Rants & Raves

Every so often, either time or the lack of budget will require the use of templates and or components, not everyone can afford custom Actionscript, and I certainly wouldn't be the guy to write it anyway.

I recently started on a project (release date TBD) that fit the bill and set out looking for some Actionscripted liquid goodness, and I just happened to find some worthy of sharing. I'm a huge fan of the sites that allow designers and developers to share their respective wares, but had not used FlashComponents.net before.

Two parts documentary, two parts great advertising, one part creative mojo, and a splash of ego, shaken not stirred, served in a camelot glass.

Art&Copy is the creative world’s celebration of some of it’s most gifted professionals, their work, and a brief historical perspective from a few of the brilliant individuals that shaped modern advertising.

What does an Art Director do when he's too busy to update his blog, or offer his humble opinion on a given topic? He posts pretty pictures and links.

For this entry I'll be posting some new work for Poison Billiards, specifically the new Nitro line ad I art directed and wrote. You see I can't be writing blog entries if I'm working on copy, it just uses up all the words I have for the month. I know its sad, but I'm even experiencing a word recession and I'm on allowance.

As you can see I don't even like to write the new Apple device's name, but will save that rant for another blog, on to the topic at hand. Flash and Apple are like oil and water at this point, and not for many of the reasons that Apple will site as to why there is no Flash support on their mobile devices. So why does an Adobe product have so much trouble getting the love of the Apple leadership team? It's about control.

Over the holiday season I choose to brush up on my Ogilvy. Reading “Ogilvy on Advertising”,”The King of Madison Avenue” and “Confessions of an Advertising Man”…again. For whatever reason, Ogilvy's prose and insights always seem to rekindle my passion for advertising. Below are a few of my favorite Ogilvy-isms.

AOL was an established brand with a recognizable mark, it was recognizable to most american consumers because of their early prominence as an internet service provider and expansive broadcast advertising budget for many years. Now, I understand the brands need for a new image, particularly with the separation from Time Warner and a very different business model than in the 90’s, but when your replacing an established mark, variety may be the spice of life, but it does not make for a consistent captivating brand image."

In todays new digital landscape, you can connect, re-connect, comment, post, reply, friend, un-friend, become a fan of, and much, much more. So given the digital worlds capabilities and fairly open access, it’s safe to say that for most of the 15-45 year old demographic has some sort of digital presence. As we learn how to manage our digital lives, I think it’s important, and prudent to look at two aspects of personal content.

Prior to 6 months ago, I had a development team that worked through all the trials and tribulations that come with cross email client compatibility issues, A special thanks to those unsung heroes of the code. As XHTML Strict and CSS have finally become standard throughout the digital world, and depreciated tags are being phased out through attrition, at least by most savvy and informed web designers and developers, email clients and there software generating counterparts have taken no steps to develop in standardization for email client support as it pertains to HTML email.

I’m not a big fan of career oriented books, but the other day I had the opportunity to work with an outstanding creative director, who just happened author one one. I enjoyed working with Sally Hogshead enough to purchase her first book entitled “Radical Careering: 100 Truths to jumpstart your job, your career, and your life.” More than anything I was hoping that she found a way to channel her razor sharp wit into the book,  Suffice it to say she certainly did.

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day who works for a small shop (we’ll omit the names to protect the foolish) and she was telling me all about their new fascination,  social media, and how they were going to be trying to push their clients in that direction.

I must admit I was intrigued, but for all the wrong reasons. If social media is something you’re just starting to experiment with/discuss with your clients, the odds are that 1984 has left you repeated voice mails and it wants its typography back. I know it’s harsh, but social media has been emerging for years and your just starting to explore it?