Rothacker Reviews

Beyond Trend

Beyond Trend by Matt Mattus

Beyond Trend is laced with a passion for design.  It is sooooo inspiring!  Like little kids grow up and want to be police and firemen, after reading Matt's book (three times now), I want to be a designer!  If I were involved in an association for designers, I'd make Beyond Trend required reading for members.  If I owned a company that used designers and caught them reading Beyond Trend, I'd promote them.  Okay, that last one's a stretch.  But their value in my eyes sure would increase.

The business world today is paying attention to the wink of design leaders.  "Pssst guys!  Get on board.  Good design will capture your customer's heart and soul."  Whether you have companies that truly get the benefits of design or companies led by CEO's who have a vague idea of what design is: "Bob, I think there is something to this design thing.  Create a design department.  Stick it between the mailroom and accounting."...the field is opening wide up.  While more people are filling creative roles, the creative work-output is growing exponentially and growing exponentially vanilla.  An overabundance of design and an overabundance of sameness.  Matt:

...it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell a Target TV ad from a Sears ad.

Moving beyond trend is Matt's answer to his own question: "In an over-designed world, how does a designer design?"  How one gets there is what this book is all about.

Basically, Matt's book is written to and for designers, those in the trenches trying to crank out new and creative work.  But he sneaks in a chapter devoted to their bosses.  It is pure gold.  In very clear and concise terms, Matt delineates between the two styles of companies I reference above. 

There is one really strong theme that courses through Matt's work.  It is the foundation and framework for moving beyond trend.  It begins with a passion for design.  And it ends with the ability to explain your output.  What informed us?  Why did it?  And where did this influence come from?  Matt asks:

How can you problem solve, or create "new," or "get it" (and help others "get it") if you never did in the first place?

The ability of a designer to move beyond trend is directly related to the work that they put in between the passion part and the explanation part.  Matt guides the student of design here with a carefully created map on how to get there and how to become a culture creator at the same time.

Matt designed this book himself and infuses brilliant pictures, illustration and art to help tell his story. 

I smoked-n-signed Beyond Trend.  It is one of the best books I've ever read!

"Jeepers dave, that's a pretty strong statement!"

You know why I feel so strongly about this book?  Because I think it's not only a recipe for designers to elevate their game above status-quo, but it will also help other creatives like artists and writers!!

The American Dream

I recently read this article written by Robert Trigaux and published in the St. Pete Times.  The American Dream.  Quick, what comes to mind?  Little house in the burbs with a white picket fence, right?  This is an overused generalization that for me, signifies only one thing, that for most of us there really is an American Dream - whatever it might be.

Robert's article is based upon a survey conducted by advertising giant JWT.  Ann Mack, JWT's director of trendspotting ran point on this project.  Although the results of this survey are available to the public...for 3K, the questionnaire that JWT uses is quite interesting and available to the public...for free: Download JWT_AmericanDream_SURVEY.pdf .

In the questionnaire's cover letter, Ann says:

"As a throwaway line, 'the American Dream' passes with a nod and barely a second thought.  You can say 'He's living the American Dream' or 'She's been pursuing the American Dream,' and few people will want to know just what you mean."

The fact is, when I heard the question "What does the phrase, 'the American Dream' mean to you?" my inner status-quo took quite a head-on jolt.  I asked myself, just what was my own American Dream?  And, was I achieving it?

To contemplate about your own American Dream, is to take a deep breath and, for a moment, to step off the hamster wheel of life and work.  This exercise can be healthy and invigorating.  Why not let this question invoke a status check of your life?  And if you do not live in America, no worries...from your perspective what does the American Dream mean?

If you have your own personal Web site, tell us what the American Dream means to you?  And encourage others to do so as well!

I'll tell you what the American Dream means to me in the next couple of days.   

Designers: How to Create

Ms. Designer, in a world of sameness, how can your work stand out; how can it be different?  According to Matt Mattus, Senior Director/Creative - Intellectual Development Property at Hasbro, you need to become a culture creator.

Matt recently wrote an article in the December isssue of HOW magazine titled: Become a Cultural Creator.  There is no available link to the article at this time, but I will say, this one article is worth the price of the magazine, which is available at most chain bookstores. 

To wet your appetite, I'll list Matt's top ten ways to become a cultural creator:

Have endless curiosity

Do research

Develop intellect

Be respectful

Gravitate to excellence

Develop expertise

Be interested in validity

Create fearlessly

Respect rarity

Be original

If as a designer, you would like people to connect with the meaning of your work, which is a layer below asthetics, you should embrace Matt's guidelines!

According to Wikipedia the word culture comes from the latin word cultura, stemming from the word colere, and means to cultivate.

If you look at Matt's list, every single item takes hold of the verb cultivate and envelops it.  Take for instance curiosity.  If as a designer, you do not ooze curiosity, you are going through the motions.  As a matter of fact, you should lay your body down in a puddle so those who pack their lives to the brim with curiosity don't have to get their feet wet. To be curious is to take the gas cap off of the tank.  To cultivate is to fill er up...with the discovery of new things. 

With each different picture taken; with each different experienced lived; with each different entry in your design journal, you are nurturing, growing, improving, tending and fostering the grist for your creative mill. 

Even if someone were able to stoke their creative mill with exactly the same stuff as yours, the product would never be the same.  You know why...there isn't another you.  (my wife would leave the planet if there was another me :)  What comes out will always be different.  The key however, is to get the stuff into your mill and then give yourself a chance to be different.

Okay, put down your keyboard and slowly back away from the computer.  Good.  Now go out and pick up a copy of this magazine today!

Here is a little inexpensive something to help you in the process of cultivating:

Google 411

Information directory ------ on steroids.

Do You Matter?

Do You Matter? by Robert Brunner and Stewart Emery with Russ Hall

Why yes Virginia, you do!

Does your company matter?

Well Virginia, we're not sure about that!

Here is what this book is all about.  I've read the book twice and the authors do a nice, succinct job in describing it themselves.

I have already read somewhere someone whining about the author's excessive use of Apple as an example.  It did not bother me one bit.  As a matter of fact, it helps to enhance the book's main point. 

Here is a visual that I had twice through Do You Matter?  Robert and Stewart standing in front of an auditorium filled with CEO's from the world's top companies presenting a seminar on what the book is about.  The CEO's then leave the seminar, book in hand.  Back at their office, they shelve the book and go back to business as usual. 

It certainly is not that Robert and Stewart's message isn't compelling enough.  Delivered on the great white horse of Design powerhouse Pentagram, it's actually quite piercing.  The problem is that the CEO's minds are shelled in titanium.

If you work for a company that does not holistically embrace this concept of design, (read: titanium shelled cranium), I suggest you use this book as a What Color is Your Parachute? guide to escape.

The greatest value in my opinion, of Do You Matter? can be found in applying the question to You, Inc.  It could be You as a writer, You as a student, You as a worker, You as a sole proprietor or You as a mom.  In addition to the customer experience, do you matter to those with whom you interact?  Can you put yourself in their shoes?  Do you provide value?  If so, consistently?  In a consistent manner?

You can have a lot of fun using the complete, holistic design that the lads talk about here, to build a better sparkling You, Inc.  Tom would be most proud! 

This book was smoked-n-signed.  ...and I am recommending it to anyone who will listen!

1000 Journals Project

The 1000 Journals Project is a story about creativity, collaboration, freedom of expression, expression of the soul and beauty.  The 1000 Journals Project is a book written by Someguy.  Or perhaps it is a collection of creativity, collaboration, freedom of expression, expression of the soul and beauty, assembled by Someguy in book form, encased in stunning cover art by Linda Zacks.  The 1000 Journals Project is a physical movement started by Someguy in 2000.

Well Dave, that's about as clear as a London morning.

The Project - Here is Someguy's description.

The Book - Here is Someguy's book.

I bought the book back in March.  I'll use the book for a few pages and then set it back on the shelf to brew.  It wasn't until recently that I realized there was an accompanying Web site.  It is Someguy's words on creativity on the site that hold me spellbound.  Listen up:

If you ask a kindergarten class how many of them are artists, they'll all raise their hands. Ask the same question of 6th graders, and maybe one third will respond. Ask high school grads, and few will admit to it. (explained in Orbiting the Giant Hairball)

What happens to us growing up? We begin to fear criticism, and tend to keep our creativity to ourselves. Many people keep journals, of writing or sketching, but not many share them with people. (when was the last time a friend invited you to read their diary?) You will not be judged here. And you will have company. This is for you. For everyone.

Stop my soul in time and orbit my conscious with utter amazement!  Someguy gives folks a chance to liberate themselves from the crust of adulthood...to peal back to a time when their souls poured forth, unimpeded from the fear-filter imposed by society. 

Dave's 1000 Parent Project - If you are a parent of a child between K-6, or knows of someone who is, commit to the following: I will celebrate and encourage my child's uniqueness.  I will nurture not criticize.  I will prepare her to deal with society's cold shoulder and her teacher's indifference.  She will step into the world as a warrior.  She will protect others who aren't as strong.  She will respect other's opinions but not be swayed unless her spirit agrees.  She will walk tall and proud into the world as a child of creativity.  She will live and let live and those who cross her path will breath deep her energy.

The gentleman who wrote the following words is an artist.  He survived the critics.  His mind is a mind that wasn't swayed. 

The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense.
Take what you have gathered from coincidence.
The empty-handed painter from your streets
Is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets.
This sky, too, is folding under you
And its all over now, baby blue.

r

Wake Up Your Mind

Wake Up Your Mind by Alex Osborn.

Alex was born in 1888, and published this book in 1952.  Wake Up Your Mind is about developing and using creativity.  A major premise throughout, is that the mind is like a muscle, it must be exercised to develop.  Although Alex wrote this book in the early to mid 1900's, he seared relevance in for a lifetime.

Wake Up Your Mind consists of twenty-six chapters with titles like:

• Soft Environments Saps Creativity
• Education - Its Appalling Neglect
• Little Children Can Spur Our Minds
• Reading - How to Go At It Creatively
• Hobbies - Which Ones Benefit Imagination?
• Writing is Mental Wrestling At Its Best
• Problem Solving - Creativity At It Best
• Job Hunting Calls for Idea Hunting

Alex was an ad man*, a businessman, but he writes for Mr. and Mrs. Joe Everybody.  Alex must cite a million people in his book, and that fact alone is a lesson.  To amass that much information one needs to be out and about in the world exploring, observing, learning and collecting grist for the mind's imagination wheel.

As you read through this book you'll encounter hundreds of road signs.  Today's creative gurus and consultants once read these signs...you can see them in their present-day work.

Wake Up Your Mind is available as a used book through Amazon's Sellers...which makes it value personified.

*Alex was a co-founder of BBDO, an advertising firm of about 1,300 people.  It has grown a little since then.

Design: Do Not Disturb Signs

Ami James is a tattoo artist.  You might have heard of him.  Stefanie Pervos writes a nice story via Valerie's site The Guys From Love Hate / Miami Ink,  about Ami and his Do Not Disturb Sign.

It is the notion of the Dana Hotel and Spa to use Ami's artwork on their door hangers that captures my attention.  I think it is brilliant.   The notion of Ami's work not being able to stay inside of the hotel for long has been kicked about.  So here is a question for those who run businesses like Dana to ask of future employees (especially CEO's and bean counters).

What is the financial significance of using Ami's doorhangers?

Answer A: "I would be concerned about the cost.  People will take them."

Answer B: "What a great way for folks to remember us by.  Maybe it'll remind them to come back."

If the answer is A, tell them the interview is over and kindly ask them to leave.

                  

 

Along the Yellow Brick Road

Work has really gotten the best of me over the last eight months. 

"Awww, come on dave, that's one of the wimpiest sentences you've ever written."

Work penetrated the insides of my head with an icy-cold wake up dagger, "dave, no more cruise control.  If you want to work here..."  And with one big ole commitment I fast-tracked on a laser train right out of my personal life.  No worries.  It's what I needed.  Rosemary has been cool and Carla is a teenager.

A phenomenal effort by my team at work has secured my employment with this company for a little while longer.  While I cannot let up, I need to slow the train down and get back to that comforter that wraps itself around my soul and heart, the one that on a storm-filled day warms my mind, the one that a hurricane cannot pry loose, and the one that is one with dave's dna - dave's writing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

John Maxwell says, "No dream grows out of a vacuum.  It grows out of a dream.  Whether you know it or not, your life has been preparing you for your dreams."

Those who know me know that I am a fifty-one year old bald guy who has had no idea what I want to be when I grow up.  My heart, soul and mind have been ripped from my body and beaten against the rocks of not knowing. The pain of not knowing, of thinking that my answers were out ahead on the road before me have been excruciating, mind numbing and paralyzing.  The pain has sucked oxygen from my life, leaving me most often doubled over in pain.

But for the last five or six years, I've known the answer to my question is and really always has been inside...just like John says.  Something is beginning to stir within dave's soul...  I feel like the sun is trying to penetrate the clouds that accompany my journey.  Something is happening...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While my writing has taken it in the back over the last eight months, my reading hasn't.  And lately I seem to be not only smoking books, but vaporizing them. Picture the robot from the movie Short Circuit...need input, need input.

One of the greatest feelings that I have ever experienced as a human being was a bought of heart-felt appreciation for a book review that I wrote for this one gentleman.  As he told me from six-hundred miles away via telephone what this book review did for him and his company, warms tears streamed down my face.  To know dave is to know that this moment is an anomaly.  This was about six years ago and I packed this experience up in my back pack that I carry on my life's journey.

Writing book reviews and telling folks what excites me about others and their work is a portion of my comforter's dna.  John says they've always been there.  dave says he knows.  Johns says to tune in.  dave says they've walked every foot of the Yellow Brick Road with him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Because my back log of books to write about is so long, I am going to start writing a very short synopsis about each one.  Afterwords I'll follow up with additional posts elaborating.

The mix of first and third person in this post is by design.  Put that in your pipe and smoke it oh great magazine editor!!

Good Vibrations

At some point over the last few years I lost the desire to camp out at the local post office in sweet anticipation of my next Fast Company magazine.  I cannot wax lyrical articulation as to why.  I can only say that maybe, just maybe, they lost a little bit of their soul.

A Westerly wind blew into my life a couple of years ago and gently nudged me into the prevailing trade winds of Design.  I've read many books on the subject and subscribe to at least four different design magazines.  An appreciation for design has allowed for a finer appreciation of culture and deeper tie-ins to the art of communication.  The ability to look through a different lens at one's favorite subjects is most exhilarating!

Sailing at sea with my four design magazines, I always seem to notice when other design magazines float by.  It was about a year ago when I picked up Good.  Aesthetically, it has off the chart design appeal.  I love it.  But it is Good's content that has me remembering Fast Company's good old days.  Creators say Good is for people who give a damn.  They say it's an entertaining magazine about things that matter.  I agree.  Troll through their Website a bit and you'll get a feel.

When one subscribes to Good, one-hundred percent of that payment goes to one of its twelve nonprofit partners.  My proceeds go to Room to Read. 

"Perhaps, sir, you will someday come back with books."

While visiting a remote mountainous area in Nepal, John Wood, founder of Room to Read, came upon a school in horrific condition.  It did however, have a library.  The problem - it contained fewer than twenty books. 

John did go back...with books.  Room to Read grew from the seeds of John's gestures.

We construct force fields to survive the daily onslaught of advertising overload.  (unless, like me, you crave the stuff. I'll explain this sickness in a future post).  Sometimes however, a message pierces your armor and lodges in your heart.  The second that I heard about John's mission was the second right before Room to Read's message landed in my heart.  There will most definitely be some sort of dave-involvement with this organization in the future!

Thanks for coming into my life Good!