Friday 13th June was the first Synergy design team meeting. Although I've been discussing the idea with Marc for a while now, it had fallen through the cracks somewhat and with the end of June and the end of the second quarter fast approaching – it would be Christmas before we'd even had out first team meeting. My CT visit last Friday created the perfect opportunity to get the design girls together and do something fun and creative. We braved the stormy Cape Town evening and all headed to Jimmy's Killer Prawns in Kloof St for some sushi after work. I would love to show you my photos of the evening, but everyone refused, apparently they hadn't had time to do their hair or something - next time ladies make sure you're photo-ready J
The plan for our first evening was simple
1. I wanted to chat through my objectives for having our meetups - throw around ideas, spend time together as a team outside of the office, have a laugh, learn from each other, get to know each other better, talk creatively, brainstorm, conceptualize, debate, discuss topics, choose ideas for blog entries, ask questions, talk openly and most importantly let our hair down and have some fun as a team
2. Get everyone's ideas and input on the meetings - all positive and good
3. Mention some cool developments in the department - launch of the new Synergy website, our very own design blog which we'll all be involved in, the fabulous new design magazine we'll be fighting over very soon and the hiring of our very own front end coder- so hands off no poaching!
4. Discuss the topic of the evening and then sit back, relax and eat sushi! Oh and also on the agenda very important was the plan for the next meetup…but more on that later…
We've had a pretty hectic past few months in the design team, a lot of work and tight deadlines but we've all managed to keep our heads above water keep our sense of humour and face each day with a smile (or was that a grimace?). When things get crazy it's easy to forget why we love being designers and why we are passionate about what we do. With all the tedious revisions, research, admin and coding, I'm sure I'm not the only one who wonders what Photoshop feels like? Rox I feel your pain…With this in mind I felt the topic for the first meeting was important to remind us of who we are and what we do. We are after all creative people who love colours, shapes, typography, concepts, ideas, words, sounds, images and solving problems visually through the combination of these elements. That is our role to solve problems aesthetically – to get everything to fit just right and to create the perfect balance and tension between shades, textures and movement which speaks the prefect message for our clients.
On this note I thought the ideal topic to chat about as designers who were feeling tired a little drained and maybe even disillusioned at times would be the genius little book "It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be."– it's a small book and cover to cover might take a couple hours to read. But its high impact and it will change the way you think about being a creative person in the business world. I have owned this book for a number of years and periodically I read it. It has been especially useful before a job interview (read it before my Synergy interview) it fires you up and clears your vision on why you love to be a designer. It's not filled with soppy adages and quotes from famous artists – it's a hard hitting little number written by Paul Arden who was Executive Creative Director for Saatchi & Saatchi in London for 15 years. His experience in the advertising world gave him a real edge in understanding the mind of the creative person and how to get the best from creative people. This book uses the creative processes of good advertising as a metaphor for business practice and can be applied to any creative industry.
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"DO NOT SEEK PRAISE. SEEK CRITICISM.
It is quite easy to get approval if we ask enough people, or if we ask those who are likely to tell us what we want to hear.
The likelihood is that they will say nice things rather than be too critical. Also, we tend to edit out the bad so that we only hear what we want to hear.
So if you have produced a pleasantly acceptable piece of work, you will have proved to yourself that it's good simple because others have said so.
It is probably ok. But it's probably not great either.
If, instead of seeking approval, you ask, 'What's wrong with it? How can I make it better?' you are more likely to get a truthful, critical answer.
You may even get an improvement on your idea.
And you are still in a position to reject the criticism if you think it is wrong.
Can you find fault with this? "
Pg. 26 It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be. By Paul Arden (1941 -2008)
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Especially at times like this when we're all swamped in work and stressed by deadlines – it's so important to remember this message to keep looking for ways to improve, keep pushing the envelope not seeking the comfortable middle road of mediocrity but searching out ways to improve ourselves as designers, colleagues and people. We're all always learning and we all always have room to improve. By not being afraid of criticism and being open to share our ideas and thoughts with each other we help one another to become better. We're all only as good as our team members so by working together, giving input, criticism when constructive will only help to add value to each project as a whole and encourage us not to survive on our own resources and inspiration. A question for all in the Synergy design team – How can we make it better?
Sushi was great by the way, the restaurant was cozy and I think we would all agree it was a great start to a new Synergy Design tradition!
As I promised our possibilities for next meeting include:
1. Visiting an art exhibition
2. Cinema Nouveau for arty flick
3. Design team sushi –off: a sushi making competition (love sushi) this would be great between departments wouldn't it? Design team against dev team – what you guys say??
And that's about all we came up with by the end of the evening, the last crumbs of the giant pancake finished and a long walk up a very steep hill (thanks Erica ;) …but please post your suggestions there's plenty time before our next meetup so let's think of something super cool to do. Thanks again for an awesome evening!
Till next time.
Lisa