Pouco Pixel 103 – Why so difficult?

Depois de anos jogando títulos como “Uncharted” e “Assassin’s Creed”, gamers mundo afora estão chocados com “Cuphead”, um jogo que não pega ninguém pela mão. Já foi o suficiente para virar escândalo: por que “Cuphead” é tão difícil? Adriano Brandão e Danilo Silvestre discutem os motivos pelos quais game designers fazem jogos difíceis, incluem a dificuldade no cardápio de possibilidades dos […]

> LEIA MAIS: Pouco Pixel 103 – Why so difficult?

Namrata Chattaraj : Graphic Designer, Artist

DesiCreative
DesiCreative – Indian Advertising Creative Blog and Community (beta 1.4)

An artist at heart, Namrata comes from an extensive background in Graphic Design, having worked with the best names in the industry in houses such as JWT, Channel [V], Rediffusion DY&R, and Fisheye Design. ??The wisdom gained from these experiences led to WAG Design. WAG stands for Wisdom, Art, & Graphics.??With a long standing track record and an international client base, Namrata’s work is an extension of her philosophy, values, and work ethics. She enjoys experimenting with styles, typography, and mediums and brings passion and excitement to every project. Over the last few years she has almost completely switched to creating handmade art. ??Namrata also loves delicately flavoured darjeeling tea, calm people who don’t constantly multitask, and receiving thoughtful notes by snail mail. She might actually be from the 1950’s. But we can’t be sure.

Why are you a Graphic Designer?
All my school life, I was pretty confident I wanted to be an artist.
But I also resisted all fine art training or classes, because I felt art cannot be taught, it has to flow from within.
However, when it came to choosing a career, I was told art was for the crazy and broke people. And I didn’t want to be either. I wanted to do art that was relevant, interactive and fun. I loved watching MTV and Channel [V] and kept critiquing their designs in my head and loving them too.
So I decided I wanted to be a graphic designer. It was a pretty clear decision at a time when no one around me had ever heard of the term ‘graphic designer’.
(It got pretty tiring, long after I became a graphic designer, to keep explaining to people what it meant. Some elderly people would think I was saying I’m a ‘traffic designer’. It was a weird time.)

Did you attend school for fine art or design?
I went to National Institute of Design at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.

You have a distinct style of Design. How long did it take you to develop your style?
It evolved over the years.
I do have a very me style, but I do have a wide range of styles both in design as well as in my art. Which is why some people think I have a multiple personality situation. I’m usually flattered when they say that. I feel just having one style is sometimes boring and I’m all about variety being the spice of life. I like to also surprise myself with what I can do next.

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
My mother, who would paint and do all kinds of hand made things. The smell of Oil paints and strange papers, and mediums would intoxicate and mesmerize me no end. Once she let me paint the gold bits in a huge Chinese dragon painting, and as a 3 year old I couldn’t believe I was being allowed to mess with such a huge and important painting. I think that may have been the moment I had this thought, that I could spend my whole life doing this.

My dad who was always reading, hardworking, ambitious and yet satisfied with life and what he had at any given time.

And my brother, who was always super disciplined and meticulous. He also used to be the one safeguarding and encouraging the artist within me like its some precious thing that will one day be famous! I think most or many artists are always underestimating and second guessing themselves, especially when young. Having the right environment that gently encourages and nurtures them is a very special thing.

Who was the most influential personality on your career in graphic design and art?
I had this really cool lecturer in my university. His name was Andrew Kean. And he broke the mold so completely. He would be the only teacher that would discourage us to use so much computer, and gently open us up to being more free flowing, use our hands, be slick yet be messy.
He always had a kindly smile, a gentle demeanor. All of us were so smitten by him and his work and wanted to hug him and impress him. I had a hard time that year trying to use less computer and more hands. Now I am almost 90% just hands and mess. Much less technology involved in my processes.

I’m glad he sowed the seed of that thought in us, when everyone else was telling us it’s all about getting ready for the real professional world, where time is not a luxury and we were busy having deadline related panic attacks. I’m glad he taught us to slow down, take out time and be lost. It was so refreshing! Teachers are powerful beings, and can wreck or make lives without realizing their own power and significance.

When did you start freelancing?
About 9 years ago.

Was there any time when you wanted to quit graphic design?
Yes.
Each time I had to explain to my Indian clients the significance of a logo and visual communication. Why it costs that much. Why it is such a significant and monumental part of anything they will ever do with that company or brand. I feel like our country needs a serious education in the value and importance of aesthetics and design as a culture and as a visual cue.
I feel like the role of a designer is becoming more and more insignificant as some of us keep lowering our rates, and allow clients to get away with unethical behavior. And it gets worse when the client starts to take over the design process and proclaims himself a designer. It’s a slippery slope when that happens.

Are many advertising agencies hiring graphic designers? Do you work more with agencies or publishers or direct clients?
I’m sure they do. But I haven’t worked with an ad agency in a very long while so I wouldn’t know.
I work more with direct clients.

Do you have clients who give you steady work or do you advertise for new clients often?
I do. Although lately I’m on an indefinitely long sabbatical from design projects as I’m focusing a lot of my time on creating new art, travelling, and growing my headspace in the direction of art.
I have only always received a steady stream of work and great clients from India and all over the world purely through word of mouth. No advertising whatsoever.

How do you market yourself?
I don’t actually. I love to hide a lot.
But sometimes people tend to find me. It’s a constant game of hide and seek.

Any other Indian graphic designers or artists who you admire?
So many.
But mostly my contemporaries and friends, many of who are graphic designers and artists.
I have always found their work inspiring, fresh and funky.
I love the work of Saumin Suresh Patel, Dipannita Dutt, Kunel Gaur (Animal), Saunak Shah (Pursuit of Portraits), Jiten Suchede (Jugmug Thela), Ishan Khosla Design, Kriti Monga, Miranda Costa (Melbourne), Jit Chowdhury, Kavita Arvind, Prashant Miranda, Jasjjyot Singh. The list really goes on.

What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals? Would you advise them to take on graphic design as a career option?
Yes, we need many more kick ass ground breaking, record breaking graphic designers.
I would say to them, be clear about why you want to do what you want to do.
Experiment.
Be humble, even if you’re insanely good.
Use your hands to draw and write more, and less gadgets – especially initially (and ideally long after).
Drugs and alcohol wont make you an artist or a designer.
This is a lot of hard work and dedication, which requires a lot of self care.
Without which you can be pretty ungrounded and lost.
Find and have good role models and inspiring people around you to keep you on track and sane. Be lost. Have fun with it. Play.
Have a curious mind full of wonder and openness.
Meditate.
You will need the inner peace to help deal with clients yet stay peaceful, respectful and creative.

Do you think Clients are opening up to keeping aside a decent respectable budget for design work? Do you think clients are understanding that they need to invest in Design as a communication tool and also to cut the clutter, and that good design comes at a price?
Clients may do so based on the company ethos and awareness. Sometimes even individual clients have much larger budgets than huge corporates and vice versa. It’s all about meeting the right people and not settling for ridiculous budgets or timelines. We have to set the bar higher and take the responsibility of educating our clients (without loosing our minds.)

But Indian clients by and large still have a very long way to go with their understanding and respect for good design.

Mac or PC?
Mac for sure.

Who would you like to take out for dinner?
Trevor Noah, Hasan Minhaj or Megan Mullally & Sean Hayes

What’s on your iPod?
Everything from Frank Sinatra, Awolnation, Jazzhop, Johnnyswim, Rufus Wainwright, One Republic, The Pogues, Brooke Fraser, Chinese Man to Josh and some sufi music. I have some embarrassingly filmy music as well.

Whats your Twitter Handle?
@Healwithnamrata (because why not).

Namrata Chattaraj can be reached via her website here.

(this may change soon)

Namrata Chattaraj

Namrata Chattaraj

Namrata Chattaraj

Namrata Chattaraj

Namrata Chattaraj

Namrata Chattaraj

Namrata Chattaraj

Namrata Chattaraj

Namrata Chattaraj

Namrata Chattaraj

Namrata Chattaraj

Namrata Chattaraj

Namrata Chattaraj

Namrata Chattaraj

The post Namrata Chattaraj : Graphic Designer, Artist appeared first on DesiCreative.

Why we need to nurture equality to foster creativity

We can’t be passive if we want to make a real difference when it comes to diversity, says Faz Aftab, online commercial director, ITV.

Experience will be everything in tomorrow's battle of the coffee houses

As the demand for coffee keeps growing stronger, competition will only intensify – and the winners will be those who can offer consumers something they can’t get elsewhere, writes TMW Unlimited’s director of strategy.

When it comes to social purpose, brands must prove they're for real

Consumers increasingly expect brands to make a positive difference in the world, so they must be sophisticated in communicating their credentials, writes B&B Studio’s strategy director.

Does technology get in the way of creativity? Five things to think about

Tech for tech’s sake is the death of creativity, but technology can be an enabler when it’s embraced correctly, says Cheil London’s executive creative director.

Why tech's biggest brains must stop focusing on discounts

Giving people a fat discount for buying something today that they would have happily paid full price for tomorrow is bad marketing, says Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO’s joint chief strategy officer.

Ferrero Rocher chocolate tasting experience returns

Ferrero Rocher’s multi-sensory chocolate tasting experience is returning to Westfield London.

Media agencies are rising to leadership challenge by transforming ourselves for the better

Our agencies help clients in ways that Google, Facebook and Amazon will never do, writes Group M’s global chief executive.

Hamilton Fish of The New Republic Goes on Leave After Women’s Complaints

The concerns about Mr. Fish, the publisher, follow an apology from another longtime editor at the magazine who had also been accused of misconduct.

The Scariest, Freakiest and Funniest Halloween Ads of 2017

It’s been a particularly fun year for Halloween advertising, with lots of marketers producing mini horror movies in place of their usual 30-second spots. We’ve collected a lot of that long-form stuff here in our 2017 Halloween roundup, along with other memorably creepy ads and stunts. We’ll update this story as more frightful and fun…

Billionaire Trolls Trump by Running Impeachment Ad on 'Fox & Friends'


It’s been a running joke among politicos and media people all year that the best way to get the attention of cable-news-obsessed President Trump is to place an ad on his favorite nework: Fox News. In fact, in February, HBO’s “Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver even created PSAs that his show paid to run on Fox News (and other cable news networks, in case Trump channel-surfed) specifically to educate the famously low-information, fact-challenged president on basic policy issues.

Now, billionaire activist Tom Steyer, the man behind NeedToImpeach.com (“Donald Trump has brought us to the brink of nuclear war, obstructed justice, and taken money from foreign governments. We need to impeach this dangerous president. Sign on now”), has taken a page from Oliver’s book by paying to place an anti-Trump ad on this morning’s “Fox & Friends” on Fox News. The ad, above, has been on YouTube since Oct. 19 (as of this writing it’s racked up more than 800,000 views) and San Francisco-based Steyer, who made his fortune as a hedge fund manager and has backed various Democratic candidates, previously announced that he intends to spend $10 million running it on TV.

So was President Trump watching “Fox & Friends” this morning? Of course!

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Advantage Maria: Sharapova Returns to Winning, and Brand-Building


.paragraph a {

color: #000;

border-bottom: 1px solid #000;

Continue reading at AdAge.com

The Limits of a Sea Change


#MeToo. The Woman in the Room. Cindy Gallop’s mission to expose the “Harvey Weinsteins” of advertising. In recent weeks sexual harassment allegations have reached an all-time intensity, spotlighting sexism and predatory behavior in the male-dominated ad world.

But talk is cheap, say women in the marketing trenches. It’s action that’s needed, and they’re not seeing it yet.

“Earlier this month, half of the world found out what the other half always knewthat we live in a world that is chauvinistic, paternalistic and where the powerful prey on the powerless,” says Hill Holliday CEO Karen Kaplan. “Any woman can tell you that the default system in corporate America is male, and until we force institutional change, women will continue to be preyed upon.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Backed by Big Banks, Payment Provider Zelle Breaks First Campaign


Now that Zelle, big bank’s answer to Venmo, is here, it’s making its first marketing push this week. Backed by brands including JP Morgan Chase, Citibank and Bank of America, the peer-to-peer payment service launched earlier this year but is now embarking on an awareness campaign to spread the word. The Scottsdale, Arizona-based product, which is operated by Early Warning, worked with Brooklyn-based Huge on the new two-year effort.

Targeting consumers aged 18 to 54, the new campaign, “This Is How Money Moves,” includes music, rhyming, spoken word and lots of purple (a color that couldn’t be tied back to one specific bank). Quirky ads use rhyming couplets for phrases like, “Your friend has a different bank? No sweat, Zelle makes it easy to safely pay your debt,” and “Owe a friend? Quickly send.”

“Zelle is bigger than the sum of its parts, so we needed a narrative that sat above everything,” says Jeff Brooks, president of Huge.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

'I Was Pissed': Domain Spoofing Costs Business Insider 10m Phony Impressions in 15 Minutes

During a test that lasted just 15 minutes, Business Insider flagged some 10 million to 30 million phony impressions on various exchanges. Essentially, millions of ads purporting to be for Business Insider were sold by bad actors passing as the publication.

The findings left Jana Meron, VP of programmatic and data strategy at Business Insider, livid.

“I was pissed,” she tells Ad Age. “The reality is there is a great injustice that is being done and the more we can talk about transparency and openness then the better it is for the industry.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com

A Message to Our Community: We Know We Can Do Better


Breaking news: The email server of a leading crisis-management PR agency has been breached, revealing details of how the firm crafts what it calls public messages of “prideful contrition” for its clients. Also leaked: a document for clients labeled “Draft Public Statements.” Ad Age Media Guy Simon Dumenco is withholding the names of the firm and its clients as he attempts to determine if the crises outlined in the statements represent real or hypothetical scenarios.

Draft client letter

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Geico: Casual Friday at Buckingham Palace


Film
Geico

Advertising Agency:The Martin Agency, Richmond, USA

AXA: Believe In You


Film
AXA

Advertising Agency:Publicis Conseil, Paris, France
Executive Creative Director:Marcelo Vergara
Worldwide Creative Director:Steve o’leary
Copywriter:Pierre Coulier
Art Director:Emmanuelle Bougueret, Lek Chunsuttiwat
Ad Assistant:Jean-Baptiste Blandin
Motion Designers:Gaëtan Bizien, Alexandre Boucher
Global Client Lead:Magali Bergeroux
Executive Director:Olga Papikian
Account Director:Mathieu Kremer
Account managers:Camille Serrand, Lou Leproux
Digital Project Manager:Anis Bouzitouna
Process Manager:Adeline Blanc
Strategic Planning:Alastair MacLean, Richard Sherfey
Global Digital Director:Clémence Ballu
Channel Planner:Stéphanie Jacquin
Production:Prodigious
Chief Executive Officer:Pierre Marcus, Prodigious France
Tv Producer:Armelle Sudron
Production House:Carnibird
Director:Douglas Avery
Producer:Gaetan Legoff
Production Director:Renaud Jaget
Cinematographer:Andrij Parekh
Set Designer:Clement Price-Thomas
1st Assistant:Franck Percher
Production Coordinator:Léa Villain-Barachet
Post Production House:Mathematics
Executive Post Producer:Guillaume Marien
Post Producers:Vincent Martin, Paul Créhange
Line Producer:Yann Aldabe
Vfx Supervisor:Guillaume Nadaud
Editor:Thierry Hoss
Grading:Muriel Archambaud
Photographer:Charles Mamarot
Music:Sixieme Son
Creative Project Managers:Pauline de Bastard, Ella Duda
Music Composer:Vincent Turbé
Sound Engineer:Jean Ledoux
Sound Producer:Boris Jeanne
Sound Designer:James François Vacherot

Isbank: Penny Bank

Print
Isbank

??Bank has a renowned and uniquely designed piggy bank which symbolises the notion of saving for Turkish people.

Advertising Agency:Tribal Worldwide, Istanbul, Turkey
Creative Directors:Arda Erdik, Basar Bellisan
Art Directors:Baris Sarhan, Hakan ?htiyaro?lu
Copywriter:Deniz Dülgero?lu
Illustrator:Ahmet Arif Eken