Thanks.
-Shaker lesson
Last night we had the opportunity to listen to Sean Adams and the Salt Lake AIGA event. Sean is a partner at AdamsMorioka and has been recognized by every major competition and publication. Sean is the national president and past national board member of AIGA, and past president of AIGA Los Angeles. He teaches at Art Center College of Design. Sean is a frequent lecturer and competition judge internationally. Adams is the co-author of Logo Design Workbook, Color Design Workbook, and Masters of Design. AdamsMorioka’s clients include ABC, Adobe, Gap, Frank Gehry Partners, Mohawk Fine Papers, Nickelodeon, Sundance, Target, USC, and The Walt Disney Company.
Since he is the national president of the AIGA he gave a quick summary of where he thinks we are going as a design community. The main message I received from regarding that is being unified as designers. If you degrade another designer because of his choice in style or medium, you are really hurting the design profession as a whole. When one designer succeeds, we all succeed. He also touched on the point that there is enough work for everyone, we can all be successful. Basically, stop trash talking other designers or firms because they do something a little different from you.
He then talked about his main message which was about fear. What fears do we have and how can we overcome them? He did a really great job of bringing examples of his work into his theme of overcoming fear and presenting it in a way that can help us all. Here are a few highlights on this subject.
• Bad clients can make you miss better opportunities.
Some clients are too demanding and take up so much time that better opportunities and clients can pass you by. Also, your design work can greatly suffer because you are only doing what the client “thinks” is best and not what you “know” to be best. Don’t be afraid of change and letting go of a client.
• Protect the work, it’s all we’ve got
He was referring to your design work. Don’t be afraid of protect the work you do. Stand up for what you believe in. You are the one that has the skills as a designer. He likened it to going to the doctor and the doctor informs you that you have cancer. He suggests that you take immediate action but then you tell the doctor you would rather have a breast enlargement. I’m sure we all have clients that would tell us something compared to that but we need to set the expectation upfront and let them know that we value our work.
• There is no magical way of doing things
As designers, we all have our own way of doing things. Even though a famous design might do something different, it doesn’t mean it’s the only way of doing it. Have faith in your ideas and your own judgment. Be good at being you.
There are very few well know designers that are down to earth and really have a desire for everyone to succeed and Sean Adams is one of them. He was a great presenter and really inspires you to be better. If you ever have the opportunity to listen to him, you should definitely jump at the chance.
Here is some work from AdamsMorioka
Sundance Film Festival 06
Mohawk Paper - Via - The Big Handbook
Here are some great examples of package design.