#designer rant

[vnedit-blog]

Why

The "why" is the backdrop for the brief. It gives an opportunity for strategy because you have a purpose. Yes, the "who" is the designated target audience. And without them, your campaign will mean nothing, it'll add to the clutter. But consider this. An idea isn't quite an idea without reason. The "why" provides this reason. Only with an objective can you fulfill a mission, be it to increase market share, awareness, etc.

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(Some of) The Worst Commercials Ever Created

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Hendrix is a Think Piece Polemicist

Jimi Hendrix was a creative individual, defined by his rhythmic beats and harmonious lyrics. Patterns of musical notes and chords illustrate his persona. He's long gone, but I'm sure he'd be great in the advertising world-an artist by any name, but still kin to the trade. You can exclude the weed and the groupies. They were a given, so we can't hold it against him. But, think about it. You there. Yes. Think about it. It is those with the minds most brilliant, that have an off the wall approach to life (realizing mortality but acting in spite of it), and an inability to focus on the mandate of time (because they would rather contemplate the inner workings of the world and processes of all things from being high, i.e. Purple Haze, to why a girl is so attractive, i.e. Foxy Lady), that designate a real thinker. 

You don't believe me? Listen to those songs. It's a transformation of a person that happens in the span of the thinking process. Imagine a dark room, a single candle and the flame lit as it reflects a shadow that dances on the wall as it flickers. In the whole moment, from start to finish, that's when an idea is born. It's difficult to just be analytical and then be spatial, but a true artist knows how to harness the energy of redirecting his electrical transmission from synapse to synapse and have a genuinely original idea. A thought that forms a new creation, a new thing. It suddenly becomes tangible. 

That's what happens when an account planner sits and begins to make a formula out of thin air to what will happen and how to interact with another, an individual client or a group of men who represent a larger business. To be able to shift gears is imperative to the account planner's success. It's no wonder they have a hard time keeping track of directions, reports and deadlines. They're busy making magic.

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Interview Essay: Jack Allay

Jackass. That’s what professor Allday asked we call him. Jack S. Allday to be formal. He didn’t want to be too formal. He immediately broke the ice with his off the cuff sense of humor; that, his sweater vests and his socks with garters. He was tall. He gave a brief synopsis of his background. Our first day of class, we did introductions: say your name, your age and your major. Everyone responds with a monotone, “hi (insert name)”. Almost like an AA meeting, but we were all dressed in business attire. So, in part it was like we were ready for a funeral but behaving like we were recovering alcoholics. He had this air about him that snapped us all back to reality. “What is advertising, in one word?” Talk about a curve ball. That question is more loaded than “what did you do this past summer”. The tenacity we had was draining in the silence. “Come on people. You can’t do this in a boardroom with Coke or Nike representatives sitting across the table in the dark. It was my first day of college, advertising 100, acquaintanceship at its finest. It was recommended not required that we read Ogilvy on Advertising. I’d read it all the week before class began. I still couldn’t find my own words out of the jumbled pile of verbs, adjectives and nouns in my mind. My first paper bled red ink: so much for my prized essay or my ostentatious vocabulary. His only comment read, “Use a $0.05 word for a dollar’s value”.

It was either the face he made while getting nostalgic about his first days in the biz or his argyle sweaters. I’m not sure, but he was passionate about the art of advertising: every detail, every brand, every year meant something to him and somehow related to his life story. His love for the composition and conveyance of various products in several media through a creative direction emblazoned his soul and filled his veins. When we were late to class or would show up in pajamas, he was heartbroken. He said something I’ll never forget. It moved me. “Where you go in this life and this industry is up to you. You pick your clothes out in the morning and without even knowing, you decide how others perceive you. It’s called positioning. We’re going for love marks. If you want to be given a step up, you must first stand on your own”. I stopped wearing pj’s. It seems like your typical fortune cookie advice slash roman proverb. However, it rang a bell inside. His voice echoed in the room and in my head. I spent the next few months trying to soak up every little bit about advertising and all that entailed.

My first advertising professor left an impression on me and the way I thought about advertising. I chose to interview him because he truly loved advertising. It was a part of him, like his arm—essential to his being, something that completed his person. It is his lifeblood. He is a go-getter, a mover and a shaker, a musician, a writer, a creator, and most importantly, an artist. He started his creative career in the newspaper business and soon went from writing articles to writing copy for different ads. He never lost his passion for designing a concept, creating a layout and writing an advertisement. He still plays jazz and takes time out to read books. He reads anything he can get his hands on. He is 65, still teaches, and still learns. He loves change and fears spiders. He’s my inspiration.

[vnedit-blog]

A collection of anonymously contributed client horror stories from designers.

I love this page. It’s a good laugh and if you have a dry sense of humor, it’s worth a view or two.

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A Few Inspirational Native Apps and Websites for UX

Zomato This used to be Urban Spoon and then it got a face lift. I love the redesign, color palette and how well organized everything is. It gives individuals a chance to tailor their needs and tastes to a specific budget, side of town or type of dish. The intuitive nature of the site (also available as an app) has cultivated my focus on the interaction between users and the platform for my own site/ app.

RealifeX Used as an app on iOS 8+ and the Apple Watch, users can "record" experiences from their life, the impact of that event on his or her mood and review the trends of these milestones from the person's life. It is a unique application and defines positive ramifications for the path of self-improvement, but it also has helped me see that improvement sometimes comes from feedback provided by a trusted and reputable outside source. Our discoveries in life are not all generated by introspection.

Eve by Glow offers an ovulation tracker, but also a user forum embedded in the native app that is simple to use and lightweight. I want my site/ app to be just as user friendly and quick.

VNYL is a record club that provides members an option to select 1-3 albums per month based on his or her interests from Spotify, last.fm, etc. The impact of this site has made me more enthusiastic about music, as well as an appreciation for how their traditional website and mobile website offer a chat option via Intercom, so users can type to the VNYL team and receive a response.

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Timm's Functions Compared with Gorbman's Principles

Gorbman’s first person perspective toward film music operates within somewhat strict parameters. Her analytical interests in music used in film demonstrate a strong respect for the traditional structure of film, with an introduction, setting, character development, climax and ending. Even though many contemporary films may share these principles, so that film music is used to set the mood, construct a narrative, work under dialogue, there are some films that do not. This makes her bias academic and as such, also limits the ability of Gorbman’s expectations for film music to function beyond the expectations she has outlined, making very little room for outliers, unless it serves a purpose beyond those she previously outlined.

           Larry Timm’s text The Soul of Cinema: An Appreciation of Film Music cites various resources, with a sprinkling of his own subjectivity about how music enhances a film or its message. According to the module, Timm’s textbook is not all-inclusive. Two of the most similar principles in Timm’s text are to Reflect Emotion, in comparison to Gorbman’s Signifier of Emotion, and To Intensify or Relax the Pace of the Film, in comparison to Gorbman’s principle of Narrative Cueing.

           An example from the reading that reflects and signifies emotion is the video clip from Somewhere in Time with Christopher Reeves, as he finds that he’s just missed the opportunity to speak with someone he loves and is downhearted, but thankfully his true love is seen walking in the distance toward him and they embrace. The music swells and matches the emotional value of the scene, where the two lovers make eye contact, and then the harmony of the piano and the wind instruments is like that of the two actors about to make love to each other and share each other’s company. Likewise, tragedy is almost demonstrated as Christopher Reeves’ character finds a penny in his pocket and the ominous musical notes mean he will yet again lose touch with his true love. When he comes to, she is gone again, this time for good, and he is again met with loneliness, where the music is also spread out and sad. This music doesn’t require words, but successfully shares the premise of the film and the emotional status of the actor.

An example of narrative cueing is most easily identifiable from the Jaws movie clip, where everything seems relaxed at the shoreline. The pace of the film is heightened, as is the threat the shark poses to all the swimmers. This is illustrated when the underlying film score goes to the upbeat tempo of a shark preparing to attack a swimmer and incites panic. Almost everyone escapes the water safely, until the mother of one of the swimmers calls out for her child and all that comes to shore with the tide is an inflatable item that now has blood and a large bite mark.

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Visit Original Link

[all credit to original authors of composition + Youtube + The Met]

Giuseppe Verdi’s composition during the Grand Inquisitors entrance in Don Carlo is unequivocally sinister and climactic. The elements of this particular composition include deep resonating sounds with long notes, from the beginning of the music to end. The music begins with a haunting entrance and ends in much the same manner as the final notes are carried on the same set of chords. It is this suspenseful quality that makes the Verdi piece so pliable in a film like The Godfather.

Stylistically, the beginning and the end of the musical composition are eerie and poignant enough to fit in the context of such a film, particularly in the chapter of the film related to the assassinations completed after Sonny’s murder. It would be more seamless as a piece of film music if a bit of audio ducking used, as well as the elimination of the more jovial musical notes (used in the Verdi composition after the Grand Inquisitor shares with both King Philip and the audience that “the power of the Roman Catholic world is sacred.” The entire piece doesn’t work for such a film, where murder, revenge, sex, betrayal and conflict are rampant.

In a similar context, Verdi’s work Requiem - Dies Irae also denotes a more immediately dramatic entrance to the suspense of the composition and works to illustrate with music an hauntingly eventful experience. It was recently used in the film Mad Max: Fury Road. In an action film, a song like Requiem - Dies Irae is more appropriate, rather than the song for the Grand Inquisitor’s entrance, because there is little to no necessity for character development with the aide of music, in the film Mad Max, it is about action and being on the fringe of death, as the characters participate in a “road race” during post-apocalyptic times. Don Carlo is about discovery, frustration, religion: subjects that all require a more intellectually and emotionally evocative understanding from the listener.