Practical Tips for Creatives from an Emmy Award Winner and International Creative Consultant:

There are many groups and events nowadays that are coming up to support and uplift the country’s creative talents. CREATE Philippines, the government’s trade platform for the local creative industry, is one of them.

Aiming to make the country a top source for creative content and services, CREATE Philippines organizes yearly events to gather budding creative talents and experts under one roof where they can showcase their works, attend masterclasses, and meet and network with fellow creatives and possible clients.

This year, CREATE Philippines in Partnership with Communication Design Association of the Philippines (CDAP) focused on the topic of Communication Design. Attendees were able to listen to some of the country’s top artists and industry leaders, including Chris Do, CEO of the two-time Emmy Winner brand strategy and design company, Blind, to talk about the global creative business.

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Photo from Create Philippines Facebook page

Chris Do gave young creatives a myriad of on-point tips about career and business building, content creation, and achieving financial goals through his masterclass, such as the following:

Be Sure about Your Goals.

May it be in career, business, or life, in general; being topsy-turvy won’t help you achieve what you are aiming for. You have to have specific goals to attain something. Also, make sure that your goals are measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. If you ever feel overwhelmed by one of your goals, Chris Do encourages you to go through the process of “chunking”, a way of breaking big objectives into smaller goals to make them a lot more achievable.

Continuously Improve and Innovate.

During Chris’ presentation, he emphasized that your most dependable behaviors and skills today are not the same set that will take you higher. As such. it is best to always transform yourself and acquire more skills that you think could help you accomplish bigger things.

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Work for Global  Clients.

Chris Do says that one of the ways to be able to achieve a young artist or entrepreneur’s financial goals is to target clients who are willing to pay for your premium price. Sometimes, those who can and are willing to give that are the clients from outside the Philippines. As such, he suggests finding ways to make yourself or your business visible and reachable to international clients.

Know Your Work’s Worth.

One of the greatest concerns of many creative freelancers, especially new ones, is the courage to ask for a premium price for their work for reasons such as not knowing the standard pricing in the industry for a certain job or fearing that their pricing might not be competitive enough. However, Chris Do says that as long as you know you can do the job, you can ask for the highest price that you can charge for a project. Just double your ceiling price and don’t depend on the rates of others. This strategy is also helpful when clients bargain for lower prices because you can still cut down your rate to a cost that still works for you.

Apart from Chris Do, the other speakers that went up on stage to share their experiences and expertise in the communication design industry are the following:

  • Paulina Suaco-Juan, Executive Director, CITEM
  • Jowee Alviar, Founder, TeamManila
  • AJ Dimarucot, Owner, Googoo&Gaga,
  • Dan Matutina, Co-Founder, Plus63 Design Co. and Hydra Design Group.
  • Mark Joseph Deutsch, Co-Founder, Happy Garaje
  • Rollan Bañez, , Co-Founder, CreativeNation Academy
  • Nora K. Terrado, Head of TIPG, Department of Trader and Industry
  • Paolo Mercado, Senior Vice President for Marketing, Communication and Innovation, Nestle Philippines
  • Angel V. Guerrero, Co-Founder, Creative Economy Council of the Philippines and the Communication Design Association of the Philippines
  • Raxenne Maniquiz, Graphic Designer/Illustrator, Plus63 Design Co.

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Apart from the insightful workshops, talks, and masterclass, CREATE Philippines also exhibited some of the works of the artists that participated in the event.

CREATE Philippines

Website: https://www.createphilippines.com

Facebook: https://facebook.com/createphilippines/