Louise Fili spoke at a conference that I attended in May. She ended her presentation with an anecdote about that illustrated how her graphic design skills recently prevent hunger, albeit on a small scale.
During Ms. Fili’s return trip to the States from Italy, she witnessed a flustered flight attendant getting quite upset when a man couldn’t respond as to whether he wanted to eat fish or chicken. Unable to speak his language or find someone on the aeroplane that could, the flight attendant just tossed the menu card listing the victuals onto his fold-down dining tray and walked away.
Alas, dear readers, have no fear. This was a lucky man! He was about to be “rescued.”
He was sitting next to Louise Fili, and she wasn’t about to let this amiable gent go hungry. She whipped out her pen and drew a cartoonish chicken and simple fish that looked like it belonged on the back of a devout Christian family’s station wagon. The man smiled, understood, and made his selection (chicken). She finished by joking that graphic design may not save lives, but that day she did use her artistic talents to prevent hunger. And it made her feel good.
Which of your graphic design talents have you used to solve problems in a pinch?
For those of you who enjoy anecdotes but are interested in the helpful hints that Louise Fili shared with attendees at the conference, here is a condensed look at my notes from her presentation “From the Convent to the Mob: Why I Switched from Publishing To Restaurants.”
Key ideas to remember when working with clients:
- Always give the client 5 or more original concepts to choose from.
- Teach your clients a few things about your concepts. For instance, if you choose a triangle shape and used it for a reason, tell them why.
- Show your favorite concept in a more refined manner. This will help you sell the idea better because you can show its application and how well it will work in the end run for the client.
During the first five minutes of my very first class in college, my professor made us pull out our rulers and find something on our bodies that measured 1 inch exactly. I thought he was on crack. We all had these "What the hell?" expressions on our faces but we measured away and found our personal 1-inch rulers anyway.
Mine turned out to be quite handy -- from the tip of my thumb to where it first bends at the knuckle is 1-inch.
Since that time I have used my thumb to measure approximate sizes of things on the fly in meetings. I've yet to save a life or prevent hunger with my thumb, though.
On Jul.03.2003 at 10:42 AM