Computerlove™

September 25th, 2008

"Dirty" Diesel XXX party clip

Diesel is by far the most outstanding jeans brand when it come to creative and edgy advertising. They always seem to surprise me. And this time they did it again.
The creative people from The Viral Factory just went along with the idea. And it is so funny.

See the Diesel XXX viral at: theman68.blogspot.com

September 20th, 2008

Storyboard small film

At the moment I'm working on a storyboard for a short film. It's a three minute movie about a re-branding of a binding and lamination company. The story of the movie is about the...

Read the complete post at: theman68.blogspot.com

TMOCS

September 14th, 2008

Guidelines for Online Success | Book Review

One of the latest popular new books in the web-design community is Guidelines for Online Success by Ed. Rob Ford and Julius Wiedermann. Pretty heavily promote through design blogs like Cpluv.com and Reform Revolution to name two. The book has a promising title. As if all the secrets of successful web-design and online project management would be revealed to you by reading this book. The authors and co-writers of the book are big names in the web-and multimedia world. All the reason for me the buy a copy...

Read the complete review at: theman68.blogspot.com

July 25th, 2008

The new webbrowser 2.0 AT&T Pogo

For a while now some creative people in the design industry are looking at ways to improve the web browser. There are basically two paths to take when it comes to looking at this subject. The first one goes like this. Why would we bother people with browsers? How really cares about them? A browser is invented in a time an age in which we had no other choice than to reveal information through a peace of software like a browser. Right now in 2008 technology is speeding up to a point in which we can do almost every data request without a web browser. So get rid of that horrible peace of technology. That is one way of looking at web browsers.

But the people with AT&T are looking in an other direction. Why not make this peace of software better, easier to use, and more friendly. I bet that was the general idea at At&T when they hired Fi to work with them on Pogo...

Read the complete review at: theman68.blogspot.com

July 10th, 2006

What is next?

Things are really going fast in the internet world. We all know that within a couple of years normal people like you and me will have full control over the beautiful solutions brought to our doorstep by internet-technology.
Everywhere you look online you see the signs. Google is creating quite a number of online solutions that will make you do all your text-editing and spreadsheet work online. You are also able to create a website form scratch without any web or design knowledge. And all these developments are great! Things we all dreamed about for years and years. There is a downside to all this but it would be a shame to spend time nagging about that.
 
There is one thing that a creative web-professionals need to look into. Some of our work is falling out of our hands because of the developments I described. To me that is more of a blessing than anything else. But it means we have to change directions to survive. We need to ask ourselves were we will fit in. Communicative web-solutions will always be very important for companies. But we are far passed the days that web-communication mend that you need to have a website. The new direction will be more focused on a content level. Content was already very important but its importance will grow even more. This because we are more and more working out of the browser. We need to think about different ways to communicate. A website is cool, but what about a portable device, a desktop application, or a tv-like device?
Very successful web-projects prove that visitors are not that interested in the skin of a website. Take MySpace.com for example. From a designers point of view this is probably not really the best website in the world. But for a consumer this is one of the modern hotspots. It’s a great place to meet old and new friends. It is a place to hang out, be creative or to do business. Yes business,…  Advertisers and marketing professionals know this already and they are willing to pay over a million dollars a day for a banner on MySpace.com. 

So where does that leave us, the hardworking web professionals? Well in my view our profession will change in the coming years. Some of us will be in the web-design field. Because there will be a need for good websites in the coming years. Others will quite because of the complexity that comes with this new step. And there will be a group of profs. that will evolve, a group that will grow within  the web evolution. And this growth will move people in to different directions. Some will be more in to the concept corner. This group will make up creative solutions, keeping on track with the latest technical possibilities. Others will specialize even more and they will become real content workers. Profs that will be specialized in for example animation, 
 
Next to the individual professionals for quite a lot of companies in the web-and multimedia field it is ‘crossroad time’ also. And even if you are very busy right now take some time to think about the future. It won’t be long before your clients will demand new, creative, and modern communication solutions from you. Not just an other website, or some online game to attract people to a product or a service.
 
Internet consumers are dealing with all there is to offer online in quite a different way. They will come running if they somehow have the impression that there will be something out there that they like. But they will be running even harder away from your creative solution if they are fooled. And the word is spreading very fast online. I recently spoke to a marketing professional how believed that popular web-blogs would be the best new channel to promote a product. And he is probably right, but if your product sucks. A web-blog will destroy you and your product even faster. In the new internet driven world we live in today direct consumer control is something every web professional has to deal with on a daily bases.

The Cowboy

June 9th, 2006

Your reward as a designer

You are a creative person, you are the real hot designer. But what is rewarding to you?
What will be the reward that comes with your work, your input and the afford you did put into a project? Does your reward have anything to do with money or is it more some sort of a feeling?
I can not speak for you as an individual on this subject but I can tell you about the way I personally feel about the reward that comes with this ‘work’. In my view designing, being a designer or a creative director is not like your average nine to five job. This has to be a way of living if you really want to drag everything out of it. And a 'way of life' means you are always in some way working. Wether you are in your studio, in a train, car, restaurant or even in your bed. Your work will be with you. In your head that is. And I believe it has to be like that. If I look at the way I work there is always a mysterious part about it. I find myself working on things that I can not put in to the right place yet. Sure there are the normal assignments, the project that bring food on the table. But next to those mostly very interesting projects I always have to make some time to ‘fumble around’. I do not have a right word for it at all. It comes down to a situation in witch I find myself working on things that do not have a real commercial meaning. Sometimes it will be creating a little movie, taking some experimental pictures, or drawing something. There are times, our better days that I’m doing just that. Mostly this happens in long weekends. I work throughout the week on commercial things an in my extra hours like the long weekends I do some ‘fumbling stuff’. I do not have the attention to do that but it just happens to me. I start a free and long weekend with thoughts like ‘well I need to work on this and that an now is the time to do so’. And after the weekend I did not do anything like that, and instead I was working on a little video-film or a drawing. Something completely different from what I had in mind. And I have to admit it is not always very satisfying looking back on a weekend like that. I had great plans and in the end I did not do anything I had planned. In the past when I was younger this was very frustrating for me. It made me feel like a loser, someone with on control over his life at all. It could take me days to get over a mood like that. But this feeling chanced over the years. I know I may sound like an old man but this is something I have to share because I believe this is something that is not just happening to me.

Right now I see the process of ‘fumbling around’ as a part of my work. A part that will pay itself off in the long run. It seems that I’m learning things by playing around. That strange small video a create in my ‘fumbling’ hours will be a learning experience I can use in the future. The thing that made it hard for me to accept these ‘fumbling hours’ at first was control. I do not have real control over these hours. There is not a real productional value in it. I can not tell you what the results will be after a weekend filled with ‘fumbling hours’. And sometimes there is on result at all. At least not a visible result of any kind.

But even if there is not result these ‘fumbling hours’ are very rewarding. It gives me time to be creative without any deadline, budget, client or financial aspect. And it also pays itself off in the long run.

We all know the way a commercial creative process should work. So we all know planning, schedules and deadlines are real important parts of a creative commercial process. But for you as a creative, try to do some work that has nothing to do with all these rules. I could easily decide to stick to my plans if the weekend starts. I could block away this whole ‘fumbling around’ stuff. And I could use the excuse that I’m far to busy to start ‘fumbling’. The result would be a very productive weekend, a weekend in which a reached all the goals I had set before. But from a creative perspective I believe it would be a waste of time. I did not learn anything new. I was playing save the whole weekend long. And even the fact that all my real work was done on the monday afterwards realy made me feel good for a while I would not be very satisfied for long. I believe that the biggest reward you as a creative can get for working hard a long hours will be that you know how to find the time to be creative again. Almost like a child. If you manage to switch over to a childish creative mode every now and than you will be able to work in creation for a long time without getting some sort of a dried-up feeling after some years.

The Man

June 8th, 2006

The need to pitch

Pitching, for everyone how does not know about this phenomenon is some sort of a competition. A competition created by a company that has a need for a strong creative solution. That company writes out a pitch. Say that company produces light and soft drinks and they need a new website to sell a brand new light soft-drink. In a pitching situation they will contact a couple of creative agencies with the question if they like to take part in a pitch for that new website.

You as the creative agency that is been contacted should come up with a great concept and because this is a pitch you will not be the only one. In most cases there are three or ever four creative agencies involved. For the soft-drink company this is a very cool way of getting to see three or even four ideas/concepts for there new website. And by getting the ideas from al these different corners on there desk the soft-drink company can make a good decision on witch agency they like to work with on this project. Pitching seem to be a very great way if you look it like that. If a creative agency is very active they even make a couple of concepts for this pitch. That would be even better. Even better from the perspective of the soft-drink company that is.

In the last couple of years the economy of Europe where I live was not going very well. And for quite a lot of creative agencies pitching was something they had to do. Like an actor has to do auditions to survive. But like always in bad economic weather the type of assignments you could pitch for became stranger and stranger. Every product-manager of every company was writing out a pitch for almost every creative solution they needed. And there was almost nobody that came up with the though that is whole pitching stuff was getting way out of hand.

In creation you learn as one of the first lessons that you need to be treasuring your talent. That your creative work needs to be protected. And that a real creative concept will not be something you give away. And in pitching you will do just that in a certain way. Right now everything is going very well here in Europe and the amount of pitches is definitely going down. And most of the creative agencies are far to busy to worry about stuff that will not bring money to the table right away.

But in general how should you deal with a pitch? There is a very flattering side to pitching. You are asked to do a pitch. That means that the soft-drink company thinks highly of you and your work. But try not to let this part of the pitching process get in your way of clear thinking. If you will agree on creating some creative solution for a pitch chances are you will come up with something that will not be used. And there is a chance you will not be payed also. No cure no pay is something that is very normal in a pitch. So you have to make up your mind.

But there is more you need to do in an earlier stage. You must ask yourself the question ‘am I willing to put my creativity in a pitch at all’ and if you are ‘ what are the absolute requirements you like to do a pitch on’.
A lot of companies that will write down a pitch try to keep some sort of a mystery around it. You will not know the competition. You will not know what other creative agencies you are battling against. And there is the money factor. It is in some pitching cases not quite clear what will happen money wise. Will you get payed, or not. And if you are how much. And besides all that, what about the creative solution you will present. What happens with your ideas if they choose one of the other agencies? How can you protect your ideas in a situation like that. Sure you probably will come up with something that is very suitable of that soft-drink company. But it is out-there. In the open and even if the soft-drink company has no attention to use your concept. It is still out there.

These are some real questions. And you have to come up with an answer for yourself. I can give you some tips do. Never let other people control you. And certainly not in a pitch. Make your own rules and tell the soft-drink company about it. If you like to know you competition in a pitch ask about it. They probably will look a bit confused at first. But you need to know if you are able to beat that competition at all. If that competition is far to big and you get the feeling you will not be able to beat them at all don’t do it. Also tell the soft-drink company what you expect when it comes to the money issue. And the most important one, make sure there is a good understanding about your creative contribution. What is going to happen with your work afterwards if they choose to go with one of the other creative agencies. And never step into a pitching adventure in which the soft-drink company will keep all the creative contributions after the whole process.

And finally there is always the time issue. Most of the pitches do have a very tight time-schedule. Which means you will have to work on the creative ideas in the weekend or you have make extra hours to deliver your contribution on time. I could easily fill up a hole Cpluv-post talking about the crazy deadlines that occur in the design-field. And I will one day. But to stick to pitching most of the pitches I’ve seen had a time-schedule that was to tied. So keep all of this in mind also before decide to you say ‘yes’ to a pitch-project.

The Man www.webblastonline.com/weblog

May 11th, 2006

The Human network

The concept phase is behind you and all the great ideas you presented to your client are now ready to be produced. But where do you start? You are basically working alone and for some technical or design tasks you have to hire external expertise. So every-time a project starts to be a bit more complicated you are struggling with the same dilemma. What is it you will do yourself, and what is it you are hiring someone for? I told in the previous episode that in these days it is almost impossible to do all the production yourself. So for anyone in this lonely-on my own- position it is time to make sure you have some technical and creative back-up. You have to have some sort of a human network. People you know, or even better people you know by there work.

In many aspects being on your own and trying to relay on your human network is even harder than working with a team in a design firm. Within a design firm you know you back-up while in the standalone situation you will have to contact people within your network. And these professionals are also busy, probably with other projects. This means it will take a little more time to get everything organized.
Next to that a human network is something you need to work on everyday. Keep in touch, drop a note, make a phone call. See how the people you need in the future are doing what there up to. Working like that requires a lot of skills you will not learn in design or art school. Maintaining a network is a very different ball-game. It has nothing to do with you or your concepting talent. I know people that have great design skills but who are not able of keeping in touch. Some creatives are very talented but they will never make it on there own because of a lac of talent to communicate or maintain a human network. A lot of the skills required to maintain a network are not really things you can learn by the book. You have to have some feeling for it. You have to understand what your human network can do for you in production. But you also have to be real. Do not fake a network-relationship. People will see through that very easily.

There is also a very positive side to a human network and working on your own. If you are good at maintaining relationships your network will grow. And when you startup a production your network will provide you with great talented people. And for every production you can make a very cool selection of people. People with exact the skills you need for a specific part of your production. This method can make your production better. In a firm situation you have to work with the people that where hired. And most of the times they where not hired by you. So the skills and quality of these people will vary. In a firm situation there is mostly no room to hire talent from out-side to for-fill a specific task.

So the big question that is probably repeating itself in your head will be ‘what is the best choice?’ Is it better to working alone, or in a studio environment. And the only thing I can say about that is, how do you look at yourself? What type of a designer are you? Are you someone how likes to sit behind the drawing-board and the computer all day? Are you someone how has a lot of problems selling your ideas to a stranger? And next to this ‘self-investigation’ what makes you happy? The fact that you created something really cool or the fact that you created something really useful? If your choose the life of a ‘stand alone’ creative you will have to love the human relationship somehow. You also have to have the ambition to make it. And even if you know that you are the best in your profession you also have to stand for it. You have to shout it. Or like we say in Holland stick you head above the hayfield. And believe me they will chop your head of more than ones.

If you are now by the time you are reading this just in front of a production phase rewind this part. Read it again. And make up your mind about it. See how you can improve the quality of your own production by looking around you either in your studio or in your human network. Ho, and if you come to the conclusion that someone else is better suitable for a job in your production, drop him or her a line. You will be surprised how easy you will be able to work with the best of the best.

The Cowboy
(you can also find this post at: www.webblastonline.com/weblog

April 23rd, 2006

How to stand up for your ideas

In the design process the concept phase in basically the first step that will lead to a visible product, a concept that is. All the ideas people had for this project will come together in this phase for the first time. For you as the guy or girl that created the concept and for the client that has been providing you with input through a briefing. For everyone that is involved the result of this phase in the design process will end with something like a presentation of a concept. And the presentation of the concept is something that you need to think about through the whole process of creating this concept.
The first question you need to ask yourself when it comes to the presentation is what will I show. Because your concept should not be a fully worked-out website, or advertising campaign. Some parts of a concept are abstract. Like the direction you’ve chosen. Remember the last time a compared you when you are in the conceptual phase with a bird flying high over a briefing. And making a choice in witch direction you will fly before you land. Well now is the time to tell your client where you landed. Those parts of a concept are sometime not visible and need to be explained. Next to that your client needs to understand what your concept is. A concept is basically a raw drawing. A sketch.

If, for example you need to present a concept for a website. A site for a large company, and a site that will hold quite a lot of content once it is developed and online. What should you present in a concept-presentation? Well the first thing your concept should have is looks and feel. The right feeling, the look that fits the company you created this for. Your client has to recognize his company in your concept. Next to that your concept needs to give directions. Directions in how you believe this website should work. How will someone navigate on this site, who will you get from a to b when you are browsing through this site. In the case of a website these two elements are the most important once for the conceptual phase. For large sites like I just described the usability part of the concept can be something you would work on with an interaction designer.

It can be hard sometimes to sell your concept. Some clients are very focused on details. While a concept is again about direction and feeling, the raw sketch I told you about. It sometimes happens that your clients looks over the whole conceptual part and starts arguing about the position of a logo, or the exact font-color. Minor things in you view but for the clients those are parts of concept he can understand. It basically mean he likes your concept. It comes to him as something he is already used to and the things he is talking about are details that will be fixed in the productional phase. It does not mean you should not try to make a visual for a concept-presentation as accurate as possible. But the whole idea of a concept-presentation is about the overall feeling and direction.

Selling your concept can be hard in many ways. But remember the concept you developed is not something that was falling out of the sky one sunny morning. There is a road that led to the things you are presenting. And therefor it will be handy to start you presentation with that. Tell the people in the room where it all started, give them some short of a review of the briefing you received before you started creating this concept. Refresh there minds before you take of. And if you have a strong concept defend it. Don’t be defensive but defend it. It is your concept, you are the professional and you where hired to create this concept. So in your conceptual process you need to think about the way you can standup for your ideas. Once you are sitting on conferance-table with your client to present your concept you should be able to explain in a very convincing way what you created. And in some cases you have to compromise, you have to give in. But try to analyze on witch part of your concept you are willing to take some compromises. Make sure you know up front, before the presentation-hour how far you will go when it comes to compromises. Draw a line and if your client wants you to do anything that will be over your line tell him no. Do allow anyone to destroy your concept, not even the man that pays you for it. Not only will you make a weak impression you can be sure that client will do the same thing with the next concept you are creating for him.

The most important thing is to stay in control. You know where you started from and you know were you like to take it. And yes, you will meet clients that do not understand this at all. Clients that will turn away and leave you for someone else. To bad, but you know it all comes down to trust. And if you can not build on a trustworthy relationship with your client you will be better of without a relationship at all.

The Cowboy

This article is part of the Webblastpodcast www.webblastonline.com