CreateAthon Spring 2012

The Box

The title is a reference to how one would leave a gang. I would hate for my final Tumblr entry to be confusing.

I am, of course, comparing CreateAthon to a gang for a reason. CreateAthon is something that you can’t opt-in and out of at will. It takes a commitment and I’m not referring specifically to the semester long course you’ve been reading about. I’m still exchanging e-mails with my client.

So, since I’ve got this branding on my forearm now, what will I do with it?

I’ve asked Peyton to come back for the next event. In my CreateAthon wrap-up post I mentioned how I don’t think I could be a team member.
There is the gO! Team. I’d like to come back and get involved that way.

That’s only me though. I already bullied a lot of my friends into signing up for CreateAthon this semester. I bullied my friends into signing up for Peyton’s Project Studio class. I’ll bully them to sign up to be team leads. I’ll bully them to sign up to be team members.

And I’ll never stop telling people about the work we did for the West End Community Center. Hopefully, as a combination of our materials and their hard work and dedication, people will know what I’m talking about.

We got to FIX IT!

Hello!

This is finals week hell. It feels like it has been that way forever, so I have been missing.
I am back though!

For today’s entry I am supposed to write about how to make CreateAthon better. I only have two suggestions and I think either one precludes the other from being necessary.

The better suggestion would be to have a class period (or something with the same weight) before the actual event where team members are required to show up and meet their leaders to go over their clients. This precludes any speeches or explanation of events (which are already not happening - so why add them) but is strictly informational.
Timing can be a bit of a nightmare, so I’d suggest renting out library rooms at 10PM. If anyone complains about that being too late then you don’t need them for the 24 hour event.
I tried to do a little of that at the social event at the Camel, but it was impossible. It wasn’t the right environment.

That way, when the team members show up a week later, they have had the organization in their head and will come with their own ideas. Team Leaders won’t need to spend the first hour and a half explaining to their team who they’re working with and answering questions.

Speaking of that hour and a half, my second suggestion is a little tired but I really mean it. No mentors before 11. The team finds their room and starts rearranging everything. Everyone grabs their spot and unpacks for the 24 hours. They come together, start learning about the organization and get halfway into that before a mentor comes in and starts trying to organize their schedules.
Which ends up delaying the schedule, because this 40 minute distraction just took us into the first check-in with no solid work and a vague idea of direction.

Ultimately, it comes down to getting the team members familiar with the organization without being disturbed by others. Team Leader and Team Members, no distractions.

Another Machine Shop

Monday we went to Carter Printing.

It was very cool.

My father is a machinist. I’ve spent a lot of times around giant CNC machines and lathes. I’ve been inside a machine that could rip the flesh off a mans body in seconds.
And I’ve cleaned up tons of coolant and killed a cockroach with my steel-toed boots.

So I like big machinery and big shops.

And Carter Printing has a lot of big machines.
And it has the other thing I really like too;

Conveyor belts.
If you know enough pop psychology you can tell alot about me from that.

I was particularly impressed with the folding machines. I have no picture for this post, but Ablamski does.
I was genuinely interested in the white plastic-covered ball bearings that kept these giant posters from going off track.
I inspected those bearings. I determined their purpose, and wanted to get a better view of the mechanism that actually folds the paper.
Then she made me pose.
And I never got to see that mechanism.
It was the most scarring moment of the trip.

I will look for a similar machine on Modern Marvels.

GTFO

During the CreateAthon event there were some achey-hearts about a sign that was hung on my rooms door. On it each of my team members, feeling as strongly as they did, wrote a variation of “stay out of here.”

This is how I work. I love critiques and direction when it is time - I can not stand being undercut before I even have an idea.
I know that isn’t how people meant it while we were beginning the event - nobody meant it that way. I’ll repeat; I know that.
But it felt that way to my team and I. We had just started the event when people came in to give us advice. Half of my team didn’t know what our NPO was when the mentoring began.

I even tried to stuff my feelings at first, knowing most people are more sociable than me. Just not this group, I guess.

Anyways, I’m an isolationist. I always knew this, but what I learned during the event was how much of an isolationist I am. I will come to you when I am ready - don’t try to preempt me. I’m the sort of guy who minimizes every window on his computer when someone walks near me. I just don’t like anyone seeing work-in-progress.

And when I show the work - I want vicious, brutal critiques. I want whatever I’m doing torn apart.

Aside from this turtle shell, I’m also an organizer. I like to make a plan of how things are going to work out.
I work great when I can oversee various pieces of a project, jumping in to evaluate or assist in whatever task is before me.
I can make time-tables and I like to think I can motivate people to work. Group work for me is a series of small tasks to be completed by X:XX time.

And I can really cut down and clean-up copy.

I’m super succin

Client Relations

I have a lot of experience working with clients on the strategic side. In my day to day job I run the advertising sales staff of the Commonwealth Times.

Basically, I spend my day having people e-mail me asking for free things.

And there is a language to working with them. It involves a lot of commas,

Line breaks

and summary promises.

What I don’t do very often is work with clients on the creative side. It’s a little different, but a lot of it is the same.

For starters, the language is basically the same.
And everyone has the greatest idea - they just haven’t done it yet.
And it is frustrating sometimes.

The differences when you’re being creative is that it isn’t your prices that are balked at - it’s your ideas. Your brain is not good enough.
And that’s tough.
Also, someone has sought you out for what you can do because they believe you are the best person to do it. Until they sign that paper.

My previous experience doing creative work has all been outside of the constructs of the university. To speak frankly - it’s been a ton of insolent, shitty little bands and hacky, no-talent writers who want me to fix up whatever slop they’ve committed themselves to.
Usually my payment is a good horror story and a case of nice beer.

CreateAthon was a totally different experience because the client was good. Fundamentally good. Providing space for communities to share and grow.
And the people are great. Everyone was very nice and encouraging and really wanted to include me in what they were doing.
And nobody put a painted guitar on my bed that left paint chips on my sheets.

I wanted to work with the team at the WECC. I wanted to make something that would really benefit them into the future. Without any beer promised to me in the future I was excited to deliver something.

Giving the work to the clients at the end of the event was exhilarating. It felt really good. Having a team of people who helped make that happen made it even better because we had shared something.

It didn’t hurt that they liked it.

So, what did I learn about client relations? Nothing I couldn’t infer, I guess, but I’ll restate it for clarity.

If you have a good client you can have good client relationships.

And stay away from ink-y palmed, drumstick equipped, guitar bandelier’d 20 year olds.

Why do CreateAthon?

Why not?

You’re an institution. You think you’re good people. You think that you do good work with whatever you do.

You think you’re pretty alright.

But what are you doing? What sets you apart?

Are you an ad agency that makes phenomenal ads?
Who cares. Every agency says they do triple A work.

Are you a school that works really hard to provide the best education and experiences for your students?
Who cares. Every school says they’re the best place to get a degree.

That’s cool. Bring in the money, do your routine. That’s for everybody.

But,
not a lot of people do CreateAthon.

Don’t change. Make great ads and provide education and experiences for your students. Just do it with CreateAthon.
Use students to make actual ads and promotional material that will be used by professionals in their community. Teach them client management, deadlines and concepting in a truly unique environment that you won’t be able to replicate anywhere else.
Or organize a park clean-up and force the SGA to show up; it’s whatever.

Be what you want people.
Just be something that helps the people who help others while helping yourself.

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Re-Blogged

I remembered I have a tumblr thanks to the national CreateAthon blog reblogging my antithetical CreateAthon wrap up post.

Was that confusing? God, I hope so.

So here is a quick rundown on what I’ve been doing since the event;

1. Copy revisions, copy revisions. Copy revisions.

2. Slight layout changes, making some new business cards.

3. Sweating.

4. Refreshing myself with InDesign, my least favorite Adobe program.

5. Checking 160 One Show pictures for my entries.

6. Senior Year.

7. Sweating.

Sometimes I feel like the worst Tumblrer around, but that’s okay. I’m really good at sweating.