Core77: Design, Wit, and the Creative Act
January 8, 2008 at 4:00 pm by Able In November, I had the opportunity to go to a panel discussion at the Art Directors Club called Design, Wit, and the Creative Act. I went with a copywriter friend of mine who got me a free ticket. (Thanks again, Andrew!) Unfortunately, I got stuck behind a big black platform that was set up to film the event so I couldn't see anyone from the panel while they were speaking. Luckily for you, you can view some "highlights" at Core77.The conference itself was overall disappointing, but there was some great discussion on humor in products and advertising. If anything, it was great to just think of humor and wit in my role here at Newfangled. Not that it's a selling point or anything, but I do think that a sense of humor around the office and with clients does indeed help business, even if to keep the stress down. Although the panels focus was on products and design, I found some insight on service and relationships. Steven Heller, who I know mainly through his contributions on Design Observer, offered what could be considered a cop-out presentation of a cheesy video of the history of humor and wit in graphic design. This was really just a movie with posters and cartoons spinning and whirling around with some captions. When it came time to have the panel discussion, he was a bit distracting and sarcastic at first, but came around to giving some great insight and seriousness. Kelly Dobson had a tough time with the whole thing, and it was apparent that she was uncomfortable, which Heller didn't show much empathy towards and repeatedly insulted her. Since she has a sweet, timid personality she just laughed everything off, but who knows how she felt when she walked away that day. If you get a chance to check out her work, please do. It is quite interesting. Think: empathetic machines. Intriguing, don't you think? Kid Robots founder, Paul Budnitz was there. He is quite energetic and spoke intelligently on the creative process. He understands the environment needed to be creative, and that each creative person has different needs. I really enjoyed everything he had to say. Tobias Wong showed the most intelligence that day, although he just sat quietly in the ausience. You see, he had a stand-in act as if her was Tobias Wong, and talked about "his" work really well. I'll be honest, it took me a while to put the peices together. I find his work interesting, and it doesn't surprise me that he would pull a stunt like that. He takes expensive designer objects, and kind of defaces them, without taking away their "value." Please check out his work, too. He hasn't updated his site so you'll need to Google him. With such a diverse panel, Ze Frank had his hands full to keep the conversations on track. It was a tough feat, but he did a great job. His opening presentation was well done, and informative. |
Tags: design newyork conference
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