Field Notes
There are global cities, there are creative cities, and then—there is New York City. Much has been said about it, so I won’t try to add more. Though other cities have challenged its status, New York remains the global stage for culture, business, and creativity.
This was my third time in New York. My last visit was for the 99% Conference (now 99U) by Behance. This time, it was thanks to Duane King—creative director, designer, writer, and one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.
Duane invited A Design Film Festival to New York as part of Point Oh! Brooklyn 1.0 Conference, held at The Irondale Center from October 8-10, 2015. The festival had a simple but powerful goal: to inspire those making a difference—people who make things better as they make better things.
The event, conceptualized and led by Duane, was a collaboration between his agency Huge/KingCoyle and the Portland outpost of Huge Inc. It brought together speakers from design, culture, and business—including Jennifer Daniels (Graphics Editor, The New York Times), Tamer Kattan (comedian, writer, author), and Casey Gerald (co-founder, MBAs Across America)
Some might find this question obvious, but it’s easy to lose sight of why we started making things. We are overwhelmed by a sea of content, ideas, and advice—from how-to books, online media, and industry best practices, to independent voices on social media offering quick hacks. Everyone has an opinion.
A strategist we work with put it best: "It’s easy to confuse information with insight. Information is data. Insight is actionable."
So, why do you do what you do? (Feel free to replace “design” with your own work.)
While you ponder that, here are some photos from the event, courtesy of Huge/KingCoyle.
On the same trip, I had dinner with Koichiro Tanaka, creative director and founder of Projector Japan. Ko was behind UNIQLO’s international breakthrough with his iconic UNIQLOCK campaign—a simple yet ingenious clock plug-in that bloggers could embed on their websites.
Ko had recently moved to New York to help Japanese brands expand globally. Over dinner, he shared his thoughts on our work: "I like your approach. It’s proactive."
He elaborated, "Most agencies are reactive. They respond to a brief—a client comes to them with a predefined problem or business goal. Their role is to react to that."
This was a profound insight. Proactive vs. Reactive.
Do we wait for problems to be presented to us, or do we actively seek opportunities and define the right problems to solve?
Much has been said about the value of personal projects, but this was the first time I saw them framed as proactive energy—driving not just what we do, but why we do it.
The Internet is Awesome
This trip also gave me the chance to finally meet Sebastian Lange, a longtime collaborator. Sebastian is a creative director from Freiburg, Germany, specializing in motion graphics and animation. We first connected when I discovered his work online—Flickermood 2.0, a typographic motion video that caught my attention.At the time, we were preparing to launch the first A Design Film Festival in Singapore and curating short films to feature alongside the main lineup. I reached out, asking if we could showcase his work at DFF, and he said yes.
Since then, Sebastian has been the creative force behind the opening titles for A Design Film Festival from 2011 to 2019. We've also collaborated on motion graphics for UNIQLO Global Flagship Stores in Singapore and Manila, and even an opening title sequence for Channel News Asia.
When Sebastian flew from Freiburg to New York City for the festival, it was the first time we met in person. But after years of emails and video calls, we hit it off immediately.
This is what I love about the internet: the ability to collaborate with people anywhere in the world. And when you finally meet in person, those collaborations evolve into friendships.
In 2015, Sebastian won a Type Directors Club award for his work on A Design Film Festival 2014. During the trip, he surprised me with a copy of the award certificate. Few awards have meant more.
It was a reminder of what truly matters:
Not being the best in the world.
Not winning awards.
Not building a great portfolio.
But finding the right problems to solve—and helping others do their best work possible.
—
Felix Ng
Co-founder, Anonymous
@felix.anonymous