danizconcept

Breathtaking Pictures of Africa

2010-08-04T02:09:00.000-07:00

Breathtaking Pictures of Africa

About the author

Hello, everyone! I'm Paulo Gabriel, a 25 year old designer from Porto Alegre, Brazil. I have worked as a webdesigner since 2006, but websites and blogs have been a hobbie for me since 1999. Here in Abduzeedo, I try to bring only the hot stuff for you... and hope that all of you enjoy my posts! For more cool stuff, you may also follow me on Twitter.

THE RENAISSANCE

2010-07-30T14:39:00.000-07:00

A revolution is provoked by war, but renaissance is provoked by the mind. Hence a revolution's path is paved with blood and renaissance is paved with ink

THE RENAISSANCE. LIVE IN LAGOS. A 3 day workshop on photomanipulation and composition

FEATURING: Daniel Emeka, David Osagie, Opabisi Oluwaseun.

7th - 9th of October 2010
Course Fee: N20,000

To Register send your name. sex and occupation to
danizconcept@gmail.com or 08058964424

For further info call: Daniel 08058964424

Incredible Character Illustrations by Tiago Hoisel

2010-07-30T07:12:00.000-07:00

Incredible Character Illustrations by Tiago Hoisel

Tiago Hoisel is a super talented illustrator from São Paulo, Brazil. You have probably seen some of his work in sites such as FFFFound, Design You Trust and of course on our Daily Inspiration. One that is pretty popular is the Davy Jones character illustration and he has so many more amazing pieces that we were really surprised that we haven't had featured him before.

For more information about Tiago Hoisel, visit http://hoisel.zip.net/, it's fantastic and definitely worth to checking it out.

I also would like to thank Marcelo Souza (@msouza3d) for the heads up about Tiago.

About the author

My name is Fabio Sasso, I'm a graphic/web designer from Porto Alegre, Brazil and I'm the founder of Abduzeedo. I hope we can share lots of information, tips, and ideas through Abduzeedo. Also you can follow me on Twitter or my personal site at http://fabiosasso.com.

Artist Profile :: Nigerian Artist :: African Artist :: African American painter

2010-07-29T22:17:00.000-07:00

Sculptor Chidi Okoye

Painter * Poet

Painter :: Poet :: African Artist

Nigerian born, Chidi A. Okoye graduated with a distinction in sculpture (Higher National Diploma) from the Institute of Management and Technology in Enugu, Nigeria, in 1988. For the next six years he taught sculpture and drawing at Federal Polytechnic Oko Anambra State Nigeria. During this period, he created an outstanding collection, not only sculpting, but painting and writing as well. In Nigeria, He had his national solo exhibition “Textures of Life” and launching of his book “Lamentation” at national museum Lagos in 1993 sponsored by Mobil Producing Nigeria. Okoye is as famous for his poetry as for his painting and sculpture.

In 1994 Okoye moved to Vancouver, Canada, where he immediately became involved in a number of projects promoting international artistic exchange and was a leading light in the local Black creative community. Okoye believes that his art offers him a chance of relating to his environment, complementing the beauty of nature with man-made forms and images, which spring from his ancestral culture. He combines the strength, uniqueness and dynamism of his heritage with a technically skilled understanding of the power of forms, feeling and materials to create works, which continue to thrill audiences.

Nigerian Artist :: African Painter :: African American painter

The wide appeal of his works seems to lie in its identifiably African approach to colors and lines, but with an ability to turn his distinctive style to a wide rage of subjects. Okoye’s paintings and sculpture have been praised for their capacity to raise awareness of important socio-political issues without resorting to militancy.

He participated in various creative competitions, like those to design posters for the Festival Sundiata in Seattle, which he won in 1995, 1996 and Sundiata best artist of the Year 1998. He designed a poster and logo, “Spirit of the Nation”, for the Canadian Heritage Art Society in Victoria BC in 1997. He designed and created an award statues for Black Historical Society in Vancouver BC in 1999, also in 1999 won first prize in the Co-op Radio Poster Competition in Vancouver BC.

In 2001 Okoye came to Atlanta where he has been actively involved in the creative art community. He won the first prize, South Fulton County Gallery Best Artist of the year 2002. He has participated in the jury art shows of National Black Art Festival Atlanta from 2002 to 2004. He recently executed Award commission for 2004 Clark Atlanta University ADVANCE Leadership Award. Chidi collaborated with Nelson Mandela in Unity Series in 2004.

African Poet :: Atlanta based Artist :: Nigerian Poet

Apart from being the artist of numerous sold-out limited editions Chidi’s works have won the admiration of local and international collectors. Among his long list of works in private and public collection are in Delta Airline Atlanta, Water Resources, Atlanta; Resurrection Life Center Montgomery Alabama; President office, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC; Villa Benzi, Caerano, Italy; Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Nigeria, Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu; Federal Polytechnic Oko, Nigeria; Mobil Producing Nigeria Head office Logos, Nigeria to mention a few.

Among His long list of solo and group exhibitions includes his most recent international group exhibition “ The Nelson Mandela Unity Series, World Economic Forum, January 26^th 2005 in Davos, Switzerland.

“His paintings are noble, vivid, honest and poetic…” Diversity News, Seattle WA, USA.

“…A sculptor whose creative instincts are clearly channeled towards a reflection of both his contemporary and cultural heritage.” Daily Times, Nigeria.

Sculptor Chidi Okoye. Life and works of Sculptor Chidi Okoye, renowned Nigerian Painter, Poet and author based in Vancouver BC and Atlanta.

Create a Medieval Fantasy Castle Gate in Photoshop

2010-07-29T18:38:00.000-07:00

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

Photoshop’s wide variety of tools enable you to perform complex photo manipulations with relative ease. Today, we will demonstrate how to combine Photoshop’s tools with photo manipulation techniques to create a medieval fantasy castle gate. Let’s get started!

Resources Used

The following resources were used during the production of this tutorial. Each item is freely available to you on CG Textures; just sign up!

Step 1

First, create a new file with a size of 800 x 800 px and a resolution of 300 ppi.

Step 2

Next, open the files: SoilSand.jpg and Grass.jpg then resize it (Cmd/Ctrl + T) as shown below.

Step 3

Next change the Hue/Saturation (Cmd/Ctrl + U) levels of the SoilSand.jpg with the values below.

Step 4

Next open WoodPlank.jpg then resize it and place it as shown.

Step 5

Using the Pen tool (P), draw the shape shown below. After defining the shape, right-click and select Make Selection from the drop-down menu. Inverse the selection by pressing Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + I, then hit delete.

Step 6

Now press Cmd/Ctrl + L to adjust the Levels of WoodPlank.jpg and change its values as indicated below.

Step 7

Next we’ll make a set of stones to form an arch. To do this, open Concrete.jpg, then rename it "Stone." Then press Cmd/Ctrl + T to resize it as shown. Use the Eraser tool (E) to erase the edges of the "stone". Then, use the Burn tool (O) to burn the indicated areas shown in figure (c). After that, apply a layer style to the “Stone” layer and apply a small Drop Shadow as shown in figure (d). Now, create a new layer and place it below the "Stone" layer and Cmd/Ctrl + click the thumbnail of "Stone" layer to activate its selection as shown in figure (e). Using the Paint Bucket tool (G), fill the entire selection with #000000 as shown in figure (f). Finally, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, and apply a radius of 5.0px.

Step 8

After merging the "Stone" layer and the blurred selection from Step 7, duplicate (Cmd/Ctrl + J) the layer until you’ve reached the other side of the arch.

Step 9

Using the Burn tool (O), burn the areas as indicated below in the "SoilSand" layer and in the "Grass" layer.

Step 10

Next, use the Eraser tool (E) to erase the areas as indicated below in the "SoilSand" layer.

Step 11

Now, let’s create the gap between the doors. To do this, use the Pen tool (P), then create a line as shown in figure (a). Then, right-click and select Stroke Path from the drop-down menu. Make sure to set the Brush tool (B) as indicated in figure (b) prior to using the Pen tool. Lastly, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and enter a 2.5 px radius as shown in figure (c).

Repeat the same process to create the gap below the door as well.

Step 12

Using the Pen tool (P), make a line as shown below. Next, right-click and select Stroke Path from the drop-down menu. Make sure to set the Brush tool (B) to a Master Diameter of 20px and Hardness of 100% prior to using the Pen tool. Next, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set it to 8.0px. After that, decrease its opacity to about 50%.

Step 13

Now, let’s add the door hinges. To do this, open the file "Ornament." Then, using the Magic

Wand tool (W), select the background of the image.

Next select the Refine Edge tool (Cmd/Ctrl + Alt + R) and check the box for Smart Radius. Then using the brush for Smart Radius, follow the outline of the hinge. After that, check the box for Decontaminate Colors and hit OK.

After hitting OK, add a Drop Shadow in the Layer Style window by double-clicking the "Ornament" layer.

Duplicate this layer three times and position them as shown below.

Step 14

Using the Pen tool (P), make a shape as shown below. Right-click and select Stroke Path from the drop-down menu. Make sure to set the Brush tool (B) to a Master Diameter of 45px, Hardness of 0% with color #000000 prior to using the Pen tool. Finally, set its Blend mode to Soft Light.

Step 15

Open the file "OrnamentHead.jpg." Using the Magic Wand tool (W), select the background of the image. Next select the Refine Edge tool (Cmd/Ctrl + Alt + R) and check the box for the Smart Radius. Then, using the brush for the Smart Radius, follow the outline of the Ornament Head. After that, check the box for Decontaminate Colors and hit OK.

Add a drop shadow to "OrnamentHead."

Duplicate the "Ornament" layer and place them as shown.

Step 16

Next we’ll add some Sunrays. Using the Pen tool (P) make a line as shown below, after that right-click and select Stroke Path from the drop-down menu. Make sure to set the Brush tool (B) to a Master Diameter of 95px, Hardness of 0% with color #ffffff prior to using the Pen tool.

Add some more using the same technique. After that, merge them and name them "Lights."

Next, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur with a 25 px radius

Finally, decrease its opacity to 50%.

Step 17

Next we’ll add some sparkes. Using the Paint Brush tool (P) set to Hardness 0% and color #000000, apply varying sizes of “dots.”

Next go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and apply a radius size of 5px. Decrease its Opacity to 40%.

Step 18

Next step is to add highlights for the stones of the arch. To do this, use the Brush tool (B) set to a Master Diameter of 7px and a Hardness of 0%. Add the highlights according to the source of light, like as shown below.

Then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and apply a radius of 3px.

Step 19

Next we’ll add a brownish tint for the image. First, add a new layer and fill it, using the Paint Bucket tool (G), with #714200. Next, change its Blend mode to Color Dodge and decrease its Opacity to 60%.

Step 20

For the last step, we’ll add subtle shading to complete the effect. To do this, first add a new layer, then fill it with the #000000 and name it "Shade."

Using the Polygonal Lasso tool (L), make a shape as shown below, then hit delete.

Lastly, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and change its radius to 22px then decrease its Opacity level to 60%.

Final Image

That’s it! The final product is shown below. Hope you had fun working on this project! Thanks for reading.

Enjoyed this Post?

By Patrick Lopez

Rollover to read this author's bio or click through to see a full list of posts by this author.

My name is Patrick L. Lopez. I am in my senior year at PATTS College of Aeronautics in the Philippines. I love Photoshop because it gives me a way to express my inner feelings through art.

150 Best Creative Business Card Designs

2010-07-29T14:58:00.000-07:00

Any business in any industry need a well-design business card. It provides some usage such as building company image, contact information, service offerings. A business card is a physical connection and bond between you and your clients. Similar to a website, a business card has great interactive and creative elements, such as textures, materials and shapes. I have been collecting some creative business design and I would like to share 150 of them.

These collection shows that there is actually no limit in designing a business card. Let me know in the comment form if you know other good creative business card design.

Alien Invasion! A Photoshop Tutorial..

2010-07-29T12:40:00.000-07:00

By Craig Henry – Thursday, May 25, 2006 / 10:01am View more articles

Hello folks!
Time again to talk about aliens! No, not the illegal kind. The green kind! What better way to kickoff the summer spirit than with explosions, death rays, and a little stormy weather - thanks to our friend, Photoshop.

Speaking of stormy weather - recently, in my hometown of Manchester, NH (Southside REPRESENT) , we experienced some major floodwaters. It was nuts - Hectic farm animals everywhere...I must have seen at least 45 cows engaged in what appeared to be a strange game of Twister in a nearby Swamp field. Anyway, being the moron that I am, I defied all weathermen state-wide (damn yooz!) and took a journey down to a nearby troubled river and snapped some crAzy pics.

Oh. Here's one now:

So, I was looking at this photo of horrendous flooding and I though, Hey - let's make it even more horrendous!! SWEET!

OK, here we go! Now is a great time to grab a few beers and set your Victoria's Secret catalog aside. Don't forget the page you were on as it may or may not come into play later. Most likely not. OK...download that low-quality image above and lets get to work!!

To start off, I selected the top half of the sky and copy/pasted it onto a new layer. After that, I adjusted the Shadows/Highlights to darken up the mood a bit. After that, I used my buddy "google" (Seriously - TRY these guys. They're gonna be huge.) and did an image search for stormy clouds. I actually have a bunch of my own in a personal arsenal, but for the means of this tutorial, we'll use all fully accessible items. I then pasted the stormy clouds over the top of my scene, adjusted the values to a more purple tone and blended in the bottom half.

End result went something like this:

Next up, add more clouds! I went a little darker on the lower set of clouds. When all was set in place, I made a new layer (COLOR layer mode) and painted red everywhere I wanted it.

A-Whabbap!

And here comes the fun part! Using everyday items, we're going to create our spaceship in the clouds! Mine was actually made from the front of a corvette (top) and the bottom part was made from a canon camera lens! We'll call that the beam-emitter. Because damn, all aliens have huge beams.

After the ship placement, I added some moody borders to the photo using multiply/overlay layers and brushed in a bit more red.

-(Meep.)

Spaceship is in, now lets add a little light underneath the edge of it. Next, add a little dark shadowing around it with your linear burn layer mode. Use red. Also, I adjusted the shadow/highlights on the ship to give it a darker tone, and burned some of the ships edges for depth.

Something like:

Next up - A little mood lighting! I used a photo of the Capitol Building and completely darkened out any of the negative shading values (see below). I then overlayed the lights onto the ships base (using linear dodge), and added a little extra to the top where the top meets the clouds.

Shooting for:

Hey now! Let's add some BEAMS. take your brush tool and hold SHIFT to make a straight vertical line. Use a very light pink. Now, set the layer mode to linear dodge. You can see the outcome below. Lastly, copy the darkened clouds from the horizon line and add them around the entry point of the spaceship and the sky. This will give some MOOD.

Yeah, mood:

Same technique, but this time use a darker red and overlay it on the other, thinner beam.

Larger beam, please:

OK, it's time to get this thing rolling. We need a darker, more stormy atmosphere. This spaceship needs to be mean, so lets darken the sky, add some contrast to the clouds and darken the water by adding purple softlight and red overlay to the water base.

Ahhhh, getting there:

Darker! apply a multiply layer of the clouds over itself to give that sky some strength over the ship. burn underneath the ship as well so the cloud consistency carries through the horizon. Also, start applying more light rays from underneath the ship using the overlay layer mode. I used yellow to keep it fairly subtle.

Ahhhh:

OK you may have noticed in the last photo I started adding an "electric" look to the BEAM OF DEATH™. This can be done through tiny lines treaks (done in orange or yellow) overlaying the thicker light coming from the base of the ship. I added some more lightning to the sides of the ship as well....

-(Pobles.)

A little more lightning, and some rings outside the ship. this was done using the brush tool and applying the layer mode as "linear dodge" over the other clouds.

Womp!

Add a little more light/shadow toning in the clouds. Next, again using linear dodge and a darker orange, overlay a large brush to the bottom of the beam to add some glow to the tree region. I added another thinner and stronger layer at the tree/beam meeting point to create an explosion effect.

FYAH!!!

Now let's bring in another cloud photo. Adjust the Variations on the clouds to bring in the red tone we want. Next, adjust the levels to emphasize the shadows (bring in the left triangle towards the center). Set the layer mode to Hard light.

Like this:

Almost done! Add a bit more ligtning to the sky and add more shadow burning to the water a edges of the photo. Shoot for this:

Like this:

All done! Nice work, Chief. Post your spaceship photos below or email them to me!

Like this:

Super Easy Typographic Portrait in Photoshop

2010-07-29T12:35:00.001-07:00

Creepy Manipulations

2010-07-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

We often get to see sunny, full of candy and happiness pieces of design from most artists... but when it comes to the other side, there are less creepy works being featured in design sites everywhere. Today, it's time for some scary inspiration.

There are all kinds of pieces here... from photography to full photoshop manips, and they're all very creepy looking. My favorite, of course, is the last one (for those who watched Toy Story 3 too). I hope you all get inspired by these and make your own creepy pieces. Also, I recommend you to visit each artist's page for more great works. Cheers! ;)

About the author

Close Look at Visual Identities

2010-07-29T12:29:00.000-07:00

Leoni Advokater

Identity for Danish law company Leoni Advokater

by Hello Monday

Ajeva

by Julian Hrankov

Cooper Motorsport

by Robinsson Cravents

About the author

Hi there! I'm Paulo Canabarro, 24 year old web designer from Brazil currently living in Providence RI, USA. I'm truly passionate about design of all kinds. Finding and sharing inspiration has become part of my life. If you have any suggestions or requests just get @ me - pvpcanabarro@gmail.com For some cool stuff make sure to Follow me on twitter!

The Creative vs. The Marketing Team: Yin And Yang, Oil And Water

2010-07-29T04:22:00.000-07:00

Please notice that the language in some parts of this article may be very informal. If you think you might be offended, please stop reading this article now.

The Creative vs. The Marketing Team: Yin And Yang, Oil And Water

I hate the division represented in this title. It’s the major stumbling block in modern business. Power struggle is never constructive, and it at least doubles workforce effort at a time when streamlined is crucial for a positive ROI. You can spell “team” from the word “marketing,” but I’ve yet to see a sense of it in marketing. What can one spell from “creative”? “Reactive”? I’ve seen plenty of that, and for good reason.

Don’t get me wrong: I love marketing as a practice! Relatively speaking, marketing is a fairly new practice (marketing in the sense of “public”, broad mass marketing, applied to products in the modern age — ed.), and one that has to evolve each day to keep up with consumerism and technology. As a designer, coming up with marketing ideas is orgasmic. Guerilla, sabotage and viral marketing are the work of genius, which is why we don’t see them very often. But you are probably thinking horrid thoughts about marketing practitioners right now, so let’s rethink for a second.

I have known a handful of great marketing people in my career, and they were smart enough to form their own companies. They always managed to do the delicate dance to create something that was effective and not just popular with anyone who might, oddly enough, have an opinion. And then there are the people you see every dreadful day.

It’s A Diverse Crowd Out There

I have a ton of marketing stories, but my favorite one comes from when I was art directing and designing a major push for a new licensed character across all marketing channels. The staff and I worked like crazy to get the lines done in time for approval. It took months — that’s how many lines there were.

After our submission for approval from the licensor, a member of the marketing staff, lower level, came to me, telling me the changes that were needed. First off, don’t tell someone the changes: write them down so that there’s no misunderstanding. Luckily, I was taking notes. One of the changes called for major surgery on the main character to remove markings on their face. It made no sense to me, and I questioned it, but he stood fast and insisted that that’s what the licensor wanted. I asked to see the email from the licensor.

“No.”

I asked that he email the licensor to ask for clarification.

“No.”

The most infuriating thing was that this over-sized man with a cherubic face, looked like Baby Huey from the old Harvey Comics. Sounded a bit like him, too. It was hard to speak with him without laughing. As his new nickname circulated through several departments, a contest started among the staff to try to deal with Baby Huey without laughing.

I knew trouble was brewing, and so, like any smart person who would make file copies or turn off layers, the art staff and I stated cutting the image and placing everything the licensor wanted removed on a hidden layer. We did this to hundreds of pieces. A month later, we submitted the changes, and then (surprise, surprise) the licensor ripped marketing a new one for removing the marking, so essential to the character. An impromptu witch-hunt was held right outside the art department, next to the marketing offices. The president personally led it.

Without wasting any more column space than is needed to state the obvious, Baby Huey was spanked… and I believe the president actually asked him, “What is your major malfunction, Baby Huey!?”

The best part was when I was asked how long it would take to fix it. Explaining to the lay person that I would simply turn on some layers in Photoshop took longer than actually turning them on, but I scored big points with the president, while my “marketing step-brother” was sent to military school.

This doesn’t happen enough. But it does and can happen! At another corporation, marketing was publicly spanked for taking eleven-and-a-half weeks to work on an initiative that had only twelve weeks in total — giving creative, copy and design three or four days to execute lines for hundreds of products. Creative would always get it done, so action to stop it took a while, but the grumbling and angry staff meetings got some relief in the form of at least six weeks.

Are We Or They The Strange Ones?

What do creatives look like to non-creatives? Obviously, everyone thinks they can design an ad or logo in Microsoft Word, so immediately we become snooty, whining snobs. A great marketing person I worked with wrote a recommendation for me and said, “…great designs without a lot of creative baggage!”

“Creative baggage.” What could that mean? For anyone who has wrangled creatives, whether staff or freelance, we can be intolerable freaks. It’s hard to remember the last creative who actually followed my art direction without an argument or apology. We are also weak and lack the social skills to deal with corporate power. We often give up our power in an effort to be seen as “flexible” or “a team player.”

An art director who was firmly a puppet on the hand of the company she worked for gave me this recommendation: “He usually hits strategy, but if some adjustments need to be made, he is very open to suggestion and direction. [Speider] has worked with our team for a long time and understands our process.”

The process was that I went into meeting all smiles, told a few jokes and did exactly what I was told to do. The pay check helped me live with myself.

In most cases, that means doing what you’re told by anyone bold enough to speak their opinion about the creative process and not be questioned. I have had to pull marketing co-workers aside and remind them that we were both reporting to the same person and that no one ever told me anything about reporting to them. I’m not “being difficult”: I’m taking control of my work for my department so that I don’t have to take the fall for failed initiatives and low sales down the road that result from someone else’s design decisions. I never get angry or aggressive, although people who have worked with me say that my sarcasm could be deadly at times. Baby Huey’s ghost haunts me.

Be Different, But Expect The Same

Just the other day, a client showed me a product catalog that I thought was from 1972. It was their 2010 catalog, and the creative department’s directors asked me to bring one of their paper products into the present (or future) and do “something different.” I love when they say that.

I did some of the finest work of my career… some good work. The creatives were really on board, and revisions were almost non-existent. Imagine basically having free reign to design some fun and impressive paper products and having the full support of your clients? Well, no good effort goes unpunished, and I was informed that the marketing department rejected the work in favor of a catalog that looked like a sequel to the one from 1972.

What has the fear in business done to our ability to make fast, hard decisions in the marketplace? Safe and take-a-step-back has gotten us into the mess we’re in right now. How do we get out of it? I include this passage from someone who would refer to himself only as a “suit.”

I have to have the confidence that the design solution is meeting the needs of the client and is achieving strategic/tactical goals. Because of that, if there are elements of your design that I’m uncomfortable with, I will call them out and, in some cases, will nix them. Similarly for the client, they have to be comfortable about how their own brand is being presented, how their market will react, even how their own staff will react.

“How their market will react.” That should be the only concern. And how did this “suit” become the tip of the approval funnel? The truth is that people can’t let go without second- and third-guessing what will be successful. It’s not a question of whether, say, a good marketing plan based on researched demographics would improve a creative brief that professional designers and writers could use to create a cohesive package. The reality is more like, “Just design, and I’ll make changes until I see what I like.” That always makes for a great waste of time and resources.

Business is tight for many reasons, but just one wrong move could cost you big time. My question is, if the marketing plan is sound and the sales staff is competent, then why would those simple little changes that are requested to please people truly affect the product?

”You know, Bob, I was about to buy that package of Fluggelbinders that I wanted, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.”
“Too expensive?”
“No. The color of the package turned me off.”

Happens like that every day, doesn’t it?! I used that exchange in a committee meeting in which the background color of an exclusive product was discussed and sampled for a week. The marketing manager turned to me and said that I had negated marketing’s input. I thought marketing’s responsibility was to figure out the target audience, their habits, income and so on and how to best reach them through media and other advertising venues — not how blue or green the product should be? Silly me! Maybe it’s a marketing secret that can’t be shared with creative. They’re spies for… something.

Do You Want To Get Involved In Office Politics?

What can one say when sitting in a committee meeting and subjective suggestions are flying around, usually contradicting each other, and people are echoing previous requests but adding “More red” or “Bigger logo” or “I’ll know when I see it”? I sit and listen, take notes and then turn to my contact (if it’s a freelance job) and ask what he or she would like me to implement. To be sickeningly submissive, I say, “Some great insights here, but some are counter to the creative brief and some other directions suggested here.”

I turn to the art director, boss, marketing person or whoever hired me and ask them to go over what they think will be needed. Usually, they tell me just to follow what I was told in the committee meeting. This is when I’m thankful for hourly rates, because the Frankenstein created by the committee is usually too monstrous to please anyone. It goes around and around as long as more than one person has a final say on the project. Imagine what would happen if too many cooks worked on a dish. The chefs I know are insane and would stab and de-bone each other.

When freelancing, you are removed from the eternal struggle between creative and marketing. You are only a tool used by creative and a bludgeon used by marketing to wield its power over creative. Just ignore it and let the creative department deal with it.

But what happens when you are the art director or designer on staff? If you are, then prepare for office politics. The struggle between creative and marketing has nothing to do with design or marketing: it is the good old human impulse to assert one’s power over others, to be the alpha dog.

Whatever your position or department, everyone in it is jockeying for some measure of power over others, from the frowning minimum-wage guard at the front desk who tells you to sign in (as you’re doing it) to the mail deliverer who won’t give you your mail away from your desk to the co-worker who tries to convince you that part of their job is now your job or that part of your authority is now theirs.

Humans usually spend a lot of effort blending in with the herd and shying away from confrontation. Confrontational people know this and use it. When the person taking your order asks if you want to super-size it, do you say “Sure” or “No”? You say yes because your brain and protective nature tell you to go the easy route and say yes. Less aggravation. Why do good girls like bad boys? Because we… I mean they go against the herd, they break with convention, and they’re confrontational.

So, it stands to reason, while you’re in the workplace — where you face the pressure of HR rules, progress reports and the ever-present cliques of workers and executives — that you would feel alone and stay away from confrontational co-workers. But you can bet that they will at least size you up from day one, if not start stealing your authority and setting a standard that will follow you throughout your career at that firm.

You must start a new job with basic knowledge of your rights as an employee. Listen, and be bold, compassionate and assured. Show no fear, and show that being flexible is not the same as being a wimp. Any business book will tell you that the weak die. You have to set your own boundaries when starting a job. If you “wait and see,” then standards will be set for you as you adjust to the learning curve. If you relinquish any territory, you will not be able to get it back. You will open yourself to charges like, “That’s the way it’s always been done, and you said nothing last time.”

(By the way, a comeback to that last line is, “It may have been done that way in the past, but part of my job is to streamline the process to get the best results, faster and more efficiently. I’m sure you’ll love what my system will do for the workflow and product.”)

As with any situation, your gut will tell you what’s right and wrong, as will your job description. To whom do you report? To whom do others report? If a marketing person reports to the same person as you or is lower on the corporate ladder, why would you let them dictate anything if you were not told to follow their lead? Sometimes, someone may be assigned to oversee all aspects of a project. In that case, they are the boss, and that’s that… but that role ends when the project ends.

If a colleague of yours on the same rung of the corporate ladder makes a poor suggestion in a committee meeting, it’s best to nod and just not execute it. Either you’ll never hear a word about it or the colleague will approach you about it — in which case you shouldn’t respond that you don’t have to take their suggestion, which could be labeled as “confrontational” (it’s always the people who defend themselves who are “confrontational”), but rather that their idea, after much consideration, was found to have no merit. Simple and easy. It deflates their ego and could lead to sexual performance problems down the line. How can you argue with that?

“I thought my suggestions were good!”
“Sorry, but I didn’t think so, and no one else echoed your concerns.”

(This cuts the person off from others by setting a line that people would rather not cross. You are showing strength as the alpha dog. The pack will fall on your side.)

A more direct and devastating attack would be to ask, “Why do you think I’m incapable of doing my job?” This is a heart-stopper because it cannot be answered. They may argue that you lack team vision or that they’re protecting the client’s interests. Again, ask why they think you haven’t fulfilled the team’s vision, drawn from the creative briefs, and why they see you as acting against the client’s interests.

It’s like a fistfight. It lasts only a few seconds before the herd breaks it up… Yes, this is confrontation. Even confrontational people are taken aback when confronted, unless they are psychotic — in which case, pray that HR rules keep them from turning violent. And if they do become violent, taking a knuckle sandwich from your lunchbox is a small price to pay to see the aggressor fired and spend a night or two in county jail awaiting a bail hearing, opening the way for you for a civil lawsuit. A win-win situation!

On the other hand, you might encounter a “squeaky wheel,” who runs to the boss demanding “respect” and a title over you. Often, in the interest of a quick resolution, the boss lets the squealer have their way. You’re only hope is to calmly state your case, note your accomplishments without the squealer’s input, and add that it’s a business office and not a therapist’s office for people to work out their personal problems by laying them on others. Firm, direct and sound.

If Squeaky gets their way, then you’re doomed. But then, you don’t really want to work in a place like that anyway. If the boss would so easily knock you down the ladder, then you need a new boss. If you get your way, others will fear confronting you. I think coining the name for Baby Huey may have frightened my colleagues into avoiding my displeasure and gaining a nickname of their own.

The Enemy Within?

Once you establish that you are not a push-over, most people will respect your boundaries, and the natural order will be restored… with an occasional bump as a stray member of the herd probes your weak spots. Those weak spots, as some will discover, are your department colleagues: lowly designers and writers who will surely tremor when someone storms into the office and demands the changes that “I called for in the meeting.” Now you, as that lowly worker, have another problem. You have just given up your power to a stranger and put your creative director in a tough spot. Your actions affect how your supervisor controls the department and your job.

The proper thing to do is to tell the intruder that you are just a designer or writer and that they really need to speak to the creative director so that they can assign the proper revisions and work. Then smile and point to the creative director’s office. If your colleagues are on their toes, one of them will summon the creative director to come into the department and protect his or her minions from intruders. I’ve done it a gazillion times.

Summon your righteous indignation, flair your nostrils and imitate the tiger. When the interloper leaves, send an email gently reminding them that they must come to you for any requests, because only you know everyone’s schedule, and all changes must be signed off by you, as department head. Don’t assume that HR will intercede to stop this; they believe that the process should be flexible enough to keep work flowing. And as long as the bloody wound isn’t squirting arterial red like a fountain, HR likes as few problems as possible.

Points to Remember

You were around. In fact, aside from occasional bathroom breaks and meetings, you’re around 12 hours a day on average.
You are responsible for everything that comes out of your department and will be held accountable for it.
People want their way and will try anything to get it.
Don’t allow people under your authority to sabotage your power or security.
Prepare a response to an objection or make a list of responses for when a ridiculous argument is used to attack you.
HR wants the easiest path to peace and calm. Present all squealers as troublemakers and not team players. Use corporate-speak to your advantage.
Sometimes you will lose the battle. Sometimes you will also lose the war. Form as many strong allies in the company as you can. The higher the executive level, the better!
Does someone want to comment on a design in a conference meeting? Make some well-educated comments yourself. Perhaps you see a hole in the marketing plan, or the project doesn’t have enough creative time, or the sales material is a week past deadline. Bring it up gently and kindly. I believe that’s called passive-aggressive. Use it!
Grab power, and don’t wait for it to be offered. Take on an extra project; start an initiative yourself; or earn a few million dollars for the company. They’ll sit up and take notice.

Power grabs are often made by people too incompetent to do their own work, and public displays of “directing” are thought to mask that incompetence. They often are. But handled correctly, they aren’t, because they won’t get the chance.

Every Relationship Has Good And Bad Times

When I worked at one large corporation, I was closing up my office and the art department at 7:00 pm on a Friday night when a young woman from the marketing department caught me in the hallway and asked to step into my now locked office. She immediately went into an act about how “her” project was so important and how I had to do it by Monday and email it to her because she would be away for the weekend.

I looked at her in silence. I asked who she reported to and learned it was one of my subordinates (if you went by the order on the corporate masthead). I told her I would talk to her boss on Monday to find out why she would have the utter nerve to hope that I would be in the office at 7:00 pm on a Friday night and then expect me to work all weekend on something that was not important enough for such a tight deadline. She stormed off.

I don’t remember why I was late on Monday, but as I walked down the hall, people were shouting for me to check my email. There was an email from the young lady I spoke with on Friday evening. She must have gone back to her office and written a very angry message, courtesy copying the entire corporate division, about how unwilling I was to work on her project, and how she was cancelling it, and how I was costing the company millions of dollars and immortal souls, and hail Satan, hail Satan, and so on.

In walks her boss, one of those fine marketing people who I mentioned do exist. The young lady had the project for three weeks (grabbing it as her first project and naturally wanting to make a big splash), and as I suspected, it wasn’t time sensitive… Mind you, she sat on it for the previous three weeks, and it did have to be at the printer the very next day. Being of sound minds, the head of marketing and I were able to come up with a solution, work hard together and make the deadline. Creative and marketing did it… together, with no arguments or stepping on each other’s toes or egos, and we both shared in the glow of accomplishment. It can happen. Maybe we just need guns to our heads at the time?

(al)

Speider Schneider

Speider Schneider is a former member of The Usual Gang of Idiots at MAD Magazine, “among other professional embarrassments and failures.” He currently writes for local newspapers, blogs and other web content and has designed products for Disney/Pixar, Warner Bros., Harley-Davidson, ESPN, Mattel, DC and Marvel Comics, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon among other notable companies.He is a former member of the board for the Graphic Artists Guild, co-chair of the GAG Professional Practices Committee and a former board member of the Society of Illustrators. He also continues to speak at art schools across the United States on business and professional practices and telling frightening stories that make students question their career choice (just kidding).

Surrealism from Daniel Emeka

2010-07-29T03:05:00.000-07:00

Logo Design with wings

2010-07-29T02:58:00.001-07:00

Logo Design: Wings

About the author

INTERVIEW WITH DANIEL EMEKA

2010-07-29T02:45:00.000-07:00

Interview with Daniel Emeka ‘Da-vinci’ – Creative Genius

Posted: 27, Jul 2010 by Possicon

In our continue effort to showcase young Nigerians doing great stuff, we keep discovering more talents than we’d expected. We got in touch with this young, energetic and creative guy, Daniel Emeka, popularly called “Da vinci”. He’s a digital art expert, with message-drive illustrations… I must emphasize, this guy is world class. Let’s go on a journey to his world…

WTN: Let’s meet you

Daniel: My name is Daniel Emeka, a 22 year old graphic designer/digital artist, a proud Nigerian and the vision bearer of DANIZCONCEPT

WTN: What inspired you to go into design and when did you start?

Daniel: I got into design to evoke an emotion and also cause a reaction in the minds and hearts of people. That’s what makes it interesting, I started designing in 2007.

WTN: Your designs are message-driven, what drives you to developing concepts for your designs?

Daniel: Love for arts and the beauty of the world I would say is really what drives the message in my art. When deep messages pop in my head I jot down and meditate on the idea before I start designing

WTN: How has the market been so far in Nigeria?

Daniel: The market is getting tougher everyday because of the emergence of new talented graphic designers. Access to the internet has really helped the growth of graphic designers that it is becoming hard to make a choice out of a lot of us.

But only a few of us have carved out niches for ourselves in-order for clients to differentiate each designer’s quality i.e: There are different kinds of graphic design skills, namely: Visual art, page layout, interface design and typography.

WTN: What are the challenges you face as a designer?

Daniel: Challenges exist everywhere and in different ways but to me, my biggest challenge as a designer is poor acceptance in the corporate world. It is really annoying that they give credits of branding, advertising ads, collateral designs to their marketing executives instead of the graphic designer. Why can’t each company have a creative director the same way they have marketing executives or something… just my opinion.

WTN: Can we really draw a line between web designer and graphic designers?

Daniel: Even if we do, the line is so thin, that it will soon be a criterion to be able to do web design as a graphic designer. The best websites in the world are done by graphic designers’; the only problem is that some of us (me inclusive) are either worked up or too lazy to study some little programming. That aside, there is really no difference.

WTN: Tell us more about Naija Design Challenge?

Daniel: Yeah, it’s a project that I and David Osaige is working on. We really want to show the world that there are talents in abundance when it comes to graphic design here in Nigeria.

We will be posting more info on our Facebook page, but for now we are still sealing our lips on some details. Not to worry, it will be BIG!

WTN: Which other project(s) are you currently working on?

Daniel: Nothing serious just improving my skills, and praying to God to be better with each passing day

WTN: What is your view of the creative design market in Nigeria?

Daniel: Number one is we are not being supported at all. Not just from only the government but the corporate firms too. The second issue is, we keep hearing complains of “we are too creative to the general public”, or our clients are too archaic. Until that is tackled, I doubt we will be able to grab international recognitions like, Cannes, Pencil, Grammys, Mobo’s, Oscar’s etc.

WTN: In the global/world scale, where do you place Nigerian designs in terms of design professionalism?

Daniel: hmmm on the global scale we are not there yet, but we are getting there, but here in Africa, maybe the best after South Africa.

WTN: What’s your view about web/internet market in Nigeria?

Daniel: It is a very large, lucrative and effective market. There is a wide space for anybody to play with and Nigerians are taking full advantage of it. And there are still a lot of places to explore but we are definitely going in the right direction

WTN: What’s your view on digital art in Nigeria?

Daniel: Digital art here in Nigeria has not yet gained its ground mostly because most of our schools are yet to embrace it into their curricular. The few of us that practice such art are either self trained or trained outside the shores of this country.

WTN: What words do you have for upcoming designers?

Daniel: BE YOURSELF!!! Do not ever try to be like Daniel or any other designer.

After learning the basics, try and build your own style of art and improve on it.

And lastly, its all about self expression, but remember you do not owe it to yourself alone but to everybody looking at your design. Accept critiques, good or bad, but do not let them kill your zeal or put you on a comfort zone because it could kill your talent faster than you imagine.

Connect with Daniel on Facebook here.

View His design works here

More Photomanipulations

2010-07-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

Other Stuffs

2010-07-28T07:31:00.000-07:00

My New works

2010-07-28T07:18:00.000-07:00

Trying to be creazy

2009-08-25T03:18:00.000-07:00

2009-07-09T04:33:00.000-07:00

2009-07-09T04:07:00.000-07:00

flier

2009-05-12T00:58:00.000-07:00

ma baby

2009-05-11T04:25:00.000-07:00

a card for ma girls birthday

PHOTOSHOP DESIGN INSPIRATIONS

2009-04-20T09:50:00.000-07:00

PHOTOSHOP DESIGN INSPIRATIONS

2009-04-20T09:46:00.000-07:00

2009-04-20T09:40:00.000-07:00

2009-04-20T09:33:00.000-07:00

2009-04-20T08:20:00.000-07:00

2009-04-20T06:32:00.000-07:00

Tutorial

2009-04-20T06:26:00.000-07:00

file://D:\dan\How to Create Super-Malleable Effects with Colorful Lines - Psdtuts+.mht

When you know u are a graphic designer

2009-04-20T01:28:00.000-07:00

You have bags under your eyes so big you'd have to check them in at Heathrow Airport
You watch the superbowl just for the commercials
You can spot bad typography from 100 yds away
You are pro-facebook because 95% of the myspace accounts burn your retinas
You can name more than 200 fonts in under five minutes
You are completely immune to subliminal advertising
You look upon a well-designed project with either:sympathy OR extreme jealousy
Your hand is permanently stuck in the shape of a mouse
You tell stories of exacto-knife inflicted wounds with grizzled sort of pride
You practically take caffeine intravenously
You have an appreciation for everything unique
You've been spending three days non-stop on a project and it still looks like shit. You find yourself overcome by Deathlust.
"You find your pulse increase at the sight of a lovely ligature, glasses steam up when an unusually elegant arm, leg, or tail comes in view, and a well-kerned paragraph is apt to make you break into a sweat with excitement."
"You know you're a Graphic Designer when... you buy a CD or DVD for the artwork, even if you have no idea what the actual music or film is like".(even worse, you don't actually watch or listen to it, just stare at it for hours and hug it in adoration)
"You know you're a Graphic Designer when... you look at the clock and see it's about midnight and think 'I'll go to bed now'... and you actually go to bed about 2-3am".
"You know you're a Graphic Designer when... you need someone else to point out that you're sitting in a room in front of the computer with all the lights off, and haven't noticed"
"...when you know what "kerning" is and you really, really like it."
"... when you wear two [ke] [rn] pins on your bag, and only you know what the mean. To others its probably a band of sorts.."
Forget the boy-wonder and the man of steel; your heroes have names like 'Tibor Kalman', 'Stefan Sagmeister', 'Paul Rand', and 'Paula Scher'.
You don't wear black to look cool, you wear it to hide the gauche.
You have a thing for chairs. You don't know why.
You giggle whenever you use the colors F0CCED, EFF0FF and 44DDDD
You’re in the sun and you look around for a Drop Shadow to sit under.
You give your relatives a lecture about color spaces and profiles when you email them your vacation photos.
Seeing someone use Lens Flare or Comic Sans adversely affects your blood-pressure
You maintain a grid system for your refrigerator magnets.
You organize your CD collection according to the Pantone chart.
You sit at work for eight hours straight just looking at your monitor, waiting for a spark of inspiration that doesn't come.
You're up 'til 5am because you came up with the best idea ever while brushing your teeth.
The hottest dream you ever had was "Trace contour... Find Edges... Pinch... Extrude... Smudge Stick... Motion Blur.... Sprayed Strokes..."
You know Lorem Ipsum by heart.
Your kid knows Lorem Ipsum by heart.
The preschool teacher complains your child won't color inside or outside the lines – only indicate colors on a separate sheet.
Activating your entire font collection makes your computer crash
You deliberately butcher your perfectly cross browser compatible site in IE by placing a “Too Cool for IE” banner on it.
You prefer a Layer Style of 50% Opacity (or less) on your wife’s Satin.
You spend $200 on a font for your personal website because "it's the only one where the lower-case g is just right..."
Looking at a menu make you go "hmmm, ITC Baskerville italic" rather than "mmmm, lunch!"
And when you finally order, you go for Layer Based Slices with Grain Texture...
You use words about fonts you dislike that other normal people reserve for fascist dictators and serial killers.
Apple+Z is the first thing that goes through your mind if you drop and break something.
You refer to colleagues as Strict, Transitional, Loose and the Future Unemployed.
You refer to your privates as "the Magic Wand".
You know that rivers are more than just water.
Your best friends are all employees at the local print shop
The only people who seem to know what you do for a living are other Graphic Designers (ex: Graphic Design? What's that? You'll never be able to make a living being anartist!)
Kerning and leading on your shopping list actually matters to you, and you don't see a problem with that.
Several South American economies suffer noticeably any time you try to give up coffee, or even cut your consumption of it by half.
You know that "bleeding" doesn't hurt.
when your significant other/ friends have threatened to never speak to you again if you point out one more font to them.
when you know the difference between fuchsia, magenta, and maroon.
If you could go back in time you wouldn't go back to see the rise and fall of civilizations, you'd go back in time to destroy comic sans and papyrus.
You Know You're a Graphic Designer When deciding on the right crop doesn't involve a choice between corn or wheat.
You've considered naming your children things like 'Kern', 'Pica', 'Bézier', and 'Serif'.
You can understand everything on this list.

danizconcept

Breathtaking Pictures of Africa

Breathtaking Pictures of Africa

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It definitely the most beautiful continent in our little planet... the wildest of them all, Africa is getting some attention thanks to this year's World Cup at South Africa, but we really hope that it gets more than just plain attention. We hope for major problems solving.

Eric Lafforgue

Lia "Boca Vermelha"

Ben Heine

Ben Heine

Nick Brandt

Cheryl

Eric Lafforgue

Eric Lafforgue

Hamad Darwish

Lyndon Firman

Tris "More Altitude"

Eric Lafforgue

Eric Lafforgue

Eric Lafforgue

Guilherme Amorim

Maurizio Peddis

Ben Heine

Paolo Livorno

Nisa and Ulli Maier

About the author

THE RENAISSANCE

Incredible Character Illustrations by Tiago Hoisel

Incredible Character Illustrations by Tiago Hoisel

About the author

Artist Profile :: Nigerian Artist :: African Artist :: African American painter

Sculptor Chidi Okoye

Painter * Poet

Painter :: Poet :: African Artist

Nigerian Artist :: African Painter :: African American painter

African Poet :: Atlanta based Artist :: Nigerian Poet

Sculptor Chidi Okoye. Life and works of Sculptor Chidi Okoye, renowned Nigerian Painter, Poet and author based in Vancouver BC and Atlanta.

Create a Medieval Fantasy Castle Gate in Photoshop

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

Resources Used

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150 Best Creative Business Card Designs

Alien Invasion! A Photoshop Tutorial..

Super Easy Typographic Portrait in Photoshop

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Last year we posted on Abduzeedo a very cool post about typographic portraits, the 45 Amazing Type Faces - Typographic Portraits became one of the most popular posts on Abduzeedo, and a lot of people asked me how to create that effect in Photoshop.

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Conclusion

Creepy Manipulations

We often get to see sunny, full of candy and happiness pieces of design from most artists... but when it comes to the other side, there are less creepy works being featured in design sites everywhere. Today, it's time for some scary inspiration.

About the author

Close Look at Visual Identities

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