From The Circle of Trust Vault - Dan Ibarra of Schoolhaus AID024
Episode 24 Originally Aired June 25th, 2013.
It was also the announcement of new permanent cohost James Flames.
Prologue
Friends,
Although I would never say it to Big Daddy Kane’s face, I do believe in “Half Steppin," in fact I am a Half Stepper and have encouraged many of you to do the same. The Half Step is the easing your way into something that seems different, exciting and often thrilling. For example, you may be a successful actor, but you’d love to Half Step it into music or a realistic example in my case you may have had a successful design career and wanted to Half Step into the lucrative would of podcasting. Today’s episode from the vault showcases Dan Ibarra’s Half Step or leap of faith into the world of higher education, where he and a friend crafted the idea of building their own school for creatives. A place where 10,000 hours of experience would be considered on par with a masters degree because after all the master's degree is an “in theory” look at a subject matter, where as 10,000 hours is living the science and discipline. An important part of this process though is that when one Half Steps they don’t give up what they already have, in fact, the Half Stepper holds on to it tightly, as they try to guess if their new love can somehow become their true love. In this episode, you’ll hear both myself and Dan Ibarra Half Steppin away from design and into our age 40 career pivots. It could be a great look at what lies ahead for you, it could be encouragement on what you’re already thinking, or it could just be an excellent episode to drop before tomorrow’s EXIT INTERVIEW with Dan Ibarra on AID655. Whichever way it makes you think or feel, enjoy the past because today is just sad.
GDGD,
Mark Brickey
Original Episode Notes
Episode 24 starts of with a big announcement that will change the sound of the show, for the first time EVER we find our Adventure In Design starting of with not just 2 voices but 3, that's right theannouncement that James Flames will be joining the show as a full time on air personality/producer. This is great news for all the Team James Flames people out there in podcast land. Not only do the boys introduce a new full time me member to the show but they also introduce a new design game that will certainly sweep the design community by storm Hire, Retire & Fire. Watch your ass could you easily be the next person to get fired by the maniacs at Adventures in Design. Speaking of getting hired, the guys talk about their upcoming live shows at Gallery F in Chicago this July and their headlining appearance in August at Weapons of Mass Creation Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. You can hear the excitement building as the AID summer tour season is quickly approaching, make sure you check out one of this summer's LIVE show recordings or invite the podcast to come out to your city for a design experience like none other on planet earth. If you really want a unique listener experience you can always go out to eat with Mark, in episode 24 Billy and James talk about some of their favorite times out on the road breaking bread and coeds with Mark. However, sharing a dinner out on the town isn't the only way to enjoy some time with Mr. Brickey, you can always instead just ask him to spell words for you, which can be hours on entertainment. Lastly, what wouldn't an episode of the show be without some good ol fashioned complaining about shitty Kickstarter campaigns.
Next up Dan Ibarra, from Aesthetic Apparatus, makes his third appearance on the show to introduce the Circle of Trust to Schoolha.us the new group-mentorship program by AA. Dan quickly informs everyone to the new way of thinking going on over at camp AA and Dan also defines that 3 or more people are needed to have a crew. Explaining what they feel is wrong with the current design education process Dan gives a glimpse into the different methods of learning and team building that they hope to create with Schoolha.us. Having a goal and wanting to learn is the key dynamic to being a successful part of the Schoolha.us program, simply put you learn what you want to learn and when you feel you're done, you're done… No more "force feeding" style of studio education. Learn more by visiting their new website here: http://schoolha.us As with all things Adventures In Design, eventually the guys debate on the long term effects that Schoolha.us may have on Aesthetic Apparatus. So even if you're a well seasoned pro, you can hopefully relate to the delicate balance of being selfless/selfish with your career, doing what you love and what you have to do, to make a honest living.
Keeping with the educational theme of Schoolha.us during Shop Talk the crew all discuss what they do and don't want to see in student portfolios and their expectations in conversation during the interview process. Moving over to their own work, more specifically showing new work to clients, the guys all discuss managing early client expectations and trying to not let folks leap to ridiculous conclusions on early rounds of work. Also, a lengthy discussion occurs when Mark shares his frustration with clients simply changing their minds and really the scope of projects in the middle of a ongoing job and how this can really effect the designer's bottom line if they don't take up for themselves. Comparing clients to 3 year olds, double taking your way out of jam and standing up for good design are just a few of the bullet points in possibly the longest ever AID discussion on dealing with those that hire you to do what you do… and to hopefully do it well.
Every now and again the show even talks about the art of design… Billy initiates a very interesting conversation on a recent Man of Steel poster curated by Mondo. Everyone takes a turn talking about designer influence and paying tribute while still leaving your own fingerprints on your work. See attached graphic below to visually see the conversation about his print and it's rich history and ever richer future.