tiny gigantic

So Nokia’s pushing their new N-Gage software with this pretty cool, musta-taken-forever-to-make, stop-action movie/game. You’ll like that it’s pong (one of the first computer games I ever played, only with people as the game pieces. You may not like that it’s a lot of work for very little payoff.

Still, free content is a great way to build reputation and get people to like you. It’s just that the intro movie to this thing is way cooler than the game itself. Of course, that could be because it’s pong, which is fun only when you’re really really stoned.

The good people at the Small Planet Institute—who helped us spread the word about replate—have launched a new website to help reduce climate change by offering help and info about how we can easily change our food, shopping, and eating habits. Go check it out.

Check out the Rather Difficult Font Game. I know that some of you anal designers out there will a) not rest until you’ve gotten everyone of these correct, or b) get everyone of these correct on the very first try and then make fun of those who didn’t.

Seriously, I’ve got no idea what this is.

So a few weeks ago, we participated in the CCA Career Expo. They gave us a booth alongside a shitload of other local creative shops and set the students loose on us. I never went to any of the job fairs when I was in school, but I assume that they’re kinda like this: students or recent grads come by, show their stuff, and talk to you about what you do and how they might fit into it, and you spend all day repeating your story. That’s where it got sticky.

Because saying “we’re a Communication Design studio” mostly returned blank, slack-jawed looks. So we spent the whole day reframing and re-articulating what communication design actually is and what it’s good for. We talked about design thinking and communication strategy, but most of the students didn’t know what those were either. The day brought up two big questions:

What is communication design?

And why the fuck do students at design schools know nothing about design thinking?

Anyone?

So Al Gore commissioned a new logo for his non-profit advocacy group, the Alliance for Climate Protection. You have to applaud the fact that he donated his Nobel prize money and then some to the cause. But mostly, I’m inclined to believe that it’s really fucking hard for a simple logo to spur people to action, without a ton of context (I can’t think of any other than the recycling icon and the peace symbol.)

Still, I’ll reserve judgment for now because I’d like to know what you think about this. So, whaddaya think?

Oh joy! You have to write a resume and cover letter. You have to package yourself up for people you’ve never met, and if you don’t get it right, you get to move out of your apartment and sleep on your fat cousin’s couch. And when you apply for your next apartment, if you ever manage to scavenge enough bottles and cans for a deposit, you’ll have to write a cover letter and resume for that shit too.

Sucka.

Well, we take pity on you. Here’s some tips:

Keep it short.
Let’s think super clear here: resumes are ONE-PAGE documents. Anything longer is a CV and CVs are for when you’re applying for tenure (which you’re probably not if you’re reading this here post). I bring this up not because I’m being a nitpicker but because no one likes to read resumes (or, for that matter, CVs), and everyone’s super busy, and hiring is not the funnest process anyway, so it’s not a good idea to send long-ass resumes that waste people’s time. This goes for cover letters too.

Keep your pants on.
Cover letters and resumes are not about getting the job. They are about getting an interview. If you try to build an exhaustive and conclusive case for why you are perfect for the job, you will (a) bore the reader, (b) be building a case based only on your mere guesses about what they’re looking for, and (c) leave the reader with no questions, and no need to invite you in to ask them.

Remember: when people read resumes, they are making 3 piles. Interview, Maybe, and No Interview. Remember also that resume readers want to move through the resumes asafp.

Your goal is to quickly say just enough to get put in the Interview pile. That’s it. You can get naked for them once they’ve invited you up for a drink.

Show your best bits.
Your resume will communicate the following types of background info:
-Institutions (your schools and employers)
-Titles (your degrees and job titles)
-Job/Degree Descriptions
-Dates
-Locations

Take a minute to think about what aspects of your background are most likely to make someone invite you in for a conversation. Perhaps you went to a fancy school, or worked at a company with a good reputation. Or maybe your job titles sound a lot like the job you’re applying for. Or maybe your job descriptions are especially relevant. Figure out what is the sexiest thing on your resume and then make sure that’s the first thing a person sees when they look at the page.

In other words, you should lay your resume out in such a way that the bigger, bolder, most eye catching stuff is the stuff most likely to get you an interview.

Keep your job descriptions real.
“Effectively coordinated the placement and inversion of gourmet beef patties on extensive grill surface.”

No one falls for this kind of crap. If you flipped burgers, you flipped burgers. But perhaps the interesting part of that job was that you did it with a smile, or that you did it while you were working a second job. That’s the real shit. And it’s worth something to employers.

Beyond that, the secret to writing your old job descriptions is to focus on the verbs and the concrete data. Try to use the same verbs that are mentioned in the description of the job you are applying for. Define your prior challenges and successes in objective terms; so instead of saying you coordinated a large team, say you coordinated a team of 8. Instead of saying you successfully completed an important budgeting project, explain that you completed a budget project spanning four departments, and that you completed it on time, and that it saved your company 3% in overhead the following year.

Your cover letter should be coy.
It’s a good thing you can’t fit your whole story in your one-page resume. This leaves you with something to talk about in your cover letter. Again, you want to keep this mother short, but you want to hit these cones:

-I am applying for X job, which I found posted on X.
-The important thing to notice about my resume is X.
-However, there’s a lot more to know about me that you can’t find on my resume. For example I have some wild stories about the time I put my X in a X.
-Sincerely, X

By hinting at a fun conversation about information you have yet to reveal, you create a reason to be invited in for a conversation. Simple.

UPDATE: the artist’s name is Joshua Allen Harris. And here’s a dope ass video.
****
Nobody seems to know who’s making these. But god damn, they’re just so simple and so smart. The artist ties these trash bag animals to subway ventilation grates so that when the train passes, the air blows life into the animal.

Thanks to Wooster Collective for this one.

Since 2005, the design collective Rebar, has been claiming metered parking spots and using them as public parks. They lay down grass, picnic benches, and lounge in downtown parking spots, simply feeding the meter when the time is running low. Yeah, I know: brilliant. Now, they’ve made a mobile, peddle-powered park, called PARKcycle. Once again, file this under Things I Wish I’d Thought of First.

Lately I’ve noticed that I’ve become super sensitive—even a little bitchy—around bad conversation. I mean conversation of all kinds, from branding and advertising to small talk between acquaintances and deep talk between friends. But it isn’t the subject matter that bothers me. It’s the manner in which those conversations happen or don’t happen.

Here’s what I mean:
Once I was sharing a hot tub with two friends, both known for their propensity to talk. It seemed at first like they were talking to each other. But as we spent more time in the water it began to feel to me like they were talking at each other. They weren’t listening to what the other was saying. Or if they were, they weren’t engaging with it. They weren’t responding to it. They were so focused on expressing their own personal point of view that what they were having stopped being a conversation and became a competition for air time. After a while, you could tell they weren’t even talking about the same thing.

Now, it’s normal for people to offer up their experience of a given topic—that’s one way of empathizing. And empathy is good. But most often, if you’re talking about yourself, you’re not listening to someone else. Sure, an anecdote about your experience is fun and sometimes useful, but conversation works best when you’re as unselfish as possible. It works best when you share the spotlight, taking turns talking and listening:

Shut up and listen.
Seriously. Shut up. That means more than just quieting your mouth. It means more than simply waiting your turn to talk. It means quieting the noise in your head so that you can really hear what the other person is saying.

Now prove you were listening.
That’s right. Show me you care. Ask genuine questions that send the conversation in new directions. Talk to me about what I’m talking to you about. Otherwise, we’re just making noise.

Don’t worry, you’ll get your turn.
It’s not likely that anyone will listen to you, if you don’t listen to them first. Because when you really pay attention, and you show it, you build trust. You build rapport. You get a reputation for being smart, and thoughtful even, no matter that you’ve said very little. And suddenly people will want to hear what you have to say.

Whether you’re an organization trying to start conversation in a community, or a dude at a party, a good conversation is a hard thing to make. I’m still figuring this out myself, but I’ve got a feeling that if you just listen, if you really respect the attention you’re getting (someone chose to talk to you, of all people!), and if you talk to them about them, you’ll make all kinds of unexpected friends. Which might be what conversation’s all about.

Seems like it’s gun week here at Tiny G. These pics from Kyle Cassidy’s book “Armed America: Portraits of Gun Owners in their Homes” are truly amazing. Whoa.

Our friends at the vega project have just launched their new blog, red pill. Go give ‘em some love.

My mother, of all people, sent me this really smart anti-gun ad.

For some reason, this awesome ad for the X-box got pulled, while game ads showing a swastika hanging from the statue of liberty are running rampant on primetime tv. Um. Does that seem backwards to anyone else?

A few days ago I ran into an old acquaintance who also works in the creativity business. He said he’d heard that I’d started a studio. Was that true? I said yes.

Then, he looked me in the face and said, “So, what’s it about? Give me your elevator pitch.”

Now, up until that point I had been genuinely happy to see this person, and this request kinda ruined that a little, because it meant he wanted a neatly packaged sound-byte, one that had been scripted, and used many times before. He didn’t want the story of how I spend my days. He wasn’t interested in conversation.

Another story:
This weekend, I met a girl in a bar (no, not that kind of girl). She asked what I do. And because explaining what I do requires a real, honest-to-goodness conversation with someone who may or may not get it anyway, I shrugged and hemmed and hawed and then said, ” It’s sort of hard to talk about. But basically I run a design studio.”
“What kind of design?”
“Communication.”
Then there was a pause, which I tried to fill by saying, “See? Now we have to have a conversation.”

What happened next surprised me: she looked me in the face, and said, “Yes, let’s.”

Here was a person who was willing to spend time learning about me. She didn’t want the short version that she could immediately fit into the pre-existing file tab in her head and then promptly forget. She wanted the one with all the nuance, with all the interesting bits, the one that she could actually engage with.

See, here’s what I mean: An elevator pitch is meant for people who don’t really care. A conversation is for people willing to invest some time to understand the value of what you do. Who would you rather work with?

This is fucking awesome. But here’s a question: why does a sandwich shop somewhere in the mid-west need “viral” videos?

No matter. It’s an example of a kind of generosity marketing that we should all follow: make cool stuff and give it to people for free and the world will take care of you.

So I’ve been wondering about inspiration lately: where to find it, how to use it, and how to maintain it. You could argue that finding it is the easy part—as long as you’re paying attention as you make your way out in the world, there’s a million things that might inspire you.

But do you know when inspiration’s lacking, and you need to fill up? Do you have specific places you look? Do you alternate those places? Are you conscious of the places you find inspiration and the things you’re then inspired to do?

Go watch this beautiful beautiful animation made of paper. And yes, according to the site, each frame is really a hand-cut sheet of paper.

This is one of the weirdest ways of doing business in the Information Age I’ve come across in a while. I can’t even tell if it’s real or not.

From the company’ site:

A death switch is information insurance. Don’t die with secrets that need to be free.

Fucking freaky.

There’s some pretty cool prints over at Junkyard Sam. And they smell all good and inky when they arrive in the mail too! Check ‘em.