Hannah Suarez

First of all, here are a couple of blogs that I found which was written by the attendees themselves:
Brisbane Semi-Permanent Review by Moonsail Design
A Semi-Permanent Experience by Camille
Bruises are Semi-Permanent too: the Brisbane conference by Definatalie
Semi-Permanent Brisbane 2009 by Miss Nicole Jensen
Web Design: The Forgotten Art by Feedia
Semi-Permanent 2009 Brisbane Wrap-up by Paul Jaques

Ooh, someone decided to scan in their notes and posted it on FlickR

I decided to provide a few points that I got out of each presentations.  These points, I feel could be applied in what I do (not necessarily related to image making as well) and others.

Timba Smits

Timba was an appropriate choice for a first speaker – very warm, passionate, accommodating (had reggae playing during his presentation to make us feel at home in his studio).  His work on Wooden Toy reminds me of a friend who is passionate about zines – I can just tell that when Timba talks about spending countless hours on his publication, my friend would relate to it.

• Don’t be afraid to be very detail oriented
• Family is important – it can be a bit lonely and isolated (as a creative entrepreneur)
• Take risks.  Timba took a risk with Wooden Toy when he started putting a pricetag on his issues but this decision hasn’t backfired because it was a well-thought out decision.

Ian Francis

If you have seen my digital artworks, then you may understand why I can relate to Ian Francis. Right down to presenting his work in chronological order according to the years (if I ever did that kind of presentation..)

• Don’t be afraid to go out on your own if other options aren’t suitable
• Use digital tools to help traditional media works – Ian uses photoshop to help him with the details, do some experiments before working on the canvas
• Focus on what makes you curious

Ron English

Ron can juggle it out – his work is a bit confronting but very amusing.   He presented a lot of stories behind the images which I found interesting.  He seems to be the outgoing type, which is a contrast to the likes of Timba or Ian who seem introverted.

• Creative risk leads to interesting output. Ron is on the ‘A Huge Risktaker’ side of the spectrum!
• Work on different creative interpretations of one product. For example, the ‘Cow Girl’ character seems to have taken on a life of its own.

XYZ Studios

These guys are cheeky – I remember doing a CD packaging design for a band a few years ago and we were thinking of putting in cheeky ‘secret messages’ on it.  Perhaps not as interesting as what they had in store for this Honda ad!

• What would you do if someone literally copies your creative? XYZ showing us a sample or two of ads that did that
• Don’t be afraid to flex your creative muscles when a client has a boring take on a brief. As a client now, I hope that I’m not boring Saul!
• Think carefully about costs to make your idea happen.

Wired Magazine

Ahh, so I get to indulge in a bit of my nerd side of me thanks to Scott from Wired magazine.  I aim to learn how he creates, implements and enforces that processes that he has for fonts in the work that I do.  In awe of the decisions behind their communication design.  If I were to work for a magazine, Wired is in my top list.  See that’s why this conference is inspirational – I have never even thought of working for a magazine till then.

Unfortunately, a) he doesn’t use Twitter and b) he hasn’t heard of QR codes (from me asking him at the after-party)

• In an environment with a lot of people working on the same product, certain constraints are necessary (ie fonts)
• Look at different ways of presenting communication design based on data. Rather than the usual bars, graphs and pie charts.
• Look at the strenghts of a group/individual even though their product is not in the same industry as your product. For example, Wired approaching an agency that focuses on creating car models to do rocket models for their front page design.
• It is important to innovate.

TOKO

They are a very cute duo from Rotterdam, residing in Sydney and loving the accents!  They had so much work to share and stories behind the works that they went a bit overtime.

• Look into interesting way of presenting your work to an audience. TOKO looked at the associations with their images (ie ‘Jaguar’) and arranged it alphabetically.

Tamara and Dean

Both of these photojournalists have gone to places that I have never been before.  That is the power of photojournalism.   My eyes nearly swelled up during Dean’s presentation.

• When you enter into a small community, ensure to be aware of the culture behind it (ie culture of small towns, culture of homeless individuals).
• Taking risks seem to be a jumping point for the speakers in the conference. Dean took a risk to photograph the Ache tsunami aftermath.
• Immersion can lead you to different headspaces. Imagine going from living in Australia one day, and spending the night in a tsunami disaster zone the next.

The Glue Society

So after this, I felt a bit beige and think that I, too, would like to do something a bit out there. Like stacking a whole heap of chairs on a snow-capped mountain and pulling them up to form a colourful arch.  When the presenter said that he can’t find a way to describe themselves, I can relate.  Eventually, I would like to be involved in something like this.

• Aim for a balance between commercial and personal work.
• $1000 prize money doesn’t have to be cash. It can be $1000 worth of scratch-it tickets and that in itself is quiet interesting.
• Join a creative collective. You have a group of people to collaborate with and call on when a project arises.

I also attended the ‘Tuesday’ exhibiton at Nine Lives which was the night before Semi-Permanent started.  I enjoyed the artworks including Jonathan McBurnie, the Lucid Laundy photographs as well as this excellent piece which, for some reason, has tempted me to look at it for quiet a while to try and figure out what it is all about.

Filed under: Australia, Brisbane creative industries, Conference, Design, Images, Print, Profiles, Typography