http://www.arih.si/ Text from Igor Arih All texts Copyright 2006 Arih d.o.o. (medialab@arih.si) medialab@arih.si Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:00:00 +0200 medialab@arih.si Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:00:00 +0200 http://www.arih.si/index.php?datoteka=igor&lang=eng&sifra=6&detail=detail Advertising doesn’t work anymore. It is outdated. The principle that peaked during the 80s, the time of one-direction media, has simply become out-of-date. Today, this principle is too expensive and lacks efficiency. Therefore, we are now witnessing the constant pursuit of new models, since the communication bridging the product and consumers simply cannot die out. Whenever you are presented with a product in one hand and a potential audience in another, you will have to build a communication bridge between them. In any form whatsoever. In recent years, the idea of content marketing has become very popular. The idea appeals to me because of its name. I believe finally the time has come, when form will prevail over the content. This is not only the case in advertising. A triumph of good background stories without the unnecessary splendour of the form can be noticed in almost all the fields of design, fashion, film or other art forms. They are undoubtedly scarce, but when they win, their triumphal cry can be heard loud and clear for a long time. In advertising, the time of deception, fireworks and gorgeous models without an in-depth reflection on the story’s content has now come to an end. Finally, extravagant advertising was given a merciful shot in the forehead by the financial crisis. Expensive commercials are now a thing of the past. The same goes for the “heavy artillery” in large advertising agencies. Today, my fellow colleagues mostly whine over the good old days. But this does not discourage them from sending their contributions to advertising festivals, as if the false glamour from the past will bring clarity to their clients and cause a revival of the good old times. We have a saying: “When life gives you lemons, make yourself a lemonade.” The form is “passé” and the content is “in”. Any type of commercially-oriented communication should closely bear in mind the modern principles of content marketing. These principles began to develop on account of web browsers. In my opinion, the rules behind the application of words in digital content design as explained by the pioneers of the content marketing, serve only as the basis for new comprehensive communication projects. The message that speaks to both is: forget the form and focus on the content. But what does this changeover to content mean to me? Today, most people professionally engaged in advertising, marketing, communication and public relations, are wondering what in heaven’s name is this content marketing? However, they are already making a fundamental mistake from the past by raising this question. The answers are sought for in communication channels. If in the past, campaigns were created based on the decision about which channel to use, nowadays, the question of choosing the proper channel is the last thing worth considering. At the very end. There are numerous channels! I am fascinated by the fact that people that are in any way engaged in the business of communications are always eagerly trying to understand the operating mechanism behind any new principle without asking themselves, with a few exceptions, what really is the point. A full understanding of the principles behind the functioning of the small gearwheels inside a precision Swiss watch may be of no use to us if we don’t have any knowledge about the purpose of time. And make no mistake, Even many distinguished providers of content marketing limit themselves to the use of the internet, corporate newsletters or direct marketing. Again, the focus is on the channels only. Therefore, we will try to briefly explain our broad perspective of the darkness in the marketing process and why the term “marketing revolution” is used by many. Because this is what this actually is. And not only in marketing. The prevalence of form without in-depth understanding of content is a phenomenon, which can sadly be observed almost everywhere. To give just a few examples of unconditional subordination to formal solutions whose content without any doubt consists of complete paradoxes. E.g. “a reality show”. So tell me what in heaven’s name does this completely artificial TV format have to do with the truth? Or “plastic surgery”? Sadly, plastic surgery in most cases creates freaks. Don’t let me get started on “democracy”. This is nothing else than the constant prevalence of the will of the majority over that of a minority. These are all paradoxes, which we adopt without hesitation, since they are hidden inside generally adopted formal solutions. In one day, we have to solve so many other personal problems that we do not have the time to investigate the word constructs offered by the media. If we were until now slaves to the form, we will now be enslaved by the content. The sooner we come to terms with this, the better. If you ask me, content marketing is not a new concept. On the contrary! Content marketing is the oldest and most inexpensive marketing format. Content marketing was born at the same moment when communication was acknowledged as a highly effective tool for achieving particular goals. Content marketing was used by Jesus Christ himself. The simple principle of spreading special stories, the use of appropriate words to draw attention, engaging the public in a two-way communication and active participation in the process of spreading those stories around made the Catholic Church what it is today. This began in the time when the media hardly existed. In my opinion, Jesus was the greatest guru of content marketing. Everybody is advised to study this inspiring principle. Every method and principle used by him to structure and tell stories are still applicable today. They just need to be integrated into all modern media. Not only on the internet or direct mail. From here on, we have to understand the mechanism behind the gearwheels of modern communication. Don’t be consumed by fear. The key is the convergent use of available channels according to the audience, time and space. This is only physics, which can be controlled with a good knowledge of different types of audience behind each media. This calls for diligent collateral learning. Why it is important to understand the bases for the creation and functioning of content marketing? Since this is a natural development of communicational knowledge acquired in the past for the time, which is already knocking loudly on the door. Things are turning upside down. This is a matter of adaptation. We have to be aware that the best “content marketing” providers are brand owners and managers. People who know their products and clients down to the smallest detail. If/when they start to realize that they are the ones who must master this new communication trend and recognize that if they oppose it and hold on to old and expensive models, they will be dismissed instead of granted membership in a trade union. This is not a threat. This is only a warning. Do not say someday that you weren’t told soon enough (2). The dynamic communication model we have been developing for the past five years develops communication campaigns with the help of these newly adopted theories. Two-way communication, which is based on understanding user’s needs, single-user orientation in order to reach a hundred users, and not vice versa, a constant flow of communication activities, the engagement of users that are becoming members, and members who are believers or even volunteer ambassadors, is functioning according to the principle of privileged information dissemination. Communication campaigns thus become a cause-and-effect process. All these are a result of a properly designed and managed content marketing, as I understand it. I also advise you not to understand this as yet another modern model for transforming your texts into an efficient vocabulary of key words for interactive browsers or rational text writing methods for direct mail and similar. No, you will yet again fall into the trap of thinking through the media. Internet browsers are only channels. Behind those channels is an audience. This is what makes the channel alive. We have to understand this audience. We have to imagine as if it was real “The Tribe of Many Colors”.* (Kiesha Crowther) All these modern elements are integrated into a dynamic communication model to rationally achieve different objectives for different genuine audiences, to raise interest with such audiences and their responsiveness. This is not a battle for money, but for souls. Once you have a soul, you have it all. New communication virtuosos will start to appear in the future. That literally includes artists and artistic communication groups. These will include individuals and teams of professionals, who couldn’t care less about festival awards and other forms of acknowledgements from the same industry. The only recognition will be the proper response from the audience. You will turn communication somersaults through closely selected communication channels. Each campaign will be addressed without prejudice. Any preknowledge and past experience will be denied. The sole focus will be the current know-how. The communication bridge between the audience and the product will be built with child-like innocence. This is the only way to create works of art in the field of communications. When the steering wheel of communications is taken over by artists, soon the wheat will be sorted from the chaff. It will become clear who is an industry’s phony and who is the James Bond of communications. A hot shot will be the one who will get his message through to the TV news and not a commercial block before them. And once featured in the TV news story, he will have to have a detailed plan how to continue. Otherwise it will fail. Advertising will finally cross the borders of commercial blocks and become communication. This is not a single-time action. It is a dynamic process with its own beginning and end. It will be impossible to understand it after the first few steps. It can also deliberately mislead you. It is simply a dynamic flow of smaller interconnected communication links that fit to the characteristics of the audience, space and time in a chain-like manner. The same as the Danube river springs as a clear water pool high up in the mountains, successful communication campaigns will not be unveiled after the first few drops. The routine principle from the past, that when you saw a TV commercial and you saw everything, will not work anymore. The power is in mystery. You will have to go with the flow of communication. Enjoy it or abandon it. The same as you let yourself be swept away by music and, if you don’t like it, you change the station. We believe that the future of the communication business is very bright. In my opinion, the communication business is of key importance for the success of the economy and politics. What is the first thing that dictators do, who are at risk of being overthrown by oppositional demonstrators? They suspend all types of communication, except communication under surveillance. We must be aware of this power. In the end, marketing is nothing else than a battle. Many will read this preface only once. And this is what they should do. This is how face-to-face communication functions. The information is privileged. A friend of a friend does not tell the same joke three times. On the contrary, standard advertising requires a minimum of three contacts with the audience to be memorized. And because many among you still hold on to the old principles, we will tell you for the third time: Don’t say someday that you weren’t told soon enough. Best regards, Igor Arih http://www.arih.si/#0 Thu, 18 Sep 2008 12:00:00 +0200 http://www.arih.si/index.php?datoteka=igor&lang=eng&sifra=3&detail=detail Invisible designAs a young designer in the early 1990's I was not familiar with the Japanese philosophy of "Invisible design". A young punk rocker, I admired the magnificent power of Sex Pistols graphic language that was created by Jamie Reid. Later I was influenced by the most publicised European designers, such as Neville Brody, one of the first stars of design that would impact my career. I designed newspapers, packaging and ads, and am pleased to continue to do so now. But despite the fact I was occasionally awarded for a good idea, my artistic language was not substantially different from others.Once in the 1990's I was told by a client at a presentation that my approach was too trendy. He said: "Good design is the one you don't notice." The ad indeed had a witty concept, yet its design was very complicated. I equipped a simple message with too much artistic surplus. Desiring to prove my virtuosity as a designer, I stifled the message. The witty contents remained buried under the semitransparent curtain of contemporary acrobatics in design. The client's comment was justified. The hint that good design should be invisible kept resonating in my head long afterwards. You know the feeling when you fail to understand something in its entirety, yet it seems to be a great truth. Soon afterwards I accidentally came across a text on Taku Satoh, one of the pioneers of Japanese invisible design. In one of his interview he says: "When I was about 12, it was really popular to 'automobile-ize' your bike with all kinds of accessories: rearview mirrors, brake lights, turn signals ... So I put on all these accessories, one at a time. I took that bike to the point of no return. Then I faltered. 'What next?' One day, I took everything off, even the fenders and the kickstand. I reduced that machine to the very minimum at which it could still be a bicycle," he concludes. A process then started in my head that has changed my attitude towards my own profession to the bone. Always when I had really good contents to work with, I tried to kill my designer's ego (the hardest part of the process) and to minimize the visual design to the point when its only remaining function was to navigate the contents. Just like the young Taku Satoh "stripped" his bicycle, I thought about decorating less and less often. I have been increasingly interested in how to design a form that doesn't stifle the contents, quite the contrary, it opens a channel for the contents to burst out.I now know that the concept of invisible design can only be applied to superb products. Those that have unique contents. When I realize I am dealing with a great idea, I start thinking about the bare essential to make the idea communicate its speciality even clearer. What is the bare essential in the form, for its contents to burst out? What is the appearance of the form that requires the minimum of time and struggle form the beholder to get the message? It is really simple. You have to remove everything that disturbs you. Therefore I follow the principle "what doesn't benefit, brings damage".Igor Arih, WNBS DESIGNER http://www.arih.si/#1 Mon, 04 Aug 2008 12:00:00 +0200 http://www.arih.si/index.php?datoteka=igor&lang=eng&sifra=2&detail=detail There are some women whose appearance immediately attracts you. At first sight they are like magazine dolls. At second sight it's no different. Until they open their mouth. They have pretty little noses, shiny lips, full volume hair and are ready to spend a quarter of an hour and more on a public toilet to cover the spot that has burst out of their bosom. A little volcano protruding out of the décolletage and screaming! An error of nature, destroying completely the only valuable thing she owns - her shape. There is no contents anyway. But there are also women who have irregular noses and natural breasts. Their looks reach deep in the spine. As they talk, they cut at knee-height. Their form is not gaudy. They are aware of their main asset - their brain. The content is trendy.How a badly designed label for a top-quality wine turned into an example of good design. I like to tell this story. A hundred years ago an excellent French winemaker started producing top-quality wine. With its quality increasing, he decided to improve the package and stop selling jug wine. He bought Bordeaux bottles and went to see the nearby printer, asking him to print and first also design the wine label. The winemaker had just commenced his business and asked the printer not to make the label too expensive. The printer respected his wish and designed a simple black-and-white label. He gathered all the necessary wine-related data and arranged it into what he thought a logical hierarchical sequence, maybe added a chateau drawing (in the same colour) and printed it all onto simple white paper. The printer didn't have the knowledge of a famous printmaker nor did he have many typographies in his range of lead types to make harmonious arrangements. The printer designed and printed the label to the best of his ability and knowledge. The local art teacher immediately described it a botch! One of the reasons he did so was the fact the winemaker had not commissioned him, the academic, but rather the local printer, who despite the artistic incongruity managed to create the label for excellent wine. It was easy to read the name of the chateau, the year and some other data, together with the drawing forming a garment for the contents. As the winemaker bottled the first series and dispatched it to restaurants, the customers who enjoyed good wine nodded upon the first sip despite the modest and artistically incongruous appearance. And so did the art professor! Years went by. The winemaker made the wine even better. Gradually the wine was being shipped around the world. Yet he refused to replace the label. Maybe he added another colour or a patch of gold, but the basic typographical structure remained incongruous and the chateau drawing kept its distorted perspective. Why? Through time the artistically impaired label absorbed all the associations of this top-quality wine like an empty battery. Its incongruity became its characteristic. It has become the trademark of this excellent wine. Even more. A hundred years later many academically educated designers, myself included, legitimately consider this an example of a superiorly designed wine label. And it is only because the first printer bowed to the contents. On purpose or out of ignorance? That's of no importance. It must have been out of respect for good wine. Minimalism and manipulation of errors have become my basic principles and guidelines to first-rate design.One word says more than a thousand pictures! With its products, WannabeSociety.com has brought the minimalism of form to the null point. The form only exists in that there is none! There is only one word. In capital letters. Black on white or white on black. In Helvetica - the simplest of typefaces. With no visible design elements. Everything is subordinate to your selection. Your contents, the chosen word triggering an eruption of associations. I have not seen a stronger message printed on a T-shirt. When WNBS start selling wines, the white or black label will only state CHARDONAY or MERLOT.Igor Arih,Bol, 9 July 2008 http://www.arih.si/#2 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:00:00 +0200 http://www.arih.si/index.php?datoteka=igor&lang=eng&sifra=1&detail=detail Not long ago, Arthur C. Clarke died. He was one of the greatest creative minds of all time. I first read his work in my early childhood - his comments in a popular science book called Mysterious World. It was a collection of fascinating stories about the known, and the lesser known secrets of our world.It was sometime later that I discovered that he was also an excellent science fiction writer. His short story The Sentinel formed the basis of the legendary film 2001: A Space Odyssey made by the director Stanley Kubrick, which by today's standards is a very long and slow-paced film. However, this does not prevent one from enjoying the film's each and every detail even today. The film's tone is confessional from its beginning until its end. The surprising accuracy of Arthur C. Clarke's predictions become more impressive with each year that has passed since the time the scenario and the film were written.Despite his great originality I saw him as a creative dreamer - someone with an extremely rich imagination: an artist. That is, until I saw an original sketch of his in the Science Museum, London, which depicted geostationary satellites. "Using these, man shall command the entire world from one single point," was written beside it, the artist's visionary thought. It was a fascinating vision which sparked an evolutionary leap in just a few decades! From that moment on, Arthur C. Clarke became an icon for me. The man had been transformed in my young head from a great science fiction writer into a truly realistic visionary, from an artist into an inventor and from a dreamer into an important revolutionary. He made me realise that the secret of genuine creativity is never isolated to a particular chosen sphere. The secret lies in combining the apparently impossible, in constantly discovering new spaces and as a result - views, and also in understanding the world comprehensively. At that moment, being creative became my guiding principle and challenge in life. Since then, I respect all forms of creative thinking, regardless of the field or industry in which it appears. Everyone should act creatively in their environment. There is no other path for progress.Creating new worlds is in the domain of creative minds. The introduction of the element of creativity into the data processing methods of supercomputers represents a giant leap in their development. Clarke explained in one of his interviews that the desire to discover new things was what prompted one particular type of fish several billions of years ago to pop out of the ocean and to start conquering land. "Imagine the traditionalist fish of that time, imagine how it is explaining to its descendants that it is not possible to live on land and that the ocean already provides everything they need. We are now walking on land, flying in aeroplanes and conquering space, but those fish are still just fish," he concluded, adding that colonising space will be the next step in our evolution.New discoveries are not always the result of curiosity stemming from boredom. New discoveries are a necessity. In the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, man's distant ancestor is a weak ape that is about to become extinct. Before this happens however, it picks up a bone and in doing so boosts its own strength by several times. Surprised and fascinated by this discovery, it does not know exactly what to do with it. It is creative though, and will think of something along the way! According to Clarke, this is the point when the technological revolution began allowing man to become the master of this world. 2001: A Space Odyssey is a film dedicated to mankind's evolution from the prehistoric times to the near and distant future. The spaceship in the film is slowly taken over by a computer, HAL 9000, into which man had entered a great deal of historical data - including data on wars, hatred, egotism and misery. This information leads the supercomputer to the logical conclusion that it has to take control of the mission as its importance is too great to be left to man. HAL had no emotions though. At least that is what it leads us to believe until the end of the story.Pictured is Arthur C. Clarke with my Mars calendar. It was created under the assumption that man will colonise Mars within this century. The terraforming process will begin relatively soon and man will be able to walk and sleep on the planet Mars where current methods of measuring time will be useless. A Mars calendar and time will be needed. I created this in 1999 to mark the historic break of the millennium. It is not the only Mars calendar, but it is one of the first. The year is divided into months and days in a manner not unlike Clarke's. I sent copies of it all over the world and one ended its pilgrimage at the visionary guru's address.Dear Arthur, the photograph has really made me proud although you probably do not know who the author of the calendar is.Igor Arih http://www.arih.si/#3