115: What will you replace?
[During - Persuasion & Marketing] We met a master of persuasion and design
šļø Many thanks to the intrepid Mark Fewell (LinkedIn) for inviting me onto his Teleologist podcast (Apple, Spotify, Libysn). Markās introduction is rather over the top. š But then we covered the waterfront for an hour. Quite literally all of itāmy entrepreneurial parents, the podcast I host with my Dad, the business of creative briefs, how to run a marketing organization, how to get the most out of a creative agency, and the benefits of studying jazz.
Thank you, Jeff Johnson and Design Replace
I donāt think our Minneapolis College of Art and Design students will forget the blood (mixed with Mississippi River water and pigment to become ink for a poster launching a new bar), the ancient Soviet lighter, the stories spanning a North Dakota hog farm to board rooms of Fortune 100s, the case studies (i.e. How does one brand a city in the western plains of Minnesota, never mind new products for Coca-Cola?), and the rubber stamps.
I think the rubber stamps might have been the real eye-opener. As one of the students put it, āEverything we do is digital!ā They were amazed to see current day design work made from hand carved stamps, and to see how physical process informs and connects with digital outcomes.
Our host, Jeff Johnson (LinkedIn), walked the class through a litany of examples of persuasion through design, persuasion through process, inclusion and preparation, and persuasion through historic reference and bold passion.
Talk about contrasts
Last week we were welcomed onto the 24th floor of a 100,000 employee enterpriseāthe scale of persuasion at a place like Target might feel radically different than the work inside a three-person design shop. But the challenge and results are so often the same: How can we better understand the audiences we seek to serve? And in so doing, leverage what Jeff refers to as āthe dark artsā of the business of effecting change? And letās be clear, by ādarkā Jeff only refers to the mystery imposed by the less curious surrounding design, marketing and persuasion. āYouāthose who designāhave all the control,ā says Jeff. āOnly you can make what they (clients) need.ā
āDesigners replace the status quo,ā explained Jeff. So then he turned the tables on the class, proposing a goal we might all consider:
What are you going to replace? What status quo will you disrupt?
Whatās the homework you need to complete to make that happen?
Persuasion is a rich and varied landscape. It is intimate, and impersonal, gigantic and microscopic. It could be fabricated with rubber stamps. But it starts with understanding people.
AI+Creativity Update
š„ When will they make the xz backdoor movie? Talk about this weekās thriller, as explained by Ben Thompson: In a world where the fate of global cybersecurity hangs by one unnoticed line of open source codeā¦merely noticing a half second anomaly unveils a sinister plot.
š My copy of Ethan Mollickās Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI just arrived. Still working through Kara Swisherās Burn Book. What are you reading that sticks with you?
š¤ Iāve been working with Midjourneyās Alpha the past couple weeks. Lots of handy improvements in UXāi.e. always generate 16:9, or specific aesthetics. Itās super easy to move through your image library to find an image then use it as style or content reference for a new render. I still find myself returning to Discord for --cref (character reference) but Iām sure that will get incorporated soon enough. All in all, an appreciated shift!
