A Look at Art & Design

Listen...

If I were to whisper, would you be more inclined to listen to me?

We are a society of incredibly impatient, hurried individuals and I believe that in our rush, the art of listening has become lost. When was the last time you really stopped multitasking and completely listened to what someone had to tell you? Have we simply chosen to tune out the talk, talk, talk so that we can "get on with it" and proceed to our next task? And if that is the case, how sad is that?

I'm also wondering if listening in some way translates to how we read our email. Are we listening to what others are trying to express to us through written language? I don't think so. I believe we have become a generation of skim readers and text messaging jargonists and it really takes something special to grab our attention and make us listen.

In the movie "The Devil Wears Prada" the icy demeanor of Meryl Streep's character, Miranda Priestly was a lesson in communication. Self assured and quiet spoken Miranda was a force. She said what she needed to say; short, succinct, final. People listened and reacted.

As designers and visual artists, our jobs revolve around communication. Are we listening anymore?

Thank You Designers

I want to send a huge THANK YOU to all the designers who responded to my yelp for help in my recent post Tomorrow is Not Always an Option.  You are an amazing group of people.  Despite heavy deadlines, and grueling workloads many of you took the time to write me emails offering your hand and shoulder for support. The design industry is a competitive place but it's also filled with compassionate and caring people who demonstrate that they aren't above lending a hand to a fellow designer. Eric Karjaluoto of smashLAB wrote a very helpful comment and offered some great practical advice. Some like Veerle Pieters and Cat Morley of BODO even posted their own blogs with companion articles. Veerle wrote eloquently her thoughts about how "Deadlines Kill Inspiration" and Cat at BODO offered suggestions for dealing with the on slot of deadline madness in her post titled Business Choices: The Next Level. I'd also like to acknowledge the readers of Veerle's Blog and BODO who wrote insightful, and sometimes fun, comments on this topic. Thank you all.

Setting Routines in Time Management

Every Thursday morning my neighbor mows his lawn. He has a beautiful home. The house and its embellishments are perfection. The flowerbeds and hedges are meticulously cared for. (He mows his lawn on a diagonal for heaven's sake.) He has a sprinkler system, gadgets and tools and a mower that looks like a baby Hummer. Every Thursday morning he's out there doing his routine and loving every second of it.

I'm not much of a routine gal. But I have to tell you, I enjoy Thursday mornings. There is something comforting in hearing those blades whirling around doing their job every week like clockwork. I've grown accustomed to the sounds of it.

Some of my readers here at ArtLOOK may have noticed that I have been trying to find new ways of best dealing with time management. My best girlfriend (who is also a designer) and I have been discussing ways in which to be able to fit more activities into our day. Not the usual activities of house cleaning, laundry, design work, freelance writing, business administration etc. We want new things. We want to find a way to fit the things we WANT TO DO, maybe even feel we HAVE TO DO...into our already overstuffed day.

Laura tells me this is accomplished via ROUTINE! (Oh no... say it ain't so!) "Well.." she says, "If you want to fit a new activity into your lifestyle you have to consider that activity a priority AND you have to set a routine or timeframe when you actually DO IT." For instance, I want to learn more about color. "So," Laura tells me, "let's say every morning you wake up at 6am, make coffee and take an hour to relax and learn about color while drinking your coffee." HEY...that could work! By the end of the week, I'd have 7 hours of color education under my belt. Amazing!

We discussed the work of Dave Werner. I can't imagine how that 25 year old guy did all that design work...AND had time to conceptualize those great projects. But my thinking is he did many of those projects while in school. School = routine.

I hate to admit it, and I'll never be a routine type of person, but I think there must be something to this notion of setting a routine. I'm not about to start accounting for every hour of every day but... who knows, maybe I'll start mowing my lawn on Monday and learning about color every morning at 6am.

Tomorrow is not always an option

The design industry is fraught with deadlines.  Often they come right on top of one another, they repeat weekly or monthly and we design-types are pretty familiar with this pattern.  It's part of the job and we accept this as industry standard. There are usually several advertising deadlines, copy deadlines, and Go-live deadlines just to name a few. Designers work late nights, early mornings, through weekends and holidays and we schedule our work load to best accommodate the nature of the work and our clients. We also like to occasionally take a day off once or twice a month.

Inevitably there is the client who asks "Is there anyway we can have this tomorrow?"  Or "We just found out we really need this work done by the end of the week." For whatever reason, the client has waited until the last minute, an emergency situation arises, or someone gets impatient and the designer is presented with that sinking feeling of really wanting to please the client but also realizing that another client will have to be "bumped" or another late night will be required.

This is sometimes unavoidable.  Sometimes it's just rude.  It seems as of late, Dragonfly Blu has been riddled by clients requesting work be done on an accelerated schedule. Despite the studio's company policy that work requested on a rush basis will result in a 50-75% increase... This seems to be becoming the rule rather than the exception. I don't really understand it.  I'm pretty forthright with clients, explaining scheduling and the need for effective and efficient planning. I put time lines and deadlines both in writing and I speak to this verbally in conversation. And yet... This is becoming epidemic here at DFB.

I think what the client doesn't understand is that when one continually requests work be done on a rush there are several factors involved that doesn't bode well for either designer or client.

1.  The designer will have to bump another client's work to do yours. A successful design firm, or designer working freelance, will often set up queues for work and continually asking for a "cut" in the queue is simply not fair.
2.  If the designer is rushed, quality work can be compromised.
3.  Clients need to understand that the computer fairies don't come down and do magic.  In creating an ID or in making a design there IS A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF TIME REQUIRED FOR THE DESIGNER TO CONCEPTUALIZE YOUR PROJECT. This is the creative aspect that you are paying for.
4.   Designers need to rest and refresh too.  In doing so, we are better able to provide you with fresh ideas, and quality service.

I'm keen to know if other designers and/or writers have this problem and how you deal with it? 

The W List

Wow...I just discovered I was added to The W List at Ann Michael's Manage To Change.  The W List is a listing of "Great Blogs Authored by Women."  What a lovely Sunday morning surprise to see ArtLOOK included.  Thanks Ann.

The list originally started with The Power 150 and progressed to Kami Huyse creating PR Power Women in response to the fact that only 13% of the Power 150 were women.  The W List provides a listing of great blogs and I can see that the next few hours will find me adding feeds to my feedreader. Thanks to all who have helped raise the voices of women bloggers. Have a look.

The Art of Self Management :: Part II

As promised, I've done my assessment of both Mark/Space's Missing Sync and Market Circle's Daylite.

Let's begin with Daylite. I have to say the program is pretty great. It is designed (oddly) to work in the same manner in which I personally organize my information so I found I didn't have to change my way of thinking to match the program.

I created my first database and Daylite sync'd my contacts etc right into the program. I began by setting up the calendar and task lists. There are A LOT of categories in which to file your info so I deleted a lot of those and kept the categories that work for me. The interface and display was very helpful...by setting up a Project, and it's associated task list, it was extremely useful to be able to view "the next activity" listed for any given long range project. Kept me right on task. I knew what I was doing and what I had to do next. What a time/stress saver because I didn't have to keep this info in my head anymore and I could truly focus on the task at hand.

I also LOVED what Daylite calls "The Pipeline" which is a series of stages needed to progress through a project until its completion. Because I deal with a lot of email correspondence from clients, I also appreciated the fact that I could sync my contacts/emails to a project in Daylite. Sooo... when I boot up a project in Daylite all my info is there. I can see the emails associated with the project, the contacts involved, and the series of tasks needed to be done.

Daylite also provides the ability to track "Opportunities" which I also found to be a nice surprise. As you get requests from potential clients you can add those for followup and progress....very nice! Daylite interfaces with Billings which is the next program I'll be reviewing to keep my accounting paperwork organized.

Now for the crappy part. Originally I found Daylite via Missing Sync. I had just purchased my first Blackberry and the ability to sync my daily management program with my Blackberry is KEY! At the Missing Sync website I read that Missing Sync is compatible with Daylite. Which indeed, I guess, it is...or could be. I don't know I must have misread the info. The problem is...Daylite is NOT compatible with Missing Sync. So despite the two weeks I've spent falling in love with Daylite... I will not purchase the program until I can sync (without having to jump thru hoops) with my Blackberry.

Additional info: I very much liked the little work timer that came with Daylite. With that timer I could begin a project, start the timer and actually have a accounting of the REAL time I was spending working for any given project/client. Daylite records those minutes/hours for later reference. Regardless of my decision to not purchase Daylite until synchronization is supposed with my Blackberry...I need the timer! I went in search of finding the stand alone application for Work Timer. Here is the freeware download for Work Timer 2.04 at Apple.

All in all I can say that Daylite would be an extremely good self management system for designers running their own shops or artists who want to manage their business and tasks. There are a host of features that I really can't get into here at ArtLOOK because I'm not writing a manual, but here is the link for Daylite's features. As for me, well... I love the gadgets and require certain beloved pieces of software to keep my business in check. But when it comes to "brain dumping" and sketching out ideas... I'll never give up my Moleskine.

Missing Sync: Mark/Space's Missing Sync is a synchronization application for MAC and your handheld device. I chose Missing Sync instead of the free PocketMac, which I heard had some issues. Supporting Windows Mobile, Palm OS etc, my interest was in Blackberry. I purchased Missing Sync for under $40 and I can report it works pretty well, and as advertised, with the exception of the whole Daylite compatibility issue. It transferred my contacts and my calendar very nicely. And it has the capability to also transfer selected photos and music from Iphoto and Itunes. Photos taken with the Blackberry can also be transferred very easily over to your computer. Being that I have an Ipod I don't use the music transfer for my Blackberry but another nice feature is the Notebook that is bundled along with Missing Sync. Notebook allows you to create, edit, categorize and sort notes on your MAC (or handheld) and then sync them. Missing Sync is made by people who love MAC and the interface is quite nice, easy to use and best of all...IT WORKS!

The Art of Self Management

Things have been getting hectic in the office and despite my ever present Filofax I'm finding it a bit of a challenge to keep track of all the "goings on."  I'm thrilled that my business is healthy and the list of happy clients is growing and so to keep the business vibrant, I've been thinking lately about getting a personal assistant.  And not just for my business...but for my life.

This morning I read with delight about The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss (found via 43 Folders).  Honestly, you have to read the excerpt from "Outsourcing Life"... I couldn't stop myself from smiling and exclaiming "Hey I want that too!"  I was tempted to immediately put Tim's new book into my shopping cart at Amazon, but then thought better of it...why not just go out to the bookstore and buy that book RIGHT NOW?  Yeah...well once the phones started ringing, and the deadlines started popping and the emails started coming in...I completely forget about the book until now. (Thus a perfect example of the need for a personal assistant...I can't even get to the bookstore to buy the book to help me help myself, for heaven's sakes!)

A few weeks ago I bought my first Blackberry.  It took the sales dude an hour to talk me into the purchase.  Now that I have this sweet little phone (yeah yeah...it's not a IPhone but I'll never switch over to AT&T) I can't imagine how on earth I got along without it.  Of course now, the purchase of a shiny new gadget requires...hoho...time to learn about the new device and the software to sync the device to my MAC.  Fine.  I did a bit of research and because all my stuff is on my MAC I needed something that would sync the phone to the MAC OS without duplicating contacts or messing up my carefully culled calendar entries.  After reading some reviews on PocketMac (see...another thing my personal assistant could have helped with) I settled on downloading Missing Sync.  It worked very well, didn't mess up any of my contacts or calendars and I'm pretty much pleased with it. But gosh, if I could only do more with the emails and calendar to organize them and link them to the associated projects that would be great.  I have many projects and often each project has quite a time line of tasks that need to be completed and several people to be contacted along the way.  The trick is getting each application to sync with the other and then sync to my Blackberry.

Somewhere I read about Market Circle's Daylite and once again via Missing Sync I was reminded of that program. I absolutely hate Microsoft's Entourage and the calendar on my MAC hard drive doesn't do all I want it too.  I don't want to access all my info from a web server so BaseCamp is not a option for me. Could Daylite be the personal assistant I am searching for?  Or even better...could Daylite be of assistance to my personal assistant? Today I downloaded Daylite Productivity Suite. I've so far synchronized my calendar and contact list with the program and am now going thru. the stages of learning *sigh* the new program.  I'm still convinced that an actual 3 dimensional personal assistant is someone I'd like to get to know better but until then my hope is that by putting everything in order I might make better use of my time.  As I discover Daylite I'll keep you posted on the pros and cons.  I'm also looking to a billing and invoicing program to make nice with my filing system (which presently consists of a box). How do you manage your daily activities?

Copyright Law :: Protected or Not (Part 2)

As a follow up to yesterday's post on Copyright Law, I went back to the WIPO website and found the following disclaimer on the front page of the WIPO website copyright section:

The attention of the Secretariat of WIPO has been drawn to the fact that certain organizations issue certificates purporting to grant copyright protection. It should be noted that these certificates do not create any right.  The Secretariat recalls that, by virtue of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, works are protected without any formality in all the countries party to that Convention. This means that international copyright protection is automatic, it exists as soon as a work is created, and this principle applies in all the countries party to the Berne Convention.

Contracting parties of the Berne Convention include (in part):  USA, Canada, Mexico, UK, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, Iceland, Spain, Greece, Belgium, Poland, Czech Rep., Russian Rep., Australia, Austria, India, China, Israel, Central African Rep., and many others..

Copyright Law :: Protected or Not?

Copyright Law is indeed a slippery slope.  Over at Vitamin, Stephan Nipper, writes on March 2nd, 2007 a post entitled Copyright: Get to know the Facts but having read the article I really must ask Attorney Nipper what exactly are the facts please?  According to Attorney Nipper, his article encourages the purchase of US copyright registration (at $45/a pop) in order to avoid

"...a common misconception about copyright law that still exists today, some thirty years later. This misconception often serves as a trap that many a copyright owner, including web developers and designers, unknowingly falls for. What is it? Its the belief that “a copyright owner does not have to file a copyright application to protect its works…rather, copyright protection forms when the works are created.”

While technically true (copyright protection begins at the ‘publication’ of the work), taking a “I don’t need to file copyright applications” attitude can often come back to haunt you. The reason for this, under the US Copyright Act, is that registration of the copyright within ninety (90) days of publication (or before infringement takes place) is necessary to enable the copyright owner to receive what are referred to as “statutory damages.”

I would first like to point out that Mr. Nipper is incorrect when he states that copyright in a work is created at ‘publication.’ The current U.S. law creates a copyright when a work is fixed in a tangible form of expression. US Copyright Office states the following:

When is my work protected?
Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.

Do I have to register with your office to be protected?
No. In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work.

Why should I register my work if copyright protection is automatic?
Registration is recommended for a number of reasons. Many choose to register their works because they wish to have the facts of their copyright on the public record and have a certificate of registration. Registered works may be eligible for statutory damages and attorney's fees in successful litigation. Finally, if registration occurs within 5 years of publication, it is considered prima facie evidence in a court of law.

Houston We Have a Problem!
So from what I read of all this is... that copyright is indeed bestowed upon a work at its creation BUT in order to ACTUALLY be protected in a court of law (which is frankly in my eyes the whole point of copyright protection) for statutory rights and attorneys fees, that work MUST be registered.  Therefore to ensure compliance with these laws all artists, writers, developers etc MUST REGISTER each piece of work or you're screwed. That means each photograph, each website, each graphic, each illustration, painting or sculpture.  Are you kidding me?

So if Jane the Artist creates a masterpiece for which she hasn't registered a copyright and the masterpiece is sold to a collector, that collector/buyer could conceivably go forth and reproduce that masterpiece into coffee mugs, tshirts, greeting cards etc...make a fortune and Jane the Artist has NO LEGAL STANDING??

Additionally Attorney Nipper points out:

Finally, web developers should remember that in the US the author of the work is the owner of the work unless the author has assigned his/her rights in writing, has a duty to do so based upon an employment agreement, or the work is one of the few other “works for hire” exceptions.

(Please see ArtLOOK's May 13, 2006 post on Work for Hire Situations and why it's a bad idea for creative freelancers.)

Mr. Nippers article and the info at the US copyright office therefore begs the questions... does a artist or creative own a work upon creation or not? Is it 90 days or 5 years? And if a work is being stolen or misused, does that creator have protection and rights under US copyright law and/or WIPO and/or the Berne Convention or not?  If not, what is the point of bestowing copyright upon creation in the first place, and who then is really benefiting from the registration process?  If these questions can not be answered clearly then we have some mighty big problems folks and I'm going to have to go and re-mortgage my house in order to protect my rights! (of course it might be too late according to the 90 day time limit...for heaven's sake)

WIPO - World Intellectual Property Organization
Now I am not an attorney.  I am simply a designer who wishes to figure this all out. I encourage you to all read Mr. Nipper's article as well as the comments made by numerous designers, artists, writers and EU visitors all questioning such things as "I've created 100's of sites/layouts/articles/paintings or illustrations and registering each one is going to get expensive."  and how does Creative Commons work into all this.  Many EU visitors also wished additional information regarding intellectual property in their countries.  I have done a little bit of research and have provided links below which will direct readers to information regarding US copyright law, WIPO, Creative Commons and other resources.

Ways to Becoming a Better Designer

A most beautiful Oriole came to visit my yard this afternoon.  It's brilliant orange and black markings were just exceptional as it sat on the branches of my apple tree and I thought to myself 'Wow, nature is really the best designer. There doesn't seem to be anything which she can improve upon.'  Being, however, that I am not Mother Nature I began to reflect on things that I could do to improve my own design work.  Here is my list:

• Learn a new application.  I'm often so busy with client work or admin work that I feel after a 10-12 hour day I just can't conceive of learning something new.  This is, of course, a HUGE excuse.  It is important to keep abreast of new updates and software applications that come out or even applications that you haven't been able to add to your skill set as yet.  Things I'm looking into are Adobe CS3, and Quickbooks.  I know that in spending the time learning these upgrades or in the case of Quickbooks a whole new application, I'll be making my life easier and my portfolio more valuable.  Well worth it, don't you think?
• Learn something new besides applications.  The last few months found me so busy with work that I was beginning to feel that I was becoming progressively more stupid.  I love to learn but being so consumed with work and home life responsibilities left little time to even think about learning anything.  Things have since quieted down here at Chez Mikulski and once again I find myself enjoying the Discovery Channel and learning about a new (for me) area of design... Interior Design. Check out Apartment Therapy NYC and Charles and Hudson.
• Reading.  In addition to gaining knowledge about our industry I really believe it is a designer's responsibility to be well read and knowledgeable about our world.  I have a pile of magazines sitting next to my bed and next to my desk.  Well...it's time to whittle down that pile.  As a designer I subscribe to Communication Arts, How, and Print.  As a human being I read Time, The New Yorker, Ink, Vogue and Vanity Fair.  As a writer, I'm reading now not just to gather facts and content but to read the words of novelists and journalists.  Word weaving is an art.  Favorite blogs for art, writing and design include...Edward Winkleman, Design Observer, Thinkvitamin, and the free articles at Publication Coach.  Also check out The Art Guide for art exhibitions, openings and reviews. (I must say The Art Guide gets better every month.)  It's also pretty amazing how much news you can pick up when your browser homepage is set to a news website such as MSNBC or CNN ...yeah I've got a little crush on Anderson Cooper.
• Yes, you can just look at the pictures.  I read somewhere that the average person spends approximately 11 seconds looking at a work of art in a museum or gallery.  Breezing through art museums and design books is not really LOOKING.  Like the title of this blog, I need to really slow down again and start looking at art and design...drink in the details of a brush stroke, examine the spacing between letters in a great ad and wonder about such things as the chosen color palette or font.  LOOK at the packaging in the stores, check the design of exceptional websites and hey...actually visit the main pages of blogs.  Some lovely design out there that isn't shown in a feed reader and 11 seconds just will not do. 
• Get out of the office.  You can't design for real life if you're not experiencing real life.  My car was broken down for a long time and the walls of my house seemed to nearly crush me. Not only did I really miss the freedom my vehicle provides me but I missed interaction with other people, art openings, social events, networking opportunities...oh my! Broken car or not, working on your own can be an isolating experience. Get out and be with the 3 dimensional people. Travel is always an mind expanding activity.
• Exercise.  Yup...no kidding, I really think it makes you a better designer. Because of the broken down car situation, and also because of my pledge on Going Green I started to ride my bike around town.  Doing this then encouraged the practice of riding to the beach and out just for the heck of it. I used to ride my bike quite a bit 4 years ago but gave it up to devote myself to working 16 hours a day.  Heart pounding exercise really clears your head, improves a nasty mood (if you should find yourself in such a mood), and makes you more productive.  Added incentive...I've lost 8 pounds and feel heaps better!

What do you do in an effort to be a better designer?