Last Friday morning I got on the early train to Roseland Ballroom for the 2nd birthday of New York’s finest and freshest motion graphics design conference  F5 Fest. I was lucky enough to attend back in 2009 for it’s first installation and having had such an inspiring experience I signed up to attend again. It is seriously amazing to be in a room with all your heros and surrounded by so many creative folks. F5 has proven to be one of the most intimate conferences I’ve been to. It’s an intelligent mix of artists, designers, art directors, vjs, scientists, technologists, film makers and musicians. They even set up scheduled drink breaks in between speakers so that everyone can meet and hang out. Doesn’t get better than that!

Click here to view the embedded video.

One of the most memorable moments for me this year was getting time to talk with one of my main inspirations in the design world for over 10 years, Scott Hansen, aka ISO50 / Tycho.

Scott was awesome and walked me through his VDMX setup that he uses to VJ with during shows. I’ve been on the verge of transitioning VJ software for quite some time. Thank you Scott for helping me realize I should get on board with VDMX, and taking the time to chat about Burning Man, VJing and for inspiring me further.

Another highlight was listening to Jacob Escobedo, creative director behind Adult Swim and the Cartoon Network. He described a really funny story about when he was younger, living in Nevada, and suffering through eating his first ever goat taco.

After eating this wretched food, he walked outside and saw the image of a severed goat’s head on top of a refrigerator which stopped him in his tracks. From then on, he developed his design mantra to be: “Does this image have severed goat’s head?” Which means,  Is the image I’m designing:  1) Arresting  2) Simple and  3) Memorable ?

I’ll never forget that concept or this image he showed us:

Cartoon Network and severed goats head graphics aside, Jacob happens to be another design hero of mine.

The design concepts that he developed for Broken Bells album artwork last year inspired my entire Wanderlost collection of wall art. I only wish I could have met him over a beer at the F5 bar!

We also got to listen to Scott Belsky discuss the creative process. Are you the Dreamer, the Doer or the Incrementalist when it comes to creative thinking?

Knowing which category you fit into ultimately helps a creative team get things done from the concept to the execution by learning to become proactive instead of just being reactive. Scott is the founder and CEO of Behance, and the Behance Network, Action Method, and The 99%.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Scott had the most advice to offer in the ways of helping us to create, not just be creative. Here are a few highlights from his talk:

• Create windows of non-stimulation 2-3 hours a day. He says this is your sacred space for deep thinking.
• Spend energy on staying organized. Being organized is a huge competitive advantage.
• Organize with a bias to action. Measure the value of a meeting in action steps.
• Tap the power of circles. Find your network.
• Seek competition. You will drive yourself harder and faster if you feel the urgency to create something first and best.
• Don’t become burdened by the consensus or by the unremarkable.
• When it comes to ideas and design, find one or two sacred extremes to present to your client. It will help shape the direction of your thinking.
• Overcome the stigma of self-marketing. Build a following. Curate your stream.
• Foster Accountability. We need to share our ideas liberally, in order to get other people to hold us accountable to them.
• Gain confidence from doubt.
• When finding people to work with you, seek initiative over experience.
  

There were so many highlights from this years festival that it is impossible to write about each one. Here are some folks to keep your eyes on:

• Creative motion graphics studio powerhouse Onesize. Mind-blowing graphics work.
• Creative illustration and motion graphics by Buck.

Click here to view the embedded video.

• Syyn Labs, a scientific twist of art & technology. These guys were responsible for the engineering of a mind-blowing Rube Goldberg machine used to create OKGO’s “This Too Shall Pass” music video.
• Shantell Martin, friend and VJ sketch projector from the UK. The top image of me above was shot during Shantell’s live performance, Hidden Ora, that she orchestrated on the fly with her wacom tablet and sketchbook pro during the F5 after party at Good Units.
• Mark Romanek, visionary film director behind “Never Let Me Goâ€� and “One-Hour Photoâ€� – as well as countless iconic music videos and commercials.
• Kid Koala, Eclectic Method, Nathan Love, Wayne White, Neil Huxley, Adam Bly, the list goes on.

All in all, an amazing weekend. It was really wonderful to meet all my new friends as well. Keep in touch. Looking forward to the next F5 Festival.

TYCHO – Dictaphone’s Lament
Dictaphone’s Lament

It was a truly beautiful experience of dreamy audio and visuals Sunday evening during the Tycho set at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC. His set is a stream of ambiance mixed with heart pounding beats, and all consuming visuals that melt into a subtle colorful bliss.

I somehow managed to hold out to see it, despite the set going on last and driving back to CT at 2:30AM, but it was worth the wait as it usually is.  Of course, this coming from someone who flew to San Francisco earlier this year to see his set at the Mezzanine.

Throughout the years, Tycho has been one of my strongest inspirations as a designer and as a VJ.  I’m always excited to see how he takes his design concepts and brings them to an altered state and performance level. Something I’m constantly striving to do as well. I’d be quite honored one day for the possibility of performing alongside such an amazing talent. Maybe our shows will cross paths in the near future.

Listen to sample tracks of Tycho on tychomusic.com

Photo found on Flickr.com / Tycho Show / March 6th San Francisco @ the Mezzanine

Traveling is one of my favorite things in life.

To begin March 2009, I decided to take a spontaneous journey off the east coast and absorb some California sunshine. The winter has been a long, bleak period for me and while I’ve been keeping busy as well as hibernating, I’ve been deeply desiring spring. I’m feeling all sorts of new flows of creative energy that are bustling and ready to erupt into a thousand colors, but I’ve felt held back by the mundane daily routines, and the weather that keeps me from exploring outside with my camera. I have not enjoyed the cold this year, even having been a snowboarder for much my life. 

To remedy this, I put my cards on the table and booked a flight. I heard that a very special show was happening in San Francisco on March 6th that piqued my interest. My design hero, ISO50, who also makes his own beautiful, ambient music and visuals to go with them, was part of a 10 year Ghostly International anniversary show at the Mezzanine.

 

 

I took a photoshop workshop of his at the OFFF festival in NYC in 2007, and have been following his work for many years. I actually see a lot of similar techniques between how he puts things together and how my creative-brain works.  His ideas always breathe a freshness of vitality into everything he does, and he inspires me endlessly. His show on Friday night did nothing less but overwhelm & excite my senses.

I was elated to the point of geekgasm when he set stage at 12:45AM on Friday night in San Francisco. Not only did he have an amazing stage presence and the crowd worshipped him, but every single person who performed that night was mind-blowing. Ghostly has given me a new sense of inspiration, in a new direction of musically integrated visual styles. I was amongst the best of the best, and am grateful that I had the opportunity to fly across the country to be there.

More words, pictures, video & inspiration to speak of once I am fully re-adjusted to east coast time zones again.

In the meanwhile, here are a few tracks by Tycho.

Tycho – Sunrise Projector

tycho-sunpro.mp3

Tycho – Day Dream

tycho-daydream.mp3