Joshua Trees - Blogs - Good or Bad?

Continuing the debate about whether Blogs are good or bad, I decided to e-mail Joshua Trees from Fake I.D. with the same questions and see what his response would be.

Questions and Answers;

1. Would you recommend that students produce Blogs? If so why?

I'm not in the habit of recommending things. Blogs or otherwise. I see blogs as another platform in the spectrum of communication.

2. A lot of students aren't safe with putting there designs up on the blogs due to the idea getting stolen. What would your opinion be on this?

If the fear of plagiarism didn't stop you making a website or an online portfolio, then don't let it stop you from making a blog.

3. People see blogs as a way to publicize themselves and there work, but blogs don't get a lot of hits, so what would the purpose of a blog be?

Blogs should be whatever you conceive them to be.

4. Finally, what's one positive and negative about having a blog?

One positive thing about blogs is that it enables people to circumvent the rigid hierarchy of traditional publishing. One negative about blogs is that there's more shit to sort through to get the information you're looking for. 

Craig Oldham - Blogs - Good or Bad?

I emailed Craig Oldham asking him the same few question's about Blogs.

Although he took a while to reply, due to how busy he was, I was most grateful when he sent me the e-mail with the answer's to my question's in.

Question's and Answer's;

1. Would you recommend that students produce a blog? If so why?

There's no right or wrong answer here as it depends on what the blog would be.I see the blog as an opportunity for expression, whether expression in creativity, practice or theory, but what I don't see the blog as is an opportunity for show and tell. If you want to show and tell then get a website, not a blog.

So, if a student was going to have a blog it should be to promote their personal and creative development and not simply link to other peoples work that they think is cool and will then subsequently imitate. Not that I think linking is bad, on the contrary it can be very good, just as long as the reasoning behing the link is critical in approach and expression, saying why they like something and equally why they don't. 

When it comes to putting their own work on blogs this again should be to add something to the work or give the student the chance to review, summarise and reflect on the design work they have undertaken. It should become a critical examination in an honest account of what is good, what is bad, and what, in hindsight, one might change. Then the often simpler of tasks—putting a finished project to the world—will improve you as a designer, forcing you to reflect on your work.

2. A lot of students aren't safe with putting there design's up on blogs due to the idea getting stolen. What would your opinion be on this?

Being honest and frank, as I can only be, I find this idea to be ludicrous.

Students are all too concerned about ownership of ideas, who came up with what, and who takes credit for that. The majority of this is irrelevant within education. Design isn't a solitary exercise and every designer should share their ideas with other creatively minded people, they should seek criticisim of their work not praise to further their development. Sure, some people are influenced by ideas, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

In terms of the close quarters of education, if your idea is stolen, it become obvious to everyone that it has been so I wouldn't worry. Take the moral high ground.

If you don't get your work out there then what's the point? Peter Saville says, "Graphic Design is for others, to others" so if you keep your work in the closet then you're not really a Graphic Designer.

3. People see blogs as a way to publicize themselves and there work, but a lot of blogs don't get a lot of hits, so what should the purpose of a blog be?

I think I covered that in my rant on question one, but to try and expand, I think they should be 'interested'. Now that's not a grammatical error, I meant to say interested and not interesting. People that think they are interesting are almost always not. People who are interested in things become enthusiastic, and enthusiasm is personal which makes someone interesting. Which rounds nicely to me saying that you should be critically interested in things which will develop you.

4. Finally, what's one positive and negative about having a blog?

Good: if used right, becomes a development tool, similar to a diary.

Bad: everybody has one, and anybody can get one.

Darren Scott - Blogs - Good or Bad?

I recently e-mailed Truth questioning them about Blogs.

Thankfully Darren Scott got in touch and gave me his opinions on the matter.

Question's and Answer's;

1. Would you recommend that students produce a blog? If so why?

I would only produce a blog if you have something notable to say that you think people may be interested in.

However, many people are using blogs as and alternative to a website to host a portfolio.

2. A lot of students aren't safe with putting there design's up on blogs due to the idea getting stolen. What would your opinion be on this?

I am afraid that is the chance we all take as designers everyday, putting your work out in the public domain will always make it subject to plagerism. The vast amount of design blogs now make it very easy for other designers to ‘borrow ideas‘ rather than being original. They have become a short cut to thinking that many are guilty of using, students in my opinion a more guilty than most.  I see many portfolios every month and they all have work very similar to high profile agencies like NON-format or people like Si Scott or they have chopped the serifs of Times New Roman and claimed it as there own. It is a sign of the times I am afraid.

3. People see blogs as a way to publicize themselves and there work, but a lot of blogs don't get a lot of hits, so what should the purpose of a blog be?

Again, I would only produce a blog if you have something notable to say that you think people may be interested in.

Many people think just because you have a blog with some work on it, people will visit in their masses, they wont. People want information or inspiration, you need to give them a reason to come back. 

4. Finally, what's one positive and negative about having a blog? 

It is a great way to share your work and love of design, it is also a great way to request feedback and get stuff of your chest. 

But, don’t expect massive hits overnight if at all.

Anthony Jones - Blogs - Good or Bad?

Another person I emailed about Blogs, was Anthony Jones from TWBA Manchester. Anthony is the creative head at TWBA.

Question's and Answer's;

1. Would you recommend that students produce a blog? If so why?

Yes. It is a very flexible tool that can accommodate a plethora of uses. The key is to decide how you want to use it for yourself.

2. A lot of  students aren't safe with putting there design's up on blogs due to the idea  getting stolen. What would your opinion be on this?

I’d simply recite the adage ‘you’ve got to be in it to win it’. Frankly, there are no shortage of designers (myself included) or designs. If somebody wants to plagiarize they will. The point, while the work has value, is that it is really the designer that is the valuable resource, not the work itself. The reason you will be employed is because there is more where that came from.

3. People see blogs as a way to publicize themselves and there work, but a lot of blogs don't get a lot of hits, so what should the purpose of a blog be?

There are many, many ways a blog can be used. When used in the form of professional publicity, you have to ask yourself, is it to generate work in of itself, or is it a tool you will use to point people to yourself, like a CV or Portfolio? Both routes require a different mindset about what you publish on it, generating work requires a lot of constant input and effort.

4. Finally, what's one  positive and negative about having a blog?

Positives are easy, but to choose one at random; a blog can show not only your work, but a passion and enthusiasm by the frequency and flavour of the content you add, in and around your work.Negatives generally arise from a deviation from how it was intended to be used and the reality, or neglect, it may get. This roughly translates to, if you don’t keep it updated, it looks like you’re doing nothing, which is generally bad.

James Corazzo - Blogs - Good or Bad?

To start the blog debate off I decided to ask James (my tutor) a few question's about blogs.

The reason for this is, was that he set the brief for us to complete the blog so I thought I'd get his opinion's firstly.

Question and Answers;

1. Would you recommend that students produce a blog? If so why?

We have made it a requirement of a particular module. The rationale being that it has proved to be the most suitable method we have found so far (in terms of use) for a student to document their findings.

A blog can be used in many ways, but because of the diary-like nature of a blog one thing it does fairly well is encourage "reflective thinking". Being able to reflect – look back on and analyse your self, work etc. – is a key aspect to learning.

It is also a means to publish. Until very recently the routes to publishing your thoughts, idea, work, images etc. were strewn with obstacles. Publishing used to mean power. Because blogs are accessible to all and essentially free to set up they have the potential to open up the means to publish and reach an audience to anybody. This is a democratising tool, and generally good for society.

For a student they represent an opportunity to get your work out of your folder, the college, a plan chest and perhaps invite comment, interest or criticism. At the same time, we do not insist that students publish their work on blogs.

2. A lot of students aren't safe with putting there design's up on blogs due to the idea getting stolen. What would your opinion be on this?

I would like to see some evidence of this. What is more likely is students are ripping other peoples ideas off!

3. People see blogs as a way to publicize themselves and there work, but a lot of blogs don't get a lot of hits, so what should the purpose of a blog be?

I agree the internet must be jammed with unseen blogs. But you can make a blog entirely private,this doesn’t reduce its usefulness. If you want traffic you need to develop content that people want to engage with.

4. Finally, what's one positive and negative about having a blog?

Positive -– you can be exposed to things and people (and talk to them) across the globe.
Negative - Reading on screen still has its drawbacks.

Blogs - Good or Bad?

Recently I had a end of year meeting with my tutor at University. After talking about a few things we came onto the topic of Blogs. This is down to how we have to create a Blog to publicize our work, keep track or work we like, keep a record of what designers we have contacted and then keep track of other things like portfolio viewings and lectures etc.

Whilst we was talking about this we had a little debate on blogs. Little things about why we should do them if they don't get recognized and why do them in the first place.

So, after I left this meeting I decided to further this more and contacting designers and seeing what they thought about blogs.

Each designers opinion's will follow when I hear back from them.

Craig Oldham Contact

A while back I wrote a letter to Craig Oldham saying thank you for his lecture, how I enjoyed it, how I felt it interacted more than most lectures and also was it a possibility to show him my portfolio. 

Recently I got an e-mail back off Craig with his apologies for how long he took to get back in touch. This was good to hear, this is down to how he hadn't forget about the letter even if this was sent about 4-6 weeks ago. 

Craig also offered to take a look at my portfolio so I'm waiting to hear back from him with his response and the advice he can offer me.