important leadership competency for the successful enterprise of the future, the CEOs unanimously said “creativity”.
Frank Kern of IBM Global Business Services summed it up. “That’s creativity – not operational effectiveness, influence or even dedication,” he says. “Global complexity is the foremost issue confronting these CEOs and their enterprises.” Now, in the past creativity wasn’t viewed so much as an essential leadership asset, but more as just fuel for R&D. Not anymore. Today creativity must “permeate the enterprise,” he explains.
So what does this mean to agencies, design firms, and marketing groups? What about the illustrators, copywriters, and photographers? How is this big-business focus on creativity trickling down to us folks in the creativity-delivery business? I decided to ask a number of branding firms’ top creative executives to find out.
“What,” I asked them, “is the client expecting from you today?” The answers turned out to be our slogan.
Originality: CEOs have realized creativity isn’t “nice to have”; it’s necessary. At least if you want to reinvent your relationship with the customer. And you do – the current landscape is so template-based and commoditized, there’s rarely an emotional connection between businesses and the people they’re talking to. The estimates say one fifth of revenues will have to come from new sources; if you can’t unleash wealth, you have to create it.
Collaboration: As clients break from traditional, “here’s what we’ll do for the next decade” strategy planning and shift to rapid-fire fluidity that lets them adjust their business models on the fly, it’s more important than ever to have a relationship with a solid partner they can rely on.
Results: The shift in corporate culture is toward something far more transparent and entrepreneurial. Companies must emotionally engage the customer. The customer will reward the company’s ability to build a creative process with fluid business models, not absolute ones. As one creative executive put it, “The right visual combination creates insane loyalty.”
Bottom line, the more complex the world becomes, the more its leaders will value creativity. And today’s CEOs know it.
That’s why, at Scott Hull Associates, we deliver what every CEO wants – meaningful original art for companies that use visual branding to drive markets. And fortunately, with 18 acclaimed artists on our roster, creativity is never in short supply.
http://scotthull.com/artists/news/
http://scotthull.com/artists/blog/may2010-1/
