I have to admit it. I want to leave social. I’ve wanted to leave since the Red Deer 2013 civic election. 2016 on social pretty well did me in. Thank you, I’ve had my serving of vitrol, peace out. That’s wrap. If you need me, I’ll be in the mountains teaching my kids …
While helping out at this past week’s Social Media Breakfast Red Deer (SMBRD) I was talking with a client and rambled out the "client interaction continuum", with a laugh. I felt kind of smart, so I thought I'd pen out a quick illustration of what I was saying....
We’ve talked about a theme party for a long time, mostly since Kayla started digging on the TV program MadMen. This month marks the sad departure of Kayla to the West Coast to pursue other things - like a new rain coat, and perhaps a cruiser bike basket. So we decided...
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I recently had the grand task of designing print for my upcoming wedding. There is a lot involved – it was one of the hardest pieces of design I've ever had to do. I knew that there would be high expectations, given my ...sigh... artsy-fartsy nature. So I hope to...
Well, it’s election time again in Canada and Canadians are busy listening to the parties and their platforms. Now, it may be more efficient if the parties would wait a bit longer before calling an election, we seem to get elections more often than we get spring, but we all have to play the hand that’s dealt to us, and get out there and vote.
Now what’s really key in this election, in our view, is not platform, it’s not star candidates and its not scandals. It is clear, the major issue is… who has the best election website? So who should YOU vote for?
Don’t ask us. This post is not about policy. It’s a light hearted review of some nerd’s handwork. Read the platform pages on the above sites and make a decision, but most of all, vote. Otherwise we’ll end up like Venezuela. Seriously.
Well 2011 is upon us with a (snow bound) bang, with all the yearly predictions going around, we thought we'd best offer our own. After an intense session of divination research, we’re ready to reveal some rather startling predictions. Don’t blame us, science doesn’t...
A month or so ago, the gang here went up to Edmonton to the Graphic Design Association of Canada’s Edmonton Chapter’s charity auction “a Creative Cause”. It was an art auction raising funds for a notable shelter in Edmonton. It was awesome.
I love art auctions. My wife and I used to go to the Red Deer College “Affairs of the Arts” every year, RDSO and whatever we could. I was excited to go just for the experience, but also because I had donated some work to the show. It’s an odd thing for me, really – to have produced a creative work that is not marketing related. I haven’t done that in at least a dozen years. Wow. A dozen years since I’ve pursued a personal creative direction. I was both paralyzed and excited at the same time – followed by relief that some of the work I donated actually sold (I was well outdone by a colleague down the street)
What struck me at this event was how much good ART was being produced by the design community. Printmaking, painting, jewelery, photography – just about anything you could imagine was available that night. There are some really good creatives making some really great fine art. That got me to thinking – what is a creative?
OK, so let’s be honest here. Advertising, marketing and design are crafts that constantly drive towards the next “innovation” or the next “big idea”. Market segments are competitive within themselves to attract customers, and these days the holy grail of advertising is a spot going viral. I personally think this is good and bad at the same time – good because you can reach a market far bigger than you can with standard media, bad because the game is that much harder, and innovation is that much harder to come by. Well, maybe not bad – maybe we should just call it harder. But the game remains the same.
Well here is an example of something really innovative. And I find the best ads always seem so logical and natural and your first thought may be “How was that never done before?”
An ad for the Nissan Sentra does all this an maybe more. A car commercial showing how fun a car can be with no car. So logical, you’d think it would have been done before. Have a look here:
Many of you have visited the Redpoint office. It is bright, open, and even has a “homey” feel. It is a space that we love. It gives us room to grow, create, move, work, and hang out. On the negative side, the walls are in need of a paint job. The baby blueish grey washes out colour, and mixed with fluorescent light can make one’s complexion look blotchy and translucent. The colour also just dates the office, and hinders our creative environment. Or maybe we’re just being picky? An office makeover may be in the works… so we have to ask the question, to paint or not to paint?
People make judgements based on their surroundings. Certain colours produce certain reactions. (Thanks to a Colour Theory class I took a few years back) Beautiful surroundings instill trust, and positivity. Also, while perceptions of color are somewhat subjective, there are some color effects that have universal meaning. Warm colours (yellow, orange, red) evoke emotions ranging from feelings of warmth and comfort to feelings of anger and hostility. Cool colours include blue, purple, and green. These colors are often described as calm, but can also call to mind feelings of sadness or indifference. That said, are our office walls making the Redpoint team, and those who enter sad or indifferent? Perhaps not the best for a lively and creative environment.
Some milestones are worth noting – graduations, weddings, first steps – and we had one of those moments today. No, it wasn’t a Cannes Lion, though that would be nice, we got a couch for the office! Thanks to the Brick’s Boxing Week Blowout, we got a red leather (read – pleather) couch. Extravagant? Not really – we don’t have a lot of choices for seating here, and have really nice north facing windows looking out at Red Deer’s lovely parkade.