The unsung heroes of the design community

We all know Brendan Dawes, Josh Davies and Hillman Curtis amongst others as they're splashed all over magazines and design sites. Their sites are looked upon for inspiration (sometimes, direct plagerism), but what about the unsung heroes, the designers and coders who are creating abolutely fantastic work but getting little or no recognition, what about these. Should we be constantly going on about 2advanced (blah blah, same thing, different sounds and anim) or should we be looking for fantastic new designers. Out with the old and in with the new ??? I think so. check out some new people, stop visiting 2advanced, create your own stuff, think of something innovative. How many times have you seen someone recreating a yugop style menu or a barneys menu (I know I have), why not create something fantastic that no-ones done before.

Come on people, stop downloading fla's and changing them, and create from new. start with a circle and an actions dialogue box and see what you can do. look at http://www.ward7.co.uk, this was just a freelance site done by an art student yet its fantastic.

Lets stop the plagerism and churn out some new stuff.
Thoughts ?

It's a great idea, and I know for a fact there are a lot of great designers out there. The problem is that people don't give them a chance simply because "they've never heard of them". I don't consider myself a wonderful and fantastic designer but at least I spend my time creating my own ideas and experiments.

The problem is that the reason these great designers are so hard to find is because the don't have exposure. But how do they get exposure if you can't find them? Kind of a catch-22 situation, heh :)

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Originally posted by RazoRmedia
Lets stop the plagerism and churn out some new stuff.
Thoughts ?

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Thoughts? Yes, I have some thoughts...how about you start with the new stuff, man.

Don't just talk the talk, walk the walk. And, stop your *****ing.

Further more, are you trying to tell me that all of the movies here are yours!!

I doubt it, mate!!

Letsssssssss Get Ready to Rumbleeeeeeeeeeee

hey, the design community is changing. There has been a LOT of new stuff in the last few months with the re-boot and everything.

By this fall, JD and k10k will be rejevunated and will be back in full effect.

Just sit tight. This is new to EVERYONE. If you want to inspire people, razor, then go ahead, inspire me.

Stop waiting for other people!!!


oh yeah, BTW nothing personal, Al. I just feel VERY strongly about this subject. peace.

Are you there, RazoRmedia? Do you have anything to add? I could converse about this subject all day long....

Heh, I sense hostility...

can't we all just get along? :)

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Originally posted by flea



oh yeah, BTW nothing personal, Al. I just feel VERY strongly about this subject. peace.

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well spamming this thread sure helps counter that.

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Originally posted by Dzine

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Originally posted by flea



oh yeah, BTW nothing personal, Al. I just feel VERY strongly about this subject. peace.

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well spamming this thread sure helps counter that.

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dzine - didn't you know that my only goal in life it to accumulate more posts? Spamming gets me a little closer to my goal. It works perfect, for me.

See, post count DOES matter to you, otherwise you wouldn't have had yours reset and you would be *****ing off topic here about how I'm 'spamming' the boards. Dzine, what's you definition of spamming? Posting more than once in a row?? Damn.

BTW - what do you mean 'helps counter that'?

Such bad language, Flea! :o

Personally, I'm sick of all the slick stuff. I wanna see some great sites, preferably with character animation. (dain bramaged (I think.. the name confuses me..:p) is a great example of this.)

Heehee.. a month ban on photoshop graphics.. ;)

this was supposed to be a topic for discussion and criticism and im sure Razor meant it that way

If you cant take criticism in this industry youll have a real hard time coping out there .
I for one feel that hes making some valid points there and agree with what he says - hoe many times have u seen ppl posting here asking about the 2advanced intro or preloader or sthg ?

Its great learning and growing through other designers work but following their trends has resulted in a stagnation that we're all witnessing at the moment (the k10 newsletter explains it most effectively)

Lets keep this civil -

flea: this was never about post count , but posting and demanding an answer makes this kind of hostile and puts ppl off from taking part.. Besides Razor could be at work and not able to respond right now ...

Im sure he'll come back here with his arguments . This is a great topic for discussion lets not kill it

cheers
A

my pont exactally A. Sorry youre in such a foul mood Flea. Hope you feel better. :)


D

I agree, Aria. I'm not trying to be hostile. The post count subect arose because dzine suggested that I was spamming the thread. Whatever.


Lauradot- have you been to wddg.com lately. HTML version 1.0 all the way...but view the source and you'll see what's up....

Razor - WTF is up with you starting the thread and then not being here to engage in the discussion part :D JK ...This topic is a great one and I would love to see some REAL discussion about it. Thanks, RazoR!!

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Originally posted by Dzine
my pont exactally A. Sorry youre in such a foul mood Flea. Hope you feel better. :)


D

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LOL *grins*

bad day flea? :)
neways....i agree with razo...
use the flas for ideas,technique and skill....NOT for copy..paste ;)
everyones all ga ga ober advanced when there are much more pretty good sites out there...it kinda gets on your nerves having to see most new sites with the same design as that of 2advanced'ish sites
but you have to be fair....innovation and creativity is not everyones cup of tea....some might be great scripter who can replicate the ideas of 2advanced exactly...these people have skill...and i guess copying is the best way to showcase themselves
nice thread :)

I have not replied to this thread yet coz I have been busy packing for my holidays.

Flea, that protfolio is all my own stuff, I created it a while ago in the space of a few hours as an agency needed examples of my work and I didn't have much online. Its all my own work (ICG stands for Intereurope Communication Group, the company I work for!)

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Thoughts? Yes, I have some thoughts...how about you start with the new stuff, man.

Don't just talk the talk, walk the walk. And, stop your *****ing.

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I do try to do experimental stuff as much as possible. Most of the time my hands are tied because My clients (commercial and freelance) seem to want plain, dull sites, they don't want fantastic, wonderful new idea's, they want something they've seen on the web but they want it with their graphics on. My own personal site (razormedia.co.uk) is fairly experimental but I don't have that much time to update. I'm not *****ing about anyone in particular but how many threads have you seen saying 'I need an effect like 2advanced done for my new site!'. Why? Why not do your own. The open source here is a great tool for learning flash and even for getting inspiration but your own imagination and creativity is the best tool that you can ever use.

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Its great learning and growing through other designers work but following their trends has resulted in a stagnation that we're all witnessing at the moment (the k10 newsletter explains it most effectively)

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This is it exactly Aria. Brendan Dawes, Colin Moocke etc create wonderful effects but they're used everywhere because of it, how often have you checked out something thats posted in the games section or in the featured fla section and you come across something fantastic but you've never heard of the designer? Ever heard of Sidney or Schubert Rodriguez? No? check out the competitions for the past year and explain why they place in most of them.


Anyway flea, you seem to have a problem with this subject somewhere along the line, I'm merely suggesting that its okay to use existing fla's and ideas for inspiration and technique but not to change the colour and text and cal it your own. OK ?

Bruce

[Edited by RazoRmedia on 07-16-2001 at 03:55 AM]

alrighty. Interesting thread. I agree with most of razors points and agree with some of the opposing points as well. Now, I'm not a heavyweight designer by any stretch of the imagination and therefore you won't see any groundbreaking work from me on the net (yet:))

I do look at these sites when there are 2a threads or praystation or whoever is the flavour of the month on the boards and I'm naturally impressed by the quality of the work and the creative flair these people obviously have.

The link razor put in the inital post was a nice site, although not really to my tastes, it was fiddly for the sake of it (IMHO)

I've learnt a great deal from being a Flashkit member these last several months from looking through the tutes and peoples open source submissions. I've obviously still got a long way to go though.

I think for people at the lower end of the scale, (those newer to flash/web/etc) will always use these sites as inspiration for design and style until they are experienced and skilled enough to break free of the common style and develop their own styles in design and the types of movies/sites they create. (myself included)

I've had to read through and dissect enough flas and tutes in my time to understand how it all works and fits together and have made effort when I do follow tutes/use source, to expand on the work that has already been done. This has helped my personal development a great deal and I'm sure this sort of thing will continue.

I don't think there's anything wrong with people following an established path (I'll keep using 2a as an example for now) to creating their own sites, naturally, as these people improve their skills, they will change ideas, design philosophy, style, content to something that more reflects their own ideas and ability.

Well, it's quite a post, but I think it's a good topic. :D have a nice day. James.

... get out there and find new stuff that inspires you, or better still create your own.

Sites like www.linkdup.com have loads of links to cool new inspirational stuff.

I've just found 2 sites I'd never seen before that have great navigational ideas:

http://www.nooflat.nu
http://www.soundofdesign.com/

Since the over-worshiping of Sites such as 2a starting, I now usually skip any threads titled "The Best Site Ever" and "Great new Site" dreading seeing another 2a copycat. This is a shame as many threads DO contains links to cool new Sites.

Flash is a versatile piece of software - let's be creative with it.

After Reading this thread I have deleted the FLA i have been working on for my personal site and have decided to do something totally different. yum :p

I was going for that industrial look, but i figure, if I can define how my website looks in 1 word, it ain't good enough.

I went to my kitchen and my microwave provided enough inspiration for me, now it is time to design :)

good man killabry. You can get design and inspiration from absolutely any 'real world' object or situation. Remember Flight 404? It was smart because it was new. I once had inspiration from a car steering wheel disklok.

Coolness, you lot. :)

I'm not so sure I agree with totally void of influence inspiration, because firstly its not possible. We live in the culture we live in, and every sight and sound makes an impression on us. You dont believe in memory if you dont believe that. :)

You've seen 2advanced (personally, I think its a nice technical achievement, but I really hate the design. sorry. :p), and its there in your brain, and its possible to try to invent something totally different, and be back at square one. :)

Also, there is little point in reinventing the wheel. (cliche! I know!!)There are basic design principles that work because of the way our minds work, or our eyes percieve it, whatever.

Once in a while someone breaks the rule, and it works (Trainspotting ad campain), but the rules are not there because of a group of idiots decided to make them up, but cause they're basic design principles.

Until a new medium for web come out (3d, or something), I fear it will be left a little like newspaper/magazines. Ok, occasionally creative, but all follow basic design. Otherwise they dont "work" with people.

This is the commercial stuff I'm talking about tho. Experimental rules. :)

Forgot to say:
I know you probably know this already, or disagree. Just wanted to vent some. :)

A lot of it has to do with the natire of celebrity, and everyone's innate need to relate back to a single point. A discussion about "this good designer" is a lot more solid and understandable to both parties than an ethereal discussion about "good design", although the first could easily flow into the second.

I was thinking a lot about this during Flashforward, comparing how many of last years speakers were invited back to speak, which discussions seemed to be the most popular, etc. And a lot of these people are reluctant celebrities - they'd rather be surfing your sites than signing your book. We make them into "folk heroes".

While a bit of hero worship is not at all bad, the problem comes when people become complacent - either in copying someone else, or in their own style. Very few people have the ability to consistantly produce amazing work (see Yugo Nakamura), but everyone has the potential. It all depends on one's willingness to push themselves as far as possible at every possible opportunity.

Are you a good animator? Try designing.
A brilliant graphic designer? Try animating.
Excellent at both? Try fly fishing.

Ultimately, celebrity is an illusion cast upon you by others. The people who will make a mark in the industry are those who produce work that they are satisfied with, and continue to do so on a consistent basis.