OFFSET Dublin 2018
We were at OFFSET Dublin, and as usual, we like to share our learnings with you.
We were at OFFSET Dublin, and as usual, we like to share our learnings with you.
First of all, here’s a quick intro to what OFFSET is:
With over 2,500 attendees each year, OFFSET has fast become one of the world’s most inspirational, educational and vocational conferences for the design and creative industries. Representing industry at all levels, our speakers are key disruptors and influencers in their field driving everything from huge global campaigns to awe-inspiring personal projects.
Yes, we were inspired.
It’s always a nice experience to go out there and see what it’s like. You learn that despite the ups and downs you face, you’re not alone – as an industry. It’s more or less the same everywhere.
We listened to a lot of speakers from small and big players, from artists to agencies to Facebook, but we’ll keep this short and mention our favorites:
1) Agree to things you can't do to push yourself.
The idea here is basic. If you only agree to things you know how to do; you’ll never learn anything new. You’ll never become better. You’ll never become "more"!
2) Stay Humble and Learn.
It's ok to think your work is not great, otherwise you're not trying hard enough. Overconfidence can be the end of you. There’s always room to learn, and to improve. Listen, because everyone sees things from a different angle. It’s then up to you to decide to act upon what you heard or not. But listen!
3) Stop the fancy jargon!
Although this is targeted to agencies, it can work in any field. Stop trying to intimidate and sound fancy. Let go of the complicated jargon and sophisticated adjective. It serves no purpose other than to flaunt your feathers, when using simple language builds trust and makes the work move faster in a more efficient way.
An example on this: empowering is overused, it’s literarily used by all women’s organization. Moving Brands surfaced their client over the noise with this tagline "For Her World" for a women empowerment organization.
4) Don’t be afraid to be different.
Brands are starting to look the same, so it's ok to do something that sticks out from the industry. When you start working on a project, don’t research the competitors, don’t even research the industry… otherwise, you’ll be doing something similar. (We still think you should research them, it’s just that you should try to be inspired by other industries as well)
5) Mistakes happen!
Red Dog, a design agency, made the unthinkable. They mislabeled Cyprus from a map stamp commissioned to the Queen of England. The world just exploded with insults and criticism, then everything was fine again. Mistakes aren’t okay, but it’s fine if they happen. We all do. Be understanding.
We also sat for a very interesting workshop by Facebook’s Creative Shop.
The key takeaways from there:
- Small clients can compete with big clients on social media: nothing is limiting you but your creativity!
- Videos are big! Yes, we know you know, but they’re even bigger than that!
Make sure you’re creating videos for mobile: portrait and not landscape. - People’s attention is getting ridiculously short: 3 seconds! That’s all you have sometimes to tell your brand story.
- What are the best practices for Instagram stories? They don't know! It’s that new and they too are figuring it out as they go. That one was funny & Interesting.
We’ll leave you with a few fun stories too:
