Local Hero Design

Ninjas and Baloney Sandwiches

Written by Peter Morris February 22, 2012

When I was first asked to speak at meet the pros I wasn’t exactly sure what my topic should be. What would aspiring advertising professionals need to hear?

One thing I have an abundance of is experience. Nearly twenty years of it, in fact. During this time I’ve played a wide variety of roles in the industry. Before I started my own agency, I was a shop manager for a print vendor, a freelance designer, brand manager for an in-house marketing department, and I’ve worked for the two largest agencies in Nebraska.

Over the course of the past few years, I also taught intermediate design at the University. While teaching I realized I had many words of wisdom to share that didn’t fit in the standards of the regular curriculum. So I gathered my notes and pulled together the show.

Here are a few of the highlights from my presentation:

Job Hunting

  • Having a hard time getting a job? Don’t go through HR. They’re useful after you’ve got a job offer. Not before.
  • You’re not a designer. You’re not an art director. You’re not a copywriter. You’re a sales person.
  • People hire personalities not skill sets.
  • Be confident. Not arrogant. Agencies don’t need to hire jerks. Those positions are usually already filled.

Working

  • Older ad pros are more fun.
  • If you’re going to fall off a ladder, make it a tall one.
  • Ninja trumps logic.
  • We make baloney sandwiches.
  • Respect your clients. Don’t assume they are idiots.
  • Photoshop filters are like nuclear weapons: everyone has them, no one should use them.

Professional Development

  • “I don’t know” is not an answer.
  • Never turn down an challenge.

Success

  • Get used to being lonely.
  • Everyone is replaceable.
  • Someone out there with less talent than you is making more money.
  • You haven’t made it in advertising until you’ve had a client threaten your life

Granted this blog post doesn’t contain the meat of an hour long presentation, but does capture the spirit of it.

I had many folks talk with me after the presentation to thank me for my candid discussion of advertising. And from the amount of tweets and retweets it would seem to have been quite a hit with the crowd. Big thanks to AAF Omaha and here’s to next year’s Meet the Pros.

02.22.2012 // Leave a comment // Continue Reading »

#FunWithHashtags

Written by Chris Berger February 15, 2012

So this morning, I wake up and walk up stairs… this happens every morning. Just like every other morning of my life, I am more of a semi-functional zombie trying to drag myself to the shower than a chipper human being. My eyes are half open, my feet are barely moving, and what do I find to my surprise (and a second too late I have to add) but a long parade of shoes lined up heel to toe at the top of the stairs. Needless to say, I fell flat on my face. This was the start to my morning.

So what does this all have to do with the title of this post, glad you asked. On every single shoe, there was a sticky note with some writing that welcomed me to the first annual #shoeparade at Robot Palace (that’s the name of our house) and that this event was brought to me by @McCabeEvents. My roommates had created a twitter account and started a new conversation all about their shenanigans the night before, just for a few laughs. Truly, this was all one big inside joke for us but still hilarious. I laughed once I peeled myself off the floor and realized what was going on. If you search #shoeparade on twitter, there are only a few mentions to it but I’m sure as the day goes on that will grow a little.

For those of you who are lost right now let me explain a little. Hashtags are really just the pound symbols (#) that are put in front of a word, or a string of words, within a tweet. They are used as a way to start a conversation about events, places, products, businesses, and really everything you can think of, for Twitter. It can be a great resource for seeing what people are saying about your business and for interacting with your customers. Its important to be active and engaging with your tweets but note, that doesn’t mean constantly showering your followers with special pricing. That stuff gets old after awhile. Inc Magazine has a great article about how to use Twitter for your business here http://on.mash.to/yKF3TZ.

Really, the #shoeparade hashtag is never going to go viral, or really mean anything to anyone but my roommates, but it was fun. Don’t be afraid to experiment with hashtags in your life, whether that be for fun or for your business and be sure to follow us at @LocalHeroDesign. Enjoy the picture below.

 

 

 

02.15.2012 // Leave a comment // Continue Reading »

Valentines Day

Written by Emily Yoble February 13, 2012

So it’s that time of year again. And While Valentine’s Day isn’t my favorite holiday of the year, I do enjoy a well designed card.

Here are a few card designs I stumbled upon this month that caught my eye.

 

Black Bird Letterpress

The Hungry Workshop

The Hungry Workshop

Dude and Chick

Dude and Chick

Egg Press

 

 

02.13.2012 // Leave a comment // Continue Reading »

Superbowl Commercials

Written by Matt Donovan February 06, 2012

Normally, commercial breaks offer a chance to get away from the TV. But this is the Superbowl, and companies spend big bucks garnering our attention for a brief time.  The commercials featured high production values and cameos from all sorts of celebrities. There was certainly an ongoing theme of optimism in many of these.  Although this may have been a down year in terms of the number of quality commercials, here are a few I found noteworthy:

 

The Dog Strikes Back – Volkswagen:

 

Chrysler Commercial – It’s Halftime in America

 

Budweiser – Eternal Optimism

02.06.2012 // Leave a comment // Continue Reading »

Kitty Gifs

Written by Peter Worth January 27, 2012

Sometimes it helps to step away from design for a bit. As Don Draper puts it, “…part of that is letting our creatives be unproductive until they are.”

This is what Matt and I look at when we are not in our most productive state.

enjoy,

P.T.

01.27.2012 // Leave a comment // Continue Reading »

Stop being stupid with QR codes

Written by Peter Morris January 24, 2012

Apparently I’m one of the only people in the world saying this, but most QR code uses are bad. QR codes can be used as a marketing solution, but effective use is as rare as finding a Picasso painting at a garage sale.

For example, here’s the latest effort from our own state DMV. Get smart. Renew and order online.

I’ll avoid the obvious discussion of phone use and driving, and get right to the design issue. This QR code will not work. There are a couple of reasons it won’t work. First, don’t inverse the code. And second, there’s no white or “quiet” space around the code. Here’s more info on the structure of the QR code.

Here’s the code with a quick adjustment:

So now it works. Let’s take a look at where this code takes us…

Now I’ve been led to a microscopic site that isn’t optimized. That’s unfortunate, because I really wanted to renew my license. Also notice that this isn’t even the url that was spelled out on the magnet. www.clickdmv.ne.gov/regrenew/

OK, I’ll type the info by hand: www.clickdmv.ne.gov. A somewhat optimized site awaits. While it does adjust to the browser dimension, the text is still too small.

The final insult to the entire campaign? When “watch video” is clicked:

This entire campaign of missteps should have been avoided. Design time, development time, magnet production and shipping costs all wasted. I’ve been telling our clients interested in QR codes, examine your marketing objectives. If you can’t justify the use of a QR code, you probably shouldn’t use it. And while I risk losing my membership to AIGA by saying good design won’t save lives, It sure can save money.

If you take only one thing from this post, please let it be this: QR codes are not for common use or for the common man. The person scanning your code has an elevated level of tech knowledge. Use the code to reward early adopters. Don’t use it to expose a lack of technical expertise on the part of your organization.

01.24.2012 // Leave a comment // Continue Reading »

Finding the Mix: Dreaming vs. Doing

Written by Chris Berger January 19, 2012

This morning I read an interesting quote that got me thinking. The quote was something like, “A sailor without a destination cannot hope for a favorable wind in his sails.” I agree 100% with this statement, what you have here is a guy who is doing without thinking much about where he wants to go and that’s a problem. I started to think about this quote a little more and then realized that if you reverse the situation, the point is very similar. A sailor with a destination who never gets on his boat is also pretty screwed. What you have now is a man with a dream but makes no progress towards achieving it.

Its very easy to fall to one side of the spectrum between dreaming vs. doing, I know I’m guilty at times. It seems obvious to state this but you have to find an appropriate mix between spending time dreaming and doing. In our office here at Local Hero, we have times where we will talk and think about new ideas which is very important. Without dreaming about the future, its hard to find a target to hit. Once we settle on an idea though, we set hard deadlines to keep ourselves accountable. We plan out the steps that are going to move us in that direction and then follow-through. Its important to allow for an environment where dreams are possible but also have the system set in place to make sure things get done.

If you find yourself dreaming more than doing, ask people to keep you accountable and make sure to set hard deadlines for yourself. You will never reach your vision if you sit around all the time. If you find yourself in the process of just doing, make sure that you set aside some time periodically to think about where you want to be and if the work you have been doing is getting you there. I typically set aside Friday afternoons to review what was done during week to figure out if something needs to change and also use that time to think about how the next week should play out.

There is one last quote that comes to mind about this topic and that is, “Being busy does not mean that you are being productive.” It is important that you always ask yourself, what did I accomplish today rather than what did I do. Its easy to think that just because you show up to work that you are being productive which is definitely not the case.

01.19.2012 // Leave a comment // Continue Reading »

Napkin Art Show – From Beardos to Bordeauxs

Written by Matt Donovan January 12, 2012

Art can come in many shapes, sizes and mediums.  Local Hero’s most recent endeavor was unique, to represent “Good Ideas and Best Intentions” through a napkin.  We discussed and agreed upon completing the work in one sitting, an homage to the act of creating napkin art in a bar. We enjoyed the show and appreciated the various styles seen there.

01.12.2012 // Leave a comment // Continue Reading »

Design*Sponge at Home

Written by Emily Yoble January 11, 2012

Initially, when I was trying to decide on a college major, my choices narrowed down to a heated battle between interior design and graphic design. Graphic design won in the end, and I don’t regret that in the slightest, but I do love decorating rooms. A few months ago I snagged myself a new apartment and was on the look out for some design inspiration to make it awesome. Thats when I stumbled onto, one of my now favorite blogs, Design*Sponge.

This blog has do-it-yourself projects, before and after photos, step by step home improvement tutorials, and (my personal favorite) home tours featuring artists and designers. The author, Grace Bonney, recently released a book with 400 pages of drool worthy home decor, and easy to follow tutorials, not to mention a beautifully illustrated book cover. I definitely recommend this book and blog to anyone interested in looking for some cool ways to spruce up your place.

01.11.2012 // Leave a comment // Continue Reading »

Does Size Count?

Written by Lance Evenson January 05, 2012

Here is the frustration designers have gone though since the dawn of printing and especially now in the electronic age. How many of you have ever heard “Make My Logo Bigger?” Agency Fusion put together a video illustrating some products that will help clients get this result fast. Designers, please take caution as some of the images you are about to see may seem inappropriate.

 

01.05.2012 // Leave a comment // Continue Reading »

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