It’s sad that a wonderful cultural event with a rich history has had serious budget cuts and is in a situation where it probably can’t afford the top level design campaign attention it has had in the past. But it’s also unfortunate that a brand (sorry Milton) that can be used to represent the best practices and applications of our industry has been tarnished by this oversight.

And it’s sad because it’s our fault.

If we can’t get people in the wider design community aware of our issues then what hope does the average Australian business owner have in making an informed decision?

When the issue of crowdsourcing comes up most of us get quite heated and passionate about the ramifications it can have to our industry and to businesses. It’s more complicated than ‘good’ and ‘bad’ and something that I won’t discuss here. But it’s safe to say that from an industry point of view crowdsourcing is almost unanimously frowned upon. It’s a bit like inviting a vegan to diner at a slaughterhouse.

Why then didn’t the Powerhouse Museum got the memo? Surely they are part of the design community and are on top of these things. Don’t they follow us all on twitter? Unfortunately, probably not. I think that they would have been pretty surprised to see the backlash from some cells of the design community.

If we as a community want to try to combat crowdsourcing then we better figure out a better strategy other than talking to each other in our own channels. It requires leadership.

by Flyn Tracy

In early April The Loop launched a redesign transforming the beta version it’s been running for years into a flat design purpose built Smörgåsbord (fuckyeahumlaut) of visuals.

More than a career search website and more like an online community The Loop has positioned itself as an online destination for people to upload work, find talent, browse portfolios.

I first saw a The Loop sticker smacked on some hopeful design graduates poster and used my super fast 3g iphone to do a quick internet search. A few short minutes later I first visited the site.

Working at CATC Design School at the time and with a partner working at Raffles College of Design I told a few folks about it and remember explaining why it was a good idea from my limited, disconnected marketing/sales wanna be graphic designer point of view. I got excited about it, then forgot about it.

Later when I got involved with Tractor Design School and begun my journey back into the design industry I had a reason to get in contact with Pip. Largely because Tractor and The Loop have some common goals and in a lot of ways we’re trying to solve the same problem. Connecting passionate talented designers with the industry they aspire to join.

Although when I first spoke with Pip on the phone she thought I was someone asking for career advice or something – we eventually got together and (long story short) we’ve been business buddies ever since. They’ve hired our grads, Pip has come to talk at Tractor a few times and we help each other out when we can.

I’m genuinely excited to see them go from stride to stride and continue to succeed. I know they have been working diligently for almost a year on this redesign and I wish nothing but the best for them in their journey.

By Flyn Tracy

emptymag.com

By Flyn Tracy

Each week comes with a new topic to interpret with an illustration. You have a week to respond with most designers (myself included) submitting their 600 x 400 .jpeg right on the deadline. Submissions are posted so we can all check out each others’ idea and there is a discussion on twitter to figure out the theme for next week.

This is really great.

I’m an advocate of twitter as a networking tool for designers and other creative types and this is an excellent offshoot. For me personally it’s a fun excuse to create something. Although it’s rare for a day to go by where I don’t open an Adobe product, I still enjoy mini projects like this.

Why not have a go yourself? I’d love to see what you make.

superhappyfriends.tumblr.com

MILKSHAKES

MAGIC RINGS

SOMBRERO

MOUSTACHE

CHEESE

ICE CREAM

By Flyn Tracy

I love twitter. I’m on it all the time.

So much that to be really productive I need to turn it off for a while and check back later. Funnily enough though I’m actually a late adopter of twitter. I’ve only been active for 1.5 years or so. Around about the same time I started at Tractor.

A few months in I begun to notice the benefits and I’m finally putting finger to keyboard to share my experiences.

Here are a few reasons why I use twitter, how it helps me become more knowledgeable of the [graphic design] industry, and some reasons why you probably should too.

1. Learn about industry relevant news and events

Following key brands and organisations on twitter gives you access to news about the industry. Quick, really quick. As someone who posts industry news, I know that if I have something to say that people want to hear that twitter will pick it up and run with it. If you hear about an exciting event or important news you can bet the people on twitter have known about it for a while.

2. Connect with industry organisations

Here is one of the most important parts of using twitter – to connect with the industry. The design industry was an early adopter of twitter and as the lines between graphic design, web design and digital design continue to gaussian blur (sorry), popularity is increasing.

In the world of design most companies are tech savvy and if they’re not – they are getting that way. By following active organisations you’ll hear about industry news faster, see when new articles are posted and hear about events quickly.

Lets use an example. @desktopmagazine today has over 9,000 followers. So they need to keep these followers interested, and keep feeding them useful bits of information that resinates with their audience. They do this by posting content that people want to read, tweeting links to events and other industry related news. Think of them as an example of an organisation who’s social media goals are to get the news to you first. They’re not always going to be first but chances are if it’s important news or a great local event, their twitter feed will cover it.

They are worth a follow.

Here’s a list of more Australian twitter accounts I follow that you should follow too.

@ausinfront
@desktopmagazine
@theloopoz
@melbourne_CM
@semiglobal
@sydney_CM
@tractorschool

Full disclaimer, I manage both the Tractor and the CreativeMornings/Sydney twitter accounts. 

Follow these feeds and you’ll notice quality content being posted that’s pertinent to the industry. There are more out there but this should get you started.

3. Connecting with other professionals

Not every studio and designer is on twitter, but so many are. Most people that use twitter do it to connect with other likeminded people who have similar interests. Or as Seth Godin might say, people in their tribe. This is super useful because you don’t have to follow your friends like how facebook is set up. You follow people you’re interested in connecting with and no one else. I like to think of it as curating your own news.

If you’re just starting out you might want to start by following anyone you study or work with in the industry, if you’re close friends you can ask them to tweet to their followers that you just joined and suggest that they should follow you to. Other people are much more likely to follow you if:

a. they know you exist

b. are refered to follow you by someone they already follow.

Think of it as ‘word of mouth’ marketing for your online self. It also helps if you have a profile image (of your face, a description that is descriptive and a link if they want to find out more info about you).

This works both ways, you can click on your friends profiles and see who they are following. If they interest you, follow them but don’t go nuts. You don’t want to be following 100 people and only have a few followers. Why? Because this discourages other twitter followers to follow you back. It’s not that you’re not a nice person (you’re probably awesome) but there is no online evidence of that. You should try to have a good ratio of who you follow and who follows you.

4. Interact

Get involved in your industry!

I rarely design anymore. It’s not that I don’t like it, I just spend all my time on other projects and over time I’ve drifted away from firing up photoshop every morning to sketching out ideas and strategies, talking through problems and sending a bucketload of emails and EDM’s. If you’re a designer and if you have a half decent folio you should get onto twitter and share your work with people who care. You’ll find a benchmark incredibly useful by comparing your own range of work with others at a similar level.

5. Insights

By following some of the more active people who also happen to be good designers like @chris_j_doyle, @mrjamesnoble or @tbuesing over time you’ll be gaining insights into how their minds work, what websites they look at, and what design captures their attention.

In the past you’d need to be cleaning the bathrooms at an agency just to get close enough to eavesdrop on meetings and conversations and figure it all out. Now it’s all there at your fingertips. Well, some of it.

6. Online Presence

Here’s something I think more people should pay closer attention to, and not just people in the design industry. Your online presence is really very important if you want a career in any form of design, media, advertising, marketing and so on obviously and indefinitely.

It’s more important than ever to have a positive online presence because depending on your industry, there is a chance that your prospective employer will ‘google’ you.

It’s not just as dirty as it sounds.

We need to assume that they will go through everything that comes up on that first page of google. This could make or break their impression of you. During this process employers are looking for reasons not to hire you. Don’t give them any.

This is where twitter comes in handy, it’s an easy way for people to scroll down your timeline and read your tweets. Getting a sense of what you’re into and who you are as a person. Helping them decide if you’ll fit in with their studio culture. If you’ve been discussing the finer points of typography with other designers on twitter you’re going to score some points. If they discover facebook images of you doing a beer bong you might not get a call back. There is a time and a place.

I guarantee that if you’re genuinely passionate about design, interacting with the design industry on twitter will help your career.

If you’d like, you can follow me too @flyntracy

By Flyn Tracy

During the course we covered wireframes, iPhone and iPad app fundamentals, responsive website design, UX and UI through challenging briefs given by our industry practitioners.

We also tackled a major project with The Sydney Tramway Museum, with most designers producing multi platform digital design to demonstrate branding, public awareness and revenue solutions.

Primary Roles | Project Management, Event Management, Organisation, Marketing, Social Media, Photography, Student Services, Industry Liaison and Business Development

GRADUATES

Matt Park
Jessica Tong
Aaron Paul
Eimear O’Sullivan
Renae Morris
Jessie Clear
Ben Rhodes
Sumita Maharaj
Felipe Moscon
Theo Lampert

INDUSTRY PRACTITIONERS

Brad Eldridge – Soap
Laura Watson – The Works Sydney
Ashadi Hopper – JWT
Peter Wilson – Cato
James De Angelis – Pollenizer
Gabriel Tamborini – Reactive
Tim Buesing – Reactive
Buss Usborne – Campaign Monitor
Sandy Belford – Principals
Justin Smith – End of Work
Chris Laws – Moon
Jon Christensen – Mentally Friendly
Ben Henderson – Mentally Friendly
Nick Gower – Mentally Friendly

By Flyn Tracy

Over the three month course designers learn about how to strategically approach a brief, interpret client briefs, branding development, time management, idea development and original thinking.

We also worked on a Major Project with our non-for-profit client WIRES.

Primary Roles | Project Management, Event Management, Organisation, Marketing, Social Media, Photography, Student Services, Industry Liaison and Business Development

GRADUATES

Dane Hopkins
Daniel Ioannou
Michael Jenkins
Lachlan Heywood
Anna Laukka
Michael Webster
Justin Lim
Vincent Borg
Michael Sungalia

INDUSTRY PRACTITIONERS

Zoë Pollitt – eskimo
Kasia Wydrowski – eskimo
Simon Hancock – THERE
Alex Ritchie – E-2
Shamini Nair – Mc Donalds Australia
Simon Wright – Principals
Carlo Giannasca – Frost*
Ayumi Moritoki – Moon Communications
Daye Moffitt – Moon Communications
Ant Donovan – Moon Communications
Chris Laws – Moon Communications
Justin Smith – End of Work

By Flyn Tracy

Over the three month course designers learn about how to strategically approach a brief, interpret client briefs, branding development, time management, idea development and original thinking.

We also worked on a Major Project with our non-for-profit client The Australian International Design Awards.

Primary Roles | Project Management, Event Management, Organisation, Marketing, Social Media, Photography, Student Services, Industry Liaison and Business Development

GRADUATES

Kurt Toohey
Thi Nguyen
Matt White
Alex Taylor
Kevin Tran
Angelique Hering
Jason Lee
Robert Bacchetto
Theo Lampert
Keelan Parish

INDUSTRY PRACTITIONERS

Mick Thorp – Precinct
Sandy Belford – Principals
Carlo Giannasca – Frost*
Ayumi Moritoki – Moon Communications
Linda Jukic – Moon Communications
Chris Laws – Moon Communications
Janaya Laws – Moon Communications
Justin Smith – End of Work
Mark Stott – Common
Sam Pemberton – Generation Alliance
Tim Buesing – Publicis Mojo
Jonathan Kneebone – Glue Society

By Flyn Tracy

From a background in advertising and law, Jodie now applies her communication savvy and sense of style to fostering a world-class tech business that allows women to design their own perfect pair of shoes. Since its launch in 2009, customers have used the site to design tens of millions of shoes.

This talk was both informative and inspiring. Jodie is very candid about her experiences and responds to some great audience questions with thoughtful, considered feedback and advice.

Primary roles | Project Management, Organisation, Marketing, Social Media and Video Editing.

Credit | Marie Agudera, Max Bon De Veire, Dave Katague (Video)

A few months later we organised an encore performance for the students and faculty at Billy Blue College of Design. It was a stellar talk to a fresh crowd, and Chris and I both thought it may have even better than his first public talk! So I’m going to review the footage and post the best version.

Primary roles | Project Management, Organisation, Marketing and Design

A shot of Chris in action