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» The Letterville BullBoard » Letterhead/Pinstriper Talk » Being creative on demand

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Author Topic: Being creative on demand
Dan Sawatzky
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Member # 88

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Its fun to be creative. There's few things that give me more pleasure and its been wonderful to make a career out of it. But sometimes this pleasure turns to agony when I have to be creative ON DEMAND.

Logo designs are the toughest aspect of my job (for me) They have to be deceptively simple and yet able to convey the many apsects of complex companies in one brilliant image. They take a lot more thought than one might imagine.

The trick is to sit down at my desk in the midst of a hectic week and design ON DEMAND.

I like to draw a circle on a blank page to focus my attention to the task at hand... all I have to do is put one little idea into the middle and my job is done. It sounds simple.

I can't force it, but deadlines loom around me, raging hulks in the shadows. The phone rings incessantly, my crew needs advice, people drop in, chores need doing....

I did a logo last week for a long time client. I nailed it on my third try. The client was ecstatic! And I was happy.

The client was so happy they decided to have me redesign another logo for another of their companies... and I happily accepted, for I am invicible and I have a recent brilliant success under my belt.! But this time the dealine is much tighter. After 7 or 8 tried I am frustrated too!

But I WILL succeed for I CAN create on demand!

-grampa dan

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Dan Sawatzky
Imagination Corporation
Yarrow, British Columbia
dan@imaginationcorporation.com
http://www.imaginationcorporation.com

Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!!

Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Dan Sawatzky
Resident


Member # 88

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GOOD NEWS!

After a good night's sleep I went straight to my desk this morning and started fresh. I produced a logo I was happy with on my first try. Once the idea was settled in my head the artwork only took about 20 minutes. I sent off a low resolution image to my client for perusal.

He just phoned me to let me know I had nailed it once again.

I love it when a plan comes together!

-grampa dan

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Dan Sawatzky
Imagination Corporation
Yarrow, British Columbia
dan@imaginationcorporation.com
http://www.imaginationcorporation.com

Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!!

Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Peter Schuttinga
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Member # 2821

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I've always had a problem with the 'on demand' designs as well. Sometimes I'll get into a rut, can't create anything I like. Sleeping on it really helps, as is doing something physical, such as goinfg for a long run. Guess it's the extra blood flow and fresh air that helps.

If the ideas come to you in your sleep, do you bill this time as well? It be like getting paid to sleep, how sweet is that? lol

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"Are we having fun yet?"
Peter Schuttinga
DZines Sign Studio
1617 Millstream rd
Victoria BC
V9B-6G4

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Denis E. Renaud
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Member # 4610

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Same problem here.
Customers come up and say "I like what you did for so n so". "Can you make me something like it but not the same. can I have this for the weekend cause we are opening soon and I like to get it before our opening!". Some people think we can just look in a bag and take something out.

I got to say that it's "A PAIN", But I like it alot!!

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Denis Renaud
EXIT66 Signs & Graphics
Caselman, ON Can.
denis@exit66.ca

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Jillbeans
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Member # 1912

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I remember my teenage years, endless enjoyable hours spent in my room drawing and listening to my record player.
Nothin was more satisfying.
Then I had the bright idea of going to art school.
One had to have a creative "ON" switch every day, sometimes for the lamest projects. I burned out completely in 6 months.
I have not sat and drawn just for enjoyment since 1981. Santa brought me a sketch pad, good pencils, and some other creative stuff. It is all still sitting in my bedroom.
I'm trying to get inspired, and Dan, you are a big part of it.
Love.....Jill

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That is like a Mr. Potato Head with all the pieces in the wrong place.
-Russ McMullin

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Donna in BC
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Member # 130

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Creating on demand is taxing! My mind does crazy things when it's being forced to be creative. It's like a mini panick attack. So I attempt alot of leeway when it comes to something totally creative. I offer no definate deadlines. And the end result is always alot better.

A little trick I do with every logo is, after I think I've finished it, I leave it and have a good night's sleep. I always look at it the next day with a new outlook and I know then if I've nailed it or not.

I had to do one logo design quickly and there were 5 vans to letter up with this. He was having a huge rep come and wanted it done for presentation. The day I was cutting the logo, I was still making changes! I told him it was rushed and not completed to perfection and told him I'd have to surprise him with the end result. They were pleased but I vowed to never get myself in that situation again.

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Donna Williams
Funky Junk Interiors
Yarrow, BC Canada
donna@funkyjunkinteriors.net

~ Check out the newest junk at ~ http://funkyjunkinteriors.net/

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Don Coplen
Resident


Member # 127

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quote:
I like what you did for so n so". "Can you make me something like it but not the same.
One thing I do when that comes up is to make sure to ask the customer "what do you like about that one?" I've learned from the school of hard knocks that what YOU think the customer likes and what the customer actually likes can often be two different animals.

One of the few cool things about getting older is how easy designing is compared to way back when. I remember scratching my head for hours and sometimes days to do what comes out in 15 or 30 minutes now. Used to be the fun part was lookin at the work after it was done. Now, the fun part is the actual process.

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...

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Bob Stephens
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Member # 858

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I consider myself extremely lucky in that I can design on demand and at will. In fact I'm one of a very few people I have met in life who can switch between the logical side of the brain and the artistic side. It wasnt always like that but over the past 6-7 years I have been able to do it and do it well.

Like Dan just stated, taking a step back and a fresh look a little later on will solve any mental blocks that most people might have.

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Bob Stephens
Skywatch Signs
Zephyrhills, FL

www.skywatchsigns.com
www.skywatchgallery.com

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Ian Stewart-Koster
Resident


Member # 3500

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Sleep, there's a lot to be said in favour of it!

I've started keeping a spiral-bound noteboook in the car/van, one by the bed, one in the toilet sometimes, and one near the computer- all just for creative ideas to be written into- often they're just a flash of an idea that is gone shortly afterwards if not jotted down, and the act of writing it down gets more creative juices into gear I find..... as long as you're not zonked out from too many late nights on the BB!

Good thread!

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"Stewey" on chat

"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull

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Marty Happy
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Isn't it incredible that sometimes you can struggle for an idea for days or weeks and other times creativity is rapid-fire and you can knock-off several ideas for very different companies in a matter of hours!

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Happy Signing...... Marty

M.F. (Marty) Happy
Signmaker Since 1974
Happy Ad Sign & Design
Regina SK, Canada S4N 5K4
306-789-9567
happyad@sasktel.net
www.happyad.ca

Get Happy & Get Noticed!

Posts: 773 | From: Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada | Registered: Jan 1999  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Sheila Ferrell
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Member # 3741

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Mercy . . . y'all come up with some of the most intriguing and interesting things to post about . . .

What I wanna say is . . .who does'nt hate doin' just about anything on 'demand'?? [Razz]

But it's an instant gratification world.

People get instant coffee, instant mail, instant oatmeal and instant grits even . . .
I got instant graemlins right over here to the left. . .
And don't forget, micro-wave rice and complete TV dinners done in 30 seconds . . .

These customers just assume thay can have instant-micro-wave designs too . . . [Razz]

In order to combat this social conditioning, this fallicy of design methods, and have them put down and back away from the whip . . .
I just repeat that instant gratification speech and other goofy stuff...making them laugh nervously while I walk em' out to their car, open the door, and wave bye-bye as they drive off . . promising to call them whenever I've had time to ...'lay out'.... and design . . .

Also, it ain't no fun to sit right there and thumb-nail increasingly improved layouts while someone stands right there and says, each and every time:
"Well...I don't know about that. . .what about _________(insert increasingly worse ideas)

Or when you draw exactly what they said they wanted and then they say . . .
"That's not really it" . . . [Roll Eyes]
ONE...two . . . even three times . . .ok.

But 175 thumb-nails and 52 colour, scale drawings later and I'm about OUT of paper & patience and I'm ready to put my fingers in their eyes Three Stooges fashion, wring their nose and slap 'em on top of the head... [Bash]


WORST CASE SCENARIO:
You have a tight deadline . . .

No wait, worse...an insatiable customer who is obviously a psyco-control freak, person-of-serious-issues, instant-gratification-demanding corporate, drill-sargent-monster who, AFTER RUSHING YOU with some intricate conceptual design request which will need to be the end-all-defining logo design sysytem for their entire company and their sub-sidiaries, snatches your harried design and says it's 'ok' and 'it will just have to do' . . . as they thrust your silly 'rush' fee at you with a marked huffiness . . .

Then.... less than one week later, after having a little time to chill-out and breath normally . .like a DAY AT LEAST....you kick back and relax and close your eyes . . . and THEN . . . THEN.... you see the most perfect, most beautiful idea that would have made that friggin' control-freak weep and pay you 10 times your worth and put you ON the MAP for logo design and fabrication thereof . . . [Roll Eyes]

WORST CASE SCENARIO SURVIVAL TIP:
Create the design for the show room and if the monster comes back...subdue them with tangible visual impressions of what a little thought and consideration and PATIENCE can achieve. . . . [Wink]

--------------------
Signs
Sweet Home Alabama


oneshot on chat


"Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a dog"

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Dan Streicher
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Member # 4515

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and I am constantly searching for inspiration I take my digital camera with me EVERYWHERE snapping pictures at the zoo the park, the mall, of anything and everything and usually I don't even need to look them up for the inspiration, it is just going through the motion of taking the photo....kind of like taking the time to write a list, once I write it I rarely have to go back and read it as I went through the exercise of writing it.

But it is always hard to get inside someone's head and try to find out what they are picturing in their minds eye, if they are even capable of that....many are not and have to physically see something to understand an idea, once I identify what type of a person I am dealing with of those two types I usually know how to procede. But I just surround myself with inspiration, art in everystyle imaginable from Alex Grey, to Coop, to Wyland, to Monet. It keeps my mind from focusing on only one style....werks fur me

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Dan Streicher
Slidell, LA

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Dale Manor
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Member # 4858

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My first job helped me to get fairly fast at graphic design concept development.

I worked at a specialty advertising firm here in town for about 6 years. One of my first assignment was to do non-repro blue pencil sketches (B.C.) of "new" logos for cold calls and established customers. I would be handed a large pile of 3 x 5 cards with business names on them and was told "come up with great concepts.....just don't spend very much time on them"!

Later, when I went back to college we were expected to do 100 thumbnails over the weekend and then go from there. This helped to refine the process a bit further.

Even with all that, I still struggle sometimes coming up with the "perfect" simple yet effective logo design.

life is very inspirational...if'n ya keep yer eyes peeled!

[ February 03, 2005, 06:14 PM: Message edited by: Dale Manor ]

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Dale Manor

Studio in the Sky
Minnesota


dalemanor@netscape.net

"Be who you are and say what you want, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."
-Dr. Seuss

http://studiointhesky.weebly.com/
http://studiointhesky.blogspot.com/

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Jeff Fisher
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Member # 5296

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Not being one to always be "creative on demand" I'm always realistic about the turnaround time for a client's project. The vast majority of my best ideas seldom come to me when sitting at a computer. Usually I have my best creative "brain farts" in the shower, while gardening, driving in my car - or even sitting in a boring meeting. I've always found I need to let my ideas percolate a bit before committing them to a design concept that is presented to the client. The result is that about 80-85% of the time the client selects my first idea - even if I also present a couple other concepts.

- Jeff

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Jeff Fisher
Engineer of Creative Identity
Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

Author: "Savvy Designer's Guide to Success" from HOW Design Books

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