There are some things they just don't teach you in design school. Creative leadership, decision making, and the new systems design needed to navigate a global pandemic are just a few things. Enter Douglas Davis, strategist, author, professor and now host of the 5-minute Creative Mentor Series. Douglas will host the first three videos in this personality-driven series aimed at offering focused, bites of thought leadership on specific creative issues important in 2021. Each short video offers a new insight for navigating work as a creative leader and Davis gives an example of what the series seeks to address, “oftentimes, creatives get promoted for doing their job well. What isn't obvious is that transitioning from creative to leader requires a different skill set.” Developed for creatives who are short on time, the series will be interview style with B-roll and graphics, the series is a creative advice column for the digital age. Episode 1 focuses on The Creative Strategy Framework, Douglas’ methodology for organizing the chaos in the creative process Episode 2 is centered around questioning the answers that may have worked in the past and writing — or rewriting — the creative brief. Episode 3 is aimed at pitching to decision-makers when they don't want what they need. The series will include a standalone article, Business skills for creative leaders, that will explore ways to apply the creative strategy framework mentioned in the first video, by going deeper into several scenarios. Watch Here >
The Creative Strategy Framework & Process on The Brand Master Podcast
“We are in a global reset due to a pandemic where once again, no one know’s what to do. But we do have a process that leads to creative business solutions. Focus on that instead of wasting your energy on the fact that you don’t know what to do – no one knows what to do – so no one should be wasting time thinking about that. Answer the business problem with creative that is on brand on strategy and on message on time and preferably under budget.
So focus on the process that leads to a range of outcomes and then evaluate the outcomes to select the one that works best, but also question the answers, let it register that the normal “thing we always do” is no longer relevant because the environment changed and though it’s easier to just do what we’ve always done, we wouldn’t be leaders if we didn’t push into the unknown and question whether some or all of the factors that were present are even relevant in our current condition.” – Douglas Davis > Listen Now
Maurice welcomes Douglas back to Revision Path to discuss the call and response of belonging and relevance
Longtime fans of the show will remember our initial conversation from 2016, so it was good to catch up and talk and get an update over what he’s been doing.
What follows is less of an interview and more of a general conversation that ranges a number of topics: creativity during the pandemic, design equity, social justice, the value of remote design education, relevance vs. belonging, AIGA, fatherhood, and a lot more. Hopefully this conversation gives you some food for thought and starts some much needed conversations around our place in this current world as designers! Listen here >
Imported From Brooklyn brings home two platinum and two gold Hermes Creative Awards
2021’s award season brings more good news for the Emmy Award-winning BFA in Communication Design. The Department’s strategy to raise its profile through telling its story as the public path to a creative career has brought home 4 Hermes Creative Awards. Imported From Brooklyn: A new story among established brands, the strategy behind the Emmy Award-winning documentary won platinum in the Public Relations/Communications | Strategic Programs | 71c. Communication/Marketing Campaign and Pro Bono categories (the program, like the students, has more ambition than resources). The case study was completed with just 4 people in 5 days start to finish. Imported from Brooklyn: The Director’s cut brought home a gold award in the 157. Documentary category and the Broadcast version of the film continues to produce wins as a teaching tool picking up a gold award in the 158. Educational category. Find out more about the Hermes Creative Awards and the symbolism of the beautiful statuettes here or watch the case study or film here >
Decide to Learn Something New: we don't have a choice.
Who better to reimagine our broken systems than creative people? Who better to redesign society than people who’s skills are literally about solving problems? This episode scales creative skills up to think about the series of transitions in our careers and the current transitions society is going through. Will you be ready for the transitions or understand how to apply your skills to a moving target? Listen here to prepare >