J’aurais voulu être un artiste...

Sometimes in my dreams, I am a cabaret singer. I sing and dance (with little talent for the last one) to entertain my public. I love to sing. I sing in my shower and while I am cooking, and I think that I can carry a tune… Singing is a wonderful therapy.

Though, I am not an artist – per say, since in my day-to-day work as an account executive at PubliGestion, I juggle between QuickBooks, job orders and client emails. I am the link between my clients’ and PG’s happiness. You could say that I am the semi-salted butter between the Brie and the baguette.

Even if my job consists of the purely business side to an agency’s dynamics, I have a creative side. Remember how I said that I love to sing? Well, I also love it when, from time to time, our studio coordinator lets me work with the graphic artists, and encourages me to give my personal touch to artworks… It helps me get in touch with my inner Picasso – though; saying that there is a Picasso in me is… exaggerating my talents.

I like to pretend that I am an arstist, and most of all; I admire the talent and the work of real artists. My full-time at PubliGestion lets me do just that. And also, I am an activist in the cultural world that is Haiti.

Living here, I am faced every day with raw talent. Our young people can sing, dance, paint, and act - so naturally, but often, their talent remains raw; mainly because of the absence of arts’ value, and the scarcity of art and public performance schools in the country’s structure. The few art schools that exist are private and very highly priced. As a result, our young talented artists cannot learn the techniques, and their capacity to improve and become good performers is slim.

This is why when my friend Bertrand Labarre asked me to join him for the creation of Haiti en Scène, I immediately said yes. This nonprofit association has one main objective: to give the young dancers, singers and actors of Haiti the necessary training via the preparation of a show… usually a musical comedy. It has trained over 100 young artists, and these youngsters are giving back. To commemorate the January 12th you-know-what, they’ve animated theatrical activities with children in the camps (tent cities). Under supervision of our professional artists, shows were organized with the kids. Some of the productions from Haiti en Scene have proudly been presented to the public in Haiti, in Canada and in France.

As the song says: « J’aurais voulu être un artiste… pour pouvoir faire mon numéro…». But, I am not an artist, so to earn the right to be very close to such wonderful people, I do some public relation work, I help with communication and supervise the door and tickets sale on paid performance days, but mainly, I enjoy the show… And, because I know all the lyrics, I sing my heart out during the performance…And on days like these when I am sitting at my desk with a view of the west-side of Pétion-Ville, buttering up a storm, I'm grateful to have been surrounded by those we call "creatives" at work, and in my personal life.

- Jacquemine Léon, Account Executive at PG

Love What You Do

Today is fly-me-to-the-moon day =) more commercially known as Valentine’s Day (Saint Valentine's day for you purists out there). The day when, worldwide, people express their love towards each other - and usually have to buy either chocolate, a card or a diamond in doing so. Some here at the agency feel it's more Single Awareness Day. But that’s another story.

On this February 14th, no chocolate or roses required (although welcomed)... Coupled-up or not, we are celebrating! Celebrating our LOVE for work. LOVE WHAT YOU DO, and everything else will fall into place. You see, if someone started working at 21 and retired at 65 (working a full-time schedule) that person would have worked close to 100,000 hours!

These 100,000 hours can either be pure punishment, or with a little bit of LOVE, they can be your time-to-shine, working your magic in this great field of infinite possibilities. Take a daily dose of LOVE WHAT YOU DO, and see how little miracles happen here and there; Try it…See how the whole world and events will seem to conjugate to get you closer to your dreams; Even unfortunate events will start to look like life lessons urging you to do more, better.

See, as advertisers, it's up to us to shape how people perceive brands, ideas, events...and ultimately we create the imagery of what an idyllic life is - or should be.

So to everyone out there, LOVE WHAT YOU DO. Only then will you be of value to society (you might even start loving Mondays).

Happy Valentine’s Day! We love you too.

The Rush

Do you go out on a Friday night? Have you ever met someone who smiled at you and he or she just placed everything right, as if everything in your life just snapped together in perfect harmony? They call it love at first sight… and yes it happens! Though once you feel it, you must act on it, believe and do your best to make it work.

That too is true with designing. Ideas come and go, but only few could make you feel that rush of blood to the head. Only few become concepts that make your heart skip a beat, and only few see that happily ever after ending—mounted and displayed proudly on the news stands, or on giant billboards. It sets everything right, once you have it in Photoshop, you’ll know that’s the one on instinct. Clarity follows right after, the color scheme, the fonts, even the faintest drop shadow and vignette. You just need to trust the feeling and have faith. There, you’ve stepped higher for experiencing such rarity. You’ve transformed ideas into tangible creations that would eventually help clients achieve their marketing objectives and make your team swell with pride for a job well done.

You may say, Ah Tèt Syèl ! C’est vrai... it might be dreamy, even lofty, but it happens. It may pass you by, and you may choose to act or ignore, still it ensues. The trick is you must recognize it, act and nurture it—caress and give it time to grow, because in the end you’ll never regret anything if you follow your artistic tendencies.

PS: Whew! Such seriousness was required in this entry. So when you go out tonight, remember to grab that Rhum sour to send you to that Tèt Syèl experience!

Relationships.ai

We’ve talked about love in a recent entry, and with love come relationships. In an Absolute World, we’d all be living in harmony, holding each others hands while running along a field of purple daisies all in One Love. However in the real world, we’re working with clients and colleagues who feel like it's the apocalypse, and with Photoshop running like a speeding coffee mug. What’s a loving graphic artist to do in a not-so-ideal-world?

1. Relax, breath. When you’re in hakuna matata state, you make better creative decisions, and find ingenious solutions faster. In this kind of environment, you can’t afford to work for naught and make wasteful panic decisions.

2. Smile. The Dalai Lama said, “A smile is the only crooked line that sets everything straight.” When you smile the whole world smiles with you. Always consider giving a relaxed smile (even a giggle) when you are asked to go to mars and back in 2 seconds. By smiling, you reduce aggression and stress. You relax and you create better.

3. Plan. Can you ever think of having lots of children in a shoestring budget? The same is true with working with designs. Each day you’re given a limited number of hours, resources and most especially, patience. So you need to manage and allocate your time and energy well.

4. Eat. Your brain is a 24-hour workhorse and you use it a lot for creative work. It consumes 75% of your blood sugar and 20% of your body’s oxygen. Imagine, your brain uses 1.5 calories per minute by doing crossword puzzles, how much more when you’re dealing with your beloved clients and layouts? So eat. Well-fed graphic artists are more creative and happy.

5. Like the last entry, when everything really goes sour. When you really can’t work it out, the last resort is to go home and sleep. Everything will be different tomorrow. Fresh eyes give you new perspectives, and new perspectives offer you a better view of the world around you. Always enjoy your days off, and feed the soul! Remember, “A Sunday well spent, brings a week of content.”

These are few of the hundred ways on how to manage your calling. If you’re a graphic artist and you know of other ways please share it to everyone and leave us a comment below. ‘Till next time! Kudos!

Sources: http://www.impactlab.net/2006/07/05/how-much-energy-does-your-brain-use/

Love.psd

Ever wondered how creatives maintain their hakuna matata in a calling that was ranked as one of the most stressful jobs in the world? Simple answer, love—it’s the thing that makes the difference between a job and a calling. Though we’re not Cannes divas or love doctors, here are four simple tips on how you could fall in love with your work all over again.

1. Never like, always love. Like is a diluted form of love. Romeo and Juliet didn’t die for like and artists never did art for like’s sake; they all did it for love! Whatever you do put your energy into it. Always think that whatever you design, you design for someone special. Just remember those kindergarten days when you tried to draw something nice with a crayon for your cute teacher.

2. Workplace less ideal? The simple fix is to find something or someone that makes you smile and distracts you from the stress crawling all over your desk. If you could find that, cling on to it, make it surround you. So every time you go to work, you could open your day with a big smile and the warmest “BONJOUR !” in the world.

3. Eat dark chocolate. This may not be for everyone, but eating chocolate increases your endorphin levels—these are the chemicals you get after a romantic date. The more endorphins you have, the less headache you’re going to have, the more in love you’re going to feel and the more creative you’re going to be.

4. Finally, if all else fails… go home and spend some time with your special someone. At the end of the day, what makes us perform well as creatives is our life outside work, the people and things that are close to our heart. People who see more, know more and if you know more, you’re probably more likely to nail that design before that 8 AM deadline.

So there you have it, simple techniques that everyone could apply. If you have your own technique, leave us a comment below and share the love!

Remember, love makes the world go 'round.