Eyes and ears
The Wall Street Journal called with an article about board members hiring outside help to evaluate their company. It turns out the board likes having an outside source to recommend tough decisions whenever a possible conflict arises between the board and management. Fortunately the age of Snowden has been kind since surveillance similar themes are great for ideas. The idea of a consultant “rattling the cage” seemed a perfect metaphor for how companies must feel when they are being judged by outsiders.
Floating Away
One of my favorite art directors, April Montgomery of Computerworld to create an opening illustration for a feature. Because of our history there is a lot of trust so it’s very easy to bounce ideas back and forth with April. The story discusses loss of human jobs to technology which is a problem that is only going to become worse. The interesting twist is those who created programming for technology are being replaced by the cloud which many helped create. I had a few ideas but we decided the approach of a character watching his space vanish to the clouds resonated best with the story.
Crowdsourcing for Christian Century Magazine
It’s always a pleasure working with Dan Richardson at Christian Century Magazine. There are naturally many metaphors available when working with religion and it’s a fun challenge to create images which seem fresh. Dan had a feature about the use of crowdsourcing to fund many activities for the Church. Traditionally appeals were made from the pulpit and the search is on for the appropriate manner to use crowdsourcing. The support of many as opposed to the support of one seemed the right approach.
Winning
Bized Magazine called with a series of illustrations for various articles. One story talked about a common misconception in the Health regarding a Government driven health care system versus a market driving system. You would think a market system would make more but it turns out government systems are more profitable. Designer Goodness Okoro asked for an illustration highlighting the contrast and the idea of two Everyman figures back to back with different levels of money seemed perfect. The basic gist of the concept is keeping up with the Joneses with the government being Mr Jones.
Heavy is the head
Goodness Okoro from 2Communique called with an assignment for Bized Magazine titled, “Hierarchy, High Pressure, and Risk”. The article asked if pressure is on, does a hierarchy help or hurt. Research was done with Himalayan expeditions and found the groups with the stronger hierarchy reached the top most often. Naturally it seemed appropriate to use a climbing metaphor and the trick is to put a twist on an idea to keep it interesting. The idea of the climbers being pulled by ropes in an organizational chart pattern seemed a natural fit. Fans of the original Star Trek will notice the colors of the jerseys. Fans of the original Star Trek will also notice that the top guy is wearing a red instead of gold jersey which reverses the hierarchy from the original series.
Like I said, you always have to twist things up to keep it interesting.
It’s a big world
Orlie Kraus at the Wall St Journal and I have worked together for many years so it’s always a pleasure whenever she calls. These illustrations were for a special section dedicated to international stock fund. International stories naturally bring up ideas of traveling and the approach for this project come from growing up in Oklahoma, watching children films from other countries and dreaming about how life must be different. Since the articles were about US investors starting to explore abroad for investments, it seemed like the perfect approach.
False starts
Detroit has been on the radar as an emerging new center for creatives so it was a pleasure to hear from AD Valerie Morgan at Hour Detroit. They have been a client on and off for over 15 years and I have enjoyed watching the publication grow.
Language is one of my favorite subjects and Valerie called with a story about the misconceptions of stuttering. The main focus for ideas was the self consciousness and effort it takes for a stutterer to successfully communicate. Many pieces have to move in motion properly for a stutterer and pressure builds as you become more aware of the listener. Fortunately or unfortunately memories of awkwardness of teen years was the perfect inspiration for sketches. I remember thinking everyone could see all my flaws. Eyes are a great element for catching the feeling of self awareness.
Much thanks to Valerie and Hour Detroit for letting me tackle one of my favorite subjects.
