Play from 03:06:00 – 03:23:00

I had been waiting a few weeks for this TED talk, and come Sunday finally had the chance to tune into a current inspiration of mine, shown by my housemate. I’m excited to share this talk with Cian Moore, a New York photo designer, who has several thoughts that link nicely with this course as well as where I might be in relation to this course. I’ve pulled out a couple of quotes that struck a chord. 

“We do what we know, almost before we know what we do.”

I find a lot of comfort in this quote, a nice gentle reminder to focus on my work rather than what my title may be. Deliberating between whether I have a tongue for words or an eye for visuals, the essence of my journey was and still is to set out to make great work. I respect the industry’s demand for knowing who to point the finger at when addressing the Copywriter or Art Director. However, still a little unsure if I’ve reached that stage yet, but I’m enjoying having a go at both. For me, some of my best ideas have been distilled into two or three words, but once you feel you’ve cracked it I love being able to bring it to life visually. So before I know what I do, I’ll just keep having fun with it. 

“Craft is the answer” 

Getting everything down on paper! Something I identified about myself a while ago, was I jumped straight onto the computer, opening up a new tab or a doc to start my process. I found it too easy to get distracted by how the first sentence was communicated, or even worse sampling quotes or figures for research. This way you don’t start to know what you’ve collected, you can become content knowing it’s there and something you can look back to when needed. But, the pain of writing it out, again and again, helped reinforce exactly what I was trying to communicate. By doing this, I established a much deeper connection to the brief, closer to the problem and easier to articulate my solution, even if the solution was right or wrong. As well, by drawing out what you visualise you’re able to notice details and whilst it might be rough, not settling for stock images, can bring your idea a long way. A constant love for crafting, as painful as it sometimes can be, iteration after iteration will take you to a place you probably hadn’t even thought existed. A sweet spot to sit back on when it’s all good and done. 

@euan_whatarmy