Virtual Ad Agencies Next for Golem Culture?

The Prague Golem figure—symbol for soul-less online agencies. Zimmerman gets a three-golem rating in my book. SOUL-less X 3.

Zimmerman President Pat Patregnani and Michael Gelfano, VP of retail technologies, demonstrate how Pick-N-Click works.

The virtual agency! It was a term that was floated often when I worked at Euro RSCG 4D, but it mainly described our partnering with multiple talent sources and sister agencies (is this term sexist?). The idea of an actual agency with no bricks and mortar office space but run online solely is an interesting idea.

There is one agency, Zimmerman and Partners Advertising, that I found. They have set up a virtual extension of themselves aimed at serving a big part of their clientele and vertical market—car dealers. They call it Pick-N-Click, and it apparently enables auto dealers to create whatever they need online.

From a South Florida Business Journal article:

"It took 66 software code writers, $3 million up front and input from a number of talented people to perfect the virtual agency," said Michael Gelfano, Zimmerman's VP of retail technologies.

Pick-N-Click enables a business owner or manager to create ads for print, radio and TV from pull-down menus with 40,000 selections. Licensing costs to use Pick-N-Click range from $799 to $1,999 a month, depending on how many medias a company uses.

"We did $2 billion in billings last year, with about 860 employees and with a pragmatic focus on performance for our clients, so Pick-N-Click fits right in with our strategy," said Michael Goldberg, chief marketing officer for the Fort Lauderdale-based agency.

The agency specializes in automotive accounts, so its officials said they chose to introduce the virtual agency to that niche first.

The website seems to cover it all in the navigation buttons, Strategy, Creative and Inventory. Wow, what more could you want? Passion? Intelligence? Brilliance?

While I think this is all very creative and forward thinking, I have always wondered why auto ads are so god-awful, and now I know why. They really aren't about high concept, breakthrough creative at least on the dealer level.

The reason I got into advertising was to participate in that high concept, breakneck pace, intellectually stimulating environment. Although I did work on the Saab Auto account for a while (and it was a pleasant experience). I regret now that I gave most of my creative energies to sell freaking credit cards for all those years. It all seems so, unfulilling, so golem like, soul-less and lucrative.

But I digress my friends—so this is just one virtual business model, Zimmerman is a large agency or rather part of the large conglomerate Omnicom. The upfront costs of this were, I am sure, a result of detailed study by many marketing wonks (i.e. account types). The creatives were most likely only brought in to execute the cosmetics, and I am sure they never were consulted on the actual planning of the user interface. Excuse me, am I sounding a bit arch?

The dream of setting up templates into which content can be placed has been trotted out repeatedly. In fact by every single general manager I have had the pleasure to work with over the years. The idea too, that you can "save" unused creative concepts has been around from the days when I kept a flat file full of them—beautifully realized tissue comps to be saved for the next time.

Yeah right! How many times did the perfect storm of product, strategy and client taste ever present itself again.

Anyway, I will be doing more investigation into this virtual agency concept because I think you can do it with out it seeming like a Golem-like creation from the soul-less inanimate material from which all Golem are wrought. As I do this investigation I will be assigning online agencies a Golem rating.

Zimmerman gets Sharky's 3 Golem rating,

4 Golems is the worst!

Stay tuned, leave a comment! G.

© Copyright 2009 Guy Arceneaux All rights reserved

Layoffs in the Ad World Force Many Back to School

I won't name names and certainly won't name agencies, but there have been many layoffs in the past year. The number of my colleagues out of work right now is rather alarming. These people are what I would have considered indispensable. Not only are many designers and writers once again freelancing, but the people that they reported to are also looking or have been forced to accept positions at a different level.

Going back to school is a step many have chosen to upgrade their skills. Print designers are confronting Dreamweaver, when InDesign was their forte in the past. Many are not ready for the rude awakening of the need to understand the basics of HTML. Many just never thought they would be put in a position to learn coding of any sort.

The Web is Your Tutor

Before you go out and spend mucho dinero on books, check out some of the resources available for free online. Try this one for a basic HTML tutorial:

http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp

This site appears to be free and also also offers a comprehensive set of tutorials to bring the avid learner

up to speed on HTML, CSS, XML and my favorite Javascript.

This is just one of many sites available, I am not accepting payment from this site, I just found them with a simple Google search using the phrase, "Learning basic HTML".

Dreamweaver is HTML and WYSIWYG Combined

When I first taught myself Dreamweaver (I am still learning), I had already taught myself HTML (I am still learning). The ability to view the visual layout and the HTML coding simultaneously was a real productivity booster.

Using some online tutorials and a Quick Start book, I was able to get enough skills to work on some projects at the agency where I worked. I actually value books because of their accessibility. Its all a matter of your personal learning style.

Set a Personal Project as a Goal

• It is important to have a real project in mind. When you are learning a web-based skill set choose a personal project that you can manage, with all that entails. When I taught myself HTML, it was for a nonprofit client's project to be presented at a meeting, this put pressure on me at the time, but that's how I work best. No one had ever suggested a web site to any of our clients, and it caused a great deal of discussion. (1996)
  
• Set aside a special time to dive into the new area you are trying to learn. Even an hour spent three times a week is good enough, I think of this approach as planting redwood seedlings.
  
• Visit online forums and professional gatherings. You will be surprised at how much you can pick up from casual contact with others in the new area you are learning.
  
• Use your new skills as often as possible. Try to keep up with new developments in techniques that last suggestion might prove to be a career-long effort. Don't be daunted by what I call the learning spiral.
  
• Keep learning. Many things you learn today, will one day be outmoded. Sigh!
  

© Copyright 2009 Guy Arceneaux All rights reserved

Too much print..not enough web?

Last night in downtown Baltimore at an artist's club/bar called The Windup Space I particpated as a presenter, along with Alissa Jones of Six Red Marbles, in a roundtable discussion hosted by the Baltimore Aquent office. It was the first in a new monthly series they have started, last night being the innaugural trial run. The idea is to broach emerging topics of interest to the design community.

The theme was meant to bring to light in a discussion what steps other designers have made in making the transition from print design to web as demand has grown. The following are the slides from my presentation. I looked at it from the designers viewpoint and the future of the industry as a whole. Forgive the clunky long slide by slide posting, but the upload of a .mov file was not working at 6:30 this morning!

I chose not to detail what I have done to make the transition. I have done what many in the field have done, run as fast as I could up a steep learning curve since graphic design was inexorably bound to the use of the computer. Alissa took an entirely different, yet fascinating look at graphic design evolution through the lens of the historical development of the web.

Please leave your comments! I'd like to hear from you.

Comment Callout: Peter Kaizer, Director of Catholic Relief Services Web Unit left a great comment that had a link to a downloadable PDF. Peter said designers might be well informed by the following—"Jeffrey Zeldman got his start as a well known author with his first book, Taking Your Talent to the Web ."

This PDF definitely looks like a worthy addition to the substance of this discussion. Thanks, Peter! Your balanced and informed comments are much appreciated.

© Copyright 2009 Guy Arceneaux All rights reserved

My mentor, Marc Arceneaux

As a young artist still in high school, I had the good fortune to have an older brother, six years my senior. He was a creative person naturally, and words were often paired with his witty drawings.

When I was ready to decide what I wanted to study I followed in his footsteps and traveled to San Francisco to study at The San Francisco Art Institute. San Francisco in 1971 was still a wild and wooly place but much of the aura of the Summer of Love had degenerated into a much funkier harder edged scene.

But it was still a very good place to be, as a designer and as a curious art student. My brother was always encouraging during my art school years and introduced me to many of the founding schools of thought that built modern day design. He was an enthusiast of Bauhaus design, and always shared books he had found.

When he landed a contract to author two books on design history; Streamline: The Art and Design of the Forties and Atomic Age: The Art and Design of the Fifties, I was fortunate to work alongside him. We did fascinating research into these design eras. It was also my first exposure to publishing and having my art published. That foundation in Streamline and Atomic design has stayed with me always. Thanks, Marc.

10 Things I Learned From My Brother

1) Preliminary sketches are important.

2) Good design is inherent in a beautiful life plan.

3) Typography is important and historically grounded

in our psyche.

4) Raymond Lowie is a god.

5) Things will work out.

6) Treat everyone with respect, everyone is

an artist in their own way.

7) Borrowing from art history to create something new

is perfectly acceptable.

8) Use excellent art supplies and care for them.

9) Never let anyone borrow your personal Rapidograph.

10) Learn as much as you can about computer design.

(His advice in 1976)

© Copyright 2009 Guy Arceneaux All rights reserved

Neo-Nouveau Artist in California

The logo for Sylvandale Gardens, in California, takes its distinctive look from hand-lettered typography. It shows the elegant curvilinear balance of a well-trained eye coordinated with controlled pen strokes. It is simply superior to an artist using Illustrator or Photoshop.

Sharky's Artist Profile, My Brother:

Marc Jahn Arceneaux

Marc Jahn Arceneaux is a native of New Orleans and evacuated before Huricane Katrina. He took with him only a few of his favorite artworks. Today he shares his story with us and a few of the saved pieces. His career as an artist and author spans over 40 years and a variety of artistic endeavors. He has maintained successful studios in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New Orleans. He is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. Marc Arceneaux published 14 books, including his art history books "Streamline Art & Design of the Forties" and "Atomic Age Art & Design of the Fifties." The New York Art Directors Club awarded Marc The Gold Award in 1975 for his contributions to National Lampoon's million seller book release, "Kaleidoscope: The 1964 Yearbook Parody" on which the movie Animal House was based. He was also part of the 60s and 70s San Francisco golden era of album cover design, creating hand lettered logos for Canned Heat, Bobby Gentry, Danny O'Keefe, and Herbie Hancock, among others. More recently, Marc's 1997 Budweiser Mardi Gras poster became an instant classic. In 2000, he completed two large murals for the lobby of the Royal St. Charles Hotel.

© Copyright 2009 Guy Arceneaux All rights reserved

Hand Drawn Bible Infuses the Word with Spirit

The Walters Museum in Baltimore is hosting an exhibit that

gives every graphic designer a reason to take heart.

Baltimore—This winter the Walters Art Museum will offer many programs in conjunction with the exhibition of The Saint John’s Bible: A Modern Vision through Medieval Methods. On view Feb. 15 through May 24, 2009, this exhibition will feature 44 pages from a contemporary, illuminated Bible set alongside approximately 49 manuscripts and rare books from the Walters’ permanent collection.

Sharky says...

The divine hand of man is made manifest in this modern illuminated version of the Catholic Bible. Luddites may now revel in this visual celebration of handwritten sacred verse. Coupled with post-modern reinvention of the visual iconography, the effort is as invigorating and soothing as a balm.

The exhibition is a lovingly documented view into the rigorous process followed in the the bible's assemblage. Commissioned in 2000 by The Saint John's University, Minnesota. The project was conceived as a bible for the new millennium. The accompanying film presentation is the best way to begin the journey into the world of liturgical manuscript illumination. The exacting details are spelled out and one realizes that this was high tech in the Middle Ages.

Besides being a presentation of the work from the new bible; it is an examination of the culture and tradition that surrounds illumination of sacred texts.

There is a fascinating description accompanying one spectacularly utilitarian ancient torah, explaining that the name of God could not be written but was respresented by a single dot of ink on the parchment.

That single dot could not be placed until the scribe had been immersed in a ritual cleansing bath. Once that lone dot was positioned a second ritual ablution was required.

A unique typeface was designed and the film details thought processes that went into the arrival of the visually crisp graceful expression of modern day type engineering.

The variety of sacred tests on display are engrossing and project the respect for awe of the the written word. Humanism is strongly projected through the diverse spiritual illuminations. The very tenacity of spirit needed on this arduous project is an affirmation of the potential value and goodness of human beings.

Go see this exhibit! It allows The Bible to be seen as the rich trove of poetic literature and beautiful imagery we all knew it was meant to be. Calling all designers, print or web to

revere the tradition that is the root of modern day publishing design.

g.

© Copyright 2009 Guy Arceneaux All rights reserved

Tools from another time...

Recently, while discussing the topic-- Are there too many print designers and not enough web designers? some people left comments about "the old analog days".

I miss the lost craft of what we do, the handwork and tactile connection to our brain's processes. I do not miss pulling all-night paste up sessions. There were the frantic searches for a missing phrase that you X-acto cut from a waxed galley (picked up from the typesetter vendor). After searching high and low you would discover it pasted to your shoe.

I have a wealth of fond memories of how we used to work but also a marked decrease in the anxiety about meeting deadlines. If you are of a certain level of seniority you remember something from before the computer layout switch don't you? Share your comments here, I'd love to hear them. and so would others.

Good Old Days at an Agency in Baltimore

I will never forget the time my boss, in a hurry to visit the client, wanted to take the paste up board on which I was working furiously. After firmly telling him, with all due respect,

"It is not ready to be seen by the client."

He said, "It looks fine!"

He pulled the board off my green Borco-covered drafting table, and proceeded to shove the board (overlays and everything) through the hot wax machine!

As he bent down to guide the board through the waxer, his expensive Harve Bernard tie traveled with it and got caught. The hot waxy roller wheel kept moving until he was being pulled into the machine and he had a look of panic in his eyes.

Luckily in the old days we always had a beautifully sharp pair of shears around which I used to clip him free. The $150 tie was in shreds, covered with wax, and frankly was a sartorial disaster.

How he got the idea we put an entire board through a waxer—I'll never figure that out. I chuckled at him as he made his way out the studio door on his way to the meeting the still gooey waxed board in hand.

I also wondered how would he would explain the lack of corporate logos. That was the graphic element I always added last.

Well, account executives have to learn to dance around the tough questions. Probably the toughest would be what happened to your tie?

g.

© Copyright 2009 Guy Arceneaux All rights reserved