#davetrott

[pervasivepersuasive]

Enable the wealthy to demonstrate their superiority, and you too can taste a little freedom in the form of real margins. Business never changes, because people never change.

[lachbachlachcach]

Sách về 👋🏻 #davetrott #ngaunghiennghienngam #motvoimotlaba #wecreate #creativebook #advertisingbook #tiki #bookshelf #bookholic #like4like

[geometrylondon]

https://t.co/jNuV7V7EqQ http://pic.twitter.com/VGgB05jT0L

— dave trott (@davetrott) January 18, 2017

[melitabergblog-blog]

Interesting morning read, especially the part about Bertolt Brecht.

[osamayy]

A good example of how everything comes back to you

[vedantvarma]

Dave Trott on Memes

Susan Blakemore wrote ‘The Meme Machine’. She says a meme isn’t simply something that occurs on the Internet, like LOL-cats or hashtags. In Wikipedia it’s defined as follows: “A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices that can be transmitted from one mind to another through, writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena.” Put simply, a meme is something that catches on. Susan Blackmore gives an example of a meme in everyday life. She shows a photo of a toilet in a backpacker’s hostel in Malaysia. The toilet is very basic of course, tatty, well worn, but clean. We don’t notice anything unusual until she points out the toilet roll. The corners of the first sheet have been folded over. She shows various photos of the same thing, the first sheet of toilet paper with the corners folded. In a hostel in Shanghai, in a toilet on a Japanese train, in an outdoor toilet in Thailand, Why is it happening everywhere, what does it signify? Well to most of us it signifies that we will be the first person to use that toilet since it was cleaned. But when did that become a sign? Personally, I first noticed it several years ago. At home, we had a cockney cleaning lady called Carole. Her sons paid for her to have a holiday in a nice New York hotel. Carole noticed that every day after the cleaning staff had finished, they folded the corners on the first sheet on the toilet roll. Carole had never seen that before. But she liked it and remembered it. She thought it looked professional even though it cost nothing. When she came back, she began doing it to our toilet rolls. It was Cariole’s way of signifying that she’d done her job: that room was now clean and ready to use. I didn’t know it had caught on until I saw Susan Blackmore’s talk. But that’s exactly how a meme works. No one tells us what it means, but we see it and we get it. We like it so we use it. Then, other people do the same and it gets into the language. Without ever being explained, or discussed, or taught. Another meme would be the heart symbol. We see it everywhere, especially on Valentine’s Day cards. But in medieval times it was a heraldic device used on shields and banners. At some point it became the universal symbol for love. Then it was carved into trees. And now, it even substitutes for the word itself: “I (heart) NY”. The extended middle finger would be another meme. It’s believed to be an ancient Italian gesture, indicating homosexuality. Immigrants took it to New York with them. It was adopted as a universal insult and spread across America. And spread, via American films, across the world. That’s what a meme is, a symbol that catches on and communicates. That’s how semiotics works, that’s how language works. That’s how all communication works. If we want our work to catch on, we need to study memes.

Not assume it’s merely an Internet phenomenon.

[ideasmongerdesignretox-blog]

Getting the right idea...

A great idea. That spark, that moment when you know you've got something right, that 'Smile in the Mind'. My Foundation Degree in Graphic Design at Somerset College was a strongly ideas based course. My tutors Rob Watts and Malcolm Swatridge (Co-Founder of The Partners) drummed this into us from day one. It's always about the idea first, get that right then focus on the design. Form follows function, the number one rule from the Bauhaus. As eager students wanting to learn technique and skill we just wanted to get onto the Macs and start designing. However in our first term, we weren't allowed anywhere near one. A bold move by the tutors? A clever one more like. How wrong we were and how right they were. With hindsight looking back now I've a few years under my belt as a Graphic Designer I am so grateful that this is the way we were taught. Whenever I am given a new brief I'm instantly excited, I look forward to getting that designers buzz, that moment after lots of research when you get a great idea in your mind.  Having not been allowed on a Mac for the first term, we could only become engrossed in getting our idea right. If it wasn't a good idea it didn't matter how prettily we dressed it up, it just wouldn't have the same or more importantly the right impact for what we wanted it to achieve. When we entered the second term and were allowed to create visuals on the Macs our first thoughts were to get the idea right before we even sat down at one. Their plan had worked, none of us went near one until a clever idea popped into our heads.  I've been to quite a few talks now, The TypoCircle, The Glug, D&AD and more. Recently I attended a talk hosted by Dave Trott at the TypoCircle. There was no on screen presentation about the work he had done, instead he sat and chatted to us for over an hour about ideas and thinking creatively, what he calls 'Predatory Thinking'. I found this incredibly refreshing to hear his many stories which made us rethink how we think. I bought his book and had finished it within two days. It's all about the ideas. Branding, advertising, it's a medium we encounter many times over on a daily basis. We can't avoid it. Yet which ones from yesterday do you actually remember? I bet it's the one that had an idea to it, not just something that looked nice. It has become apparent to me that sometimes that ideas moment never seems never to have occurred with some of the designs I see when I'm out and about, and as a designer this annoys me. Designs that have no idea behind them. A logo, a colour scheme but no brand experience. As Simon Manchipp says, it's 'blanding, not branding'. Given the opportunity with a new project, as designers it is our job to find that clever, unique pin point idea for a brand, not just to create something pretty. When rushed for time of course this can be a challenge but still, let's take that time to search for that 'idea' rather than just jumping straight on a Mac to prettify a logo or mock up an advert. Clients of course need to realise this also. It's about the idea, the experience of the brand. Cleverness.

[sharoncaddie-blog]

How many times do you say this?

I know I do. Lots.

Actually, I used to.

I'm learning to make my time more worthwhile.

As well as procrastinating less.