NoteToSelf Creative ConsortiumTheme: "Passion"
Venue: Cornerhouse
Date: 28th Febraury 2012
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NoteToSelf returned to Manchester, again housed in the brilliant Cornerhouse with over 70 +'attendees, the 3rd in the series was set up to be a great night.The theme for the night was passion and the speakers brought it in bucket loads!
The night kicked off with Matt and J from RetroFuzz, they talked about their shared passions for music, design and technology.
Matt and J run a Manchester-based independent web design agency, working predominantly in the music industry. They are two guys that do not crave publicity so we were very happy when they said yes to being one of the speakers at NTS. They started by talking about the team and their studio which is based in the northern quarter were they have a small, dedicated and hard-working team all passionate about music, youth culture and new technology.
They have a "yes we can" approach to work which has gained them a strong reputation throughout the music industry, allowing them to work with some fantastic clients on cutting edge projects, but also leading to the occasional late night! There were a few stand out quotes from their talk - on doing great work for great people "You can't buy reputation, you have to earn it" and of course the final quote to wrap up a great talk - "Nothing is as important as passion. No matter what you want to do with your life, be passionate." By the one and only John Bon Jovi. It was the perfect start to the night.
Matt and J were followed by Andrew Brooks acclaimed Manchester based photographer, digital artist and film maker. His passion comes from the creation of images and capturing the the atmosphere and feel of a picture. He started with some amazing imagery from his awesome portfolio which was quickly and very interestingly backed up with who and what inspire's him to take a shot. His influences ranged from 18 century artist to modern day film producers.
The links between the influence and his work were clear to see once he'd pointed them out, combined with his unique styling and modern twists the results were fantastic. Andrews talk was really engaging and very interesting, he was sharing images and references that we'd had never seen before and it was a real education for the audience. He is very passionate about finding new ways to shoot and new places to explore and new subject matters, another fine talk from Mr Andrew Brooks.
After a quick coffee break and mention of the charity Auction, we where then treated to a talk from Salford’s very own Trevor Johnson. He started with defining what the word passion meant to him, a simple list of words that reflected emotions and feeling that relate to passion. His passions ranged from his love for well crafted typefaces, music, Man United and his family. We learnt a lot about what makes Trevor tick, his passion for art and namely Andy Warhol. A passion that manifested itself in owning a gallery in the northern quarter in the early 90s. Trevor also managed to mix business with pleasure with a 10 year long branding development contract with Manchester United, which allowed him to meet one of his hero's 'Cantona'. Trevor is also very passionate about making Manchester a better city this is something he has been able to implement with creating some of the city most recognisable brands such as Urbis, Dukes 92, Manchester Food Festival and not forgetting the Factory records identity. Trevor's story telling is what makes him a great speaker he has seen the city change so much over the last 3 decades and he has worked with some of the best designers helping to make Manchester one of the best city's for creatives professionals and students alike.
Our final speaker for the night was Swiss born type designer Bruno Maag. For those people who haven't had the pleasure of hearing Bruno speak he is the epitome of 'Passion' and a perfect final speaker. He began by telling us about his suit, this was no ordinary suit! He described the level of customer service and the attention detail he received during his fitting and how the suit maker took almost 45 minutes to measure him up. The joy in which Bruno described his suit was clear to see and that quality service plus attention to detail are a huge deal to him. He went on to tell us that these two thing are key values at his type foundry Dalton Maag. Bruno has very strong opinions on technology, education, type, google and life and he is not scared to share them which made for an excellent talk.
His frustration at googles open source font sharing made for an interesting listen, however this was backed up with the fact that “google ask you to sell your soul for £5,000 and this is a rip off” It is clear to see that the time and level of crafting that goes in to a Dalton Maag font completely out ways the 5K mark. He also had very strong opinions on the lack of knowledge that students have on typography, Bruno explained his interns turn up with there £2,000 pound MacBooks and he quickly replaces them with a paint brush and black Gouache. This is where their type education starts as they are asked to draw letterforms.
Bruno finished his talk with a whole hearted appeal for people to make sure they buy font licenses as this goes back in to creating better fonts and intern this will lead to better work for the design community. The intimate setting of the cornerhouse combined with the energy and enthusiasm Bruno brought to the table made for a unique fantastic end to the night leaving the whole audience fully charged and truly inspired!
All four / five speakers were brilliant and we can't thank them enough. The night was a real success and to top if off we raised £172.60 for the wood Street Mission from the Charity Auction. This was down to the generosity of everyone who attended, so a huge thank you to everyone who contributed to make the 3rd NTS a huge success.
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