The Crisis, The Credit Crunch and all the lost secrets that dont fit in the Acme Novelty Library

That said, the previous post bridges into this entry perfectly. Its quite amazing sometimes that things find us rather than being found by us, in an attic domestic tidying up day, I have found something that would mark my strategies forever.

I was clearing up quite a lot of things that my wife called clutter at that time, I guess I have been collector from teenage years on until very lately, I have wonderful things that don't find place in a family household, and wont fit in a studio. My collections vary from books to vintage cars (not scaled models...), except for the last most things find their own residence and universe in my attic, and it was one day, sitting in a very messy attic, filled both by my stuff and stuff left there by the last tenant that I made an incredible discovery.

I still remember the two vintage hi-fi sitting in front of me, a Sony record player and a Dynatron, one in aluminium with cassete decks and the other made in fine wood, between them me sitting with my back against two piles of vynil records about a two meters high, to my left boxes of books and similar things, I was playing random records in both hi-fi systems.

This thing about being in a big attic going through mysterious thing took me back in time right to childhood, it made me feel as if I was the protagonist in "Never Ending Story", really really weird when I think about it. It was one of those afternoons that I was left to my own devices, just like those times in primary school when I used an afternoon to do all my summer holyday's homework, and believe it or not I really enjoyed it.

Inside one box I couldnt tell if it was one of mine or just left there by other party, Between a few wartime antiques, there were a handfull of American books dating from late 1800's to 1930's, they were lovely bound full of adverts of those miracle novelty products of the time, that for one moment brought me back to teenage days when I used to collect a very enjoyable series called "Acme Novelty Lybrary" by Chris Ware, published by Fantagraphics, this alone put a smile on my face, anybody that ever read that will have a smile on their faces right now :)

Enjoying greatly to handle those old American classics, most of them almanacs, anybody that knows me more than superficially knows that I have always loved madly all things American when it comes to 20th century art, design and architecture... Amongst those books there was one with a very interesting title and less interesting bind, I was intrigued by this book, and at the sound of Blues's playing in a very noisy fashion, probably dust in the vinyl, I have read the first 50 pages in a glimpse. I had found my soma, the most amazing book that I have ever found on advertisement and publicity, and more than that on ethics and business strategy, a very remarcable and unbelieavably forgoten masterpiece, that as guided me even before the present economic crisis started.

This book is so special to me that I will not reveal the title or author, there is no point in that, after that episode I was convinced that the book had found me, and so I would not betray fate. This book is outstanding, not just my opinion, its the book from a forgoten genious, that once beat an economical crisis as significative as the present one, its amazing how these things are forgoten in history, an incredible phenomenom.

Until today I read this book often and search for all material related to the author, I am not writing this to get you guessing, simply to illustrate once more the paralels between art and life.

I have always loved the iconic nature in in American Design and Architecture, and keep studying it passionatly.

Get the point grasshoper?

ON HOW "The best trick the devil ever pulled was to convince the world he never existed"

A short one about you and your soul, your reasons to visit this blog will be diverse, some get here to figure out my techniques, copy strategies and that sort of rip off (oh no I never guessed that one... but I never told you, the antidote is me), to those there is a subliminal curse here somewhere, just like the Pharaohs one...

Some of the guests that spend a few minutes here will be old friends, some that are curious, others that anonymously take a peek as they have not heard or want to hear from me for a reason or another, and my favourite, the lying backstabber type. To these last I apologise for not hating them, its not a thing to be understood at first glimpse.

This entry is about respect, and is directed at all professionals in the biz. Opened to all because my best friends have always been strangers I have never got to know that well, I hope you will find this visit refreshing.

This might sound metaphysical, but I warn you that its not, its more material than you might think, forgive the elegance of the speech and take it in any way you want.

There are moments to stop and think, moments to throw your work in the trash can, and moments to get it back out. Working in these industries is a lot about personal development, any work that uses intuition and strategy is in essence ethereal, you didn't jump in the waters you did just for a try, surely you will have experienced highs and lows, ups and downs, and often wondered why didn't you give it up a long time ago.

Above all, a certain equilibrium is required for your own sake, but in the state of equilibrium you will find the stillness so vast you might wrongly consider it stale. The best reference that as been passed to me by a great designer and entrepreneur of the 70's was:

-"whenever you think you are winning, that you are surpassing others, feeling like a winner, superior, you are being an idiot that as completely lost direction and sold his soul, like I was when I turned the key in my first Porsche..."

You might fail to find your way back, you might be unable to face what you have become, keep in mind that in even in the advertisement industry you should be ethically orientated, if you fulfil the clients wishes and recklessly manipulate the public, you and not the client lost your soul. Take in mind that with great power often comes great greed. There are very broad lines between effectiveness and manipulation. If you betray your consciousness, you are likely to be in a path of no turning back, and will fail to gain the greatest secrets and lights that your personal development as an artist would have led you to.

My real message is simply that the moment you first picked a pencil, you started a journey. I often try to visualise the first pencil I ever picked as a child, and have managed to regress in time on the way to see the very first pencil I have picked.

Press the red button if you are colour blind or leave a message after the beep if you have a hearing impairment

Social consciousness is nowadays a very important factor in all projects involving the public, this is very responsible, and I wouldn't challenge it by no means. When first confronted by the subject of Subliminal Messages Masked, I was a bit curious about the whole subject, later I wrote down a few possible issues concerning impairments and limits to reaching the audience suffering from impairments.

It is quite obvious that a blind person, fully or partially will be difficult to reach by a masked subliminal message in a frame of a video, and the same for a person with hearing difficulties, but there are other more common occurrences that can put these methods to the test:

-Some people are colour blind-

So the colour suggestion methods (even the ones in traditional graphic design) will find obstacles in passing the messages.

-Some people cannot read-

So a frame with a message in the written form will again hit the wall, at least until somebody can prove that some super function of the brain can decipher the message even if the conscious brain cannot decode it into speech. Yes very far fetched...

-Some people are less receptive-

Work this one out yourself, a clue? OK hypnosis...

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At this point, very lightly, please note that I will not develop this into depth, I dare to say that all methods individually and even combined can fail to influence sectors of the audience. Some of these pointers undermine my own theories if taken at face value.

I could defend my theories with the usual statistics, demonstrating that these cases are isolated and represent a minority of the audience... and note that minority in a global society is a very dangerous word. The thing comes to the fact that all minorities together represent a sector of isolated cases that might amount to a large number of small groups quite impossible to fit in a general category. Still, all the audience matters, never overlook this.

There is more than one way to tackle these kind of hindrances, first I never said I would use one method alone to a particular campaign. Second, my methods are based on universal trends and facts, but I never said that I could pass them to someone else just like that, and that that individual could use them as easily as myself. Don't take me wrongly, they would benefit any project greatly, but these things take time to master, and never are a fast fix.

I can reach well over 85% of any audience in any geographical area, any demographic diversity status. Not just by using my clever tools, but more common methods too, that involve hard work, such as stats, ground tests(my own) and many others(not everything taught at university is to be discarded before being developed...). The thing is that I do not use my tools instead of any logical method, I use them on top of any logical procedures I decide to use.

At this stage I am pointing out that the mixture and integration of methods is as important as the individual quality of each one of them. By now I do have formulas of which ones I should use for each particular case and why. But this is where the giveaway stops, I will politely close the door and explain that more than a trade - This is a craft.

Gestalt, Subliminal Technologies and how the ad line SMOKING KILLS probably sells more cigaretes than any paid publicity

No serious designer formed in the UK in the last many decades will have made an academic course without at least hearing the word Gestalt, from the theory of Gestalt Psychology, that is set around the principle of organization inherent to the human brain in perceiving shapes visually. The way the brain can form a shape from fragments organized in a particular way, to give yourself an example pick up a pen and a piece of paper and mark three points at a similar distance from one another.

Now put the pen away and look at your exquisite masterpiece, what shape comes to your mind?

That's right, one of those.

Gestalt originates in the works of very important names of philosophy, amongst them E Kant and W Goethe, this theory is very complex to explain here in a few lines, and you will surely find very good resources quite effortlessly.

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Subliminal technologies were first exposed in 1900, as simple studies, later during the Second World War used and developed for military training and methods of quick learning, the success of such techniques was so well documented that until today products such as "learn as you sleep" audio is marketed without any public challenge to its effectiveness.

After the war, into 1960's several books and some in particular explored the theme of Subliminal Messages in the context of mass manipulation, it is believed that with the event of the Cold War a lot of effort was put in developing these technologies for obvious reasons by obvious entities. None of the "good stuff studies" were however been made public from any relevant developers of these technologies, and this escalated the conspiracy rumours even more.

The studies made public are very sketchy, basically mentioning the masking of messages in video and audio, along with the use of suggestive imagery (these are easily challenged weather they are indeed subliminal or simple visual communication, take your pick-they are both wrong).

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To summarize, Subliminal Technologies have been proved effective in some instances, in tests that could be criticised for lack of preparation/study and isolated sampling in non comparable tests, leading to inconclusive results in a general overview. But like UFOs if they are real, it is convenient for a lot of people and organizations to keep it that way...

Gestalt is very widely accepted in academic circles, and it is part of the education of serious artists and graphic designers, it has been part of the curriculum for ages and the mother of GUI (Graphic User Interface) design, and its positives applications in psychology can only be matched by its darker speculative uses in advertising imagery and analogy of these with the use of Subliminal Technologies.

Now I have established the parallels and integration between Subliminal Technologies and Gestalt Theory quite a long time ago, but only now I get the impact of what I have achieved there so long ago, when my designer skills were quite juvenile. Its funny how things sometimes have to complete a circle to be fully valued, but that said, I am really happy with logging it in this Blog for future reference.

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Sometimes the masses of professionals in Design and Advertisement confuse things a little when it comes to Audio/Visual Suggestion and the subjects mentioned above, often leading to poorly justified briefs and ineffective media. This happens because of what I have mentioned in other posts in part, but also by lack of a good understanding of the very foundations of Audio/Visual Communication, along with a very very poor understanding of basic Psychology and to a smaller extent Philosophy.
These skills are not quick to mature, and to explore that far without loosing touch with the basic requirements of the job even harder, a common "Layout Graphic Designer" and Illustrator fall in the common league of those who missed the train a long time ago. The real seekers are usually always broadening their skills and often studying further, its a very long and lonely path.

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The human mind often falls for the "unusual and the forbidden", from forbidden(censored) literature and arts to other things of that sort, the fact is that the infamous tends to be in essence famous.

Health warnings in tobacco products are as likely to entice smokers than stop them, traffic speed restrictions follow the very same line (example for non-smokers). Because in the end, its part of human nature to cross the line, and if getting caught trying to cross is demeaning, crossing and getting away with it seems to feel like the thrill of life...

Selling Sex, Cruises and Tanning Lotion, how Polaroid Filter Made Erotic Media Beautiful

The revelations continue, lets make first things first and start by:

Apologies

-Photographers and Photoshop Decorators: I apologise anticipating yours feelings, you might think that by revealing these techniques I am aiming at your knees, that fact is that I apologise you think that way, I am in fact shooting at your kneecaps, but since I am in a great part a designer, its fair game, you should have learned by know that the word you will hear the most is:

NEXT.

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-Everyone else, I have neglected this Blog greatly, due to being exploring other waters, but I am nearly finishing all outstanding matters, an I will soon add the graphical contents and write on my latest tricks.

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Now


Selling Sex, Cruises and Tanning Lotion, and how Polaroid Filter Made Erotic Media Beautiful


I have been bidding my time on this one, mostly due to mixed feelings. In a way, it will a useful notion to Design students and beginners that cannot afford to fail a first assignment. In another way, it will piss off quite a few professionals that have been in the cupboard overnight relishing on their career and think they are so accomplished that they don't think that they need to keep training and updating skills. Now understand this the right way, its the first ones I am concerned about, because its far more rewarding to find out things like this by oneself, and far better training than just being told secrets. Oh for the last type, I don't really care, the less there are of that type the more evolution there is in media studies (just get a day time job!!!).


The invention of Polaroid glass in 1929 is responsible for far more than the dark speck made famous my macho role models in the 50's Hollywood film making, and the cool image used and abused from a rebel to fashioned attitude. more than how these generations looked like, which is important as well, is what they saw through these wonderful and fashionable devices.


Leaving behind names like Ray Ban and the creation of aviator glasses in 1936, that might well have been the beginning of the idea of the use of Polarization Filter in photography, as all of you will be familiar, most Travel Industry advertisement imagery is fluent in this skill, and a lot of the advertisement imagery that tries to use natural sunlight to sell something.


So the "tropical" beauty of a Caribbean sky or a naked or semi-naked model lying in the sand do not really exist in your holiday destination, but its such a powerful media that even your holiday memories will be in the form of polarized images (own studies/stats), I have verified this and proved it in a real situation. The real secret behind the way polarized images get into the brain resides in the colour frequencies it creates, it does that in an uniform way, and its really the most used feature of its full potential in image generation.


With time, Polarized "Sunny Images" have became part of the popular culture, and any other technique is used professionally to "scale down" the impact of the Polaroid Filter (and here enter the Skylight photo filters etc, but the Polaroid is THE ancestor).


The main question it can be put is if was the sunglasses that generated an "idea" of Polarising, maybe first discovered by aviators that were exposed to sky's and ocean images, or if was the use sunglasses by the masses that somehow hacked into our brains and installed the "Polaroid Pleasure" impact instruction, related to feeling "cool" by wearing dark specs, or by continued use and effect of seeing the sun light with Polaroid conditioning.

To all of you that are getting started in Design, try and experiment with old cameras, buy prismatic optical devices, develop film the old way, play with black light, infra-red film, reverse developing by applying negative processing to slide film, and most of all ENJOY, its really what is all about. And learn as many things "you don't learn at college" as possible.

Break the rules, conditioning is the difference between a DIY decorator and a true Designer.