Imagine your most intimidating moment to date. Now imagine being surrounded by professionals and experts from the industry you hope of being associated with. That’s exactly how I felt after entering the Mind Museum hall wherein the adobo design series and D&AD workshop were held. Hands shaky, eyes continually scanning the area, mind blank and tongue-tied.
I was lucky to be a part of the 100 delegates and hear the talks of the best minds in the design industry last March 30-31, 2017 at the Mind Museum Special Exhibition Hall at Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Taguig.
As a communication and media practitioner, every word uttered by the speakers rang relevancy and further fueled the passion embedded not only in me but in every single attendee at the event.
5 Things I Learned from the Adobo Design Series and D&AD Workshop
5. Design is creating.
Design is becoming less about selling stuff and more about creating,” says Bruce Duckworth, president of D&AD UK. In today’s time, create with a reason, create with an advocacy. “If you really believe in creative excellence, now is the time where people in this industry who are doing design could really make a difference.”
4. Struggling is part of the journey.
Struggling is normal. It is part of the journey, no matter which profession you’re in or your position in life. Wawi Navarozza, co-founder of Thousandfold and Wawi Navarozza Studios, tackled her struggles in her professional life as a creative. “Like everyone else, we followed a path to self-actualization by doing a lot of the work we love and a lot of disappointments in the middle, and having to live with our decisions,” she shares.
3. Design to communicate.
Alex Lampe held a workshop called the “Internet of Things” on how agencies must immerse themselves in the idea of the fusion of human experience and digital technology in order to create products that can be of use in the future. He presses that there needs to be a pattern for interaction – and that you need to communicate every step of the way when designing.
2. Empathy and authenticity are key.
“Real creativity comes from problem-solving, zooming into what humans need, what the world needs,” was CJ de Silva’s advice to the delegates of the event. CJ shone the spotlight on the importance of having truth and sincerity in our advertisements. For her, a good ad must come from the heart and must have authenticity; it should never misdirect from what it really is.
1. No Ripoffs – innovate and create original content.
Quark Henares, Director of Globe Studios in Globe Telecom, emphasizes the need for the Philippines to have its own original quality content, especially in this digital age. He talks about how stories are stretched and leave little to no room for development as episode per episode are churned out, which is a bad idea for the Philippines. He further encourages everyone to create original content, sharing Globe’s story on becoming the number one telecommunications company in the Philippines as of March 29.
Each creative speaker shared their respective insights which left an unforgettable mark to every delegate that attended – from design to the creative struggle to creating original content. Although short, the adobo design series blew our minds and further sparked the creativity within us.
