Functional Creativity

"Now you listen to me, I’m an advertising man, not a red herring. I’ve got a job, a secretary, a..."

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 20:25:05 -0500

“Now you listen to me, I’m an advertising man, not a red herring. I’ve got a job, a secretary, a mother, two ex-wives and several bartenders that depend upon me, and I don’t intend to disappoint them all by getting myself “slightly” killed.”

- Roger Thornhill, North by Northwest (via gaws)

The Times & Trials of Matt McCarron: Will you go out with me?

Sat, 14 May 2011 15:08:54 -0400

The Times & Trials of Matt McCarron: Will you go out with me?:

So damn true.

matthewcomingatyou:

In the recess yard of Our Lady Help of Christians, if you asked a girl out that meant you two were going out. Going where? Nowhere in particular. You were just going out. You guys were dating though you weren’t actually dating. Nevertheless you had a boyfriend or a girlfriend. Maybe you’d go…

The space man comes to W+K, courtesy of W+K12.

Sat, 14 May 2011 15:08:24 -0400

The space man comes to W+K, courtesy of W+K12.

Photo

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 23:21:56 -0400

A sent me this and I think it is so right. austinkleon: All...

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 16:34:13 -0400

A sent me this and I think it is so right.

austinkleon:

All advice is autobiographical. YMMV. (V2)

Made some updates to my previous list. Thought “stay out of debt” and “get yourself a calendar” could be bundled into “Be Boring,” and make room for “Side Projects” and “Be Nice.”

New lineup:

Steal like an artist.

Don’t wait until you know who you are to start making things.

Write the book you want to read.

The Secret: do good work and put it where people can see it.

Geography is no longer our master.

Use your hands.

Side projects and hobbies are important.

Be nice. (The world is a small town.)

Be boring. (It’s the only way you get work done.)

Creativity is subtraction.

12shitgetspersonal: marriage proposal idea #27.

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 05:28:15 -0400

12shitgetspersonal:

marriage proposal idea #27.

officialbeastieboys: Make Some NoiseThis wasn’t really part of...

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:37:29 -0400

officialbeastieboys:

Make Some Noise

This wasn’t really part of the plan, but since this track is out there we wanted to let you hear it here first, or maybe second. Enjoy

Mike

wk12: DallianceA photo series by Drew Downie dal·li·ance n.1....

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:36:57 -0400

wk12:

Dalliance
A photo series by Drew Downie

dal·li·ance
n.
1. Frivolous spending of time; dawdling.
2. Playful flirtation.

So, in true dalliant fashion, over seven days I preceded to do nothing actually associated with the project.

Instead, I found myself writing post-its each day attempting to remind myself of the task at hand. Each of the objects in these photos you now see represent what I ended up doing instead, which was exactly the opposite of what I should have been doing from day one.

wk12: The 12th Floor For one night and one night only, 12...

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:36:28 -0400

wk12:

The 12th Floor

For one night and one night only, 12 transformed W+K’s southwest elevator into an authentic early 90’s comedy club. Funny man Paul Wig, 12’s funny man-in-residence, acted as host and headliner. The elevator even had a bar, where Sara and Drew spent the night serving Mojitos and various alcohol and Cokes.

The Line-up:

4:30-4:50: Paul Wig

4:50-5:10: Jin Ryu

5:10-5:30: Jed Heuer

5:30-5:50: Shaine Edwards (Lounge Singer)

5:50-6:10: Yi-Fan Lu

6:10-6:30: Alexander Barrett’s crowd sourced Roast of Emilio Estevez

Somehow, someway, this was a complete success. Paul was totally classic Paul, Jin ejected himself after 3 minutes, Jed read other people’s tweets in an irish accent, Shaine impressed everyone with his Tom Jones skills, Yi-Fan was totally classic Yi-Fan, and Alex read jokes his weird friends wrote for him. We had crowds of people waiting for the elevator doors to open so they could snap a few pictures and hop on.

There were hecklers. Ademar from studio was one of the worst offenders. Especially when he would only let Alex tell two jokes over and over (honestly, he only had two good jokes).

A lot of people left the elevator asking when we would do it again. The answer is: whenever we get our shit together. Hopefully soon.

Beastie Boys

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:20:24 -0400

Beastie Boys:

Looking forward to it…

24 baby Drews for my 24th Birthday. From Gianna Ruggiero.

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:10:19 -0400

24 baby Drews for my 24th Birthday. From Gianna Ruggiero.

From my good friend Alex @ tuffstuf

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 20:51:49 -0400

From my good friend Alex @ tuffstuf

EF Live the Language Campaign

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 13:34:48 -0400

Very elegant little 2 minute videos about great travel cities brought to you by EF tours. The videos capture the feeling and emotions of the respective cities by using the typefaces most generally associated with that city to help navigate through a short adventure of the character in the story. Very simple. Very beautiful.

EF - Live The Language - Barcelona from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

EF - Live The Language - Beijing from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

EF - Live The Language - London from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

EF - Live The Language - Paris from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

Hugo Pratt

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:28:59 -0400

Vintage Outdoors

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:54:30 -0400

Not gonna lie. Saw something very similar to this on FFFFound.com and just had to make my own version because I thought it looked cool. The background is of Mt. Hood in Portland.

A beautiful video that my sister made.

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 15:53:33 -0400

A beautiful video that my sister made.

My Portland Mercury Cover

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:20:26 -0400

Scappers, a previous 12er, is currently an art director for the Portland Mercury. He came by to talk to us last week about the ins and outs of what it takes to pull together a weekly magazine with a limited budget. In 12 style, he had a project for us to work on…come up with our own cover based on some themes that we had brainstormed together. Our group got the Outdoor Issue, and this was my design, which is based off of the popular heart Oregon bumper stickers.

Nature is better than us. Way better

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:44:04 -0500

Why We Must Build Things

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 21:53:00 -0500

Handmade Portraits: Liberty Vintage Motorcycles from Etsy on Vimeo.

This video documents a true craftsman, Adam Cramer, while he works in his shop called Liberty Vintage Motorcycles. The theme? Why we should make things. Does our generation make less things with their hands? Or is it the common conception that every generation after you will be less able and prepared than you? Adam makes vintage motorcycles in his shop. He makes something, and something really cool at that. What do you make?

From what I can understand, this video was sponsored by Etsy. This is brilliant. To start, the video is well-shot. Secondly, it is a video about making things. Specifically motorcycles. Etsy is a website about making things. This was a great way to indirectly associate their website with the true american spirit of making things. In fact, they should sponsor more videos like this with different people, hoping to drive the inspiration that people need to build more things.

Oh yeah, and be sure to sell them on Etsy.

Peel: Living Room Syncing to the Max

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 00:34:00 -0500

Think through the process of sitting down and watching tv. That includes searching channels, recording shows, controlling volume, etc. Peel is a device that takes that process and makes it simple. Really simple. It connects your DVR, TV, and smartphone through your home wi-fi system, and simultaneously streamlines the whole process on a smart and intelligent interface. It even begins to recognize your viewing habits and provides a customized listing of shows that are currently on for you to see.

With it’s built in social function, you can even share what you are watching with your friends. With all of our devices becoming connected socially, how might our TV viewing habits change if one could easily start watching a live show that a friend had just shared with you seconds before?

The product was designed with Yves Behar and Fuseproject, who have taken an equity stake in company in return for work. This is a win-win for both companies, as Peel can spend a little less up front while receiving dedicated work from a design firm that has financial reasons to see the project to a success.

If you were an ad agency, would you take the same deal to market for a start-up like this? After all, a start up company needs just as much help getting people to know them before they can even begin to experience the design of it’s product. And sometimes just a little help can make or break some amazing future revenues.