Archive for the ‘Creative Process’ Category

Bill Rabe and the Unicorn Hunters

Posted March 10, 2010, by Justin Sailor

Unicorn Hunters

In 1971, Bill Rabe was hired by Lake Superior State University as their new director of public relations.  Shortly after, along with some English professors, he started the Unicorn Hunters, a small group dedicated to executing unique PR efforts.  Bill has become a PR legend.  His quirky PR stunts at LSSU have lasted four decades and have been going strong for 20+ years since Bill retired along with the Unicorn Hunters.

When Bill was hired, LSSU had just split off from Michigan Technological University and become its own college.  Bill’s job was to create significant PR efforts for the new university to brand itself.

The Unicorn Hunters got to work on their PR efforts.  Some of their PR efforts included:

  • The annual List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-Use, Over-use and General Uselessness
  • Burning a snowman on the first day of spring
  • World Sauntering Day
  • International Stone-Skipping Tournament, held annually on Mackinac Island
  • Unicorn Questing Season

Unicorn hunting

And yes, there are actually unicorn hunters.  In one epic example Bill was able to get a TV crew from ABC News to film students on campus and their quest to find a unicorn.  There are many regulations to unicorn hunting.  For starters, you’ll need a unicorn hunting license which can be downloaded online.  Some of the other regulations include:

  • The only recognized legal unicorn bait is a virgin
  • Areas open to hunting are Earth, the moon (unexplored areas only) and the Milky Way (SE Rim is closed odd years)
  • Some recommended tools include: a bottle of hoof and horn polish, a pair of hoof trimmers and a small flask of cognac
  • Questing hours are also limited: unicorns may be taken during daylight and dark, except for those hours when the Tooth Fairy is about. She was once frightened by a grumpy unicorn, and in deference to her attitude, they make the exception

Snowman burning

On March 19, LSSU will celebrate the 40th annual Snowman Burning Day as they mark the end of winter and beginning of spring.  Starting in 1971, this was one of the Unicorn Hunters’ first established PR tactics.

“Some people hold that smoke rising from the fire is supposed to ward off blizzards and usher in spring-like weather. The Unicorn Hunters capitalized on this theory during the second or third year of the event. At that time, after the snowman was burned, a blizzard passed through the eastern Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula but missed Sault Ste. Marie.” — LSSU Web site

The snowman burning is traditionally accompanied by poetry readings.  Along with other Unicorn Hunters events, local and national news pick up this story on a yearly basis.

Banished Words List

Perhaps Bill’s most well known PR effort, the Banished Words List, has existed since 1976.  Each year, the list is released on New Year’s Day.  Every year since, LSSU’s phones start to ring on the first of the year.  Dozens of news articles are posted year to year, radio and TV interviews are conducted and the University is represented across the world.  All from creating a fictitious list of banished words.

The words are typically inspired from trends and events taking place that year.  For example some of the words on the 2010 list include:  czar, tweet, sexting, bromance, and chillaxin’ (I am guilty of using this one frequently).

One word you should be sure not to use is “basically”.  This word has made it on the Banished Word List in three different years: 1984, 1986 and 1993. Banished words can be submitted by anyone through the LSSU Web site.

Crazy ideas are welcomed

Bill created a number of traditions that are going still strong today. These traditions, resulting in 40 years of news coverage, started from a few crazy ideas.  Often times the wackiest ideas are overlooked and LSSU was wise to allow Bill Rabe and the Unicorn Hunters to run with theirs.

I challenge you to think about how you can create a brand new PR effort from scratch and build it into a tradition.  Do something that nobody else is doing.

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Derek Sivers: weird, or just different?

Posted February 17, 2010, by Kelly Mazurkiewicz

How many times have you gotten bogged down to thinking that there is only one way to do something? How many times do you use the same object over and over again not even realizing it could be used for something else?  How many times have you overlooked another person’s point of view without even giving it much thought?  How many times have you become so deeply enveloped in a theory or a way of doing something that you just simply can’t see the other side?

Throughout the years the world has become very black and white and people have become accustomed to just accepting what is around them.  Assumptions are made all too often, and we live in a world based on habit.

Here, in his TED talk, Derek Sivers points out cultural differences from around the world.

This two-minute talk opened my eyes to many different things. Don’t just limit yourself to thinking about cultural differences.  It can be related to anything: how important it is to keep an open mind, to look at the world from different angles.

It makes me think back to when I was a kid.  I loved Where’s Waldo, I Spy, and those search and find puzzles. Anything that had me looking for something small and unique in a huge picture full of different things would have me quiet for hours. (Well, maybe not hours, but long enough to keep me out of the way.) Whenever I was doing one of these kinds of puzzles and I couldn’t find what I was looking for I would always, always, flip the book upside down.  Sure enough, after a few minutes or so, Waldo would be looking me square in the eyes.

Who would have thought something so simple like turning a picture upside down would be so successful?  I wasn’t worried about looking funny, or doing it wrong, I just wanted to find Waldo.  And I did.

Looking at things from a different angle can lead to a whole new world of opportunities.  In fact, the other day I learned that Charles Darwin, the man who came up with the theory of Evolution, was actually a geologist.  That’s right, a guy who studied rocks for a living, was able to come up with what today is known as Darwinism.  We can’t be afraid to be wrong.  If we are we, won’t ever come up with anything original.

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First, is worst.

Posted January 25, 2010, by Julie Becker

clients-from-hellA group of team members at M3 have recently become something just shy of obsessed with the Web site Clients From Hell. The site is tragic, hilarious, painstakingly true and reflects the plight of designers and Web developers the world over.

There wasn’t a single post I couldn’t sympathize with. Well, that was until last Friday when this “client from hell” was posted:

“Hate it. Try again.”

At first read, yes, this is never something an agency likes to hear. But anyone on the inside will tell you, agencies that produce award-winning design pay creative directors to replay this prerecorded phrase to lowly design monkeys over and over. The best design and art instructors I ever had would tell me this time and again, pushing me to move past my first, second, third idea.

Great designers know the first idea/concept/design is never the best. (Sometimes the 27th isn’t even that great.) To express this point further, please enjoy a short list of other things that aren’t so great the first time, but get better as you push yourself to move past the bad parts:

  1. First day on the job
  2. First French kiss
  3. Trying wine/beer/alcohol
  4. First time you get behind the wheel (some never really get better)
  5. First day of school/class
  6. Preparing a new recipe (some of these never really get better, either)
  7. Anything athletic
  8. Wearing a new pair of heels
  9. Dancing
  10. Public speaking
  11. Riding the CATA, figuring out public transportation in general
  12. Playing a video or arcade game, (specifically DDR, for Justin)
  13. Anything to do with hand-eye coordination
  14. Learning to read
  15. What to tweet when you first set up your account
  16. Becoming bilingual
  17. Pulling off a good prank
  18. Making coffee
  19. Remembering to feed your pet, (specifically Emily and her cat)
  20. Grand theft auto

(You really only get one chance at the last one; if you’re not good enough to pull it off you don’t stand much of a chance to try it a second time.)

Essentially, everything we attempt to do in life gets better as we invest ourselves into that particular thing. The difference between life experiences and idea/design generation is the degree to which we push ourselves. In the fast-paced world we live in, it’s a lot easier to run with our mediocre ideas that took 15 minutes to conceptualize than spend another 45 and produce something outstanding.

So, if only for today, push yourself to redesign, rethink, reinvent; see what your ideas and designs are capable of achieving. Chances are, it will be more brilliant than what you started with. And when you show to the higher-ups, I hope they say, “Hate it. Try again.” You will be better because of it.

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The Resident Ink Slinger’s Top Nine Linguistic Gripes of 2009

Posted December 30, 2009, by Emily Wenstrom

It’s a dirty world out there — it’s riddled with improper grammar, misspeaks and flat-out language abuse. And then, there’s those of us who have taken it upon ourselves (to the extreme annoyance of the rest of the world) to clean it up. We whip out our dictionaries and AP Style Guides from atop our imagined high horses to sort out the mess.

I’m under no disillusions … I’m among the grammar geeks. And this is one logophile that’s seen a lot of language abuse this year. Here’s my personal list of 2009 gripes.

Literally

“That meeting literally took forever.”

Literally. As in, the opposite of figuratively. If that meeting really, actually took forever, you could not be talking to someone about it in the past tense. You would still be desperately watching the clock slowly tick away in the conference room; and would remain there until the apocalypse.

The word “literally” is not to be used to add emphasis to what you are saying. (There are many other colorful and awesome words that can be used for this purpose. If you’re interested in them, I recommend a thesaurus.) “Literally” is only appropriate for situations that actually happened. It was not literally raining cats and dogs last night. However, I was literally soaked from head to toe after taking the trash out in the storm.

Ironic

“It’s like rain on your wedding day … Isn’t it ironic?”

It’s okay, Alanis Morissette was fuzzy on this one, too. At least you didn’t immortalize it one of your best-known pop songs.

My favorite word guys, the good fellows at Merriam Webster, defines irony as “incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result; an event or result marked by such incongruity.”

Irony requires something beyond just a bad situation. It’s not ironic that I lost my keys and have to sit in the freezing cold until my husband comes home from work. What makes it ironic is that what caused me to forget them is that I put them right in front of me on my desk where I could easily see them because I was worried about forgetting them all day.

I could care less

“I could care less if you smash the car’s windshield in with that sledgehammer … it’s my sister’s.”

If you truly could care less, that’s really quite good. That means you’ll probably take action to defend your sister’s car. How selfless of you.

But generally, people who say this mean that they do not care; they could not care less. So, here it is, straight and simple: say what you mean, not the opposite.

Could of

“I probably could of made it to the store before it closed if I’d gone straight from work, but I was too tired.”

A word to the wise: habitual sloppy pronunciation in everyday talk does not equal correct grammar.

The wince-worthy phrase “could of” (or “should of,” or “would of,”) comes from the lazy pronunciation of “could’ve,” the contraction of “could have,” combined with the thoughtless writing of phrases exactly how they sound instead of how they make sense. The preposition “of” has no business being next “could” in any grammatically correct sentence. Go ahead. Try.

Quotation marks

“For sale ‘one day only!’”

Quotation marks are for designating something someone said. They are also appropriately used to designate a word or phrase being referred to when not used for its meaning (e.g. I hate the word “blunder,”). And they can designate the title of a song, story or episode in a series.

I often see them used to emphasize a word instead. So to the quote-happy of the world: Bold. Italicize. Underline. Box. Highlight. Write in a different color. Use asterisks if you must. Stop using quotation marks.

For more fun with quotation mark blunders, check out the “blog” of “unnecessary” quotation marks.

Exclamation points

“I can’t believe you’re moving!!! We’ll miss you so much!!!!!”

Your words should hold the meat of the expression you are trying to convey. Exclamation points, like all punctuation, should merely support it — punctuation is the balsa wood of language. Relying on exclamation points is like painting a picture with brighter colors instead of filling in the details.

I realize that (aside from using multiple exclamation points for a single sentence) this is a personal preference. I am a punctuation minimalist. But if you find that your sentences frequently require exclamation points in order to convey your message, take a hard look at the language you are using. Is it tired and common? Words are beautiful and full of life. Use them.

Nice

“I had such a nice time tonight.”

“Nice” is one of those words that gets used so much that it has diffused like a flat tire until it has become meaningless. A warm fire after being out in the cold is nice. A thoughtful letter from a special friend is nice. A major accomplishment at work is nice. But these experiences are completely different from each other.

The same can be said of “interesting,” a word I must admit to overusing myself. Let’s all find some new adjectives for 2010, okay?

Irregardless

“Irregardless of her mother’s warnings, Jenny was determined to prove that she could fly.”

News flash: “irregardless” is not a word. The word you are looking for is “regardless.” That’s right, you’ve been wasting away seconds, minutes, maybe even an hour or more of your life on extra unnecessary syllables. Just imagine all the extra time you’ll have now.

Less/fewer

“If I steal five of Justin’s pens, he will have five less than he did before.”

This is a serious grammatical black hole in this country.

These two words are misused not only in casual conversation but in articles, blogs, advertising and other serious professional work.

For once and for all, let’s set the record straight. If the item you are referring to can be counted as individual items (dollars, snowflakes, minions), the word you want is “fewer.” If it is an uncountable amount (money, snow, magnificence), use “less.”

I’m not the only one with a long list of gripes; if there’s one thing grammar sticklers love to do, it’s rant. So, if you’ve got a hankering for the English language, too, here’s where you can go for even more cathartic venting:

Hopefully, this list has done more than satisfy my need to rant; it would be kind of ironic if, in my effort to educate, I instead promoted ignorance by putting people off to grammar altogether.  But then again, I feel much better; so really, I literally couldn’t care less.

I suppose I could’ve just thrown out a “happy holidays!” and been done with it, saving myself time and giving you less grief about something small and, to most the world, petty. But regardless of what most people think, the rules of language is what keeps our language together so that we can reach out to each other and connect — and that is was the holiday spirit is all about, isn’t it?

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That’s a Crazy Idea

Posted November 11, 2009, by Julie Becker

dreams-illustration

When I was young, my parents told me I could be anything I wanted to be when I grew up.

In third grade, the teacher told my parents I was the most manipulative child in the class. It was then I decided I wanted to be a lawyer.

In eighth grade, I used to hang out with my first hour teacher, Mrs. Heins, and her biology specimens. I loved the sea cucumber she kept preserved in the back of our classroom; so then I wanted to be a marine biologist.

In 10th grade, I joined the newspaper staff. Pretty much any dreams of a life aquatic or respectable income went out the door. Thus, I went on to college to pursue a career in journalism and advertising.

And now, here I am crafting blogs, composing PR-whatnots for M3 and toying with design in my “spare” time.

Laugh as we may, the one thing these pursuits all have in common is a dream; a self-fulfilling prophecy that I can be anything I want, I just have to dream it.

This begs the question, where do life’s dreams come from? And how do dreamers in the workforce continue pursuing their dreams when giving up, feeling down and flat-out settling seems so much easier?

The answer is simple. You just have to answer one question: what matters? What really matters to you? Is it spending time with children? Tinkering with car engines? Is it a green sea vegetable in a jar of formaldehyde?

Every one of us has unique motivators — that little thing that kick-starts your imagination. It’s the task you could fixate on for hours and never look at the clock. Think beyond a hobby; what is in your core?

Once you find that ultimate motivator, you’ve discovered the key to unlocking your passion. And passions are the gateway to your dreams.

So, what happens between finding that key and getting through the gateway: humans and nothing else. You are your first obstacle, and those around you are the second. That’s it.

Dreams are crazy, and they’re supposed to be. Wild ideas are the future. How many times have you let your imagination run wild only to arrive at the thought, “I can’t,” or “that’s impossible”? Forget those conclusions and begin to believe in the crazy.

Once we reach the threshold of our dreams and begin to believe in them, the challenge lies in the reception and articulation of our dreams to others. Most dreams rely on the cooperation of those around us; there’s little greatness we can ever accomplish completely alone.

If others begin to believe in your dreams, the challenges that may seem like mountains are reduced to pebbles. Time, money, resources, knowledge — a world of opportunity begins to open up when you have a tiny amount of support.

Gordon MacKenzie, author of Orbiting the Giant Hairball and life-long creative genius, once wrote:

“Many of us choose security over freedom to such an extreme that we confine ourselves and profoundly limit our experience of life.”

So, to experience this life and live your dreams, I suggest the following:

  1. Determine your motivators: what is your passion? (And none of this “I haven’t found my passion …” — bull. We’re born with them, it’s in you)
  2. Dream as wildly as possible, the crazier the better — rule out nothing
  3. Believe in your dreams
  4. Surround yourself with others who believe in dreaming
  5. Work ruthlessly to make them a reality

After all, crazy dreams aren’t just reserved for kids — dreams happen at every stage of life. And as we age they continue to be repressed to greater and greater extents. So defy the times and live your dreams. The fortune and fame will follow.

As for me, I’m still not sure what I’ll be when I grow up — I may never know. But wherever the road takes me, I do know one thing: I’ll never retire from my career as a dreamer. Life’s too short.

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Thanks Worth Spreading

Posted October 22, 2009, by Julie Becker

tedxdetroitweblogo

After the TEDxDetroit conference wrapped up, I cozied into my Focus for the hour-plus drive from Southfield to Lansing. I was actually a little relieved to have driven solo. My journey back to the heart of Michigan served as the perfect window of time to begin the information digestion process.

TEDxDetroit, an independently organized TED event, brought some of the brightest minds and innovative thinkers in Michigan to the metro-Detroit area for one days time. The national and international TED conferences take place once a year and include talks from industry leaders in the fields of technology, entertainment and design (ha! T-E-D). A few of us from Lansing were among the 200 privileged attendees at TEDxDetroit, (thanks Charlie and co.).

Without being able to safely review my notes while driving, the open road enabled me to really think about what latched on to my brain. I found myself deeply searching for a common theme – a thread that carried start to finish.

The trouble was, besides the obvious TED answer of “spreading ideas” and “positive thinking,” I couldn’t come up with anything.

The one thing that I couldn’t stop thinking about was actually a topic the emcee touched on in her last introduction of the day, the topic being community. As I began thinking more deeply about this standout theme, I realized this idea served two important purposes in my experience of the day.

First, my realization is the essence of TED.

TED isn’t about acting on something that’s already been presented or thought or said. But rather, TED is about taking a lot of ideas and applying the inspiration from them to your daily actions — translating the ideas worth spreading into a language that speaks to your passion. One of my greatest passions is our community: its people, its atmosphere, its history, its future. It’s no wonder I couldn’t fixate for any length of time on one presentation and its relationship to another; TED had already inspired me to paint my own (bigger) picture.

Second, the theme of “community” opened my eyes; not only to a place I was literally driving toward, but also a place that drives me to change the world around me.

I’m not going to lie — Detroit is a fantastic city, but after TED, I couldn’t wait to get back to Lansing. As I drove down 496 into the city, I thought about the few dozen Lansingites at TEDxDetroit, and this little, big city we’ve transformed into our community. I thought about the community that motivates us to become innovators, leaders, designers, mountain movers, enterprisers, entrepreneurs … our community is such an inspiration. And we don’t thank it enough.

So, thank you TEDxDetroit. Thank you to the committee for forming. Thank you presenters for being brave and honest in your talks. Thank you to the attendees for spreading your ideas. Thank you Lansing for enabling us to build the richest community I’ve ever been a part of. But most all, thank you Michigan for being a place where dreamers can dream, and doers can do.

The world is watching. Let’s rock it.

If you are new to TED talks I suggest taking the time to watch a few videos. They will leave you inspired. Included is a favorite by Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity, which was also played at TEDxDetroit.  To view more than 500 TED talks visit www.ted.com.

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Navigating Print-Speak

Posted September 16, 2009, by Stephen Plumbley

With well over a decade in the design and pre-press world, design-speak is a way of life for me. CMYK, spot inks, imposition, traps, bleeds, PMS matching, RIPs and the like are all terms that roll right off my tongue. I often joke that, as the son of a commercial artist, I was likely one of very few second graders in the country who knew what “CMYK” meant.

While dyed–in-the-wool technophile designers like myself relish in learning new technical terms and applying them in my work life (and I’m sure to my wife’s dismay, my home life as well), most people probably have no idea what the heck I’m talking about.

What does “CMYK” really mean?  Are you sure you really meant to call that color PMS ink?  I thought that was something else. A bleed? Now I’m really confused! If these are thoughts you’ve had as you’ve ventured into the design and printing world, this is just for you. I’m going to go over a few common terms so the next time you talk to me, you’ll know what I’m saying!

CMYK

“CMYK” signifies that four different color inks are being used on the press to create prints that are “full color;” that is to say, a combination of these four colors will create any color in the rainbow. As a result, CMYK is often referred to as “full color” or 4-color,” since it’s a process whereby four standard ink colors are used to create full color prints. Still with me?  Good!

cmyk

So what are those inks, exactly? They’re not just whatever color the print shop decides to use, but four specific colors: cyan, magenta, yellow and key. Wait, key? I thought you were going to say black! Black is the standard key color, but for whatever reason, K stands for “key.” Go figure! If you look at your trusty Epson or HP desktop inkjet printer, you’ll notice it uses cartridges that have these same color inks.

The inks are printed, one at a time, layered onto the paper so that when all are combined, it creates the finished image.

Spot Inks

A “spot ink” refers to an ink that has been created as a specific color formula. The most common way of identifying spot ink colors is by using the Pantone Matching System, or PMS. So, for example, if I referred to PMS 370, anyone with a PMS swatch book could look up that color and know I was referring to a nice grassy green ink color.

Now, the question is, why not just use four-color process to print everything? Why mess with these PMS or spot colors? Well, there are some good reasons for this. Some are budgetary, some are for consistency in color, and some are just personal preference. From a budgetary standpoint, you can have a piece printed in two ink colors, say black and PMS 370. This is typically less expensive than printing in CMYK (you’re printing two inks, not four) so it works well for pieces such as newspaper ads where you can add a second spot color for some visual punch without paying significantly more for CMYK.

Michigan State University green is PMS 341From a consistency standpoint, using a spot color, or spot colors, means that you’re using a standard signature color that almost everyone in the world is going to recognize. This is especially important when it comes to corporate identity, such as logos. The official Michigan State University green is PMS 341. No matter who is printing something for MSU, they will be able to use the correct color every single time.

Bleeds

Simply put, a bleed is where the content of a design extends beyond the page edge. While a nice, clean white border on a page is sometimes appropriate, sometimes us designers decide the image should go all the way to the page’s edge, especially backgrounds or other design elements.

A bleed extends the design elements past the page edge so when the sheet is trimmed, there are no unsightly gaps at the page edge. If the elements were taken just to the page edge in the design process, inevitable variations in the trimming of those sheets after printing would show gaps.

Resolution

A big issue we all deal with is resolution. But what exactly does that mean? A digital photo is a digital photo, right?  Well, yes and no. Simply put, resolution refers to the number of pixels in an inch (or centimeter) in an image. The higher the resolution (or, the more pixels per inch), the better quality the image is.

One question I get a lot is whether or not I can pull an image or logo off a Web site for use in a printed piece. In general, the answer is no. As a rule, Web images are saved at 72 to 96 dpi (dots, a.k.a. pixels, per inch). This is because most computer screens can only display at 72 dpi, so saving the images at a larger dpi just wastes space and makes download times longer.

In the print world, I like to see a minimum resolution of 200 dpi, and that’s only if the image is not going to be blown up at all. As a rule, I look for images that are 300 dpi or higher. In some cases I have worked with images in excess of 2000 dpi, but fortunately those were isolated cases where an image was being printed 20 or more feet high!

KincaidLogo_250percent

(An example of a logo with low resolution)

So hopefully you have a better idea of what some of the techno-babble means the next time we talk. This is the first of what I hope will be several postings on this subject. That’s where you come in! Tell me what terms you hear bandied about in the world of print and design, but just aren’t quite sure what they mean. E-mail me at stephen@m3group.biz with your questions or suggestions, or leave a comment below. I look forward to hearing from you!

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