desidioms

dark day

it's a dark day.
emigre has released their last issue.
i'm super bummed.

dragging his knuckles

here's a headline for Neil French: "blogs killed my career." - subhead: "is it something i said?"
the image behind the headline would be a picture of the bloated ego with a questioning look on his face - standing at a shuffleboard deck somewhere in miami, with pregnant women in the back making lemonade, having babies and rubbing their husbands' feet.
In an interview in Ad Age, Neil French, the so-called "creative legend" rebuts his detractors and defends his comment that "all women creative directors are crap." french made the comment when speaking to an audience in toronto (who each paid $125 each). when asked why there are so few women at the top of the advertising food chain, he made the remark that has since resulted in his resignation from WPP Group.
when asked in the interview if the reaction was fair, he blamed the blogs, and of course "one woman getting her knickers in a twist and writing a long diatribe on a Web site and then all the other people with nothing to do joining in."
that woman is Nancy Vonk, the Co-Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy Toronto, and it wasn't the first time she'd heard his philosophy on breeders. her being at such a high position is proof she must have heard the kind of crap spilled from french's mouth many times before - and from many other men at the top most likely. it's not a matter of having thick skin; it's a matter of not letting things get too far.
unfortunately, if you read the comments to the adrants post on neil french's interview, you'll see that the old world attitudes are still present in the industry. and unfortunately, french's resignation from WPP is only the end of his career there - as i'm sure he'll still have opportunities elsewhere, and he'll still be able to grunt his monosyllabic commentary for $125 a seat. if you're interested in something like that, may i suggest your nearest zoo, instead? it's much cheaper to see an ape speak there.
tagline for french: "Neil French: misogynist for hire."

team

team - two or more art directors/designers, copywriters, production artists, and a creative director, possibly some account execs, that work on a project together

sometimes a team can be difficult - especially with designers - who can be more than willing to share ideas and collaborate on a project and who can turn around and want total autonomy aka "ownership" on another.
we have egos. we have those projects that we really really want to win a place in CA with our name underneath and our name alone. maybe that's just me. and maybe all i've met are designers that feel the same way - strong designers with strong books. and when the project is yours - you don't mind getting external input - but its your decision whether or not you want to take it - its not something you have to agree on.
i read the school of visual arts CRIT blog this morning, and there was a discussion about collaboration, with many pro and con opinions posted in commentary. one of the comments i read mentioned something that hit home - since i encountered the same problems in school. someone not pulling their weight. and of course, on the contrary side - there are always those in collaborative efforts who try to pull too much of the weight.
but don't get me wrong - there are a plethora of reasons that support a team atmosphere - but in my experience, the best environment is one where there's multiple designers working on individual projects in close vicinity helping each other out whenever they can. they should replicate this more in design school, and i'm not talking about the "group critiques" bc those could just be stages for some students to say what they think the professor wants them to say.
if more design schools tailored their classes to mimic the design firm setting - where in class, lets say a mandatory design lab, you worked on your designs among other students doing the same. little cubicles where you can turn to joe, and say, "hey, what do you think of this" and to marie and say, "that's really cool, what if you..." - bc that's what it's like in the real world - unless you're freelance.

why "our"?

since i've been sending forwards/reminder emails from work to my gmail address, i find that i have been unconsciously thinking of myself as two people. work me (my work email) and not-work me (my gmail address). this afternoon, i sent myself a link from work to bookmark on my home browser with the note, "our new favorite site," which we both think is pretty weird - but worth mentioning.