Heimie's Haberdashery

As I mentioned in previous posts, I started working on a project for a small men's clothing boutique based in St. Paul, Heimie's Haberdashery, with my art director friend Dan Spillman. This is an update on our progress thus far.

It's been about a month or so since we started the project and after 20 or so ideation sessions we have it narrowed down to half a dozen ideas for fleshing out and picking one to produce. We also took on an awesome copywriter that is finishing up her last year at MCAD, Katie Bode.

Dan has been illustrating some logo concepts for rebranding Heimie's to give it an updated feel that still stays true to Heimie's roots. We were drawn to the more stamp, ornate feel of the top row and the more distinctive aristocratic look of the second row. Dan is working on fleshing these out and turning them into vector images.

While narrowing down the concepts, we have been left with the decision to ramp up the wankiness of the store and sell it for all it's ciche. Or to take a slightly more serious refined route with the creative. It will be exciting to see where we end up so stay tuned for more.

Some of our inspiration on this project: Mustache Blog, Victorian Portraits, Old Spice, Postmodern Gentleman, & Kubrick's Barry Lyndon

Great Creatives Are A Dime A Dozen

"It takes two to make a very great career: the man who is great, and the man (almost rarer) who is great enough to see greatness and say so." - Ayn Rand

I ran across this quote again recently and was surprised with how much it resonates with me now more than ever. My perception has been altered after being fortunate enough to have experience working in three different ad agencies (ranging from traditional to interactive) and having in class experience at two more. From those experiences, no matter what the perception of the agency is to the outside world, I have found brilliant, extremely talented creatives at each of the agencies.

The impetus for agencies that are perceived by the industry to be more creative or cutting edge seems to stem from, not the creatives, but those with the gavel that allow work to pass onto the clients [ie creative directors & account managers]. The creative director is the one that has the chance to see the potential in any given budding idea or stamp it out before it becomes fully formed. The account manager has the power to sell the client into believing in the work and pushing back, when appropriate, to ensure great creative is born for the clients future success.

But the thing I learned the most from my experiences thus far is that when an idea fails or succeeds people pass the blame or clamor for the glory. I do think, to a point, that it is still the creatives fault too. If they can't properly sell their work to their superiors, what right do they have to demand them to buy into it?

Being A Creative

"The most frightening thing. . . about being what someone calls a 'creative person' is that you have absolutely no idea where any of your thoughts come from really. . ." This is a quote pulled from the trailer for the ad documentary Art & Copy which I was fortunate to have a chance to see recently.

That quote made me think about the fact that not only do you not know where your ideas come from, you can't truly be taught how to get to them because every creative has a different way of doing it. The one similar thread through most creatives though, is the need to immerse themselves in inspiration wether that be other design work, the client's research or something entirely different.

One thing that has served as a source of inspiration for me is my surrounding, my ethics and the people I'm with. And Arkansas has not fallen short in providing inspiration thus far.

Check out some of the pics I've kept while looking for inspiration in Arkansas.

Transition of a Blog

This blog was going to be about the search of a "modern day" art director student for his first creative position during a recession. That hunt lasted less than three weeks (thankfully). This marks that transition of my blog into the progress of a young art director as I continue to build my book, make a name for myself and hopefully win an award or two along the way.

It also is a cataloging of the transition of an art director working as a designer, a traditional advertising thinker into an interactive one and a northerner operating as a southerner.

This will definitely be an interesting journey and marks the second step into a career I'm looking forward to.