Get Real!
Most of us here at Metropolis will readily admit to a few ‘reality show guilty pleasures.’ With the breadth of topics out there, it was just a matter of time before someone came out with a show about advertising agencies. “The Pitch” premiers this month on AMC – It’s basically a behind-the-scenes look at two competing agencies facing off to pitch for the same account, complete with all the melodrama and infighting that keeps us tuned in.
There’s been a lot of press lately about the “big agencies” shying away from the show. The reason: they don’t want to reveal their proprietary methods (the dreaded “Secret Sauce” phrase. Urgh).
Please! There is no “secret formula” to good work. What we enjoy about our jobs is the challenge of solving a client’s problems, identifying what makes them unique and communicating it clearly. There are many ways to go about this, and everyone has their own ways of getting there, but effective creative stems from good ideas.
So, while you won’t be tuning in to see anyone from Metropolis flipping tables or racing through the back roads of Budapest on your flat screen anytime soon, you’re more than welcome to stop by and take part in a brainstorming session with us. We have a pretty good time and generally come up with some great inspiration. What’s in our “secret sauce?” Bad jokes and caffeine, for starters!
Here’s a link to a sneak preview of “The Pitch.”
Just for giggles, match your favorite citizen with their favorite reality show.
The Shows:
Survivor
The Real Housewives of Atlanta
Goldrush Alaska
American Pickers
16 & Pregnant
The Devoted Followers:
Alicia
Andrew
Brent
Glenn
Kevin Kent
(We know, some are just too easy. Or are they?!?)
New Client Website Launch
We’re pleased to announce the launch of the new website for the prestigious Central Florida law firm Winderweedle, Haines, Ward and Woodman. Metropolis was responsible for both the design and programming/development of the site, including a Content Management System (CMS) administrative tool that allows the firm to make text changes via an easy-to-use web-based platform. Additionally, much of the photography used on the site was taken by talented members of our creative team.
The new site showcases the firm’s areas of practice, spotlights the attorneys and gives visitors a glimpse inside the corporate culture through the News and Events page. Winderweedle enjoys a stellar reputation for community involvement and the new site allows them to showcase that.
Metropolis has enjoyed a long relationship with WHWW, which included the opportunity to update their logo several years ago in commemoration of their 75th anniversary.
Take a minute to visit the site at www.WHWW.com – we think it serves as a shining example of our web team’s creativity and strategic design.
Teaching Type in the Digital World
In Fall 2012 I will be teaching the “Fundamentals of Typography” course in Valencia College’s graphics program. This is the same course that Glenn Bowman taught for several semesters before becoming a dad—which seems to take up a lot of his time and energy now. Thanks to Glenn, I already have a lot of insight into the class and a folder full of course materials that I won’t have to create from scratch.
The technical aspects of typography have changed greatly from when I started in this professional about a million years ago, but the principles that have been discovered and evolved over centuries of lettering and typography have remained virtually unchanged. Whether type is set with metal, developed on photo paper and pasted to a board or digitally displayed and printed, the same issues of optics, legibility, layout and design are going to vex my students just as much as they did me when I was in school. The difference, however, is that my students will have available to them an arsenal of technology and a catalogue of fonts that were beyond my wildest dreams at the beginning of my career. (more…)
Let’s Get Social!
Often when meeting with clients, we hear a familiar statement: “We know we need to be on Facebook, but we don’t really know how to get started or why we should be there.”
Social media is much more than Facebook. It’s Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, Tumblr, YouTube…. The list goes on. Do you need an account with each one of these sites? Probably not. Can selecting a few and doing a good job of maintaining them help grow your business? Most definitely.
About Letters and Images
The Belgian surrealist, Rene Magritte—the artist who gave men in bowler hats apples for heads—created a painting in 1929 called “The Treason of Images” (or “The Treachery of Images” depending upon the translator). It is a realistic rendering of a smoker’s pipe in oil paint. It is iconic. This pipe might be seen on any tobacco shop sign anywhere in Europe—even today. However, at the bottom of the painting Magritte wrote “Ceci n’est pas une pipe.”
This is not a pipe. (more…)