THE LIFE OF A DUDE

Like usual, I’ve neglected my blog for way too long. It’s been a pretty crazy few months if I can say so myself. I started exploring and photographing abandoned buildings, got really into historical preservation, and made a lot of great connections here in Philadelphia.

My photos of the derelict Church of the Assumption, Divine Lorraine Hotel, and Philadelphia Metropolitan Opera House have been featured on Conrad Benner’s Streets Dept blog, along with Architect Magazine and Curbed Philly. 

On top of that, I explored the massive undeveloped tunnel system that runs for seven blocks beneath Pennsylvania Avenue. I forgot to bring a flashlight with me for that one, but it seemed to work out alright.

Stay tuned for the next time I decide to update my blog. I haven’t sat down to a good documentary in quite a while, so I feel like it’s about time to bring back my documentary spotlight column. I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, check out some of my recent Philadelphia/NYC photography on Instagram, and follow me on Twitter for some cool architecture links and other random stuff.

ESTIMATED READING TIME: 7 MINUTES

For the past few months I’ve developed a tradition of watching a documentary every Sunday morning, but depending on the ABV and total quantity of whichever beers I’m enjoying on my Saturday night (and their collective repercussions), let’s just call this segment my Weekend Documentary Spotlight. Today I’ll be examining Gary Hustwit’s Urbanized.

As it turns out, this is Hustwit’s third and final chapter in his design trilogy, with parts one and two being Helvetica (2007) and Objectified (2009). Little did I know, but Hustwit is also an EP of I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, a doc that follows around Wilco during the recording of their album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in 2002. It’s definitely worthy of your time if you dig the band.

The goal of Urbanized is to give the viewer a brief but detailed glimpse at the innovation necessary for urban design and the direction we’re headed as a civilization, beautifully described in the following quote:

“It’s very easy to get incredibly pessimistic and dark about the prospects looking forward, because if you just look at the numbers and the trend lines, it is profoundly depressing. You just want to slit your wrists. You really need a small group of innovators that can demonstrate how to do things differently. Once that gets mainstreamed, change happens really quickly.” — Edgar Pieterse, Director, African Centre for Cities

Pieterse’s morbidity really helps drive the point home that we are a civilization in transition. Population control is an issue that just isn’t being dealt with effectively, and with advances in modern medicine that extend the human lifespan, our planet will be stretched to its very limits of sustainability in the coming decades. Therefore, there has been an emphasis placed on effective development of urban areas as the metropolitan landscape continues to grow further away from the post-World War II suburban explosion. 

One interesting peek at unusual urban design is Brasilia, the federal capital of Brazil. Seen below, the layout is heaven for those who seek wide open spaces amidst a sea of concrete and steel. However, the wide expanses of land lead to an undeniable need for motorized transportation, as pedestrians and cyclists just aren’t able to navigate the city effectively. As a result, traffic cripples and pollutes the city, largely destroying the layout’s appeal.

One city that took a different approach to overcrowding and transportation is Copenhagen, where an estimated 37% of the workforce now commutes to work via bicycle. Compare this to my home city of Philadelphia, where a 2009 study found that 2.16% of workers commuted via bicycle. Keep in mind that Philadelphia is the most heavily biked city in the US, even ahead of Chicago and New York City. By comparison, Copenhagen’s numbers are astronomical. 

Effective urban design is all about systematically involving people on the ground level to help uncover solutions to problems that affect their everyday lives as city residents. By working together to boil down problems to their very core, strategies can be developed to solve, or at least improve upon the urban issues that hinder our commutes, endanger our safety and disrupt the environment. One perfect example of this initiative is The High Line in New York City.

Running 18 blocks north to south from Chelsea down to the Meatpacking District on the west side of Manhattan, The High Line was originally an elevated railway for freight trains that hauled their last shipment of frozen turkeys in 1980. After two decades of neglect had eroded the railway into an eyesore bound for demolition, The High Line is now a massive public park that offers an unparalleled tour of an incredible city. This is ingenuity at its finest — taking a stretch of rusted steel and transforming it into a peaceful getaway that hosts community events and offers a taste of nature within city limits. Take a look for yourself: 

If this is the sort of thing you’re into, Urbanized is well worth 85 minutes of your time. It’s great to see so much innovation across the world, but it leaves me wondering about the future of residential development. The overcrowding of cities and the growth of an upper class were two of the many factors that led to the suburban revolution of the mid-twentieth century, which we are now getting away from by moving back into our cities. Is this going to be a back-and-forth movement that sees the population moving back to the suburbs in 50 years, or are we really investing in a solid future for our urban landscapes? Only time will tell, I suppose.

Oh, and since I’ve got you here, you might as well follow me on Twitter.

ESTIMATED READING TIME: 3 MINUTES

I use Skype to speak to my company’s graphic designers and interns even though they sit about six feet away from me. My boss doesn’t get it. I use email to follow up with a client if I’ve missed their phone call. My clients don’t get it. So what’s the issue — am I on a mission to make my bosses and clients think I’m a socially awkward robot, afraid to have a real conversation with somebody?

Nope. Not at all. In fact, I could probably talk your ear off. But when it comes to successful project management, I’ve begun to steer my clients and my colleagues towards digital communication. Sure, it’s easy enough to get off the phone with a client and lean over to tell the designers where the logo needs to be moved. But the problem here is that ideas and revisions can get muddled, leading to an unnecessary back-and-forth and additional rounds of revisions, often busting the budget wide open and annihilating the traffic flow in the studio.

Effective digital communication is a two-way street. Over the past few months I’ve been making a big push to get every client to email me their revisions or comments for a project I sent. It’s a massive undertaking; like trying to teach your dog a new word for “sit.” He already knows the command, so why wouldn’t he just stick with what he knows? If the client has grown accustomed to relaying changes via telephone, that’s probably what they’ll stick to. But my client’s time is valuable and so is mine, therefore it’s worth taking a moment to sit down and work together to write out these requests. I could just scribble notes while the client lists their thoughts over the phone, but that just doesn’t work as well as one might hope.

So why is this important? What’s my goal? Well, people get busy. My clients are usually out at meetings or swamped with paperwork, so the time I have with them is extremely valuable. It’s my job to maximize the use of our time together. Instead of chaotic runaround conversations over the phone, I’m trying to get the client to take a moment to sit down and analyze the project I sent over. An effective launch, regardless of the medium, requires analysis and reflection of the original concept and core values of the project. I’ve seen projects that were rushed out the door and they just don’t compare to those that were given ample time for creative concepting, design, revisions and masterful collaboration between all parties.

The ultimate goal is to deliver the best results for every demand that comes into the studio. And by implementing this new push for email in place of telephone conversations, my company has been able to produce better work in a shorter timeframe with more effective collaboration and happier clients. I’m excited to see the progress of my shift to digital communication over the next year or so, and I’ll certainly keep you informed.

ESTIMATED READING TIME: 2 MINUTES

This morning a coworker sent me a link to a @StreetsDept blog post highlighting the 15 best spots to Instagram from in Philly (in no particular order). He’s got some great shots/locations, including the Divine Lorraine (dying to check this place out) and the Reading Viaduct, but I’ve got a few more locations I’ve Instagrammed around Center City that are worth checking out for yourself.

1. The Comcast Center

2. Washington Square Park

3. The Drake (15th & Spruce)

4. Center City Churches

5. From the Art Museum

6. Ben Franklin Bridge / Race Street Pier

7. Rittenhouse Square

8. Rittenhouse Area / Graduate Hospital

Take a look at my other photos on Instagram (@zpatten) and be sure to follow all the great work from Streets Dept.

ESTIMATED READING TIME: 2 MINUTES

Back in my days as an editorial intern at Campus Philly, I took part in a Center City food tour for an article I needed to write. After stops at DiBruno Bros. and Naked Chocolate Cafe, the tour guide stopped us in the middle of the sidewalk and told us to look up. Little did I know that some of the most interesting architecture in the city is right above our heads, in the places we choose not to even acknowledge as we rush to work or where ever we’re headed. 

I’ve always been endlessly fascinated by historical photographs that show me exactly what once stood in a familiar place. Yesterday at work I came across a bookmarked link from last summer titled Old Scenes of Philadelphia (click to view), which led me to spend a few hours browsing the online photo archives of the Free Library of Philadelphia. 

I’ve had this idea for a few years where I want to collect a bunch of iconic photos of politicians, head down to DC and recreate each shot but with me taking the place of the subject (wearing a blazer, of course). Sounds kind of pompous but whatever. I don’t know why, but I just think it’s so cool that I can stand in the same place where someone or something significant had once been, and it’s just passed over by thousands everyday due to ignorance.

Since I’m in Philadelphia pretty much everyday, I’ve decided to start my own photo mission to shoot current-day comparisons of what used to be. My first attempt is my own workplace at 1613 Spruce Street. The window above the door all the way to the right is the one I’m looking out from as I type this. Turns out there used to be an air conditioner here when the original photo was taken in 1969. Take a look below (boo your 500 pixel limit, Tumblr!) or click here to visit my Flickr account for a better view.

Check back for more of these — I have a feeling it’s going to be a very addicting project for me. And a big thank you to @EmilyBallas for her quick Photoshop work!

ESTIMATED READING TIME: 6 MINUTES

Work has been especially busy of late, thanks to some new clients, promotional pieces and plenty of new projects in the mix. My company has typically done a pretty great job organizing documents, design files, pdfs and everything else with the system of organization we use on our server, but the day-to-day management of each project took a hit with so many jobs circulating around the studio.

As a project manager/traffic coordinator/intern coordinator/copywriter/gopher/account exec/kitchen cleaner, it’s my job to find a method to the madness. Lots of madness. In the past I’ve created spreadsheets in Excel/Numbers, documents in Word/Pages, and even went so far as to write out each job number on post-it notes and arrange them in order on my desktop. My actual desktop. I got all analog with it. Needless to say, it didn’t work the way I’d hoped. But I was recently tipped off to a project management web application at Ignite Philly 9 by @parkerwhitney called Trello. 

Holy SHIT has Trello made my job easier. I’m still pretty swamped most of the time, but I finally have time to work on back-burner projects (that I wish were at the forefront!) like the company blog, social media, and overhauling the internship program. 

The way it works is really simple. I created a board named Everything, which shows every active project we have — from what’s currently in the studio to the jobs we already sent to the client and waiting for feedback. Here’s a (tiny) screenshot of the board I set up for work:

I created lists named Currently in the Studio, Coming Up, Sent/Awaiting Further Instruction, Intern Projects, and Top Priority which isn’t in frame. As soon as a creative brief comes in, I create a job number and organize all the incoming content on the server. Then BOOM, I create a new card and file it right into the Coming Up list. 

The greatest thing about each card is that they all expand, allowing me to add relevant employees to the jobs I assign, and write frequent status updates which are pushed as notifications to each person’s account. I can add checklists, due dates, @-mentions to call attention directly to a specific person, and vote for projects, which is my simple way to remind myself that a certain project is completed and ready to be sent according to my schedule. Here’s a good shot of a card that utilizes most of these features:

For the past few months I’ve been creating a wireframe in my head for the ideal web-based project management program to suit my needs, and Trello beat me to the punch with nearly everything. The only glaring omission is an internal time tracker. I’m thinking something like Toggl, but integrated into the application.

All in all, this thing rules. It gives everyone a consistent view of exactly who is assigned to specific projects and lets everyone know what is on deck for the future. No more unnecessary back-and-forth while important pieces of information get lost along the way. Now I can sit back and create a digital landscape of each employee’s duties.

And damn, it’s great to be able to focus more attention on the blog.

ESTIMATED READING TIME: 2 MINUTES

I typically ride the PATCO train in from Collingswood to 15/16 & Locust every morning. About six months ago, I got on the train and tweeted that “This train smells like a train fire.” This morning I tweeted “This train kind of smells like a train fire again.”

That’s because it was on fire! The terminal in Camden was pretty smokey and my train was evacuated. Instead of sitting in a packed terminal, waiting a while for the next overloaded train to come through, I decided this was as good of an opportunity as any to walk across the Ben Franklin Bridge.

I’ve always wanted to do it and I’m glad I did. It’d be cool to bike over it when it’s a bit warmer outside. Here are some photos:

Thanks PATCO, for making my morning a bit different today.

ESTIMATED READING TIME: 3 MINUTES

Bill, Susan and their friends stand next to the swings at recess. As an autumn breeze blows ripples across their shirts, Bill smiles. Bill is taller than Susan, but only by half an inch. Ernie looks down at his red shoelaces. He is shorter than both Bill and Susan, even with his new hi-tops. Next to Ernie is Jane. Jane’s untamed blonde hair sways in the wind, adding an extra three inches to her height. Now Jane is taller than Ernie, but still shorter than Bill and Susan. Jamal walks up and asks if anyone would like to play Frisbee. Jamal is one inch taller than Bill. Susan and Jane accept his invitation and walk to the grassy area by the entrance to the cafeteria. Ernie glances at his other friends jumping around by the jungle gym. He leaves Bill alone, running to play Power Rangers with the other boys. Throughout the rest of their lives, these five children maintain their exact differences in height. Years later and well into their respective careers, Bill has become a fighter pilot for the US Navy. He experiences an engine malfunction while lining up to land on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. The arrow on his altimeter frantically spins counter-clockwise as he hears the engine cut out completely, panicking at the howl of the wind flowing over his canopy. He is forced to eject, violently compressing his spine as he is shot from his aircraft like a rocket headed towards the moon. He suffers no serious injuries, but permanently loses two and a half inches of height and, subsequently, his naval career.

Is Bill still taller than Jane?

This was a creative twist on a math word problem that I just found in one of my old creative writing notebooks from college. My professors always wanted my stories to be wrapped up with a pretty bow. I didn’t.

ESTIMATED READING TIME: 3 MINUTES

“It was this ‘How big do you want the logo, sir?’ All the [bad agencies] cared about was milking money out of clients and giving them what they want — that kind of formula makes for so much of the bad work in our industry,” said Lee Clow, Chief Creative Officer for TBWA/Chiat/Day. “It almost seemed deceitful to allow clients to dictate mediocre work and then pay us for it when we aspire to do something better.”

Art & Copy has been in my Netflix queue for quite a while now, and I finally got a chance to watch it the other night. It offers one hell of an insight into the advertising world and the duality of an ad-man to not only create a campaign that some clients might consider to be insane, but also to sell the client on its impending (and unknown) success. 

Some endlessly fascinating stories are told, like George Lois’s contribution to Tommy Hilfiger’s overnight success and advertising giant Weiden + Kennedy’s tale of Nike’s Just Do It campaign, which was inspired by the dying quote of a death row inmate as he stood in front of a firing squad. And let me just say that holy shit, Weiden + Kennedy’s workspace alone is a good reason to watch this documentary. I guarantee you’ll wish you worked there.

I really like how all the interviews relate back to the importance of creating and standing behind good, organic work. 

“It’s like Babe Ruth trying to hit a home run,” said David Kennedy of Weiden + Kennedy. “If you miss, you miss. But at least you swung the bat as hard as you could.”

And this is something that I agree with completely. I would have rather spent the day creating something that I believe in, even if the client feels otherwise. 

Watch Art & Copy and continue creating things that YOU can stand behind. Why settle for mediocrity when you can create something unforgettable?

ESTIMATED READING TIME: 2 MINUTES

I really like coming across old textbooks from college. This one, Evidence by Luc Sante, shows unedited photographs from NYPD crime scenes with descriptions. Evidence was one of the required texts my class analyzed in my Writing, Research and Technology class at Rowan junior year.

I like when any form of media doesn’t hold back, especially photography. While some may look away, I encourage you to look closer. None of us know how we’ll die. It’s a safe bet that none of us think we’ll be brutally murdered. But this book gives us a glimpse into that final outcome, whether or not these people saw it coming.

I really recommend checking out this book if you’re an aspiring photographer. Some of the angles these crime scene investigators chose to shoot have such an artistic flare to them that you can’t help but consider these images art.

Another case in which the victim may have been assaulted before being removed to the uncomfortable-looking davenport on which he died He looks young and undernourished, his waist half the size of that of his trousers. He is unshaven, which suggests either joblessness or an elapsed day between collapse and photography (beards, like fingernails, continue to grow after death). The blood would appear to be coming from his back.

“Photo of dead body of Marion who was murdered in shanty at Old Stone Rd & Bullshead Golden 1915.” The newspapers next to her body supply the date of her demise: during the World Series, when the Red Sox beat the Phillies. Although she was a Times reader, that paper did not carry the story of her murder.

ESTIMATED READING TIME: 4 MINUTES

Let me be honest — I didn’t have a clue how to define branding when I went in for the interview with my work. It was a word that I associated with livestock, not visual identity. But with some time and lots of experience in the field, I’ve gained a clear vision of what it means and why it’s important.

When people ask me what my company does, I often have to explain what branding really means. The easiest way to spell it out is that a brand is the visual identity across which all communication is, well, communicated. When you think of Coca Cola, you think red. You think polar bears. You think that old script they use as a font. 

But why does it matter?

I’ve noticed a recent trend of small to mid-sized companies ditching agencies and replacing them with a single in-house designer. It makes financial sense, sure, but the advantages of a full-service agency trump single employees in ways the clients don’t understand until it’s too late.

To quote a Twitter response I received from Jim Walls, Executive Creative Director at Philadelphia branding agency 160 over 90, “Agency: diverse outside perspective/cost. In-house: dedicated resource/limited perspective.” Companies seem to share the sentiment that an in-house designer is capable of the same work and diversity that an agency produces. However, I’ve noticed that monthly retainers with clients are often a bargain, considering an agency can have several designers working simultaneously on a larger workload, thus completing more work at a higher quality and faster rate.

I understand why many companies are reducing cost. It’s rough going out there. And not to put down individual graphic designers, but they can’t compete with the productivity and experience possessed by an agency. These designers are also likely to get burned out and overworked as their employer turns to their knowledge and expertise for every issue. 

To outsiders, the importance of visual identity may seem low. Many not in the know just don’t see it as a viable thing worth investing in. But I’d like to see the financial numbers of companies after they ditch their brand image and brand consistency.

Hell, I think to something as simple as buying a bottle of whiskey — I’m going to spend more for a higher quality product because not only is it a better product, but I really appreciate the craftsmanship put into the design of the bottle and the extra add-ons that come with it. I’m investing in a better experience.

Bottom line: agencies provide a stable of skilled workers. The price is a bit more than an in-house designer, but can you really put a price on identity?