Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

My professional life collided with my childhood yesterday when David Carson, the graphic designer known for Ray Gun Magazine and the movie "Helvetica" showed us this Transworld Skateboarding cover that he designed in 1985.

Notice the name of the issue is the "Full Bleed Issue." At the time (age 13) I thought it was some cool reference to skateboarding acidents. It turns out that it became possible for Transworld to make the images stretch to all edges of each page (a full bleed) for the first time. So David named the issue after a graphic design printing technique. And now, after not seeing the magazine for 23 years, I finally get the inside joke. Awesome. My life has come full circle.

Many presenters at Flashforward this year urged fearless experimentation and the courage to risk failure. Being bold, trying new things, and trusting your own instinct seemed a common theme. David Carson said that if you are not failing then you aren't pushing yourself hard enough. And Miha Pogacnik said that "the creative process leaves a trail of blood."

Transforming work into play and finding joy in your work seemed another common theme. Craig Swann suggested that we think about work as play and urged us to believe that R&D = R&R. Danny Stillion of IDEO suggest that we "fail often to succeed sooner. And we were reminded of Tal Ben-Shahar's idea that Happiness = Pleasure + Purpose.

Stacey Mulcahy gave some advice on how to unleash the creative potential of developers and the dangers of bad process. "Bad project process limits developers to implementation. Good project process enables developers to innovate and contribute. Meaningful innovation requires a good environment. Meaningful innovation is a competitive edge." I couldn't agree more. All too often coders get relegated to implementation.

The last idea that bubbled up several times was the cold, hard fact that the only way to be great at Flash is to bust your ass doing it. Call it work or call it play - doesn't matter. The only way to become great at what you do is to spend time doing it. You can stand on the shoulders of giants, but becoming a giant yourself requires passion, relentless experimentation and inspiration.

The Good

Metaliq , the new promoters and organizers of Flashforward 2008 had the courage to shake things up.  They gave the conference a strong theme.  They chose a great city. They added inspirational speakers from outside the community, and found great speakers from within the community. The event was smooth, well planned, and seamless.

I really enjoyed the raffles, the speaker slam, and the Thursday night after party. I loved Miha Pogacnik's keynote and was surprised how much of Jamy Iam Smith 's presentation carried over to Flash design.  Craig Swan , Robert Hogin , Jared Ficklin, and Erik Natzke were inspirational.

The Bad

Not all their risks and changes were for the better. Changing from a four track program to a one track program eliminated all choice. Next time I would appreciate at least two tracks.

The Ugly

The great speakers like Craig Swan and Paul Ortchanian were not permitted enough time to thoroughly talk about their subjects and show examples. The speakers seemed frustrated and the audience missed the inspirational work that these people do.

Additionally, the elimination of Q&A time make the conference a one way conversation. Q&A adds to the collaborative and interactive magic of the event and puts conference goers in touch with the leaders in the industry. I felt frustrated sitting in the dark, in an uncomfortable chair, without a good place for my laptop, watching the host get to have a conversation with the speakers.

The Bottom Line

A valiant first effort. The bad and ugly can be easily fixed. Metaliq seems to have good instincts about speakers and seems to understand the community. I look forward to next year, but will look for some changes to the format before I buy my ticket.

The creative team was slammed recently, so I spent a day as a graphic designer creating one of the designs for a client presentation. It felt like stepping back into an old, loved pair of shoes that I haven't worn in a while. Those shoes were stiff but still comfy once they loosened up.

A design project typically has several designers assigned to it. Each designer creates a visual idea that is shown to the client, who judges each and chooses one over the others. Having my work next to Shane and Scott Buzik's filled me with a need to really step up and deliver something great.

But I had forgotten things about the hard world of the designer, like the fact that even though you might come up with a great design, it may not be chosen. Harder yet is the reality that hours or days of your time may ultimately be abandoned as the project pursues a different direction. This is hard to imagine for most people whose cumulative effort is rolled into the solution.

But in the five years that I designed Web sites the hardest part was always facing that blank, white canvas that you start with. This situation is made easier by the presence of well-crafted UX and strategy documents. But it is still daunting to open Photoshop and see that white page staring at you.

So the next time you are in a design review, remember that each design represents a lot of hard work. Give each one the attention and chance it deserves. Talk about each one's strengths as well as its weaknesses. When the review is done, consider giving some feedback to the designer. Think about what it must be like in the designer's shoes.