"So, who designed the Nike logo?"
The rep from the talent agency Creative Niche gave me a sly smile as I stood at his booth, staring blankly at a questionnaire that had left me stumped.
"I can give you a hint. It's a woman."
"Oh great!" I rolled my eyes. "That really narrows it down, then!"
"Okay, just put Carolyn Davidson. That's who designed it."
"I'm such a moron, I bet she's totally famous. Probably like the Angelina Jolie of advertising."
"Ha, sort of."
I dropped my entry into the ballot box in hopes of winning a gift certificate. In the end I didn't win, but my embarrassing exchange got me thinking about my stunning ignorance of the Graphic Design world. Much like the Animation industry there are core concepts -- such as who designed the Nike logo -- that are shared and understood by all members of the community. The sort of things that you might learn at Design 101 in your first year at OCAD. However, I didn't go to OCAD, I went to Animation School, and there I studied things like Chuck Jones, secondary action and bouncing balls. Because of this some of the language of Graphic Design blows completely over my head, but I believe it is important to find inspiration outside the world of Animation. To keep learning from others. We're all connected through a desire to create, and that's why I signed up for Design Thinkers 2011.
The decision to attend was spontaneous. Based on some brief synopsis from an event brochure I registered last minute for a Sunday-only Design Thinkers badge at the RGD booth. The price nearly killed me, but I suppose designers earn significantly more than animators! I arrived in the basement of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in time for the first keynote presentation.
Leland Maschmeyer, Creative Director at COLLINS, discussed the crucial role that designers must play to get society excited again about the future, potentially avoiding a world unified by fear and hate.
"Now what I find really interesting about this is that André Breton was playing with an idea, and I don't think he consciously knew he was playing with it, but in hindsight he was. He was playing with this idea: The Common. Now, The Commons, and I'll define it as such, has been around ever since man has decided to pick up a stone and hit something with it to achieve a goal.
A Commons is a resource that is shared, freely accessed, and creatively used by communities. Now, a Commons can be everything from the rocks in the earth, but it's normally associated with natural things. Rocks. It can be the sky. The sun. The atmosphere. Nobody really owns these things but we all use them in some way. I mean water, or ducks.
But what André Breton was saying is that it's not just naturally occurring things, it's also the things that mankind creates. His intellectual property. Because the more we share the literature we write with each other, the more we share the music we write and play with each other, and the more we share our art with each other, and allow other people to build with it, the better off our world will be. It's the idea that the genius in me inspires the genius in you."
It was a rousing speech that was sure to leave anyone excited to be a part of this creative community. At the end Leland also mentioned a fantastic community book project from COLLINS called Triumph of the Commons. It's wonderful to see such a talented group band together for a cause that they so strongly believe in.
Paul Rowan, Vice President and founder of Umbra, introduced the next speaker. Entrepreneur Eric Ryan dropped out of a career in advertising to launch his soap company Method, an answer to the growing demand for environmentally friendly home cleaning products.
Much of the talk centred around Method's company philosophy, but what was especially interesting was the story of how a tiny start-up came out on the winning end of a direct attack from a corporate behemoth. A true David and Goliath story.
"So Clorox launched this brand called Green Works and they were threatening to sue us over the use of the daisy. And we worked with this before, back in 2003, and they came up with this idea to show how gentle Method is by putting a daisy inside a bottle of Method and show that it lives.
And so we'd been using this forever, and so we were a little appalled, and at the same time were like 'wow, what a fun little... opportunity."
Through the aid of a simple microsite Method made a public plea to 'save the daisy' and urged readers to vote to decide who should claim ownership: Clorox, Method or
Mother Earth. With this genius move Method not only received feverish backing from the public, but essentially crowd-sourced their legal services with hundreds of lawyers from across the States ready to take their side. A positive attitude trumps fear nearly every time!
With any great story eventually comes a great book. Newly released, The Method Method: Seven Obsessions That Helped Our Scrappy Start-up Turn an Industry Upside Down is available for sale at most bookstores and surely includes many of the stories that were delivered in Eric's keynote. If the writing is anything like his presentation, I'm sure it will be a great read.
At this point the conference split off into four concurrent streams. Unfamiliar with the list of speakers, I played a little keynote roulette and slipped into what ended up being David C. Baker's lecture on strategic planning for creative firms. I didn't even know this topic existed!
Being a great speaker, David was able to inject a little fun into a rather ordinary subject with a sharp sense of wit. Although much of the conversation didn't relate to me, it was still interesting to step in the shoes of a top-level executive to learn about some of the fears and concerns they have about running a business.
David asked the audience, "And what is it that motivates you to initiate or to turn up your marketing efforts? Or your sales efforts, at least. However you want to phrase it."
The general consensus was "Fear". I'm sure he gets that a lot!
For the next talk I headed back to the main theatre for a presentation that described the life cycle of a brand. Using their newly redesigned Girl Scouts logo as a case study, Jennifer Kinon and Bobby Martin of the New York design agency OCD traced the history of the brand and described their fresh approach to an iconic image.
Jennifer and Bobby began the presentation with a look back in time to the beginnings of feminism. By placing the original Girl Scouts logo designs in a historical context the direction of the new message becomes clear.
At the start of the project OCD was hesitant to alter such an iconic brand. But after discussion with real Scouts they realized that girls weren't overly concerned with things like brand equity. They wanted their own voice. By digging through the Girl Scouts archive OCD was able to distill a century's worth of brand history into a single graphic shape: the Quatrefoil. Smart move!
Suddenly it was lunch. I biked over to Ravisoup and savoured the steak wrap special at their giant communal table. The man across from me nibbled on a cheddar biscuit as he discussed an upcoming online edit session. My filmmaker senses were tingling. I'm guessing that he's a Director and she's his Producer, but I couldn't figure out what project they were working on. I'm such a snoop.
Next up was Todd Simmons of Wolff Olins who gave a company overview that included the story of (RED), a multi-brand fundraising campaign for HIV/AIDS in Africa.
He also told the story of the new logo for the London 2012 Olympics, which was panned by Jon Stewart in a scathing video that swept the internet. Todd set the record straight about what went down at the design firm: that initial negativity turned into 1 billion dollars in sponsorship in the first year, smashing every Olympic record for a logo. It also triggered a coveted partnership with Adidas. Not so bad after all!
The next speaker was Jessica Hische, self-taught typographer and illustrator who has built a solid following through personal projects such as Daily Drop Cap and "Mom, this is how twitter works". Her personal philosophy stresses the importance of self-motivation to achieve your goals.
"The best thing to do is just make things that you like, and that you wish existed. Because worst case scenario is if you make a promo that's just a project that you wanted out in the world, worst case scenario is that the thing existed that you wish existed. Best case scenario is that it gets you a tonne of work and press. So it's always great to have a worst case scenario that's that positive."
"If you want something, make it. You have the ability to teach yourself."
My favourite keynote of the entire day belonged to Steve Edge, the self described "Prophet, Madman and Wanderer". Based in London he owns and operates a wildly successful design firm that shares both his name and his infectious zest for life. Steve waltzed onto the stage in a pair of hot pink velvet pants and a flowery suit jacket, absolutely radiating positive energy. After a moving story about his Grandmother's untouched 'special occasion' dishware, Steve explained the importance of living in the now and finding a reason to celebrate each day.
"Dress for a party every day and the party will come to you. Do not wait for an occasion to wear those gold shoes. Or an occasion to put on that lovely outfit that you bought for some special thing. I want you all tomorrow, when you get up, I want you to go to your wardrobes and put on your party outfit. Throw on your gold shoes, put on that white tuxedo. It doesn't matter! Go out and that occasion will happen, and you will have a party, trust me. You will have the most amazing party."
I got thinking about the missed opportunities in my life and the lives of others I know. We all have them. My Grandfather, an avid collector of rocks and fossils, died of cancer nearly two years ago. Around that time he told me of his dream to visit the Grand Canyon. He never made it. We could have gone together, but we never did.
But this year I'll save up the money and go. With his favourite fossil stowed in the pocket of my jacket, we'll go together.
I came to Design Thinkers 2011 to learn a thing or two about graphic design. I left with a renewed belief in the power of passionate thought.
November 2nd and 3rd
Metro Toronto Convention Centre
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