Saturday was day two of Semi Permanent. I enjoyed breaking down day one into Life Lessons, and it helped to summarise the message each speaker had to share. So I will do the same again for day two, speaker by speaker.
- There is art and form in everyday objects and materials. Let the materials speak.
- Collaboration is key. Recent work included documenting dress-up days with friends.
- Partnerships like tin&ed's result in the work being pushed further. Rather than fighting, they question each other and need to justify decisions to each other. This refines the work massively.
- Skills are things which you learn, not necessarily gifts from God. She is a believer in Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours principle and once had a job doing nothing but type for nine hours a day.
- Take chances in your marketing. Jessica did a very expensive mailer to 250 New York art directors. She received one reply. This person gave her the abovementioned job, doing exactly what she loved.
- Just because a job isn't cool, doesn't mean it can't be fun. Jessica does title type for romance novels and once was commissioned to draw 'Famous Cats of the Internet'
- Specialise and then work your marketing and distribution to fit your specialisation. T World was originally stocked in cool T Shirt stores and is now distributed world wide where there is a strong fit. Likewise advertisers.
- Expand your brand. T World make additional revenue from things like designing ads for their advertisers, hosting parties, and making - you guessed it - T Shirts.
- Be prepared to work long hours. This was a theme that came through from all the speakers in publishing.
- Lesson one: having a politically voice through your work has a price. Especially in the US. Jill went through hell to have her message about John McCain heard.
- People are idiots. In a similar way to the above life lesson, any kind of success attracts haters. She was called a child abuser over her 'end time' crying children series. For the record she made them cry by taking a lollipop away. Sitting times were very short and the parents were present.
- Contrary to popular belief, animals and children make the best subjects. You don't get subjects more emotive than monkeys, crying toddlers, and stunning bears.
- Advertising is a good way to make money without being recognised. Sometimes the results are not up to par because of client and art director interference.
- Disliking a client can give you creative freedom. As strange as this one sounds, when you take the nerves related to wanting to impress out of the equation, this one makes perfect sense. The MUSE smoke horse is the perfect example of where this really worked well. Long story!
- Probably the most inspiring speaker in that he demystified success. He explained that success is something that happens slowly and incrementally while you're living your life. A sigh of relief was heard from a crowd collectively waiting for their lightning rod moment.
- David also gave some valuable advice about finding your vocation. If you don't decide what you want to do, you may well find yourself ina job you hate in 15 years time.
- David debunked the old 'passion' schtick. He said that passion is what you feel for your girlfriend when you first meet and you want to have sex all the time. This is not an energy which can be sustained for 10 years or longer. A true motivator for him was fear of public embarrassment.
credits:
Australian InFront:
http://www.australianinfront.com.au/news/article/semi-permanent-2010-life-lessons-2
written by Rebecca Wolkenstein on 22nd March 2010
