I am going to go over my brief opinion of the book: DAMN GOOD ADVICE, by George Lois.
(For people with talent!) is pasted on the front cover of the book. This makes me feel like the book is pretty up itself already. As if the knowledge in this book is for exclusive people. Even though pretty much all of the 'advice' within the pages is just practically common sense.
I book-marked certain pages that caught my eye.
Advice #4: My Anti-Slogan "George, be careful"
"Looking up from my crib on a dark and stormy night. God commanded: "George, be careful". (I remember it well) My earliest childhood recollections were punctuated by three words (in Greek) from the lips of my mother, Vasilike Thanasoulis Lois: "George, be careful". They have been a refrain throughout my life- a sincere admonition from the lips of people who have always meant well but never fathomed my attitude towards life and work. In the act of creativity, being careful guarantees sameness and mediocrity, which means your work will be invisible. Better to be reckless than careful. Better to be bold than safe. Better to have been remembered, or you'v struck out. There is no middle ground"
Okay this is actually a great piece of advice. It's true that if you are doing the same thing as every other creative person in your sector, in a very competitive industry, keeping to 'trends' because that is the in-thing to do is gonna sink your creative ship. I believe that going in opposite direction to others, following a creative instinct, is more impressive and more genius than recreating the same outcome that many have done before. Even if it doesn't turn out the way you expected at least you will be remembered for taking a risk, instead of be safe and boring.
Advice #10: My first commandment: The word comes first, then the visual
"When young art directors ask me to reveal my "formula" for creating advertising, I answer...start with a word! This advice, with a biblical reference, is carved in stone- my first commandment. Art directors, presumed by many to be illiterate, are expected to think visually- and most do. They sift through magazines to find visuals, however disjointed and inappropriate, to help them "get started" Most art directors, unfortunately, do not sit and try to write the idea: they usually wait with their thumbs up their ass for a writer to furnish the words, which usually are not visually pregnant. By contrast, a handful of great art directors are authors of some of the finest headlines in advertising- or they work intimately with gifted writers as they conjure concepts together. Conversely, even when a writer works on his own, his words must lend themselves to visual excitement- because a big campaign idea can only be expressed in words that absolutely bristle with visual possibilities, leading to words and visual imagery working in perfect synergy.
If you're an art director, heed my words: Each ad, TV spot, and campaign is in your hands- it's your baby. If you're a copywriter, on the other hand, you must work with a talented visual communicator!"
Another piece of advice that I agree with. You need to know what you are wanting to convey to your audience before creating anything visual. What do you want them to think about? What do you want to connote? Are there insights? A narrative? What does the image stem from? You could think of the word being a mood, something from experience like an emotion, a theme, genre. Any word is a good starting place.
Advice #14: A trend is always a trap
"Because advertising and marketing is an art, the solution to each new problem or challenges should begin with a blank canvas and an open mind, not with the nervous borrowings of other people's mediocrities. That's precisely what "trends" are- a search for something "safe"- and why a reliance on them leads to oblivion. At the start of each new year, as the press scans the horizon for newsworthy departures from the past. I'm usually asked by reporters from America's news weeklies: "What do you think trends in advertising will be in the coming year?" My answer is always identical to what I said the previous year: "Beats the shit out me. I'll know it when I do it" Trends can be tyrannise; In any creative industry, the fact that others are moving in a certain direction is always proof positive, at least to me, that a new direction is the only direction"
Trends to me are not a thing that you have to follow. They are types of guidelines to tell you what is popular at the moment. They aren't strict rules to follow in order to become successful. if anything going against the current is going to get you noticed. Hell you could even make a new trend yourself. Be the driver and force behind a new wave.
Advice #19: You can be cautious or you can be creative (but there is no such thing as a cautious creative)
"A creative thinker must be fearless. If you're more tentative than decisive, if you're more cautious than creative, you'll never be an innovative business leader, and certainly not a great visual communicator. A Cautious Creative is an oxymoron"
Wait...isn't this just advice #4 but in a summative paragraph?
Advice #23: Never listen to music when you are trying to come up with a Big Idea
Where am I supposed to get my inspiration from? The deafening silence of the room? I'm good thanks.
Advice #31: Work is Worship
True. In this industry you kind of have to live and breathe the job. 100% dedication.
Advice #56: Don't be a cry baby
Get used to negative opinions, knock downs and rejections. Not everyone is going to see your vision.
Advice #74: $ellebrity: Learn the art of using celebrities to sell a product.
Given you can get one. They are pretty helpful. Everyone wants what the rich and famous have. (Oh aren't we easily manipulated for a supposably intelligent species)
Advice #99: Don't sleep your life away
A beautiful piece of common sense.
Advice #117: You'll never be the creative person you aspire to be if you don't know where it all came from.
Research is the key.
Advice #120: You are the master of your fate: you are the captain of your soul
Whatever happens in your career, it's down to what you did and how much work you put into it. From now you are your career.
Okay so what is my overall opinion of this book?
Well I said it at the beginning. Pretty much all of the 'advice' within the pages is just practically common sense. I read some of the advice given and just kept going "well duh" This book kind of made me feel inferior and a little bit stupid. Yeah I know I shouldn't sleep my life away that's a given. I thought this book would have some more inspirational pages in it. But there is just a lot of 'suck it up', 'don't be boring'- if I wanted that advice I could have asked my parents. Another point to make is that there is nothing that indicates that the book is for 'talented people' it's just average advice for anyone in a job. The book to me is pretty pointless. Anyone could tell me this information. Thank god it was only £6.
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