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Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Continuity

few people realise that a project is never just a project, and it never is just theirs. it's the product of past years' efforts, the blood and toil of those before them, as much as it is the product for future batches to come.

if working on publicity for so many projects has allowed me to learn one thing, it's that people get so obsessed with logos, and tshirt designs - most probably it's because it's the only thing they can comment on. sometimes i feel like telling them to go away and focus on what you're supposed to do. don't tell me how to design the banners or postcards because obviously you don't know better. all you can suggest are possibilities, and the possibilities are infinite. i don't need to know the possibilities because obviously whatever you can imagine, i've thought of and tried.

don't tell me, maybe we can try this, maybe we can try that. what i need are decisions. do you like this, yes, no, why or why not? what then do you want? i don't need advice, i need a verdict.

it's not that i'm closed to suggestions, it's just that sometimes, at the end of it, it doesn't really matter what the tshirt looks like if you don't do your job of pulling in people to take part in the event.

it's this whole obsession with me me me. it's my project this year so i want a new logo. it's a new year so we should rebrand. for student groups with budgets the size of ants, experience the depth of a rain puddle, knowledge enough to fit on my fingernail and foresight the length of my nose hair, they sure talk a lot about creating a new image, a new theme, a new look. why?? do you think people will tell it's a new look? NO! because there's no old look to compare to in the first place!

what's wrong with reusing a logo from last year, or using a limited but consistent colour palette. to you it's boring, but to many others, it's the obvious first step in building and strengthening a brand, at acknowledging the organisers and participants of previous years, and hopefully, create a stronger identity for the next generation that's taking over.

the Law of Triviality suggests that people would sooner comment on the design of a postcard, or a tshirt, then think about how the changes make the publicity products more relevant to the event, to the organisation, to the people taking part. and that is very true. it might seem like laziness to leave things as they are but really, this is one of the many situations where if it ain't broke, you really shouldn't lay a finger on it.

5:09 PM