ScrapStrats_v203
[no magazine cover mock this week, because thats all thats standing between me and hitting send.]
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A thought from the archive: Padded Value. Technology has made it easier to pad what we present. more slides, data and "proof." But proof and trust are inversely correlated in creative work. The more you have to prove, the less they trust you. The less they trust you, the more you have to prove.
This is why I don’t cite sources.
(jk)
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One of the most important things but most hardest to learn in this line of work is to not just accept the feedback. Especially if it is coming from more than one source. The more sources feedback is coming from, the more likely swirl is impending.
For no reason, here is a math equation for it:
Probability of chaos = number of people giving feedback (nF) x amount of ambiguity (A)
or P(chaos) = nF x A
The point is, and I’ve said this before, ALWAYS be asking of yourself and the team;
“What is this work meant to do? (which should tie to “how is thing being evaluated”)
“What is motivating that feedback? What is being responded to?
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Something else I’ve said before: “Writing solidifies, chat dissolves.”
But I want to amend that.
“Writing solidifies, chat explores.”
Another one:
Problems don’t start where they first appear. A leak first appears inside, but the problem is a failure on the outside.
You could probably simplify further: problems are not symptoms.
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Finally got the Creatives on Strategy responses/synthesis up somewhere more interactive / easier to navigate:
https://creativeonstrategy.stratscraps.net/
Other ongoing surveys I have running:
A survey about fun at work (open to anyone in advertising)
A survey about working with Strategy Freelancers (open to anyone who has worked with freelance strategists)
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The whole conversation around “friction” as a new social value is interesting to me. Off the bat, I don’t disagree. It isn’t wrong…
But also its interesting that “friction” was what stuck in the discourse rather than something like “effort”
“Friction” is to “effort” what “User” is to “person”…
Said another way, Friction is an engineering word, while effort is a human experience. There is probably more to be said about that in and of itself.
But also, they aren’t exactly equal are they? Friction implies difficulty, whereas effort implies time and consideration.
Imagine saying “I put a lot of friction into this meal I cooked for you”
Which gets at something else interesting. You can’t “add friction” to something and make it more meaningful.
The most meaningful things nowadays are the things where the effort are inseparable from the process.
What that’s describing is “craft”
Have we already become such cyborgs that we have to describe the idea of having a craft as “friction” ??
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Sometimes I forget I have this. There is a “buy me a coffee” page I have set up as a way to gather the funds to cover various stratscrap costs (e.g. hosting costs and survey tools) no obligation to donate, but its a way to help me out that doesn’t require a paid subscription to the newsletter.
WEEKLY MONSTER
(If you’re new here, this is neither weekly nor typically a monster. Although I’m overdue for some monster doodles.)
Taking up fly tying at the start of winter has resulted in a pretty silly amount of flies. But these are the ones I’m most proud of.
Within the world of typing flies, there are an ever growing set of patterns you are meant to imitate. Some are hundreds of years old, some are contemporary, but all but the most experienced fly tyers are meant to follow instructions.
I HATE following instructions. Some of the below are established patterns where I followed along some jobronie and his (and in one case her) youtube channel. But many are things I did just goofing around. And those are my favorite by far.
Will they catch as many fish? Who knows. At this point, this is more of a craft project than a fishing project.
But I will take it as a win that Apple Photos prompted me to look for other photos containing bugs when I was swiping through these.
Those’ll catch fish :)
Agree that when people say “friction” they often mean effort or craft. But I think friction has its place, too, as the opposite of convenience (which we have too much of, arguably). Friction creates layers of difficulty between you and the thing you want, thus making that thing feel more valuable. Friction itself isn’t effort, but it does require some effort to overcome it. In a marketing sense, brands do the friction, people do the effort. That’s how I’m thinking about it, anyway!