Walk in any subway station in NYC and you’ll see Diesel’s current campaign BE STUPID. And maybe it’s exactly what their creative agency of choice Anomaly banked on, but it had me rooting for stupid too. Maybe it was the multiplatform campaign, which no doubt cost a pretty penny (not to mention an all expense paid  trip across Mongolia by train or if you prefer shark swimming in South Africa) but the campaign struck a chord with me. Mainly, because I’ve recently taken a contract corporate gig, I now know what it means to die a little each day. Yes, I had some doubts from the beginning, but I also had high hopes, believing I could play a pivotal role in a redesign, rethinking how an e-commerce site functioned anew, but what I’ve discovered is something else entirely, something which spoke to the first lines of Diesel’s campaign copy “Like balloons we are all filled with hopes and dreams but over time a single sentence creeps into our live…Don’t be stupid. It’s the crusher of possibility.” And maybe e-commerce isn’t necessarily the place for experimentation and online innovation but it should be.

I’ve grappled with how to move forward and perhaps I found my answer at AIGA’s recent NYC event on Design and Advertising when an audience member told a humorous story and asked a poignant question. During the talk Doug Jaegar, the youngest to ever be elected President of the Art Director’s Club, had thrown up on screen a series of interesting one liners from various professionals in the industry about design and advertising. To quote a few, which lose a lot without the visual but none-the-less here they are: From an ad agency – “Design is the bass line, advertising is the guitar solo.” From a design group – “Advertising creates problems, design creates solutions.” Even Todd Waterbury of Wieden+Kennedy, had one to eloquently contribute, “Design is a language, advertising a sentence.” Well, our audience member being in pharmaceutical advertising, asked “while everything you’ve said makes sense, my client isn’t gonna hear ‘design is a language, advertising a sentence’ and see the error of their ways. What two minute elevator pitch can I use with a client to get them to not want to put a generic smiling, healthy looking patient on a poster with the drug name and legal copy?” It got more than a few laughs but it was a very good question. The answer via Doug Jaegar,”maybe you should quit your job.” I think his point being that you will always have battles to fight, working with people who appreciate ideas shouldn’t have to be one of them.

At 15, I’d gotten my first job, waitressing in a small town seafood restaurant, the beginning of what would become a mainstay profession throughout my education. The job enabled me to save enough money to go on a five month exchange to Madrid, Spain where I happened to pick up a bit of Spanish (though mostly forgotten it came in handy when applying at a Mexican restaurant). In college it paid the bills, and was often a second job through my first career missteps.

After a short stint as a hair transplant technician, I found myself returning to art school at Parsons, and thus went back to the old familiar routine of waitressing and school. At the time, Drew Nieporent was just about to open his latest restaurant with an up and coming new face, Aaron Sanchez.

I’d spend the next 2 years at Centrico while earning my second degree at Parsons. It was in that time that I’d make some really lasting friendships and what would ultimately lead me to a small town in Mexico, sampling the bite size deliciousness of Tacombi.

With a lease finally signed, I’m looking forward to getting to work!

To the average movie-goer the term producer sort of gets lost somewhere between “mover and shaker” and a “show me the money” persona. Few outside the industry have a real grasp for how integral the role is in the making of any film or project for that matter. The finesse, the patience and above all the creative pragmatism carefully mixed with a driven determinism.

Take Anna Rodgers, one of the producers for The Yellow Bittern, a documentary film about the life and times of Liam Clancy. Liam was the youngest member of the group The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem, Ireland’s first pop stars. An appearance by the group on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1961 and their fame was officially cemented, within a year they would sell out Carnegie Hall.

Rodgers spent the last five years working with Clancy on numerous productions from The Legend of Liam Clancy to Liam Clancy and Friends, Live at The Bitter End and the final documentary feature The Yellow Bittern.

From the logistics of shoot coordination, research and footage acquisition to making sure Liam got through New York City’s Gay Pride Parade to his concert across town relatively on time and in one piece – the producer made it happen.

I’m reminded of an article written by Ted Royer, Executive Creative Director for Droga5 NY, entitled “I want to marry a producer.”

“A producer listens to the most batshit crazy idea and doesn’t say yes or no or ask why, but instantly asks ‘How?’ She could talk me out of dumb things with grace and logic, or conversely show me what it’s possible to do with virtually nothing. A producer realizes that just as business and creativity need each other, responsibility (her) and irresponsibility (me) do too. A producer wouldn’t be afraid of different challenges, no matter what form they took. A producer would be tough, fighting battles I’d neither see nor even know about.”

When Clancy passed away last December, Rodgers went to pay her respects. Not just to one of Ireland’s first pop stars, nor the man who Bob Dylan described as “the best ballad singer I’d ever heard in my whole life,” but to the soft spoken Irishman whom she spent the last five years documenting and befriending.

She’d never been one to romanticize death, so seeing a cold lifeless body was far from something she’d ever willingly seek out, but she put her fears aside kissed the cheek of this man, whom she spent the last five years documenting, and with heartfelt tears streaming down her face said thank you and goodbye. Liam’s daughter, who stood by, broke down.

What does this all have to do with the film you ask – everything. There’s a sense of humanity, a gentleness and heart that the documentary exudes, which isn’t to take away from the skill of the director Alan Gilsenan.

The film is about the life and times of this icon of Irish heritage and though the documentary ends with Clancy commenting on the masks that we all wear, performers included, we get a sense that we have gotten a glimpse into the man who walked on stage before the lights hit.

And while I am biased by the friendship I’ve come to have with Ms. Anna Rodgers, I have a firm belief that much of that was to do with her own subdued strength, fighting the battles you don’t hear about.

The Yellow Bittern is a classification of heron known for its shyness, hiding in the reeds building its nest, but prone to frequent heights of flight.  I think it’s a befitting moniker for the film in more ways than one.

The film goes on sale St. Patricks day and is available on their website.

Related Links:
Today is Better than Two Tomorrows a film by Anna Rodgers

Definitely not wanting to go that route, I thought a lot about the qualities that spoke out to me and more importantly what would make me take a closer look at a candidate. I just had to remember what it was like when I was clicking through hundreds of resumes for a designer while at Windup.

It came together when I’d come across an article in the Harvard Business Review via CNN. Entitled “The Innovator’s DNA,” the article was about a six year study highlighting the key skills that innovative and creative entrepreneurs share. I connected with it because I saw my own characteristic parallels. So I ran with it. I rewrote my resume, with a fresh approach focusing on the skills that made me an intelligent thinker and innovator. I stressed the importance of “foolish” experimenting and social networking- the ability to put yourself in positions and amongst the unfamiliar with a childlike enthusiasm and taking actions that were open and fearless.

Prior to application, I sent out an email asking for feedback, which was anything but fearless. Admittedly, I had a lot of trepidation and sat for several minutes before hitting send. There were people on that list who I highly respected and their feedback would be taken to heart no matter how much I would steel myself against it, but I hit send and put my head on the chopping block and implored that everyone be brutally honest, that the criticism would push me more than a pat on the back. It’s also just good practice to have another set of eyes for typos.

What came back was a mixed bag, which I suppose was to be expected. Of course I zeroed in on the less than praiseworthy comments. After all, I had chosen these people not only for the fact that many were design savvy but because they were also smart people. I won’t lie, it was deflating of sorts, despite all the compliments. I got more positive feedback than negative but it still planted a seed of doubt. The one comment that stung the most did so because it was also a compliment, “you are too seasoned and too senior to have a resume that (as much as I appreciate the work you put into it) feels to me like a ‘designer’ effort.”

I know that it seemed like a very JV move, I’d put in a lot of time that could have been spent on the long list of side projects that seems to grow exponentially with each passing week that could add to my own portfolio, but I still thought maybe the concept would push beyond my “unseasoned” effort.

So what started out as simply an attempt to redesign my resume has evolved into an experiment. I’ve identified 50 “innovative” ad agencies and design studios and split the list in half. My methodology in the split for the most part was an exacting flip of a coin. Heads they get Resume 1: “5 Elements of Innovative Thinking,” tails Resume 2: “Mihae S Mukaida-Contact Info and Chronological List of Professional Experience.” Some of the bigger agencies have a standardized submission, in which case I’ll have to go with the run of the mill CV, which I’m balancing out by sending those who had advertised their openings with Resume 1. The rationale being that those with job postings will most likely be receiving a boatload of responses.

Putting together the list alone took 2 days of research. I’d looked at AdAge’s 50 Top Interactive Agencies, gone through AIGA’s design archives, Communication Arts, looked at interviews of designers and ad executives, which inevitably led to others. Which, on a side note, you have to check out the site of SCPF. It’s a novel approach, tongue-in-cheeky without going all cheese. Although, I’m still not sure if they were tipping their hat to Alex Bogusky (founding partner of Crispin Porter + Bogusky and recent cover of Fast Company magazine) or snubbing him…but I digress, onto the scientific methodology.

While it won’t be winning any scientific award for exactitude, the objective of the experiment is to determine what kind of response each resume type will garner and hopefully find out why one or the other did or did not elicit an interview. Each agency/studio claims to focus on ideas and innovation. Now, I know I’m making a big assumption but for simplicity sake, let’s say that I’m an ideal candidate, that the major variable for said agency/studio is the resume type.

The experiment in a nutshell: Designer seeks position as Art Director or equivalent at forward thinking agency/studio utilizing two types of resumes.

I’ve thus far identified 4 possible hypothetical outcomes:

1. Resume 1 = Well-Received » Interview
The novel approach grabbed attention and was found to “practice what it preached” resulting in intrigue and further investigation.

2. Resume 1 ≠ Well-Received » Delete
Approach was found to be ill-fitting for a senior level position and application was promptly tossed.

3. Resume 2 = Well-Received » Interview
Work experience documented was sufficient and inline with qualifications sought in potential candidate.

4. Resume 2 ≠ Well-Received » Delete
Either I totally suck, or the resume while adequate was either lost in the shuffle or they received other resumes that worked a little harder for attention.

Data Collection:
Aside from quantifiable results (i.e. getting an interview or not) further investigation will attempt to determine some qualitative data. In fact if you have received my resume and are reading this please go here: http://mihae.qhub.com/

Timeline:
March 10th: Cover letters, resumes, and portfolio links sent to all 50 agencies/studios
March 17th: Follow up communication will be made to those studios which have yet to respond
March 22nd: Data will be interpreted and results published

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Nowhere more do you see this phenomena embodied than in a city like New York, where for the past two centuries, with the constant influx of new people, it has become a powerful influencer worldwide in everything from the currency you spend to the clothing you wear.

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” It’s the statement emblazoned upon the statue that has greeted millions of ship-weary foreigners and the backdrop that has enabled those seeking a better life a way to it. Which isn’t to say every immigrant who reaches these shores has a better life, in fact for many it was and continues to be merely a stepping stone that requires a huge step back, before even attempting a move forward. Yet, it is this struggle that has colored the past two centuries and made what New York City is, but as we come to the close of the first decade of the 21st century, something has shifted. There’s an oddly mixed sentiment brewing, you’ll hear it in every corner in manhattan, you’ll see its head reared full-faced as landmark buildings and shops throughout the city give way to large developers whose buyers and tenants have equally large pockets.

Take one look down the Bowery, the oldest American thoroughfare and you’ll be overwhelmed with the changes. CBGBs, whose walls reverberated with the sounds of rock icons like the Talking Heads and Blondie is now a John Varvatos; the east side of the street lined with luxury hotels and high-rise condominiums, a far cry from the flop houses. Of course, it’s not exactly a bad alternative to the alcoholics and drug dealers that it displaced, but what exactly has replaced it?

I took a walking tour recently of the Bowery with Rob Hollander, an adjunct professor of linguistics at NYU and a New Yorker through and through. We talked about the Bowery and its history, he reminisced about the freedom that one used to feel; that while yes, you might have had to step over more than a few drunken bodies, but there was still a freedom, albeit a little reckless that drew people and artists like Mark Rothko, Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, and Eva Hesse to its dilapidated, light-filled lofts. It was an independence outside the mainstream that allowed the artist to, in the words of lady liberty “breathe free.” He’d go on to mourn the new developments, and denigrate the gentrification that seemed to suck the area dry of it’s colorful and more than a little messy historic culture. But at one point, it reminded me of an article in the NY Observer about No Longer Empty’s “Never Records” exhibit, that almost inadvertently grappled with an uneasiness with a nostalgia that was no longer a wafting warm and fuzzy memory but something more akin to a paralyzing rheumatism.

After empathizing with the lower east side’s developmental plight, I asked Rob what kind of development could he see that he would endorse…he paused, noted it was a good question and then responded with, “I hate to say it, but I don’t think there is any.” And yet, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought about it, it wasn’t a romanticized notion of how much better it would be if the homeless alcoholics and prostitutes were left to run the streets, but more a lament for what had gone up in its place and what the erection would inevitably trigger. Some could argue that every generation feels that longing for a time past…even Rothko in his Bowery studio felt it,

“One day while his one-man show was still on in New York, Rothko and James Brooks sat talking on the stairway in the building at 222 Bowery…Rothko “declared at length…the reason for his deep melancholy.” “His work had reached such an acceptance that it now inhabited the investment world as much as or more than the art world,” leaving Rothko “bereft of the only thing that meant anything–the love that many people had for his work. Now he no longer felt his work was admired for itself, but that it was a rising commodity quotation on the stock market.”[1]

But there is a single, very crucial difference to take note of between the 1960′s and 2010—the environment of creation. Art of any given period is not only a reflection of the men and women who created it, but inescapably a mirror of the times; for the Bowery artists of the 19th and 20th centuries, struggle and strife were rampant. It led to the creation of art from an almost empathic impetus.

Rothko writes in his essay “The Romantics were Prompted..”

“The unfriendliness of society to his activity is difficult for the artist to accept. Yet this very hostility can act as a lever for true liberation. Freed from a false sense of security and community, the artist can abandon his plastic bank-book, just as he has abandoned other forms of security. Both the sense of community and of security depend on the familiar. Free of them, transcendental experiences become possible. [2]

So when a designer men’s clothing store becomes a more viable platform for launching a music career than an actual music venue like CBGB’s what is the effect? It begs the question, what kind of culture is cultivated when nurtured not necessarily by a common human struggle but by brand generation and capitalism?

Hollander, bespoke of homogeneity and the loss of the individual. I think we all feel it, we comment about it at art shows and social events over complimentary glasses of wine and conveniently mourn the passing of New York’s historic gems..but we relish the cleaner streets and more often than not welcome the homogeneity if it comes with a reduced price tag. But if there is one thing that New York City has in abundance, it’s those in search of the struggle and that healthy hostility Rothko mentions. On the Bowery it may just be that the whiskey-breathed and homeless are being traded for the well suited and higher heeled.

References:

[1] Breslin, James E. B., 1935–Mark Rothko a biography, The University of Chicago Press, 1993

[2] Rothko, M., “The Romantics were Prompted…” Possibilities, New York, I, 1947, p. 84

While I would have to say his work lacks the serendipitous/deliberate combination and context that is so marked in Bansky’s work, he’s equally skilled in the art of the stencil. The Brooklyn Street Art site actually shows the steps of each stencil for his latest portrait, a tribute to the Empire State, featuring Jay-Z and a testament to the man’s painstaking skills.

As an aside, what’s the deal with Carlito Brigante aka Charles le Brigand for the Godfather of Soul?