Master's Project

YOU’RE A RAINBOW and I’M not COLORBLIND

BY CÁTIA DE CARVALHO & HER VERTIGINOUS BRAIN

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

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The One with the Acknowledgments

RAINBOW CLASSICS Published by London School of Film, Design & Media University of West London St Mary's Rd, London W5 5RF England Supervision by Catarina Lélis PhD, MSc, BA (Hons), FHEA Senior Lecturer in Branding and Innovation Supervision by Patrick Roberts Visiting Professor Advertising, Branding and Communication Supervision by Dennis A. Olsen BA (Hons), MA, PhDr., PhD Lecturer in Advertising and Branding Personal Tutoring by Damian Chapman Deputy Head of School, Head of Subject: Design & Fashion Final Masters Project by Copyright © Cátia de Carvalho, 2018 MA Advertising, Branding & Communication All rights reserved Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmited, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this project A CIP catalogue record for this project is available at www.catiadecarvalho.com Rainbow Classics is commited to deliver insightful connections for all of us “Under Construction”

The One with the Acknowledgements

To my supercalifragilisticexpialidocious professors Dr. Catarina Lélis and Patrick Roberts

To my phenomenal mentor Ricardo Miranda

To my wonderful family Jaqueline & José Santos and Ricardo Carvalho

To my amazing colleagues Romy Rahmeh and Patreece Foster

To my supportive friends you all know who you are

To my randomly weird housemates Foteini Lemperou, Anika Rudolph, Bastian Tyrko and Jay Trembley

To my magnificent partner Joe Richard Liles

To my vertiginous brain “Sleep is for the dead”

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You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

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01.

ALWAYS START WITH THE WHY Abstract and Keywords 03 Introduction 04 Rationale Project Ecosystem

03.

02.

OF WHAT YOU’RE DOING Research Question Research Sub-Questions Research Goals Methodology

AND IDENTIFY TO WHO Theoretical Framework Literature Review State of the Art Case Studies

04.

NEVER FORGETTING

HOW YOU’RE GETTING THERE

05.

AND WHEN & WHERE IS THERE Implications Originality and Contribution Limitations and Future Studies List of References Bibliography

The Story/Context Target Audience Conversational Debates Service Blueprint Customer Journey Persona Map Network Diagram

The One with the Abstract

The One with the Abstract

The present research study aims to explore innovative solutions to current operational systems regarding recruitment process practices.

This straightforward communication problem between creative individuals who find unable to express themselves (restricted by prescribed frameworks given by the existing gatekeepers) and companies that also find themselves inefficient when creating the message to discover ‘the right person for the right role’ (ravaged by the intersection of mediators) is still being dictated by third parties that only choose to value the technical and labor skills. ending up neglecing candidate’s human agency.

It was intended to explore an idiosyncratic and meaningful approach for individuals to get their return on individuality and simultaneously, companies their return on investment.

The research follows an inductive and qualitative approach, strongly based on the Grounded Theory (a methodic gathering and systematic analysis of data), in a mindset of not anticipating any answers, allowing contextualised serendipity to lead the project, by producing different results and, unveiling permutations and configurations affected by this concept. The empirical and primary research process started with a fresh canvas as a first study, allowing to gain some traction and insights about this essence conundrum without resorting to existing strategies, finalising with a theoretical proposition.

It is purposive to propose a powerful solution and a practical antidote to misfit the paradox of non-creative job applications prepared by those who are trying to get a creative position.

The supposition of the heuristic future unsystematic structure is to divert from the ‘ed’ systems: standardised, mechanised, industrialised procedures and instead, provide with a more sophisticated operation using a semiotic approach through the generation on meaning, that will lead to a greater depth of research, grounding and insight to facilitate the hiring interaction.

The theoretical proposition will, hopefully, enable designers to capture their individuality and -self in some shape or form to then render it into usable broadcasting for a company to respond to it, hence filling a gap in the identified communications’ problem – possibly originating a more creative approach to the symbiotic relation between employers and future employees.

Creative Industries, Personal Branding, Job Descriptions, Recruitment Process, Communication, Semiotics

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You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

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The One with the Introduction

Creative Industries

Participant A.

Times of Interregnum

Participant B.

-----

------------------------------

INDIVIDUAL Seeks Companies for Job Role X

Observed System

Problem

Lack of Individualisation

----------------------

is measured by

Stop swimming endlessly against the current leading to drowning in order to be able to ‘stand out of the crowd’ in the abundant pool of talent.

“How to scream louder?”

--------------------------------------------------

Guidelines Formulas Templates Step-by-step processes

affects the

Inability

Observed System

COMPANY Seeks Individual for Job Role X

Gatekeeper

Strategy

Strategy

Inability

Recruitment Agencies HR Departments Networking Website Advert

Stop only recognising certain colours in how a person operates and their technical skills, failing to see their layered rainbow.

“How to find the right person for the job?”

How to develop a Job Description Observed System

---------------------

Observed System

Problem

Job Role Default Setting

Laggards -----------------

Sheeple

How to find an accurate Alignment

Outliers?

Fail to find talented people

Innovators?

Problem

1 in 10 is a Successful Match

Strategy

Inability

Meeting with both ends of the spectrum List of requirements Recruitment plan Candidate screening Interviews On-the-spot challenges

Stop recognising only labor/technical skills and start paying attention to the Human Agency of both I. and C, in order to achieve a successful match.

Observing System

Observing System

Figure 1. Context of the contemporary system: Hiring Interaction

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You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

Classic frames of references

Classic frames of references

ES S E NC E

Fail to express themselves

BLAC K HOL E

How to develop a Personal Brand

The One with the Introduction

The creative industries rely on a competitive base of operations where their potential task force increasingly find themselves in a time of interregnum (Bauman, 2012) regarding employment methods. This term, refers to a timespan of unknown length regarding the morphology of human togetherness, the structure of human cohabitation.

The frustration found in the classic ways of doing things that no longer work, the old learned or inherited frames of references, severely limit a person’s ability to exercise their human agency (Best, 2014). These pratices are no longer suitable for the current need for an individual’s faculty to be distinctive and creatives begin to arguably question their place in society and inevitably, the marketplace.

Despite the first signs of a selfpackaging concept first introduced in 1977 by Tom Peters under the term personal branding (Lair, Sullivan & Cheney,

2005), 40 years later designers looking for a job are still following this standardised method. These have made their continuous claims, searching for new ways of living and expressing themselves yet, end up going through inexhaustible results of guidelines, formulas, templates and step-by-step processes, challenging the very nature of being human.

The current mechanical nature of this process leads to the opposition of their own statement — the lack of individualisation for the candidates, endlessly following the crowd, consequently becoming Sheeple[1], when in fact humans are one of the most known complex systems. Morin (1991) defines system as a whole not reduced to the sum of its parts but, on the contrary, dependent on external and complex sources of power, supplying energy, matter and information, preparing it to become self-organising and self-ecological. Human structures are momentary and dynamic, not static properties (Drazin, Glynn & Kazanjian, 2004).

Parallel to this non fulfillment for the creative individual, so creative companies’ major struggle is on finding the right person for the role (Mikkelsen, 2015). The prevailing recruitment method of collecting a variety of typical resources, mostly conducted by one layout, a job description, has become outdated (Baker, 2017). These provide with what a company requires of a candidate, however do not give margin for more than a job-role default setting, becoming a flawed mechanism for discovering talented people. Throughout this tick the boxes tactic, one can only see how a person mechanically operates, but not their embodiment, leading to a high inability You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

to match successfully the two ends of the spectrum (Tan, 2017), both expectedly creative.

In addition to this communication problem, there are gatekeepers dictating the process and outcome of this conversation: the recruitment companies. Functioning on a previously set frame (Goffman, 1974), if the candidate does not fit their fabricated structure, recruiters will fail on finding true Outliers[2], since these gatekeepers usually do not possess the specialist knowledge to identify them.

Societal pressures and corporate norms nudge the young creatives towards ideas and behaviours that are appropriate or expected, however, the rewards for creativity and individuality, which are worth the effort, are well forgotten. This is why the recruitment black hole needs a thoughtful overhaul.

The goal is to go beyond the personal branding/ job description paradigm that seems to work well for Sheeple but not for Outliers – for the latter, it just does not serve the purpose, standing immune to the conventional patterns of thinking, preferring to rely on their intuition and reveal a refined representation to all stakeholders (Figure 1).

Therefore, the purpose of this research is to identify a more sophisticated system, which consists through finding—identifying—capturing—revealing this thing called individual essence.

[1] Sheeple: a portmanteau of "sheep" and "people" is a derogatory term that highlights the passive herd behaviour of people easily controlled by a governing power which likens them to sheep, a herd animal that is easily led about.

The term is used to describe those who voluntarily acquiesce to a suggestion without critical analysis or research. (Retrieved from Wikipedia, accessed 3rd May 2018).

[2] Outliers: by Malcom Gladwell, book in which the author defines these as exceptional people who do not fit into our normal understanding of achievement, who operate at the extreme outer edge of what is statistically plausible.

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inductive

unveil permutations

qualitative

a n d co n f i g u ra t i o n s

g ro u n d e d t h e o ry

f ra m i n g t h e o ry

Re s e ar c h s e r e n d i p i t y

15 companies 10 designers

co nversa tio n fa cil ita tion

3 psychologists

Rainbow

3 re c ru i te r s

Create a “Under Construction” Movement

h i r i n g i n te ra c t i o n semiotic principles and analysis

e x p e r im ent

self

- a w a re n e s s -perception

va l id at i o n

-concept -evaluation -statement

re s u l t s co n f i rm a t i o n by individual's

- e x p re s s i o n

r e p r e s e n t at i o n

personal connections

-knowledge nudge theory

interpersonal

f i g u ra t i ve

ties theory

verbal...visual synoptic view

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You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

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The One with the Research Question

How might we represent the essence of an individual enabling a closer alignment with what creative companies are looking for?

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The One with the Research Sub-Questions

How might we How might we explore the barriers of conventional employment methods?

How might we extrapolate relevant data in culture fit?

How might we not rely on third parties to exercise human agency?

How might we develop unsystematic systems that produce individuality?

How might we capture and reveal the idiosyncratic-self?

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

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The One with the Research Goals

This research consists of two goals: firstly, to find an approach to allow the individual to express himself escaping the confines of traditional methods - and once found the articulation of this quest and to deliver some utility for the industry - it will secondly, have a commercial application in the hiring process for the company, making a contribution to the creative industry (facilitating their major problems: time, money and energy waste, but much more importantly, humanity waste).

The One with the Research Goals

? t r s e jo ma qu

Example of a great analogy: Individual needs a pair of shoes.

Problem: 11 is too short, 12 is too big - he can not find a model that fits between these sizes. Solution: Bespoke shoe.

Process: He gets his feet measured and examined with meticulous notes taken on the precise statistics of each foot, which are then used to create a mould called the ‘Last’ - they are individual to the shoes for which they were designed for. Further on patterns are produced with intricate details and information needed to make the shoes look and feel perfectly, moving into several steps to create unlike factory-made shoes - making it unique to their owner and a foolproof fit.

This customised process is very similar to what the research is trying to achieve - create an accurate shape of an individual that can, ultimately, be turned into something valuable and significant for the company.

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You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

.capture that individuality in some shape or form

or n i m ? t s e qu

.render it into usable broadcasting for a company to respond to it

1.

Get the desired job

Create an innovative way of materialising represent the essence of an individual!

MANIFESTING

2.

?

Rethink the existent systems that do not deliver.

(Escaping the confines of personal branding) - still produce physicality.

Get the desired person Redefine the approach companies use to

find the “right person for the right job”

Rethink existent systems of how companies describe what it is they’re looking for and redesign their distribution platforms.

(Escaping the confines of job descriptions) - still produce a process.

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

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The One with the Methodoly, Methods and Techniques

w

life

k r o

certainty mistery

w or

life

k

w

k r o

life

have time to make mistakes

w

or

k

life 17

In order to not contradict what argued initially against prescribed mechanisms, the research follows an inductive and qualitative approach, strongly based on Grounded Theory (Glaser and Strauss,1967), helping to bridge the gap between theory and empirical research. Combining traditions in sociology, positivism and symbolic interactionism, it is according to Raph, Birks & Chapman (2015) a “dynamic methodology” and its strategy is to take the interpretation of meaning in social interaction and study the ‘interrelationship between meaning in the perception of the subjects and their action’.

Symbolic interactionism is considered to be one of the most important theories to have influenced grounded theory, according to it, understanding the world by interpreting human interaction and its meaning, occurs through the use of symbols, in linguistics (Aldiabat and Navenec, 2011) and classical pragmatism. It is a down-to-earth approach to the scientific naturalist study of human group life and human conduct, infused with four interweaving themes: (1) suggests that distinctly

human worlds are not only material, objective worlds but also immensely semiotic, symbolic ones.

Indeed, for interactionists, what marks human beings off from all other animals is their elaborate semiotics: a symbol-producing capacity which enables them to produce a history, a culture, and very intricate webs of ambiguous communication, (2) that of change, flux, emergence, process.

Lives, situations, even societies are always and everywhere evolving, adjusting, becoming and this constant process makes interactionists focus upon the strategies of acquiring a sense of self, of developing a biography, of adjusting to others, of organizing a sense of time, of negotiating order and of constructing civilizations, (3) that of interaction, the focus of all interactionist work is neither with the individual nor the society per se; rather, its concern is with the joint acts through which lives are organized and societies assembled, namely, “collective behaviour” and (4) engagement with the empirical world, not relying on theoretical heavens, symbolic interactionists stay grounded to earth (PlumYou’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

mer, 2012). Interactionism has contributed to several major areas as identity theory, dramaturgy, collective behaviour, culture and art, sociolinguistics, and social problems theory; and has proven its value in new modern approaches to ethnography, emotion, and symbolic interactionist analysis of organisation, hence the identified communications’ problem, the hiring interaction proposition.

Once the data is gathered, it consists of four steps: (a) codes: identifying anchors that allow the key points of the data to be gathered, (b) concepts: collections of codes of similar content that allows the data to be grouped, (c) categories: broad groups of similar concepts that are used to generate a theory and (d) theory: a collection of categories that detail the subject of the research. This theory allows for an individual researcher’s creativity (within a clear frame of stages) flourish in a mindset of not anticipating any answers, allowing a contextualised serendipity (method) to lead the project, by producing different results and, unveiling permutations and configurations affected by this concept.

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The One with the Methodoly, Methods and Techniques

The One with the Methodoly, Methods and Techniques

The empirical and primary research process started with a fresh canvas as a first study, allowing to gain some traction and insights on this essence conundrum without resorting to existing strategies (such as personal branding) giving to a sample of random people (N=10) a single and non-prescriptive task: express yourself, to yourself. Grounded on ethnographic approaches, these participants had no external influence, no mediator service and no prescribed formula, and were allowed to play by their own rules, using an unlimited collection of platforms and resources at their discretion, to find ways to represent their self. The outputs were to be assembled and translated into some shape or form, for results to be refined and their validity to be tested, formalising an open unrestrained system in which to lead to more solid insights, discovering useful ways in which creatives can reveal themselves and, hopefully, capture their essence. The goal with the Grounded theory is to formulate an hypotheses based on conceptual ideas, aming not for the "truth", but the conceptualisation of what is going on by using empirical research (Glaser, 1998). Whilst the duration of the this stage, some questions were raised by the participants in terms of the given brief and/or the technique chosen.

Due to the total freedom and such an open-wide question, the participants did not know how to represent themselves free from any frameworks, raising an unexpected number of questions. In face of this result, where people need orientation and guidance, it was necessary to define the way in which valid inputs would be received and elevated.

Because grounded theories are not tied to any preexisting theory, these are often fresh, new and have the potential for innovative discoveries in science and other areas, giving the researcher freedom to generate new concepts explaining human behavior.

This freedom is optimal when the researcher refrains from (1) recording (pre-set) interviews: a common method in qualitative research yet counter-productive and a misuse of time in the chosen theory, which moves fast (always generating new, relevant concepts that fit the data), (2) doing a (pre-research) literature review: giving preconceptions about what to find leads the researcher to be desensitised by borrowed concepts, instead this theory method increases theoretical sensitivity, leaving this section to be treated as more data to code and compare with what has already been coded and generated, and (3) talking about the research before it is written up: which only drains the researcher of motivational energy. Talking can either render praise or criticism, and both diminish the motivational drive to write memos that develop and refine the concepts and the theory (Glaser, 1998). Positive feedback makes researchers content with what they have and negative feedback hampers their self-confidence. Talking about the Grounded theory should be restricted to people's’ capability of helping the researcher without influencing their final judgments, hence little class discussion was held, preferring to rely on personal tutorials insightful feedback, discussion with experts at industry events and extensive desk research.

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You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

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The One with the Methodoly, Methods and Techniques

u

C

t

t

n

E

a

y

r

i

Nudge (theory)

Brief

Cultural Probes

Figurative Representation

Empirical and primary research Fresh canvas - Essence Conundrum Random Sample (N=10) brief: “Express Yourself, to Yourself”

Research focus: 1 Job Position.

Performance Q. < Cultural Q. Use of cultural probes.

Bundle of expressive narratives results on multidimensional possibilities.

I. carries out Heuristic approach.

Learn by discovering things themselves, not by mandate.

Achieves final brief: a capture of their “self”.

Explore possibilities of: Self-evaluation, Self-definition, Self-statement, Self-expression

I. Power Shift Observing<Observed Give the power to choose how to express and reveal themselves, leading to undiscovered variables.

Thaler, 2008.

e

Assemble and translate outputs.

Refine results. Test validity.

C. ROI (Return On Investment)

e

R. ROEI (Return On Ethical Impact)

SK UK

Inter personal Ties (theory)

a c

K

tools

b r

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I. ROI Return On Individuality

m

In a second study, the research focused on one job position. Instead of asking performance questions (that lead into a default job description advert), the core would be on cultural questions, following a set of cultural probes (Gaver, Dunne & Pacenti, 1999).

These Outliers, being their own observers, were given the power to choose how to express and reveal themselves, leading to an infinite number of undiscovered variables, displaying their most important asset: their essence.

In allusion to the use of cultural probes (or a carefully selected and tested toolkit), the participants would carry out a heuristic approach, in order to learn by discovering things themselves, by their own experiences, rather than by mandate, functioning as a nudge (Thaler, 2008) to achieve their final brief: a synoptic view, a capture, a figurative representation of their self which, together with the recordings from the cultural probes and, as signs, would be analysed via Barthian semiotics, interpreting denoted and connoted meanings, in order to possibly extract a myth (Barthes, 1973).

To be able to present it to the companies they were applying for, a heuristic model supporting the myth would be built. With the several layers of interpretations and meanings that myths carry, an innovative model would enable the disclosure of what gatekeepers fail to see, hopefully working as a mapping system for the creative companies. In order to confirm and validate the final results, the model would go through the interpersonal ties theory within the individuals’ personal connections: strong (known), weak (semi-known) and absent (unknown) (Granovetter, 1973). (Figure 2)

The One with the Methodoly, Methods and Techniques

Essence Validation

Embody popular idea on social phenomena

Semiotics Analysis

Final result confirmation.

Model goes through the individuals’ personal connections: strong (known), weak (semi-known) and absent (unknown).

Myth “abolishes the complexity of human acts, it gives them the simplicity of essences…”

Barthes defines 2 types: the strong and the weak myths.

Together with the recordings from the cultural probes and, as signs via Barthian semiotics, denotation and connotation meanings will be interpreted.

Granovetter, 1973.

3rd Order Barthes. Mythologies. p. 143

1st and 2nd Order

Figure 2. Potential system: Model methodological approach

N

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

n r

Th em es

[St ory board]

Conne ct th e Do ts

Brainstorming o ppo rt u n i t i e s

The use of cultural probes is believed to provide a figurative representation, passing through a variety of connotations until a materialisation can be found, allowing to denote something. Once the endorsement is complete, the designer/creative who has been dragged into these contemporary factory-life type template structures would present it to the companies, ideally enabling a closer alignment between his/her authenticity and with what the company is looking for.

This way, the time, money and, most importantly, human waste are reduced, and human capital is saved/retained. Companies will have their ROI (Return On Investment), and creatives will have their ROI (Return On Individuality), with an extra work on ROE (Return on Ethics).

y

Sp ace Sat u rat ion

Min d Map p in g

f rame an d re- f rame q u est io n s

l ate ral th in kin g

P rob l e m D e f i n i ti on

Co n ce pt an d E x pe ri e n ce M appi n g /Po s t e r

Imp ac t /D if f icu lt y Mat rix

P e rs on a P rofil e

Interviews “Ho w M i g ht W e ” q u e s t i o n s

Pa ttern Reco g n iti on

[St o r yt ellin g]

B u n d le o f Id eas

cr o ss o v er Emp at h y Map

T h e F iv e W h ys Co n v ersat io n al/ St at emen t St ar t ers

serv ic e B lu ep rin t

Cus to m e r Jo urne y[ M ap

(Can d id at e Ex p er ien ce, (Emp lo yer B ran d in g) ex p lan at o ry p at h )

W h y/H o w Lad d er

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

Insi ght Statem ents 22

The One with the Methodoly, Methods and Techniques

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You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

12 11

17

19 16

12,13

20

16

5

9

10

17

23

22 21

18 19,24

25

26

2

1

3

4

5,7

6

8

9

10

11,15

14

18

20

10

3

9

2

13

1,6

17

18,23 26

27 33 28 32 34 16 22 25,29 5,7 35,39 6 42 43 24 38 15 21 20 19 30 31 37 36 40 41 4 8,14

**(how they define themselves, their bodies and impulses, feelings and emotions, their behaviours and acts, their definitions of the present situation, their perspectives on the wider social order, their production of narratives and stories to explain their actions and lives)

11

15

12 1

13

14

2

4,8

3

7

dices) conducted with creative organisations (N=15) and creative individuals (N=10) it facilitated the understanding of the ways in which agents (human beings) construct symbolic “masks” (Strauss 1959) and assemble meaning** and how such meanings are constantly being built up through interaction with others, handled, modified and transformed through these recruiting encounters.

It is the semiotic world of discourse, a triadic clustering of signs, interpretants and objects where meaning is never fixed and immutable but rather always shifting, emergent, and ultimately ambiguous. Though it is regularly created habits, routines and shared meanings, these are always open to reappraisal and further adjustment (Perinbanayagam, 1985; Rochberg-Halton, 1986; Wiley, 1994), based on classical pragmatism which rejects the quest for fundamental, foundational truths and shuns the building of abstract philosophical systems and instead, suggests a plurality of shifting truths grounded in concrete experiences and language.

Mead’s theory of the self, James’s account of experience, Cooley’s ‘looking glass self’, Dewey’s theory of democratic reform and especially, Peirce’s theory of semiotics are often cited in this connection, seeking to unify intelligent thought and logical method with practical actions, appealing to the experience and the democratising impulse, since all of the elements within the triadic semiotic are the core element of how signs are read, the relevance lies in its hiring interaction touchpoints.

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The results of Grounded theory are not a reporting of statistically significant probabilities but a set of probability statements about the relationship between concepts, or an integrated set of conceptual hypotheses developed from empirical data (Glaser, 1998).

Validity in its traditional sense is consequently not an issue within this methodology, which instead should be judged by (1) fit: a theory that is fitting has concepts that are closely connected to the incidents they are representing, related to how thorough the constant comparison of incidents to concepts was done; (2) relevance: a relevant study deals with the real concern of participants, evokes "grab" (captures the attention) and is not only of academic interest; (3) workability: the theory works when it explains how the problem is being solved with much variation, and (4) modifiability: a modifiable theory can be altered when new relevant data are compared to existing data. A Grounded theory is never right or wrong, it just has more or less fit, relevance, workability and modifiability (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Glaser, 1978; Glaser 1998).

Ethnographic research is to a large extent a matter of becoming familiar with the sign systems relevant to the semiotic agents with whom one deals, namely, “what is” vs. “what could be” the recruitment process through the use of human agency in primordial organisational practices. Thus, with the use of an extensive set of secondary research* and an insightful set of primary research through not ‘in-depth interviews’ but ‘conversational debates’ (transcriptions set on Appen

The One with the Methodoly, Methods and Techniques

*(through desk research, literature review, state of the art, case study analysis, documentaries, books, academic papers, online articles and even forms of entertainment by podcasts, films and television shows)

The proposition, integral within the theoretical framework and further developed in the literature review, is to perform a qualitative mock experiment in order to test the previous statement: the construct of a figurative representation of the signified individual (the generic self + particular identities= tryadic sign) that is undoubtedly understood (through denotations and connotations process=language) by the recipient (the creative company), resulting in a successful unsystematic system (open code).

Since, on a trial basis, would be difficult to test the theoretical concept that is yet to be applied in a practical sense, this research method would consist of a team: a group of actors portraying as (1) young designers/creatives (who would design and perform this new persona, ‘this is all the personal attributes [human agency through possibly the triadic semiotic], now let’s present and see what they think about this person’), (2) hiring managers (who would redesign the criteria mapping system ‘what we want out of this person’ and test ‘this is what I saw’), working together to test this communication proposition (if they got what was intended and its readability) as a mock version/workshop.

“There is certainly something to be explored in the process we generate to try and bring us desired result. Because there is no fixed code, with fixed units like an algorithm, this is something that is almost like an abstract painting. This is very much open ended… An open set of signs. So how to measure an open sign in a process where people want fact? Maybe one of the ways we can get information about people and their identity display is actually… Semiotics.” David Crow, 2018.

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

This premise is about transporting the semiotic principles arena (through semiotic self [figurative representation] + semiotic identities [information into a new medium]) into the recruitment practices arena (through the appropriacy of unofficial language), using a set of idiosyncratic signals (identify-capture-reveal), resulting in an innovative approach to social conventions of the hiring interaction, hence diverting from the initially mentioned current ‘ed’ operational (standardised, mechanised, industrialised) systems that continually neglect our human agency and consequently, our individual essence.

This proposition cannot go through a model structure, since if it really is all about the self and its identities, every single application could be entirely different. The importance relies on the criteria mapping construed by the companies, who will later on judge and interpret on these unique, personal, special, peculiar, individual bundle of expressive responses and narrative applications, resulting on multidimensional possibilities.

Considering that there is no absolute answer to this quest, the idea is to build, iterate, rebuild, and reiterate, generating and testing propositions for the birth of a more sophisticated and humane recruitment system. The project is not questioning how signs are read by particularly critique Pierce’s work, as the research banks it as a fact. The research is surrounded by an extensive data-mining in background theory but the importance of the project lies in the application of it, namely semiotics of power, through the transportation of spaces, contexts and arenas because ‘we don’t seem to be creative in finding our creatives’.

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The One with the Theoretical Framework

Essentialism vs Existentialism Aristotle & Plato, 16th Century

Episodic Memory Theory of Personal Identity, Locke, J. 1690

Triadic Sign Model, Pierce, C. 1860

Paradigm of Complexity, Morin, E. 1977 ividual

munication

Jung Theory of the Self, Jung, C. 1978 Social Semiotics, Kress, G. and Van Leeuwen, T. 2001

Collective Self Theory in Collective Identity Ashmore, R., Deaux, K. and McLaughlin-Volpe, T. 2004

Human Communication Paradigm, Harper, N. 1959

Self-Concept Theory Ross, M. 2016

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You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

Culture Dimensions Theory, Hofstede, G. 1973

Motivation Theory for Education, Amabille, T. 1996

Human Relations/Resources Theory, Miles, R. 1965

Human Communication Theory, Ohlander, V. 1977

Complexity and Autopoiesis, Maturana, H. and Varela, F. 1972 Hierarchy of Artefacts, Wartofsky, M. 1988

Development of Human Resources Management, Storey, A. 1992

Outliers, Gladwell, M. 2008

Hypermodern Times, Lipovetsky, G. 2005

Visible Signs, Crow, D. 2003

Cognitive Personality Traits Feist, G., Reiter-Palmon, R. and Kaufamn, J. 2010

Diffusion of Innovation, Rogers, E. 2003

Creativity Measure Method, Clapham, M. 2011

Gamification Theory, Fuchs, M. 2012 Communication Model, Lippman, W. 1922

The Human Essence, Dovidio, J. 2017

Impression Management, Goffman, E. 1959 Tests of Creative Thinking, Torrance, E. 1968

Marketing Semiotics, Oswald, L. 2011

The Semiotic Self Theory, Wiley, N. 1994

Self-Perception and Self-Awareness Theory Baumeister, R; Bushman, B. 2011

Interiority Complex, McHugh, C. 2014

ny

Cultural Probes, Gaver, B. 1999

mpa

Mental Representation Theory, Colapietro, V. 1993

i

Interpersonal Ties Theory, Granovetter, M. 1973

Semiotic Theory, Barthes, R. 1972

Framing Theory, Goffman, E. 1974 nd

Symbolic Interactionism, Mead, G. and Blumer, H. 1958

Participative Decision Making Theory, Likert, R. 1967

co

Hierarchy of Self-Concept, Lichtlein, J. 2000

Nudge Theory, Thaler, R. 2008

Hierarchy of Needs, Maslow, A. 1943

Analysis of Unity, Forms of Intuition, Kant. E. 1961

Diadic Sign Theory and Binary Sign Theory Saussare, F. 1983

Modern Philosophical Psychology, Descartes, R.

Bundle Theory of the Self Hume, D. 18th Century

Sciences of the Artificial, Simon, H. 1916

Educational Creativity Theory, Vygotsky, L. 1926

com

Authenticity Theory, Sartre and Kierkegaard

The One with the Theoretical Framework

Complex Systems and Building Blocks, Dr. Gal, O. 2015

Comunication Model, Shannon, C. and Weaver, W. 1948

Network Theory

Grounded Theory, Glaser, B. and Strauss, A. 1967

Visual Metaphor Theory, Forceville, C. 2008

Workplace Creative Perfomance Theory, Tan, G. 2012

Creative Intelligence, Nussbaum, B. 2013

Creative Confidence, Kelley, T. and Kelley, D. 2013

Organisational Behaviour Theory, Zhou, J. and Hoever, J. 2014 Recruitment Metrics, Lebied, M. 2017 Self-Monitoring Theory in the Workplace, Day, D. and Schleicher, D. 2016

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Standard Occupational Classification System, Burning Glass, 2017

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l i te ra t u re re v i e w s t a te o f t h e a r t case study

How might we (1) represent the essence of an individual (2) enabling a closer alignment with what (3) creative companies are looking for? a wal k t h ro ug h t h e i n fo - bli z z ard

The One with the Info-Blizzard

The One with the Info-Blizzard

How might we... represent the essence of an individual?

“There is nothing to reconcile. The component parts are the orchestra, the soul is the symphony” Sam Austin, Anti-credentialist

The question of the human essence is thus of central interest to students and scholars in psychology, philosophy, sociology, anthropology and cognitive science (Dovidio, 2017), however such dilemma can too be asked by designers and communication practitioners simply asking the question already promotes reflection and easily sparks debate both within and across disciplines.

The discussion of human nature/nurture debate and the question of how it relates to human individuality is among the most controversial topics in the life and social sciences. ‘Human nature’, as traditionally conceived, presumes an essence of ‘being human’ that can be interpreted as conflict with claims about individuality and heterogeneity.

Understanding what makes us human is critical for the study of human behavior, institutions, and new policies.

How we answer the question about what is the human essence not only determines our personal perspectives on others and our relationships with them but also the decisions we make in our daily life.

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These assumptions influence how to view the past and the ways people choose to navigate their future, especially when it is known to spend a third of adult lives working (Who, 2016), constantly changing their perspectives on their human essence - this is why this research is vital for those who simply value important insights for understanding who they are in theirvery core and its application.

Theories are like lenses of a camera: whether it is to be looked through a wide-angle lens or a portrait lens, it can be seen different things. Indeed, psychological theories are typically very much like a portrait lens of a camera that zooms in on the individual. This implies, almost necessarily, that the world around that individual becomes fuzzy as it moves out of focus (Dovidio, 2017). For this reason, and precisely because each lens will points to something different, it is important to identify the lenses themselves in order to enable a construction of a “bigger picture" of the human essence (Slife & Williams, 1995) regarding both the self and its identities, further explained.

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There are different psychological perspectives, including a focus on body temperature (IJzerman & Hogerzeil), existential meaning (Sullivan & Palitsky), meaning generation (Proulx), self-regulation (Cornwell & Higgins), free will (Baumeister) and self-evaluation (Gregg & Sedikides).

Despite this apparent diversity, the overarching lens they have in common is that they all zoom in on the individual. They all use a portrait lens that puts the individual at the center of the picture (Dovidio, 2017).

More specifically, these contributions raise important questions about whether and how the human essence relates to an individual’s body and mind?

Although the six contributions thus showcase the obviousness of individuality as an important part of the human essence, at the same they also point to its obvious limits: When we zoom in on individuals, what is moving out of focus?

Can we understand the human essence in terms of, for instance, our group life and cultural embeddedness just by focusing on the individual’s body and/ or mind?

Or do we need a different lens in order to see what we may be missing?

what | who | ho w | w he n | w here is y o u r - sel f ?

In order to advance the solution to an age-old paradox “Is the self a core, a sense of unity, possessing a individual essence or is the self a multiplicity of identities, a sense of disperse; across time?” the research goes through a non-reductionist alternative to this dualistic Cartesian cogito, arguing for a communicative embodied self which does not jeopardize human agency.

Psychological theories of the self have been influenced by philosophical dualistic assumptions that oppose mind (the intellectualist-idealism) and body (the naturalist-materialism) as irreconcilable elements, which can be influenced by structuralism or poststructuralist deconstruction.

(1) Aristotle, following Plato, defined the soul as the core essence of a living being, but argued against its having a separate existence. For instance, if a knife had a soul, the act of cutting would be that soul, because 'cutting' is the essence of what it is to be a knife (Kanzian, 2013). Unlike Plato and the religious traditions, Aristotle did not consider the soul as some kind of separate, ghostly occupant of the body (just as we cannot separate the activity of cutting from the knife). As the soul, in Aristotle's view, is an activity of the body, it cannot be immortal (when a knife is destroyed, the cutting stops) (Khand, 2017). Aristotle also believed that there were four sections of the soul: the calculative and scientific

parts on the rational side used for making decisions, and the desiderative and vegetative parts on the irrational side responsible for identifying our needs (Edward, 2015).

(2) David Hume pointed out that we tend to think that we are the same person we were five years ago. Though we have changed in many respects, the same person appears present as was present then. We might start thinking about which features can be changed without changing the underlying self.

Hume, however, denies that there is a distinction between the various features of a person and the mysterious self that supposedly bears those features (Hume, 1740). When we start introspecting, "we are never intimately conscious of anything but a particular perception; man is a bundle or collection of different perceptions which succeed one another with an inconceivable rapidity and are in perpetual flux and movement" (A Treatise of Human Nature. I, IV, vi Hume, 1740). Hume’s notions are very similar to Indian Buddhists’ conception of the self, comparing the soul to a commonwealth, which retains its identity not by virtue of some enduring core substance, but by being composed of many different, related, and yet constantly changing elements. The question of personal identity then becomes a matter of characterizing the loose cohesion of one's personal experience.

(3) In Jungian analysis, the Self is the You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

central archetype of several archetypes, which are a priori or predispositions of responding to the world in particular ways. The Self signifies the coherent whole, unifying both the consciousness and unconscious mind of a person - being the most important and difficult archetype to understand.

It is realized as the product of individuation, which is defined as the process of integrating one's personality (Henderson, 1978). The self can appear to the individual both impersonally as dreams and images (circle, mandala, crystal, or stone) or personally (royal couple, divine child, or another divine symbol). Symbolic spiritual people, such as Christ and Mohammed, are also seen as symbols of the self, because they represent unity and equilibrium, such as the Wise Old Woman/Man can also serve as 'a symbolic personification of the Self' (Sayers, 2014).

(4) One view of the Self, following from John Locke, sees it as a product of episodic memory. It has been suggested that transitory mental constructions within episodic memory form a self-memory system that grounds the goals of the working self but research upon those with amnesia find they have a coherent sense of self based upon preserved conceptual autobiographical knowledge and semantic facts, and so conceptual knowledge rather than episodic memory (Rathbone, Moulin, Conway; 2009).

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What initially was described as individual Essence, this intrinsic nature which determines its character, as also been considered as: (1) Enlightenment (understanding, insight, education, learning, knowledge, awareness, information, erudition, wisdom, instruction, teaching): a European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition. It was heavily influenced by 17th-century philosophers such as Descartes, Locke, and Newton, and its prominent figures included Kant, Goethe, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Adam Smith. Enlightenment is the "full comprehension of a situation” (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary). The term is commonly used to denote the Age of Enlightenment, (“Mankind's final coming of age, the emancipation of the human consciousness from an immature state of ignorance and error."

Porter, 2001) but is also used in Western cultures in a religious context. It translates several Buddhist terms and concepts, most notably bodhi, kensho and satori. Related terms from Asian religions are moksha (liberation) in Hinduism, Kevala Jnana in Jainism, and ushta in Zoroastrianism. In the Western world the concept of enlightenment in a religious context acquired a romantic meaning. It has become synonymous with self-realization and the true self, which is being regarded as a substantial essence which is covered over by social conditioning (Ma, 2009).

(2) Psyche by the greeks (as human soul, mind, inner self, persona, intellect, identity, personality, individuality); or (3) Innsaei by the icelanders (‘the sea within’: the borderless nature of

our inner world, a constantly moving world beyond words,’to see within’: means to know yourself, ‘to see from the inside out’: to have a strong inner compass to navigate your way in our ever changing world) - but I believe the most accurate description is the (4) Zero Space concept of mind/matter materialisation. When Ranulph Glanville (known for his contributions in the field of design research and cybernetics) was walking up the gigantic steps getting to the top of the Great Pyramid he asked why the wall of the Temple of the Inscriptions was so thick, as there was no structural reason to have a wall over a meter thick. To which the maya announced that the wall itself was considered a space, embodying the number zero with positive space inside and negative space outside - you had to step in the space within the wall, you couldn’t step over it. This zero space was, for Glanville, an understanding of the representation of essence, as the value of the wall is in itself. Not just something that divided the inside from the outside, but as a space existing in its own right.

I insist that there is a zero space between our -self and our particular identities - and that entity, possibly governed by the triadic semiotic - can be materialised into a figurative representation of our human agency.

Understanding this Essence can open up pathways to understanding your -self, your intuition and your own creativity. Not to be confused with personality for personality is of the ego-world and essence is independent of the ego. Essence can work with the personality but it is not of it, is the raw energy that a person generates. It is what they vibrate.

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There has been attempts to escape the opposite, dualistic views but instead of solving the problem they have tackled they end up by reproducing it [intellectual/ naturalist- idealistic/ materialistic- structuralist/post- constructionism/vism] (Figure 3.)

The possibility of advancing the formulation of this complex issue depends fundamentally on finding new ways of integrating complementary perspectives, instead of heightning antagonistic positions.

Assuming that Descartes’ cogito laid the foundation of modernity, the advent of postmodernity meant a shift from the study of consciousness to the study of language, and that led to the far more general inquiry into sign mediation, which was deemed to be central to self-knowledge (Andacht, 2005).

The modern view of the subject as a disembodied, original, unchanging source of meaning, one who is wholly unrelated to the community, (traditional, rigid structure, immutable unit, state: static) [generic self] was thus seriously challenged by a post-modern replacement through a notion of a manifold of social identities whose aim was to account for the plasticity of the development of personal identity (non-pathological multiphrenia, no-coherence or unity, dynamic structure, variable unit, state: dynamic).

The self is now a product of a socialising process whereby it becomes populated by the voice of others. Colapietro concludes by positing the need for a more comprehensive theoretical analysis of the self ‘if I am to be more than an ever shifting signifier, if I am to be a steadfast self” Gradually, these [particular identities] took over and displaced the importan-

ce of a generic self - from this angle, we were to be and to behave as a manifold of socially articulate voices; but little effort was made to inquire into what human capacity would be able to organize and to gather coherently those different discourses (Andacht, 2005).

(Fun) Fact: Comparing the information demonstrated in one's sociability or competence, moral information is usually considered as more revealing of underlying intentions or goal priorities.

Accordingly, it has also been established as being more attention grabbing, more diagnostic of someone's “true" self and identity and more predictive of future behavior. Moral behaviors (e.g.. honesty) are more important than sociable (e.g. friendliness) or competent behaviors (e.g. displays of intelligence) in determining the impression people form of other individuals and groups (e.g. their colleagues at work), as well as of the views they hold of themselves and the groups they belong to. Moral goals also prove a stronger force than the goal to be competent or sociable in motivating people to behave in line with social norms and ideal self-views. From all this much morality emerges as a central feature that defines the essence of the human beings we are and want to be (Dovidio, 2017).

Source: Cognitive, 2018.

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The One with the Info-Blizzard | Meaning Generation

Relative Objectivity

(Fact) Sinsign (Law) Legisign (Firstness)

Representamen

2.

---

SOCIAL

NOTION OF MANIFOLD

Identities

DYNAMIC

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Interpretant

--

Mediation”

Sign

(Thirdness)

MATERIALISM

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--

--

---

(Quality) Qualisign

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3 UNIVERSAL LAYERS OF EXPERIENCE

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--

--

PERPETUAL AUTONOMOUS PROCESS OF INTERPRETATION

Continuous growth through a reflexive, interpretive dialogue that aims to integrate multiple particular identities into unity

PARTICULAR

--to be central to self-knowledge:- -Sign ------TRIADIC SEMIOTIC (C. Pierce) ----3.

----

--

----

DYADIC SEMIOTIC

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MULTIPLICITY & DIVERSE VARIABLES CIRCUMSTANCES PARTIAL IN TIME -------------

(F. Sausarre)

Mind vs Matter

‘FREEDOM’

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“What is deemed

Cartesian Dualism -------

SENSE OF UNITY & CONSISTENCY ACROSS TIME

1.

(R. Descartes)

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Self

STATIC

ESSENTIALISM

BIOLOGICAL

(N. Wiley)

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IMMUTABLE, INTEGRAL UNIT

UPWARD REDUCTION

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NATURALIST

CATEGORY ERROR

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FUNCTIONALISM

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GENERAL

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IDEALISM

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External Reality + Human Relativity

------------------ INTELLECTUALIST ---------------------‘DESTINY’

----------------------------------------

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PHYSICALISM

----------------------- DECONSTRUCTION

DOWNWARD REDUCTION

EXISTENCIALISM

- - - - - - - - - - - -----------------------------

-Shift from the study of consciousness to language: Post-Modernity

DEBATE ------------------------------------ NURTURE

NATURE ------------------------------------

----

Descarte’s cogito laid the foundation of Modernity-

How to advance the solution to an age-old paradox | The One with the Info-Blizzard

STEADY FLUX OF PERCEPTION-ACTION-UNDERSTANDING COOPERATIVE 3 TIERED SIGN Icon Index

World and interpreter, as manifestations of both external reality and the semiotic web, intermingle

Symbol (Secondness)

Object Figure 3. Human Development: How to advance the solution to an age-old paradox

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The One with the Info-Blizzard

Source: Gill, S. Theory of Practice

If the subject is not the original, stable source of meaning, then how are unity and continuity of the self to be accounted for?

If identity is constituted by a heterogeneous multiplicity, then how are we to explain the subject’s agency and autonomy?

Without incurring in contradiction, can psychological theories of human subjectivity explain both a manyvoiced identity and an integral self?

Adopting a more broad perspective on the issue of social identity and the human essence regarding human potential, we can consider the unique capacity of reflexivity not only as a likely element of the human essence but one that ‘creates rather than limits our possibilities’ and examine how the concept of human essence can be used to perpetuate social inequality.

The idea that ‘biology is destiny’ (the notion that the ‘human essence’ limits us and consigns us to particular forms of social being-forms that just happen to coincide with those imposed by social systems) versus the idea that ‘biology is freedom’ (the alternative notion is that our essence creates rather than limits our possibilities, making us capable of manifold forms of social being, the distinction between which is a matter of choice rather than fate) is reflected in the ways in which group alignment feeds into the collective self realization.

The real message of the genome project (and quite counter to its underlying ideology) is that we humans are the creatures whose biology allows us to alter our own biology (Lewontin, 2001). Interestingly, several design firms as Pentagram (more specifically one of its partners Marina Willer), has embarked upon this quest, partnering up with “The Welcome Trust” (a global charitable foundation) to build an installation designed to demystify geno-

mics and help the general public’s understanding of the science behind it, through for exemple, an eye-catching vinyl supergraphics that translate a pattern from Huntington’s Disease into a sequence of colourful stripes, each representing an amino acid and different DNA sequences that produce it - stretched across just over 51 metres of its building’s windows. “Even in the most oppressive of systems, there is always the possibility to start making new realities. “There is.” explains Bernstein. “the possibility to initiate, to begin, to act.”

Famously. in his chapter on the labor process in Volume l of Capital, Marx describes how “A spider conducts operations that resemble those of a weaver and a bee puts to shame many an architect in the construction of her cells. But what distinguishes the worst architect from the best of bees is this: that the architect raises his surname in imagination before he crects it in reality" (1977, p. 174).

In sum, the essence of being human lies in the capacity for critical and reflexive thought, and hence the potential for freedom, creativity, and plurality (Dovidio, 2017). However, capacities and potentials are not always realized, so what are the conditions that make it possible for capacities to be witnessed and for potentiality to become actuality?

It is believed to start with the process of metacognition, that is, the ability to understand and be aware of our own thoughts, to evaluate them and to regulate the action and effort made, which are significantly correlated with our creative potential (Feldhusen, 1995; Mokhtari and Reichard, 2002; Pesut, 1990).

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

“As each individual is unique, the motivation for self-actualization leads people in different directions” (Kenrick, 2010) (Fun Fact): In educational science, the idea of self-concept is well-known to be substantially correlated with learning behavior, decision making and academic performance (Shavelson and Bolus 1982, Helmke and van Alen 1995, Bong and Clark 1999, Kaufmann 2008). Therefore, it is a crucial concept in educational research, with importance for different purposes.

In the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), the measurement of self-concept needs to meet the requirements of several stages over the life course: academic self-concept during elementary school and high school, as well as a more general dimension of self-concept after leaving the highly structured context of educational institutions and entering the job market. This task can be performed due to the hierarchical structuring of self-concept (Shavelson 1976, Marsh and Shavelson 1985, Marsh 1987, Lichtlein 2000). By distinguishing between two major levels, general self-concept on the one hand and domain-specific self-concept on the other, it is possible to monitor the individuals perception of him-or herself across the complete life course.

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Regarding the initial question, there are now sub-questions:

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The One with the Info-Blizzard

Contributing to introductory search for an alternative to Descarte’s Cartesian view of the self: (a) In linguistics, we have Sausarre’s Dyadic Sign theory (which was deemed to be to be part of society’s ways and customs, a kind of taxonomic analysis of some of its practices) however, the inconvenience of working with a dyadic theory of signification for an account of the self is: firstly, objective reality tends to lose its relevance regarding meaning, and this jeopardizes the self-understanding of a being who exists in the world, surrounded by things and by others with which he or she must interact and negotiate the meaning of his or her self. Secondly, since the reference in semiology to reality and mental concepts are fused into just one notion (that of the signified), meaning generation as an evolving process which compounds the determination of the real and that of the sign structure, to elicit an interpretant, cannot be accounted for (Andacht, 2005).

In addition, Wiley (a philosophical sociologist) introduced a brief contrast: in Sausarre’s dyadic model we have a snapshot, but we are in need of a moving picture (stretching a metaphor) - leading to yet another dualistic, as to are we a “sign in the world” or a “sign of the world”?

In his study of the theory of the self, Wiley (1994) concludes that the influence of Descartes is the main cause of two kinds of theoretical reductionism relative to the ontology of the self. One is a downward reduction, a biologically determined account of the self ‘biology is destiny’. The other is an upward reduction which tends to dissolve the self in the 37

community, and thus misses the individual experience of the person ‘biology is freedom’ (as previously explained). Wiley’s central tenet is that the triadic structure of the sign is needed to avoid such reductions: ‘Both reductions misunderstand the sui generis self, because both, being dyadic, are based on faulty semiotics’ (Andacht, 2005). (b) Involving an indefinite amount of interpretation and re-interpretation, enters Pierce’s semiotic triad - dynamic and in potential perpetual motion and its classical pragmatism. This valuable theoretical tool (to account for the static-self and the dynamic-identity), does not favor either of the two terms, as discourse (self) and

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objective reality (identities) are not irreconcilable opposites but complementary terms.

The self is now construed as a sign in continuous growth through a reflexive dialogue that aims to integrate its significate effects (multiple particular identities, as explained by the binary sign theory) or better yet, the multiplicity of identities as partial realizations of the continuous interpretive process which is the self (as explained by the ‘living metaboly’ of sign action) into the unity of a generative, interpretive process (inseparable from behaviour and experience) - which is essential to analyze the self and the development of identity. The self is the result of an instinctive logical process.

(Fun Fact): Here is Peirce's definition of the triadic sign relation that formed the core of his definition of logic. Namely, a sign is something, A, which brings something, B, its interpretant sign determined or created by it, into the same sort of correspondence with something, C, its object, as that in which itself stands to C. (Peirce 1902, NEM 4, 20–21).

Being itself a sign, the interpretant, whose generation is the aim of the process of sign action called semiosis, is also the starting point of a new interpretive cycle. The relationship between representamen and interpretant is ‘correlative’ to that which links object and representamen.

This interpretative condition is what preserves co-reference, which in turn, sustains the consistency of the developing self. An interesting ground for overcoming dualism is found in what Ibri (brazilian philosophy professor) describes as the ‘idealism-realism’ of the Peircean pragmatic semiotic where world (matter) and representation (mind) are joined in an inseparable collaboration out of which meaning and purpose develop.

Source: Matthew Taylor, 2018.

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

Peirce’s notion of the productive power of a sign to generate autonomously an interpretant of itself is the keystone on which to build a non-dualistic theory of the self. The autonomy of the triadic sign does not jeopardize human agency, because human beings and signs interact dialectically within the evolving process of semiosis. This is the way meaning grows continuously and thereby the self develops. (Andacht, 2005).

What pragmatism proposes is an imperfect but -self corrective approach to reality and to truth through sign generation, and consequently, generation of meaning, since some of the radical postmodern conceptions of the self put at risk integrity and expose it to fragmentation, even to dissolution.

The characterization of the self as a sign process is the upshot of Peirce’s objections to Cartesianism.

Constituting the phenomenological basis of the semiotic the self as a sign manifest itself epistemologically as a cooperative (foundational) three-tiered sign, such as: (1) Representamen (before it is interpreted, a pure potentiality) can be (1) a qualisign (firstness), meaning a quality that functions like a sign, (2) a sinsign (secondness), meaning a specific spatio-temporal thing or event that functions like a sign, or (3) a legisign (thirdness), meaning a conventional sign e.g. of legisigns are passwords, insignias, tickets for a show, traffic signals, and the words of a language), (its) (2) Object (dynamical object,the object as it is in reality and immediate object, the object as it is represented by the sign) by virtue of firstness, secondness or thirdness, that is, through relationships of similarity, contextual con-

tiguity or law, following this trichotomy, the sign is called (a) an icon, (b) an index or (c) a symbol, respectively) and (its) (3) Interpretant (the representamen has the ability to trigger an interpretant, which in turn becomes a representamen by triggering another interpretant referring to the same object as the first representamen, and thereby allowing the first one to refer to the object - and so on, ad infinitum). In this sign trichotomy, the sign is called (a) a rheme (firstness), (b) a dicisign or dicent sign (secondness) or (c) an argument or reasoning (thirdness)) - which correspond ontologically to the three universal layers of experience (quality, fact, law).

There is also an hierarchical logic to the triadic semiotic: firstness includes nothing other than itself, whereas secondness includes firstness, and thirdness includes both secondness and firstness - by this principle a representamen (a first) cannot refer to an object (a second) from a higher category; as for the interpretant (a third), it cannot belong to a category higher than its object's. For example, a sinsign (the category b representamen) cannot be a symbol (the category c object), but it can be considered as an icon (the category a object) or an index (the category b object). Thus, the process of semiosis is theoretically unlimited.

It is to be engaged in a thought process that is always incomplete, that has always begun previously. Within this process, one sign leads to another which leads to another in a potentially endless chain of signification, wich Pierce describes as ‘infinite semiosis’ (a concept Umberto Eco later critiqued You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

in The Limits to Interpretation). “Providing experiential access to it, revealing it, mediating the one to the other—is among the most helpful intuitive understandings of what semiotic is supposed to be about” (Ransdell, 1988).

A triadic model of the sign is required if it is to avoid posing either the human subject or objective reality as irrelevant to the interpretive process.

In this lies one of the key contributions of triadic semiotic, namely a steady flux of perception–action–understanding which can be compared with the Moebius strip (the eternal symbol), whereby world and interpreter, as manifestations of both external reality and the semiotic web, intermingle creatively (Andacht, 2005).

The research objective claims that in order to understand the nature of the relationship between the two components of human subjectivity, it is to be considered the semiotic self as a tendency or ‘disposition’ and the manifold of identities as the historical upshots or concrete meaning effects of the former: “A sign should not be construed as an entity governed by rules from the outside, but as a process which itself is of the nature of a rule, of a ‘disposition’, in the Aristotelian sense of hexis” (Ransdell, 1988). The concept of human autonomy is not to be equated with an absolute command over the meaning of ourselves as signs, but with our capacity to understand ourselves as beings. It seems only logical that should be a harmonious conjunction of what is most idiosyncratic (personal desires) and of that which is most impersonal ideals (the voice of the others) manifested and embodied in the expectations and traditions of our culture, since we are guided by the purpose of both.

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Every semiotic process must have a unity of consistency as it evolves in time, but how can the subject be at once multiple and still preserve a unity?

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You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

Based on the Kantian analysis of unity, in which the unity and the multiplicity do not occur in paradox, this tri-relative influence develops from three categories:

Firstness (Possible Qualities - Feeling): - Namely feelings considered absolutely in their purely qualitative aspect, not yet embodied in any fact or existence - Based on the monadic unrelated aspect of things or events, which is the analytical result of regarding them neither as actual facts nor as regularities, but as shear possibilities. ‘consists in its subject’s being positively such as it is regardless of aught else’ - A conception of being that is independent of anything else. For example, this would be the mode of being of a "redness" before anything in the universe was yet red, or of a general sensation of hurt, before one starts to wonder whether the sensation comes from a headache, a burn or some emotional pain.

We must be clear that in firstness, there is only ONENESS. Thus, it is a conception of being in its wholeness or completeness, with no boundaries or parts, and no cause or effect. A quality is a pure, latent potentiality. Firstness belongs to the realm of possibility; it is experienced within a kind of timelessness.

Secondness (General Laws - Volition): - Consists in an embodied dualistic relation, involving elements in action-reaction.

- Implies the existence of a second subject; enabling our perception of objective reality.

- Has the nature of a determination or limit for sign action. ‘the real is that which insists (...) as something other than the mind’s creation’.

- Relation of a first element with a second one in semiosis corresponds to that of the ego with the non-ego, an experience which implies ‘a two- sided consciousness’.

The mode of being that is in relation to something else. This is the category that includes the individual, experience, fact, existence, and action-reaction. For example, the stone that we drop falls to the ground; the weathervane turns to point in the direction of the wind; and now you feel pain because of a toothache. Secondness operates within discontinuous time, where the dimension of past time enters in: a certain event occurred at a certain moment, before some other event, which was its consequence.

Thirdness (Existent Facts -Cognition): - Transcend the realm of brute force, of mechanical, dynamic reactions.

- Understanding, thought and reason itself appears namely, the working out of a purposeful activity - Rather than being dependent on intentions, sign activity—and, a fortiori, the self—is teleological - The type of teleology involved is tendential rather than intentional in type, the mediator through which a first and a second are brought into relation.

Thirdness belongs to the domain of rules and laws; however, a law can only be manifested through the occurrences of its application, that is, by secondness; and these occurrences themselves actualize qualities, and therefore, firstness. Whereas secondness is a category of individuality, thirdness and firstness are categories of generality; but the generality of firstness is on the level of possibility, and the generality of thirdness is on the level of necessity, and therefore, prediction. The law of gravity, for example, allows us to predict that each time we drop a stone, it will fall to the ground. Thirdness is the category of thought, language, representation, and the process of semiosis, makeing social communication possible.

Firstness corresponds to emotional experience.

Secondness corresponds to practical experience.

Thirdness corresponds to intellectual experience.

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(Everaert-Desmedt, 1990-2006).

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The question now is:

The three are the essential living bricks in the development of human subjectivity, which, from the pragmatic view, is part of nature, not its omnipotent, detached constructor. In order to observe and interpret signs, human beings must navigate in that stream called semiosis (Andacht & Michel, 2005).

A consequence of the theoretical standpoint of pragmatism is that the self is not to be located inside the mind, as a representation (mind= subjective real, internal, private), as it possesses a dimension of inwardness, although this experience is radically incomplete as a means for self-knowledge.

“Neither a part of the brain nor an intangible sociocultural abstraction, the self is knowable through its externality; it is embodied mind.” Colapietro The self only becomes fully though fallibly knowable and meaningful through its outward manifestation : ‘sign’ is linked with something that is publicly available.

“The acquisition of self-knowledge always takes place in relation to others, who function as interpretants of the self” (Andacht, 2001).

Our condition of being knowable externally is not restricted to the others’ perspective; self- knowledge crucially involves interpreting oneself as other - as semiotics state, generating meaning in an intersubjective way.

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How to advance in the characterization of concrete identities that relate to ‘social traits’, to ‘personalized psychological traits’ and to ‘self-concepts’, on the one hand and the generic self as the center of meaning generation, on the other?

(Fun Fact) Debates surrounding these issues tend to parallel discussions about race, but there are important differences too: What does the history and sociology of claims about ‘human nature’ look like, especially in contrast with the idea of individuality?

How have related concepts and points of comparison changed in post-essentialist times?

Do we need to eliminate all talk about human nature, as already suggested for the concept of human race, because it disregards individuality and leads to the exclusion of people conceived of as ‘less human?’

I [Sign or Representamen]

“such control as we do have over the powers of signs (thus over meaning phenomena in general) lies in our skill at setting them in interaction with one another in the compositional process in ways favorable to some desired result.“

Me [Object] You [Interpretant] Past

Future Source: Diagrammatic Representation of Wiley’s (1994) account of the inner speech of the self.

The logical construction of Pierce’s bridging alternative to the cartesian dualistic notions brought some inspiration to Wiley regarding his own model of the communicative self. Based on Peirce’s dialogic construal of thought, systemic directionality (I-You), and on Mead’s symbolic interactionism, dialogical self (I-Me), Wiley depicts triad engaged in an internal, reflexive trialogue involving the three personal pronouns (Me-I-You) “a self not based on cogito but on a slow self discovery”.

The use that Wiley makes of the three personal pronouns which structure human communication (as a self structure, not particular identities) points strongly to the teleological dimension of sign action: the development of the communicative self through time, the tendency to address the ‘You’ in the future, starting from the ‘Me’ in the past, and going through the present mediation of the ‘I’ (Andacht, 2005).

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

The corollary of a semiotic theory of personal identity is that “to be a self is to be in process of becoming a self’ Colapietro, and human beings must find their feet in an ever-changing, Heraclitean reality.

The apparent paradox of a mediated (represented) and a direct (perceived) experience which is entailed by sign action, the kernel of Peircean semiotic, is a way of overcoming the duality of matter and mind. The fact ‘that everything which is present to us is a phenomenal manifestation of ourselves… does not prevent its being a phenomenon without us, just as a rainbow is once a manifestation of both of the sun and of the rain. When we think, then, we ourselves, as we are at that moment, appear as a sign” Pierce.

The observer does not stand outside of semiosis, but actively participates in the generation of meaning by establishing some kind of relation to that which resists her in experience, the semiotic object, and to that which she

understands as its meaning, the generated interpretant. These two logical components are mediated by a perceptible element which is not only linguistic or necessarily linguistic, the representamen, and whose systemic aim in the process of semiosis is to reveal an aspect of the object in the interpretant, after receiving the determination of the semiotic object.

It is through the self-criticism of our interpretations, which are often framed narratively, that meaning grows, as described previously regarding self-concept notions.

The conception of the self as a dynamically stable emergent form (Alexander, 2002) is the processual background against which personal identities emerge, and with them originality is introduced in the development of human subjectivity. Out of every spontaneous variation, a new tendency can consolidate through self- interpretation: from sheer possibility (firstness), through its manifestation (secondYou’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

ness), a new regularity is born (thirdness).

The solution to the false dilemma of being either the passive puppets of autonomous signs or the sole owners and creators of our signs is found in Peirce’s view of human nature as essentially communicative.

If this distinction (self/identities) becomes blurred or worse, if it is obliterated by the unwarranted halting of what is in fact a continuous flow of change (self) which includes and integrates its stationary pauses (identities), then we are apt to become the prisoners of a jail of our own devising, namely a fixed identity which we feel and think we have to adopt for all times and circumstances.

Against such trouble, psychology must focus its analytical strategies, lest the flow of adaptive creativity not become frozen, and bring about a numbing of psyche, the life principle of all that exhibits a purpose (Andacht and Michel, 2005).

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(Fun Fact): One famous approach in social psychology using metaphors is Goffman’s (1959) theory of the presentation of self in everyday life. In his dramaturgical approach, Goffman actually uses one of the central functions of metaphors described above to explain how people interact and present their identities to others. He uses the metaphor source domain “Theatre” to reduce complexity and make processes of identity presentation and interaction understandable. In the theatrical metaphor, the self becomes an actor on stage, with a public and the goal to convey a certain image and role to that public. In this dramaturgical perspective, all aspects of the metaphor source domain “Theatre” can now be used to further differentiate individual self-presentation and interactions between people by referring to both the structural aspects and processes related to theatre, such as front stage, back stage, role playing, setting, personal front with appearance and manners, and so on to understand the mechanisms and motivations of impression management. In fact, not only Goffman’s theory of impression management uses a central metaphor to convey its content to the reader. Scientific theory generally uses metaphorical representations to make abstract ideas feasible, and scientific debates can be described in terms of competing metaphors about how to best capture the meaning of a theory (Ricoeur, 1986).

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This process can be best observed in the case of paradigm shifts, as described by Thomas Kuhn (1962) in his work on the structure of scientific revolutions, which usually involve a shift in central metaphors and in the specific language considered adequate (Gentner & Grudin, 1985; Gigerenzer, 1991).

This topology of the path schema is then used to structure a target domain, for example “Success”. Self-knowledge about being successful (the target domain) is now metaphorically mapped in terms of the path schema. This may involve the path schema becoming further differentiated into career steps, parallel paths, obstacles and detours, with matching metaphorical expressions such as “achieving distant goals”, “heading in the right direction”, “moving on”, “getting back on track”, and the like. Differentiation of the metaphorical mapping process depends on the complexity of the self-knowledge in one specific domain, such as “Success”. The more complex and the richer the experience with a certain topic is, the higher the differentiation and complexity of metaphors will be. Complexity of metaphorical mapping is directly related to expertise and thus to the underlying self-concept domain as has been shown in the case of medical expertise (Liebert, 1995).

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Continuing to develop the mind/matter, abstract/concrete, inner/outer dualistic of the topic, Herbert Simon (in The Sciences of the Artificial) proposed that observing the complex, multi-dimensional relationships generated by artificial manufactured objects, could yield important understanding to a science of design. Simon, like Pierce, chose not to distinguish between the physical objects and the immaterial items such as symbol systems created by humans, defining a boundary between the inner environment (as that which comprised the substance and organization of the artefact), and the outer environment (as that which consisted of the surroundings in which the artefact operates).

Simon proposed that the interface was the meeting point between these two realms (Díaz-Kommonen, 2004).

From the point of view of design, Adrian Forty has remarked that artefacts do not have a life cycle of their own, but that their existence is determined by the people and industries that create them, as well as by the relationship of these people and industries to society. Another interesting elaboration is that one developed by the philosopher Marx Wartofsky. He proposed a three-level hierarchy of primary, secondary, and tertiary artefacts. Primary artefacts are artificial entities created by humans, such as axes and clubs, and which allow them to alter directly the nature of their environment. Secondary artefacts consist of representations of primary artefacts and of the modes of action using them (such as pictures, representations and the different modes of action that enable humans to transmit skill and information and to reflect

upon their activities). Tertiary artefacts consist of a class that can come to constitute a relatively autonomous “world” in which the rules, conventions, and outcomes no longer appear directly practical in nature. Such imaginative artefacts can influence the way we see the actual world. (Díaz-Kommonen, 2004). They can also act as agents of change for current practice (such as art, myth, worldview and theoretical models).

The psychologist and communication scholar Michael Cole has further extended Wartofsky's view and suggested that material and immaterial aspects of culture as well as their history are embedded in artefacts.

This is because through the life of the individual, and in earlier generations, the artefact brings together successful adaptations of earlier times.

One of the key questions is whether we can design architectures of information and information management tools that do not force fixed categories and labels, but serve the information in a rich but neutral form, leaving the final structuring up to the user?

Danto has suggested that the structure of art works is, or is very close to, the structure of metaphors. The potential for expression of metaphors is tied to the fact that they are not mere representations. Their structure is related to features, rather than to the content of representation (Díaz-Kommonen, 2004). Representation, according to Wartofsky, becomes a receptacle for the expression and re-enactment of a wider range of cognitive and affective needs, intentions, and values.

“Thought is metaphoric, and proceeds by comparison, and the metaphors of language derive therefrom” Richards You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

(1965: 94).

Metaphor can be a powerful method for communication, these are usually associated with linguistics, and research has it as been done in the AI community exploring the interpretation and generation of metaphor within the linguistics domain (Veale and Hao 2007; Veale and Li 1991).

However, metaphor also exists in the visual domain. Traditionally, the term visual metaphor is used to mean the representation of a target concept by a different source concept (Forceville, 1996). The source replaces the target in the image and can thus convey a new interpretation of the source concept or become a symbol for it, resulting back into semiotics analysis. Metaphors are also central in capturing and conveying emotions, thus helping to reflect and communicate affective dimensions of the self-concept, as previously mentioned (Ortony & Fainsilber, 1989).

Complex and abstract topics such as the self have to be expressed metaphorically in order to make sense and to be communicated to others. But metaphors are much more than just being instrumental in reducing complexity and communicating inner states and abstract ideas. Conventional metaphors are the linguistic expression of culturally and socially accepted concepts in society, and implicitly convey what is thought to be appropriate and how to go about things, for instance when one wants to be successful. Metaphors are acquired by the individual as part of general language acquisition, thereby learning implicitly important social and cultural rules (Smith, 1991; Traugott, 1985).

It is plausible to assume that metaphor 44

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Oddly enough, little attention has been paid to non-verbal and multimodal types of metaphor, the main academic interest has been and still is to a large extent the monomodal verbal one, with the exception of a few studies (Eggertsson and Forceville 2009; Rohdin 2009), leaving multimodal metaphor to yet be explored empirically (from cognitive neuroscience to linguistics). This calls for a reconsideration of visual metaphor in the practices of creatives and leads to the central research question: Is there a conceptual structure to the creation of visual metaphors by creatives that closely aligns with the cognitive view of metaphoric thinking?

Metaphors can vary on a number of occasions, however we can distinguish four features: type (structural-conceptual vs. image), quality (abstract vs. concrete), modality (monomodality vs. multimodality), and direction (symmetry vs. asymmetry).

is primarily a matter of thought and not language, as Forceville (2009) rightly does, meaning there must exist other manifestations of conceptual metaphors. Indeed, if conceptual metaphor is not restricted to the realm of language alone, it should manifest itself also through other (non-verbal) modes of communication, such as pictures, music, sound and body language, easily identified semiotic metrics within the recruitment process at, for example, an interview stage. The unity is preserved for the conceptual metaphor and not for the way in which the conceptual metaphor is presented (Coëgnarts & Kravanja, 2012). For this reason Forceville (2009: 24) adopted the new concept of multimodal metaphor. In contrast to monomodal metaphors, such as the prototypical verbal metaphor, multimodal metaphors are “metaphors whose target and source are each represented exclusively or predominantly in different modes.”

(Fun Fact): The relationship between the conceptual level (on the one hand) and the content of the representation or the mode (on the other) can be further described in two ways: direct or denotative (the primary meaning that we give a word or an image, it is what you see) and indirect or connotative (the secondary meanings and associations that you have with a sign, bringing it our own past experiences as a viewer, including the social rules and conventions that we have learned over time. It is not just what is pictured, but how it is pictured). By denotative we mean the expression of its first meaning, the source domains, whilst the target domain of a structural-conceptual metaphor is usually depicted indirectly or connotatively by means of a metonymy (Coëgnarts & Kravanja, 2012).

Contrary to metaphor, metonymy only involves one conceptual domain. One entity in a schema (i.e., death=grave) is taken as standing for one other entity in the same schema, or for the schema as a whole (i.e., the schema of death as a whole). (Lakoff and Turner 1989: 103).

CONCEPTUAL Source Domain DIRECT : DENOTIVE Primary meaning to be given to a word or an image

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CONTENT OF REPRESENTATION Target Domain INDIRECT : CONNOTATIVE Secondary meanings and associations to be given with a sign, bringing past experiences as a viewer

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

METONYMY

METAPHOR STRUCTURE

Type In addition to conceptual metaphors (which are mainly discussed in cognitive literature), we also have short-lived metaphors (which involve not the mapping of conceptual domains, but rather the mapping of images). These metaphors (which map conventional mental images onto other conventional mental images by virtue of their internal structure) are referred to as image metaphors (Lakoff 1987; Lakoff and Turner 1989; Lakoff 1993; Gibbs and Bogdonovich 1999).

(E.g. “My wife...whose waist is an hourglass”, a idiosyncratic sentence from a poem by André Breton which Lakoff and Turner (1989: 90) to illustrate the image metaphor. In this case we have two mental images, one being that of an hourglass, the other being that of a woman, where we map the middle of the hourglass onto the waist of the woman).

Quality Is the source and target domain of the metaphor present itself as concrete or abstract? (Source domains) Image metaphors conceptualize the concrete in terms of the concrete, having direct access to the senses, whilst (Target domains) from structural-conceptual metaphors are generally labelled as abstract or diffuse.

Therefore, the latter often deals with such complicated issues as emotions, morality, time, human relationships, and so on. Common source domains are the human body, machines and tools, health and illness, light and darkness.

Blumenberg’s metaphorology states “Both approaches (embodiment and the cultural/historical dimension) can, and even should be, viewed as complementary for an overall theory of metaphor; after all, human beings are, to use Cassirer’s term ‘symbolic animals’; i.e., embodied animals subject to evolution and cultural beings caught up in the flow of history; and metaphor is one of the basic ways in which we try to make sense of this specifically human experience – from its very sources: body and spirit.”

Modality How the metaphorical thought (structural-conceptual or image) manifests itself to our senses? With no claim to exhaustiveness, Forceville (2009: 23-24) categorises nine different modes of depiction: pictorial signs, written signs, spoken signs, gestures, sounds, music, smells, tastes and touch. Using this as a starting point, he further makes the distinction between two kinds of metaphor: monomodal and multimodal metaphors.

The first are metaphors “whose target and source are exclusively or predominantly rendered in one mode”. (E.g. the prototypical verbal metaphor and the pictorial or visual metaphor). In both cases, source and target domain are rendered in one mode, respectively written signs and pictorial signs. By contrast, multimodal metaphors are “metaphors whose terms are each represented exclusively or predominantly in different modes”.

Direction Concerns the reversibility or symmetry of source and target domain, leading to one question: can we flip the order of both terms? As for the cognitive paradigm of Lakoff and Johnson and the verbal mode of metaphor the answer is clear: target and source are non-reversible.

On the part of non-verbal metaphor however there seems to be some confusion. Carroll (1996) on the one hand claims that pictorial metaphors are more liable to symmetry than verbal ones. To support his view, he cites examples from mainly surrealistic paintings, like Magritte’s Le Viol, which presents the spectator with a unification of a female face and torso. Forceville (2002) on the other hand, backed by his own findings in the field of advertising, denounced this dictum by saying that these examples are rather atypical when considering prototypical examples of what in general can be labelled pictorial metaphor. (Coëgnarts & Kravanja, 2012).

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Goal

M

an ag

elf-awarenes s s a et

In te r

eness war nA

Goal Aw ar en Goa e lM

er

In te r

Int

er tio anag ac nM tio ac

ss

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Executive Processes

Gen

Generator Manager

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You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

Environment

Artifact

Interaction Module

Generator

Artifact-awareness

Goal An

Generator-awareness

Goal

Returning to the previous notions of artefacts, these can be divided into two categories: expressive artefacts and artefacts of expression.

The first are “artefacts that in many cases were intended to communicate, or to generate a response in the viewer” (Díaz-Kommonen, 2004), whose aim is to encapsulate and express an emotional state or idea are another kind of expressive artefact.

These partly result from the intrinsic motivation that arises from within the individual who is fashioning the object.

Leontjev proposed that the structuring of the mediated relationships between an object and its maker is dependent on at least two factors: (1) a type of active reflection (that manifests itself in the engagement between the mind and the body) - in this state, the goal, objective, or vision of the completed artefact guides the flesh in the activity of making; and (2) a state whereby processes external in form and carried on with external materials are transformed into equivalent internal processes occurring in the mind (with a conscious body in action).

Though primarily resulting from intrinsic motivation, expressive artefacts are also influenced by parameters, such as history and culture (E.g. even when s/he works alone as an activity, the practice of art is a collective and social enterprise involving humanity (Díaz-Kommonen, 2004). Another example includes art objects that allow access to information about the unconscious, where the work of art is an externalisation of the artist's consciousness. It is “as if we could see his way of seeing and not merely what he saw” (Wartofsky, 1979). At the same time, as David Aldridge has remarked, “art has the ability to express the fact

that we are dealing with the interface between unconscious and conscious material.”

The latter are artefacts of expression, where art consists of materials or media that support, convey, allow or carry through an act of expression, hereby involving not only emotion, but also an action and its result. Dewey noted that emotion and expression are defined by parameters such as causality, information and the passage of time. Causality manifests itself as activity, in the carrying forward into development and completion in the act of expression (Dewey, 2005). This is not an ad hoc activity, but rather it is informed by reflection that takes into account, for example, the value of past experiences. The activity of expression is a transformation by the gestures and representations brought into existence for the purpose of communicating something (Dewey, 2005). The work of art, Dewey asserted, is “a construction in time,” the result of “a prolonged interaction” in which emotion acts as “an informing and orderly principle.”

As artefacts of expression, art objects reveal how mechanisms of extrinsic motivation operate within the activity.

The structuring of mediated relationships between object and maker is, in this case, dependent on how the process of reflection manifests itself externally, this is where Willis questions the institutions of art and what it stands for, proposing that art is not merely a collection of artifacts that we peruse on occasion but something that we engage in everyday by using symbolic creativity (Crow, 2007). Willis points to how young people engage in symbolic creativity in a multitude of ways because they are shut out of the world of “high culture” art, stating that You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

“symbolic creativity is not only part of everyday activity, but also a necessary part” (207). Willis defines the many manifestations that this can take and how it can be an individual act or a collective effort, explaining what is produced and gained by it and how it should be considered a grounded aesthetic because it raises and creates the culture around it “a culture should not be defined by art in the form of artifacts but by pure activity and imagination”.

Symbolic communication is only possible among members of a group who possess such a set of tacitly agreed upon concepts and values, leading to extensively complicated notions of complex systems, namely coding systems. As an artefact of expression, art objects factor in the point of view of an observer, as well as that of the artist as observer of himself as he is engaged in the activity of art. As material manifestations of human action, artefacts of expression and expressive artefacts operate as external “webs of significance” (Díaz-Kommonen, 2004). They are not exclusive of one another but rather point to the dual nature of artefacts and human culture as simultaneously internal and external, individual and collective, public and private, sacred and secular.

In proposing a view of art objects as expressive artefacts and artefacts of expression, it is suggested to underscore the capacity of objects to generate networks of meaning that correspond to the original intentions of their makers but, that also themselves are a response, and bear the imprint of the context and community in which they exist at different points in time. These networks extend well beyond and include others beside the actual agent that fashions the artefact.

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Case Study: DARCI (Heath, D.; Norton, D.; Ventura, D. 2014) Is a computer system, (Digital Artist Communicating Intention), that is designed to autonomously create images that convey meaning. The value of visual metaphor in such a system is apparent and is one of the design goals for this system.

However, automatic incorporation of visual metaphor in an image is nontrivial, requiring a rather mature understanding of language as well as the ability to visually represent and recognize a word in an image. As a step in this direction, DARCI currently only works with adjectives. Adjectives, more easily than nouns and verbs, can be used to describe an image based on general features, such as colour distribution, lighting, and repeating patterns.

In a broader sense however, DARCI can represent an adjective, the target, as a unique filter, an abstract source. This sense of visual metaphor does exist in human interaction. DARCI learns the meaning of adjectives, or rather adjective synonym sets—called synsets—by building associations between low-level visual features and the synsets themselves using a series of neural nets trained with human labeled data (Norton, 2010). The process is augmented by taking advantage of the synset relationships found in WordNet (Fellbaum, 1998). The filter settings are learned with an evolutionary mechanism that is governed by the visual-linguistic associations discovered by the neural nets (Norton, 2011).

Figure 4 outlines this process of creating artifacts. While there are other approaches using automated and dynamic fitness functions in evolutionary art (Oranchak, 2007; Machado and Cardoso, 2002; Greenfield, 2002; DiPaola and Gabora, 2009; Greenfield, 2007; Baluja, 1994), none explore the communication of meaning as is done here with DARCI.

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Case Study: Data-Based Sculpture ]Quantified Self-Knowledge Through Numbers] (Cartwright, S. 2017)

Darl Cold Painted Visual (B&W) Neural Networks Analysis Visual (Dark)

Evaluation

Genetic Algorithm

Visual (Bright) Bright Cold Painted

Case Study: Application of a Footprint in the Sand This is a phenomenon located in space (a sinsign) whose shape resembles a foot (icon). In it, it is possible to recognise the pertinent qualities and features of any foot (rheme). This sort of interpretation is situated in the present moment.

It could possibly become absorbed in the timeless contemplation of this shape pressed into matter (rhematic iconic qualisign), and perhaps capture its emotional depth in a photograph.

It is more likely that it will consider the past, along with the context in which the phenomenon occurred: This print was actually caused by someone who came by here (index). The interpretation relates to concrete facts: this footprint and a specific foot that made it (dicisign).

Suppose a detective is on the trail of a killer: He recognises this print as a replica of a model (legisign) that he obtained previously. So for the detective, the print becomes a symbol showing what direction to take; because of the footprint, he can predict the direction he needs to go to continue his investigation. In order for the sign to function as a symbol, its iconic and indexical features must be perceived first, and then it must be seen as a replica of a model, which must appeal to an argument for interpretation.

Note that the detective's situation is different from that of a treasure hunt, where arrows are used as so many replicas of a legisign, which functions as a symbol of the direction to go according to a pre-established code. The arrows are interpreted by deduction, since the replicas were put there intentionally to show the way.

The biggest challenge of self-tracking isn’t deciding what to track, but creating captivating visualizations that deliver a message. This is where Stephen Cartwright is taking data visualization to a new level. He’s the associate director at the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and himself an artist who uses self-tracking to create programmable sculpture, 3D acrylic topographies, and even acoustic representations of jet-lag.

Stephen is a familiar face, with work such as his moving sculptures at QS15 or his talk on 17 years of location tracking. His art draws inspiration from data he collects about his family’s travels, his exercise, and his interaction with the environment. The results – including moving, color changing sculptures depicting temperatures through the seasons, and animations of his family’s migration through the United States – render an incredible image of change over time.

For those looking for clear ways to deliver personal data or research in outside-the-bar-graph ways, Stephen is an inspiration, as many artists, scientists, engineers, doctors, designers, or just interested in the future of self-tracking have state, and how novel data visualization can be used to understand ourselves and the world around us.

Case Study: Laura Oswald analysis of drawings done with people suffering from pain (Oswald, 2011) Experiment: Several ethnographic interviews and observations were conducted and it included a projective task designed to elicit symbolic associations between respondents’ pain experiences and the symbolism depicted in set of abstract paintings. The research included a semiotic analysis of the layout, traffic flow, and the disposition of goods and pharmaceuticals in the home. Historical advertising for pain relief meds reflects the general emphasis of the medical profession on the physical side of chronic pain - pain is a radiating red spot on the back or joints, causing patients to grimace and limit their movements.

The Pain Lexicon Signifier

Experience

Category

Red

Intensity

Senses

Yellow

Heat

Senses

In contrast, findings from the current ethnography shed light on the effects of chronic pain on consumers’ spiritual lives, what Jung (1960) defines as the ability to transcend the moods and minutiae of everyday life and expand their existential connection to the wider world. Regardless of the length of time that they had lived with chronic pain, all respondents had sought purpose and meaning in their lives through volunteering, expressing themselves through arts and crafts, building additions to their homes, and generally making big plans for the future. Furthermore, respondents actually seemed more concerned about the effects of prescription pain medication on their cognition and sense of self than about the physical limitations that pain imposed on their lifestyles. By highlighting the iterability of this theme across multiple levels of the data, the semiotic ethnography exposed a paradigmatic system in which themes and experiences were reiterated at the levels of sensation, psyche, and lifestyle.

Black

Brain-numbing Depression Statis

Mental Outlook Emotion,Mood state Life projects

Blue

The Self

Identity

Jagged Lines

Stabbing Threat Mess

Senses Emotion, Mood state Consumer Behaviour

Rather than rely upon the researcher’s ability to interpret the field setting, semiotics draws inferences from the data itself by decoding the consistent association of signs and meanings in the data and identifying paradigmatic relationships between multiple cultural categories, from emotion to spatial semiotics. The semiotic focus of the research also bridged the gap between consumer insights, marketing strategy and advertising. Findings provided a platform for new product development and marketing for a new form of pain management by discovering an unmet need of chronic pain patients for order and control. Furthermore, by generating associations between consumer experiences and specific signs and symbols, the semiotic perspective produced a set of signs and symbols for potential use in marketing communications.

Siggly Lines

Chaos Disorder

Mental Outlook Lifestyle Life Projects

A Semiotic Inquiry Into the Existential Effects of Chronic Pain on Consumer Behavior (Oswald, L. 2017)

Case Study: Arrival (Villeneuve, D. 2016)

Case Study: Rory’s Story Cubes (Lin, C. W. and Lin, T. L. 2014) Story Dices and Story Cubes are a kind of cubes with six different pictures on six different sides, which has been widely adopted in the field of entertainment, education, language institutes, storytelling and creativity for many years. Rory’s Story Cubes are a popular tool for creativity teaching at school and home, but not everyone could tell a creative story after using it. The original storytelling was just like mirror reflection. Most students saw a picture and directly told the story associated to the picture contents/ appearance.

This study was focused on using Peirce’s Triadic Semiotics (icon-index-symbol semiotic triangle) with Story Di- ces (Story Cubes) in storytelling. There were two experimental steps. Experiment 1: each testee used story dice to select four pictures randomly and testees told a little story based on the four pictures. Experiment 2: to the same testees, the Triadic Semiotics was provided and testees told the story again based on the four pictures.

After the introduction of Triadic Semiotics, testees would make stories having some associations and implications; therefore, there would be more possibilities of having more imagination in the story arrangement and structure. With the inspiration from Peirce’s semiotics and the application assistance of Story Cubes, students’ storytelling capabilities in producing animation were improved.

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You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

In the movie, spacecrafts touch down at key points across the Earth, leaving international governments mystified. Amy Adams starring as Louise Banks, is a linguist sent inside one of the crafts to interpret the visitors' words, a set of mysterious inky and circular "logograms" that the tentacled creatures can expel onto a frosty glass wall.

For this, it was asked of production designer Patrice Vermette to invent an extraterrestrial language. “The logograms had to feel real, but foreign. Intelligible, but cryptic. Exceedingly intelligent, but basic enough for us humans to crack. Coming up with exactly what those logograms were , was challenging.” Vermette did her own research with anthropologists and linguists, and looked at extinct languages that had existed in the Middle East and South America, in North America and in Asia but Villeneuve (the director), wanted something very inhuman, since the script suggested something circular because a story point is about non-linear time.

Vermette hired graphic designers and linguists to devise and pitch different options. "I was quite unsatisfied because they were always very human-like - people have a logic that a language should be a certain way” and it was only when Vermette's wife threw herself in contention for the job, that the logograms finally took shape. Some "reverse-engineering" was followed to produce a cursive language that had different inkblot-like shapes and built-in animation depending on the desired word. "We decided it could be thicker, say, when you are talking louder or lower, or when you write faster" Later in the movie, Adams' Louise discovers that the symbols can be divided into 12 segments, with each logogram mixed and matched from various graphical elements to create complex words and phrases. It was a deliberate design conceit that, again, highlighted the non-linear story point. The final look initially resembled ink in water, but Vermette thought that was "a bit obvious." Instead,it was a combination of inkblots and flies. "I saw flies over a lake and I did some research, and there's lots of flies over Lake Victoria in Africa. I liked the way the movement of those flies occurred, so I gave those videos to the visual-effects team, and that's how they made the final logograms."

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

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The One with the Info-Blizzard

The One with the Info-Blizzard

How might we... enable a closer alignment?

Communication has been defined as “the sharing of experiences” (Tubbs and Moss, 2003) and language is the most important tool for exchange of messages in interpersonal verbal communication (Ohlander, 1977). In this context, when talking about human communication language, usually takes place in the following four forms: (1) Intrapersonal communication, (2) Interpersonal communication, (3) Group communication and (4) Mass communication (Cassell, 1977).

Intrapersonal communication refers to reflections within oneself, writing or talking to oneself, and contains none or little intercultural communication element. At the same time, as mass communication usually has an unbalanced power relationship between sender and receiver, one-to-one communication and group communications can be balanced or unbalanced.

As communication is an open system, it may be influenced by factors such as interpersonal relationship, environmental factors, the circumstance of the interaction, the psychological state of sender and receiver, sex, age of sender and receiver as well as their qualifications, and the mode of communication (Raffler-Engel, 1988).

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Human Communication

Intrapersonal Communication Individual as sender and receiver

One to one Communication Two-way process Balanced or Unbalanced

Interpersonal Communication Between 2 or more people Cross or Non-Cross Cultural

Group Communication Two-way process Balanced or Unbalanced Mass Communication Usually One-way process Usually Unbalanced

Figure: Different forms of human communication

The history of human communication theory can be traced back to the fifth century B.C. Development of communication theories contained by three periods: the historical period (500 B.C.- 400 A.D.), medieval and renaissance periods (400-1600) and the modern period (1600-). The first stage of this development began with Greek and Roman theories, and has been developed into a “four-part paradigm” (Harper, 1979).

1. Categorisation The process of perception, storage and recall of data

2. Conseptualisation The nature of knowledge and the process of information acquisition and interpretation

(Phase 2.) Conceptualization Making sense of data or the process of discovery of relevant information is an important phase, since interpreting of the information takes place. Conceptualization can be considered as both an objective and a subjective process, in terms of discovery of the relevant information and the creation of information, where the sender must be aware of the receiver’s values, beliefs, attitude and cultural background. This issue is very important in individual-company communication.

(Phase 3.) Symbolization “Cognitive representation of ideas in suitable symbols” (Harper, 1979) , has an importance in the human communication process, both for the sender and the receiver.

This phase holds words, action, and artefacts of symbolic value, i.e. how one speaks, dresses and behaves (e.g. body language). In selecting symbols for interpersonal and intercultural communication, body language has an important role; since about 65% of our messages are nonverbal (Eriksson, 2986).

(Phase 4.) Organisation Sending a message depends on the communication subject and the relationship between the communication sender and receiver. The structure of the message that is sent is essential (“ideally it should have three components, an introduction, a body and a conclusion” Harper, 1979). A well-constructed message plays a significant role for the communication partner to understand it. If the message is sent in a physical form, such as a film or a book, it may be understood differently from e.g. a message delivered by oral communication, or by a combination of oral and visual communication. (Fatahi, 2014).

In order to describe and explain the process of human communication, during the 19th century a number of communication models have been developed. An early model that specified the elements in the communication process are the Shannon-Weaver model (Figure ?), which might be well thought-out a universal model for all forms of communication (Shannon and Weaver, 1949). According to this model, the communication elements are the source of information (sender’s brain), transmitter (sender’s vocal organ), channel (receiver’s ear), and destination (receiver’s brain).

Information Source

The Human Communication Process 4. Organisation The nature of ordering and the processes of relationshop

(Phase 1.) Categorization Has been considered as a basic stage of the process.

Through the specturm of senses - sight, hearing, touch etc. - it is possible to perceive, learn, store and classify data, recalling relevant data and transforming it into information that constitutes the message in the light of the prevailing communication situation.

3. Symbolisation The nature of symbols and the process of meaning-making

Transmitter

Receiver

Signal

Received Signal

Message

Noise Source

Figure: Paradigm of Human Communication, specified for areas of research and theory construction. Modified from Harper.

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

Figure: The Shannon-Weaver liner Model of Communication

Destination

Message

According to the Shannon-Weaver model, the interaction between sender and receiver considered as an active sender with a passive receiver. However the nature of human communication is a more complex process than that provided by the model. Human communication is a mutual activity and the sender is certainly affected by the receiver, both in verbal and non-verbal forms. The linear model has been criticized as an inadequate model for human communication, and an alternative circular model of human communication has been suggested (Figure 4) (Nöth, 1990).

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The One with the Info-Blizzard

In the transferring of this circular model to the current recruitment processes the concept of (xxx) will be of interest. (Enter Personal Branding/Job Description?)

In a circular model of communication the path of signals, i.e. the flow of information, is in constant movement in two directions between sender and receiver. So the circular communication model is a more appropriate model regarding the current topic i.e. recruitment process, since human communication is a process of production and exchange of meaning between speaker and hearer (Figure 4) (Bühler, 1985).

In his study of human communication, Goffman (1976) best-known contributor to social theory for his symbolic interaction study, claimed that there is a set of universal constraints on all communication and should appear in all languages (the latter differs in how these constraints are met) and consequently, their variations according to the communication channel. These can be divided into two types: system constraints and ritual constraints. The first, is all the components required for all communication systems. The second, is the social constraints that smooth social interaction. Together they provide a systematic framework for our description of discourse, even the discourse of everyday, mundane communication (Hatch, 2012). Researchers such as Duncan, Jefferson, Sacks and Schegloff have also investigated system constraints - the ways we open and close conversations, our conversational turn-taking signals, how we repair messages to make them interpretable, and so forth.

When communication begins to break down, repairs and adjustments are made to overcome this - we may use a fill-in-the-blank cooperative completion, rephrase questions so that less language is demanded of the learner, supply answers, model the learner’s response, or model better forms of answers. All languages have a variety of repair mechanisms that can be used to reframe messages in more (acoustically) adequate and interpretable forms.

Goffman also noted that communication cannot truly work unless participants generally observe four major norms of cooperation: relevance, truthfulness, quantity and clarity. These norms, called maxims, were proposed

by Grice (1975) as criteria for cooperative communication.

(Hatch, 2012).

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REFERENCE (semantic/lexical meaning)

Language/ Text/ Meaning SENDER (speaker)

RECEIVER (listener)

Figure: The circular Communication Model illustrating the interchange between sender, receiver and reference (message and meaning) accorsing to Nessa.

(1) Relevance: Each person must make a contribution relevant to the topic. Communication messages cannot be random, but must relate to what has gone before - yet there might be single or multiple versions of a conversation topic. These are dynamic and negotiated as a conversation progresses - for this reason we cannot really say that a discourse has a topic; only speakers and writers do.

(2) Truthfulness: A cooperative conversationalist does not usually say other than what he/she believes to be true.

When truthfulness is violated, it is often used special intonation for sarcasm of playfulness, as varies examples by Gough (1984) illustrate. The ability to take on another role in pretense appears very early in child development but the successful execution and recognition of these elements is not an easy matter in adulthood. It is assumed, according to Grice’s maxim, that contributions will be truthful unless marked as deviations from that norm.

(3) Quantity: The ability to judge exactly how much inferencing or ‘reading between the lines’ can be asked of readers to do - wanting to be brief, but no so brief that the message is not clear.

(Fun Fact:) There has always been some unease with the idea that humans can be packaged and personal brands often come under fire for being artificial portrayals of self-indulgent people. In 2012, the satirical online newspaper The Onion mocked the trend with the headline “‘I Am A Brand,’ Pathetic Man Says.” The story goes on to describe “a sad, pathetic local web developer” who “sees his worthless daily blog posts, endless Facebook status updates, and aggravating Foursquare check-ins as ‘extensions of his brand name.’” The point the writer is making: no-one cares that much about the message we’re trying to project. We’ll be valued at work by doing a good job, not by attempting to project a consistently perfect image.

(4) Clarity: Obscurity and ambiguity are to be avoid. The message should be constructed in an orderly way. This, of course, overlaps with the system constraint on interpretable messages. Here however, the emphasis is not just on comprehensibility but on clarity of messages.

All four of Grice’s maxims are important for effective communications: controls on manner (clarity), quality (relevance and truthfulness) and quantity (quintessential balance)

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

Where is this c o n v e r s a t i o n / c o m m u n i c a t i o n / i n t e r a c t i o n happening?

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Case Study: North Star (Beck, M. 2005)

PersonalBranding | Candidate Experience

The concept of building a personal brand dates back decades and this advice is usually given by people who give career advice (e.g. HR and placement professionals) to career-seekers (Dr. Hartley, 2016). In 1997, Fast Company published an article titled “The Brand Called You” that popularised the concept, arguing that it wasn’t just CEOs or celebrities that needed to carefully craft their image. It was everyone.

The rise of self-promotion and branding partnerships on social media means that it is now second nature for people to build a personal brand: to put some thought into the image they project online and the impression it gives to friends, clients, colleagues and even potential employers or sponsors (Holland, 2017).

That emphasis on presenting a strong public image is especially pronounced in these uncertain economic times; a growing, fiercely competitive ‘gig economy’ has made digital profiles a crucial part of grabbing work opportunities, where freelancing has risen by 43% in the UK since 2008, according to an IPSE survey. “Personal branding is now being taught in Kazakhstan, Egypt and even Cambodia. All around the world, job counsellors are telling people to come up with three to four words that reflect their authentic self,” according to Ilana Gershon, an associate anthropo55

logy professor at Indiana University Bloomington. Traditional branding paints a picture of products that are flawless and consistent and humans don’t work that way, as Sandberg acknowledged. “We are complicated and fallible. There’s a risk that creating a ‘perfect’ personal brand comes with enormous pressure to live up to it.”

This introduces a new way of constantly policing oneself. It forces people to be far more instrumental about their personal life, seeing themselves as a perpetually performing for a business-driven gaze. This authenticity pressure mountains up to several consequences, as the very well known imposter syndrome, which leads to a higher rate of anxiety, which results into severe mental health issues.

Like every great business, a personal brand is a promise to a customer – whether that customer is an actual client, an employer, or a co-worker; it is a 360° expression of who you are, what you stand for, and how you stand apart from others. (Robin, 2017).

Starting with a first job, it is advised to build a package, such as resume or CV, a showcase of achievements and work expertise.

“So, we accumulate a laundry list of the ‘right’ credentials, which often mirror the credentials of others with similar titles and backgrounds - no wonder we fall into the black hole of resumes when You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

applying for our next position” (Cat, 2018).

When searching for professional networking platforms, even a LinkedIn profile categorize people by experience, education, featured skills, endorsements, interests, and accomplishments. “We constantly seek to prove – and improve – our capability, reliability, likeability, and acceptability when we should be designing our ‘uniqueablity’.

Our resumes and CVs are our history, but they are not our whole story” (Cat, 2018).

Using a pointillist painting as a metaphor for people’s lives, that’s composed of millions of dots that reflect who you are, where you come from, which experiences shaped you, and what makes you, you; many of these dots may seem random, however is usually those most absurd combinations of ideas that can lead to game-changing innovations.

Unfortunately, as people seek to further their careers, they tend to narrow their focus in an effort to be expert in their chosen field and highlight that expertise on their resume, sussing out information that confirms their thoughts, beliefs and worldviews, resulting in acquiring tunnel vision rather than having a future vision – and that only makes them blind (or in this case, colourblind) to opportunities, where it should be “will over skill.” (Dowd, 2017)

In an easy-to-absorb and enjoyable, often humorous style, Beck explains how so many get lost, or get stuck, and fail to achieve their most cherished dreams or any measure of happiness. As previously explained, human beings are a division of two selves requiring balance: the essential self - our core being that is guided mostly by uninhibited instinct combined with an inner voice of wisdom with the - social self - the part that has learned how to ‘play nice’ with others, function in a diverse society, and, alias, all too often wear masks to hide our more tender and true core selves. Beck does not advocate turning to one or other self exclusively, both essential and social selves are necessary as Pierce’s Triadic Model states, but rather finding the healthy balance so that it can remain on the right path toward that North Star. "A willingness to make mistakes and recover from them is absolutely essential," she writes. As is doing a "terrible job" if it is on the path to learning and growth. As a final stance: Turtles are created to cross the finish line.

IDEAL WORLD

The Change Cycle Catalytic Event

REAL WORLD

“A company is only as exceptional as the people in it, and to get exceptional people, a strong recruitment process is a must.”

This book teaches how to read internal compasses, articulate core desires, identify and repair the unconscious beliefs that may be blocking progress, nurture intuition, and cultivate dreams from the first magical flicker of an idea through the planning and implementation of a more satisfying life.

The Audthor, Martha Beck - life coach and monthly columnist for O: Oprah Magazine - adores turtles as it embodies much to be admired: a hard, thick shell on the outside, to protect itself from the bumps and bruises of maneuvering through life; a very soft and vulnerable inside beneath the resistant carapace; lacking in speed but has a plodding persistence that wins over the hare every time; and, while protecting its head when at rest, is required to stick its neck out in order to move forward - being a role model for living successful lives.

Death and Rebirth

Dreaming and Scheming

The Promised Land

The Hero’s Saga

SMALL MOVES

BIG MOVES

Case Study: Moral Compass and PIP (Nice and Serious, 2018) Whilst the duration of the Master’s Degree, the class was lucky enough to receive several industry visits presenting their agency’s work, and in this case, it is Nice and Serious, a “nice creative agency that cares about serious issues.”

Beyond their incredible mindset, methodology and overall company’s vision, it was presented the moral compass and PIP approach overwhelmingly impressive.

The Moral Compass was a document shared with everyone at the agency whenever they received a new brief - in order to be as meaningful and as impactful as possible, and optimise time and energy for everyone. The team would score regarding all different metrics, with a final result. If it was ranked above average, the client’s brief is fortunate enough to be worked by Nice and Serious, if it did not meet the requirements, the company will not put in their efforts, getting their return on ethics back.

Apart from this solution, they have also created the Personal Impact Portfolio, otherwise known as PIP. No matter how noble the purpose of the organisation, work is still work and even in a progressive company, at times the realities of work will grate, grind and wear people down. Tom Tapper, being a leader in this modern workplace, tried to encourage Nice and Serious’ team not to look down at the coffee grounds of the daily grind, but instead look up at the vision they signed up to. Each member of the team was given a personalised breakdown of the time they've dedicated to different causes throughout the year. It is a way to encourage the team to take a step back and reflect on the impact they've had through their work. People join Nice and Serious because they believe that good causes need great creative work. The PIP serves as a little reminder of how their team have spent time, their most precious resource, to support the world's most pressing social and environmental issues. “Will this mean that our team never lose sight of Nice and Serious' purpose? I doubt it. That will take time and good leadership (WIP). But hopefully, during that drizzly 7:00 am commute, it will encourage our team to take a moment and reflect on what they've achieved and remind them of why they joined Nice and Serious.” Tom Tapper, 2018

Case Study: Multi-Hyphen Method (Gannon, E. 2018) Offering sage advice to her readers throughout the book, Gannon looks at recurring workplace issues, from the culture of burnout, to the rise of the multi-hyphenate, to failure, feminism and flexible working. She recommends tips on how to incorporate slow living into life; how to be more shameless in self-promotion and talks about the importance of everything from taking breaks to setting boundaries in the workplace.

While Gannon undoubtedly delivers some well-thought out theories in the Multi-Hyphen Method, perhaps the biggest selling point of the book is the tone in which she writes it, coming across as a cheerleader and champion for all who read it - genuinely feeling as though it is an advice book from someone who is rooting for the reader to build both a career and lifestyle of his/hers very own design (as further explained in the Job Crafting section). The internet and our phones mean creatives can work wherever, whenever and allows them to design their own working lives.

In The Multi-Hyphen Method Emma Gannon teaches that it doesn’t matter if it’s a part-time PA with a blog, or a physio who runs an online jewellery store in the evenings – whatever the ratio, whatever the mixture, it is possible to channel the entrepreneurial spirit. Today, the stigma of being a jack of all trades is being dispelled and having more strings to the bow is essential to getting ahead in the modern working world and Emma Gannon’s book is the ultimate guide in helping creatives navigate their way towards success.

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The One with the Abstract

The One with the Abstract

"When people talk about

psychometric tests,

they sometimes mean questionnaires. A test is something with a right or wrong answer, which might be used to measure numeracy or literacy, for example, while a questionnaire would be used to find out about someone's personality." (Parkinson, 2014).

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“Former chairman, Paul Flowers, landed the job because he did better in psychometric tests than rival candidates” - Co-op bank’s brought this element of the recruitment process into the spotlight. Employers may use one or both of these in the recruitment process (Osborne, 2014).

The questionnaire is supposed to uncover what kind of person ‘you’ are in ways that ‘you’ wouldn't necessarily admit to in an interview, with questions designed to expose how ‘you’ behave and what motivates ‘you’. A good test will be set up to pick up on any inconsistencies and make it difficult for ‘you’ to put on an act – there is a built-in "lie scale". An aptitude test is supposed to show how good ‘you’ are at tasks required in the job and may measure how quickly you get to the right answer. “The employer usually has a minimum score ‘you’ have to achieve, or be looking for the candidate with the best score” (Parkinson, 2014).

“If you're recruiting for senior people these days, you will usually do something called an assessment centre – this will involve an interview, a work sampling and a psychometric test. An interview on its own is a very poor predictor of ultiYou’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

mate success." (Cooper, 2013) So too are the other elements, when taken alone. For example, looking at the quality of someone's work, without knowing how they cope with decision-making, makes it hard to know if they will be able to work in an environment where speed is of the essence (Osborne, 2014).

Parkinson says they are only any good if the recruiter knows what they are trying to measure and why.

"Where they often fail is when people try to use them to assess things that you can't measure, such as creativity or leadership, the recruiter needs to decide what kind of traits they think make a good leader and look for those to match up with the job requirements” (Cooper, 2004).

Hogshead (in his book How the World Sees You: Discover Your Highest Value through the Science of Fascination) says likewise: “We’re used to traditional personality tests, such as Myers-Briggs or StrengthsFinder, that show you how you see the world. It’s a good metric, but as the world becomes more distracted, it matters less and less. What does matter is how the world sees you.”

The HR department...

I’m not sure what they really do, and I’m not sure I want them to do anything Previous research into HRM gives an image of HR departments struggling to find their role and defend their existence (Brockbank, 1999; Torrington and Hall, 1996; Jamrog and Overholt, 2004). In the earlier stages of the empirical work, it was similarly observed problems facing the HR departments and is witnessed several signs that the HR department is slowly ‘fading away’, while searching for its place in the firm. For instance, one interviewed top manager in a firm where HRM is considered a strategic issue expressed the problem in the following words: “the HR department... I’m not sure what they really do, and I’m not sure I want them to do anything” (Miller, 2018).

In addition, several HRM scholars have argued that HR departments need to change fundamentally if they are to contribute to the success and value creation of the firm, otherwise the HR departments might just as well be abolished. Along these lines, Ulrich (1998, p.124) claims that ‘HR’ tends to have a bad reputation in many organisations, and for a good reason: “It is often ineffective, incompetent, and costly; in a phrase, it is value sapping”. In sum, previous research and practice undoubtedly offer a substantial critique of

the HR department as we know it.

At the same time, most researchers, including Ulrich cited above, argue that the HR department needs to be an important player in the HR organisation of the firm. In fact, the HR department itself is often seen as an important basis for gaining competitive advantage (e.g., Brockbank, 1999).

Some authors have stressed the importance that HR departments should move from administrative personnel units and instead become ‘strategic players’ (Beatty and Schneier, 1997; Ulrich and Beatty, 2001). Others have argued that the HR departments need to assume various roles such as ‘strategic partners’, ‘business partners’, and ‘change agents’ as well as ‘administrative experts’ and ‘employee champions’ (e.g., Ulrich, 1998; Mohrman and Lawler, 1997; Lawler, 2005).

Altogether, the arguments about the need to change the role of HR departments suggest that the HR department is expected to make an important contribution to the development of core issues of management. Nevertheless, it is, at the same time, recognised that the HR department is struggling with its current mandate and role. One key problem is, however, that only a limiYou’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

ted amount of research within this area is supported by solid empirical evidence. One important exception exists, namely the broad longitudinal study of the development of HRM in 15 British organisations conducted by Storey (1992) who identified patterns in the roles taken by HR departments and suggested a conceptual framework of ‘types of personnel practitioner’, based on the two dimensions identified as (1) strategic/ tactical and (2) interventionary/ non-interventionary. Storey’s typology included a) the strategic and non-interventionary ‘advisers’, b) the tactical and non-interventionary ‘handmaidens’, c) the tactical and interventionary ‘regulators’ and d) the strategic and interventionary ‘change makers’.

Sisson and Storey (2003, p.226) argue that outsourcing is one of four main options for delivering personnel activities within a firm. The other three options, according to Bredin (2010), are the HR department as an “in-house agency” (seen as a cost centre), as an “internal consultancy” (selling its services to the parent organisation) or as a “business within a business” (which may trade not only with the parent organisation but also externally).

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The One with the Abstract

(Fun Fact:) The term “human resources” used to be called “personnel”, which possesses more dignity onto recognising employees as people.

This transition amounted to a semantic dehumanising on the workforce where “employees are no longer people, they’re assets” (Dr. Hartley, 2016). A current trend is to refer to employees as “human capital” rather than “human resources”, which embodies the slavery politics, facilitating the expenses on the balance sheet.

Research indicates that in the knowledge society of the future the following skills will be in demand: specialized skills, creativity, and innovation (Boxall & Purcell, 2010). The following specialized skills will be particularly in demand: innovation skills, change capability skills, transfer of experience, organizational learning, organizational design, performance management, and knowledge management especially (Armstrong, 2014; Adriaenssen & Johannessen, 2017). It is in these areas that HR departments will have an important role to play (Ulrich, 2013).

In a globalized market, information, knowledge, skills and attitudes change character (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2014). It is therefore imperative that management is able to focus on how knowledge workers are managed, because they will increase in number in the future and eventually make up the core of value creation in organizations (Drucker, 1999).

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You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

The One with the Abstract

A central question in this context will be: how can organizations boost the performance of their knowledge workers? The expertise, creativity and social networking (internal and external) of employees will constitute the core assets in relation to the development of activities in the globalized market of the future (Boxall & Purcell, 2010). However, it is not the individual’s knowledge that is of interest in this context, but rather how organizations are able to develop an organizational culture that emphasizes knowledge sharing which structures information and work processes around teams and also promotes the sharing of knowledge that will be crucial to work in the future (Brockbank, 2013). This presup poses that organizations are able to develop and use information resources internally and externally to promote idea development and integration of knowledge that already exists but which must be organized (Guest, 2007);

this knowledge will increasingly be external to the individual organization.

In this process, HR departments will play a very important role (Adriaenssen & Johannessen, 2017).

Literature on the Government concern regarding the creative industries,

by Nesta: It’s all about the skills. “Companies start to invest in people.” In people, or their qualifications?

Online job advertisements are a valuable source of information for learning about the skills required in different jobs. The research by Burning Glass Ltd uses job adverts that were collected and processed and the dataset contains millions of adverts for UK positions that were placed online between 2012 and early 2017. Duplicate adverts are deleted and the skills and software programs in each advert are harvested. There are thousands of unique terms, and the skills include types of knowledge, abilities, behaviours and work activities.

Burning Glass places each advert into an occupation group, based on the title of the job advert. The taxonomy of occupation groups used in this analysis is the Standard Occupational Classification system (SOC codes at 4-digit level). Thousands of skills were extracted from the adverts and were grouped into clusters using a community detection algorithm (Sleeman, 2017) working by grouping skills which tend to appear in the same adverts.

The algorithm found five large skill clusters and for each cluster it was given a name, based on the most frequently occurring skills that it contained. The naming process requires an element of judgement and invariably within each cluster there are examples of skills that are not entirely consistent with the title of the cluster. The five key skill clusters are: Support skills, Creating & design skills, Tech skills, Marketing skills and Teaching skills.

(The table below shows the 30 skills in each cluster that appear most frequently in adverts for creative occupations, by Nesta)

Tech Skills

Support Skills

Marketing Skills

Microsoft C# Microsoft Windows .NET Programming Software Engineering Software Development ASP Web Site Development Extensive Markup Lab jQuery Oracle C++ Hypertext Preprocess Information Technology Technical Writing Technical Support MySQL Scrum Microsoft Sharepoint Software Use Instructor UNIX Product Development Python Web Application Development Visual Studio Object-Oriented An Systems Engineering Responding to Technical ...

Agile Development AJAX Transact-SQL

Building Relationships Project Management Business Management Microsoft Excel Business Development Customer Service Microsoft Office Contract Management Product Sales Sales Budgeting Budget Management Customer Contact Account Management Key Performance Indicator Microsoft Powerpoint Computer Aided Draugh Sales Management SAP ITIL Telecommunications Fundrainsing Procurement Sales Recruiting Accountancy Business Communications Administration Management Organisational Development Scheduling Office Management

Social Media Marketing Marketing Sales Campaign Management Marketing Communications Brand Management Market Strategy Strategic Marketing Copy Writing Product Marketing Content Management Brand Marketing E-Commerce Journalism Advertising Design Online Marketing Digital Marketing Direct Marketing Marketing Management Market Research Brand Experience Press Releases Email Marketing Public Relations Newsletters Broadcast Branding Strategy Channel Marketing Marketing Materials Optimisation

Creating & Design Skills Adobe Photoshop Graphic Design Website Production Concept Development Adobe InDesign Video Production Adobe Acrobat Packaging Photography Brand Design Digital Design Music Video Editing Image Processing Adobe Illustrator Print Production Retail Setting Art Direction Materials Design 3D Modeling/ Design Typesetting Creative Design Web Site Design Process Design Printers SketchUp Interactive Advertising MAYA Adobe Aftereffects Adobe Dreamweaver

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

Teaching Skills Teaching Teaching Dance Tutoring Teaching Art Lesson Planning Biology Chemistry Child Behaviour Library Research Integrated Library Library Resources Information Literacy Teaching Design Teaching Information Teaching English Lecturer Instruction Teaching Music Biochemistry Molecular Biology Teaching Mathematics Bioinformatics Teaching Science Proteins Contemporary Dance Teaching PE Basic Programming Curriculum Development Exercise Testing Radio Frequency

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Job adverts provide skills information directly from employers, showing a highly granular picture of skill demands for individual occupations.

This same picture cannot be painted using survey data, owing to small sample sizes (Sleeman, 2017). Moreover, job adverts allow employers to describe skill needs in their own terms - a bottom-up approach. In contrast most surveys take a top-down approach, by asking employers to select skills from a short and predetermined list of terms however, data from job adverts has definite drawbacks - not all jobs are advertised online. This is likely to be due to high levels of self-employment and the close nature of the community where recruitment is often conducted through social or professional networks. It was not possible to gather a sufficient number of job adverts to form an accurate representation of the skills required in Craft occupations. Accordingly, these occupations were excluded from the analysis (Sleeman, 2017).

What can be learned from Metrics?

HOW -------------------------LONG

does it take to hire employees?

-------------------------IS

your potential candidate the right fit for the job?

(Fun Fact: Nesta Report: A closer look at creatives: The creative groups vary enormously in size and growth. In each panel the white bars on the left-hand side show the level of employment for the creative group in 2015, while the white dots on the right-hand side show the growth in employment between 2011 and 2015, as reported by DCMS. IT, software and computer services are the single largest creative group, accounting for approximately 28% of employment in creative occupations. They have also experienced the fastest growth between 2011 and 2015, expanding by 31%. The second largest creative group is Advertising & Marketing and along with IT they account for over 50% of employment in creative occupations. The smallest creative groups are also broadly those which are growing most slowly.

Employment levels in Publishing, Crafts and Museums, galleries & libraries all shrunk between 2011 and 2015.

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-------------------------MUCH

money are you spending on the entire hiring process?

-------------------------EFFICIENT

are you in the hiring process?

-------------------------MANY

candidates are applying for your job postings?

-------------------------MANY

places are the candidates looking for your job postings?

-------------------------WELL

does your new employee perform at the job?

-------------------------DOES

the job description that you provided with the listing accurately represent the actual job details?”

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

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The One with the Abstract

Some salient points in the “Ready to Innovate” report can influence the way designers position themselves for jobs:

85 % of employers concerned with hiring creative people say they can’t find the applicants they seek Time to Fill This metric promotes stability within a organization. It measures the amount of time it would take to locate and hire a potential new employee. The process begins with a requisition being approved by a company and extends to the point when the candidate has completed the necessary background checks. Essentially, it gives managers the opportunity to understand how long it takes to fill a job position. This is important because hiring employees can often be a lengthy process involving multiple steps. The most successful organizations want to take measures that will considerably reduce their HR KPI ‘time to fill’ figure, while keeping a good quality of hire at the same time, otherwise, this is time wasted.

Quality of Hire This recruiting metric basically indicates whether the person who was appointed to fill the position is good or bad for the organization.

It is generally used to measure the performance of a hire during a 1-year time period. Low ratings can indicate bad hires, and this can cost companies a substantial amount of money.

Knowing exactly how employees are helping the organization and what skill sets they’re bringing to their job, is integral.

Candidate Job Satisfaction How much does the job description match with what a new employee is experiencing in the workplace? This metric measures employees’ expectations with their job satisfaction and can determine a realistic job preview. This helps to put into perspective the experience that employees are having with the organisation.

Applicants per Opening This is a great metric for measuring job popularity. However, just because a lot of people are applying for the job does not necessarily equate to something that’s positive for the company. It could indicate that the job description is too vague, for example. It can also give the company a great starting place to begin narrowing down their job description while still maintaining that suitable candidates are applying for this position, even if fewer people are applying for that particular job.

First year attrition This is a good metric for measuring hiring success. First year attrition can be broken down to be either managed or unmanaged, which means that the contract is either terminated by the employer, or the employee leaves the company. It could also indicate that the job description did not meet the expectations of the candidate, or that the candidate did not fit well within the team.

Source of Hire Candidates are using several digital channels to research and find the ‘right’ companies, for which recruiters have to use multiple channels: whether it’s LinkedIn, advertisements, and/or social networks. Knowing which of these channels is the most effective is essential, through the visualisation of the sources of hire on recruitment’s dashboard. It indicates information such as: the number of applicants that are originating from each source and of all the applicants that came to the specific channel, how many were qualified? With this metric, the recruiters can better understand their expenditures and stop using channels that are not bringing in interested candidates, which will save them money. Likewise, it allows the recruiter/company to spend more money on the channels that are actually bringing the organization the most interested, qualified people who are looking to be a part.

Cost per Hire Understanding how much money the company spends during the recruitment process can be a very efficient way to allocate spending. It is important to look at all of the company’s costs when hiring an employee so that it can be learnt where to cut costs during the hiring process (without affecting the candidate’s quality or experience level). This HR metric helps to discover several factors, such as: recruitment time costs, costs of managers and employees that are involved in the hiring process and administrative costs that are linked to the process of training and implementing new employees.

97 % of employers say creativity is of increasing importance 72 % say that the hiring process gives creativity priority as selection criterion in hiring of new employees

65 % Employers say problem identification or articulation best demonstrates creativity.

63 % employers seeking creativity prefer the creative employee over the technically skilled one Employers look for employees who reinforce their creativity by showing certain characteristics in the selection process: Able to look spontaneously beyond the specifics of a question Respond well to hypothetical scenarios

78%

70 %

Able to identify new patterns of behavior or new combination of actions Integrate knowledge across different disciplines Show ability to originate new ideas and communicate them Comfortable with the notion of “no right answer” and fundamentally curious Demonstrate originality and inventiveness in work Show ability to take risks and tolerant of ambiguity

Source: The Professional Association for Design, Grefe 2011 63

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#1 Finding the right candidate for a job is labour intensive and rarely easy, which is why an increasing number of companies are turning to artificial intelligences to streamline the process.

Case Study: MYA

The bread and Butter of HR Job descriptions are “the bread & butter of HR”, in other words, they are the basis for important HR systems however, the job description has become outdated. When one compares the business today with what it was five years ago, chances are it is different and the work done by employees running the business has changed too.

Technology transforms the way work gets done and re-organizations and restructuring has a huge impact on roles and responsibilities. In any case, it is good practice to review job descriptions at least every two years to ensure they reflect the reality of the position. Thinking this furter, there is actually no job description. When hiring for a new position, the job ad becomes the de facto job description but it is not sufficient. Job ads lack important elements for a job descrip65

tion such as reporting relationships (up and down), the physical demand of the position, the details of responsibilities; leading to yet another issue: the job title is meaningless. A good job ad needs an appealing job title. If looking into the IT community, they love pop culture references: “SEO Ninja” or “Network Guru” are in vogue but lose value when it comes to job matching for compensation purposes. Another example is banking, notorious for title inflation. For this, the research recommends using meaningful and widely understood job titles to avoids confusion about the scope of the role.

The main problem with job descriptions is that they are written by line managers. Undoubtedly, supervisors and employees are best positioned to know the work done by each position however, they often get bogged down You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

(Fun Fact:) There is a story that the first job description handed to a recruiter was written in 1949 by IBM, and that that job description has been used as a template ever since. Most job descriptions are generic. Typically job descriptions describe what candidates must have and are filled with superfluous statements such as “the candidate must think outside of the box.” Job descriptions often have a list of what a candidate should have. “The candidate must have five years’ experience” and “the candidate needs to predict market trends, understand competitive moves, and strategize accordingly.”

Many job descriptions read identical and the must-have qualifications and experiences become the guideposts for the hiring decision. However, these typical must-haves are not always true indicators of future performance.

Companies should consider not what the candidate should have, but what the candidate should achieve.

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" - Albert Einstein

in the minutia of the position and end up having a hard time identifying the main deliverables for which the position is responsible. For this, the research suggests using a knowledgeable outsider to interview supervisor and employee or at a minimum, identifying a process owner and institute a review process.

One of the main problems across an organisation is the lack of consistency.

Each department has a different template with different headings, hence the job description documents “look” different. Departments or work teams update the job description without consulting a knowledgeable party or the HR department, which is crucial “when it appears in the eyes of the beholder”, meaning, the potential candidate’s lack of interest. (Gere, A. Certified Senior Professional in Human Resources)

The “pre-hire assessment” market is estimated to be worth £2.14b a year and so the automation revolution has hit recruitment, with everything from facial expressions to vocal tone, now analysed by algorithms and artificial intelligence (which is already intrinsic into every aspect of daily life).

Computer algorithms keep the inboxes free of email spam, suggest which TV programmes to watch and can even drive a variety of cars - and nowadays, smart machines may play a role in deciding whether or not one gets his/her next job (Murray, 2018).

An increasing number of employers are using robot recruiters that can assess C’s, screen candidates and pair them with the right roles. The search for efficiency in the recruitment process has fuelled interest in AI, where finding employees with the correct mixture of skills, personality and motivation is difficult – even when the pool of candidates is large.

“The benefits are huge. Companies have large databases of candidates they have acquired over the years, and they are receiving more CVs than ever before, now that the internet has made it easier to apply for jobs. Previously, recruiters were drowning in manual work, assessing applications. With AI, they can automate the repetitive tasks that slow them down.” (Eyal Grayevsky, CEO of Mya Systems, Creator).

(1) One large retailer that used Mya to hire warehouse staff reported a 79% reduction in the time it took to fill each position, and a 144% increase in productivity per recruiter who used the technology. Job candidates, meanwhile, benefit by receiving a guaranteed response from Mya. “It’s a very human-like interaction,” Grayevsky says.

(2) Frida Polli, CEO of Pymetrics, which uses AI to pair people with suitable jobs, says robo-recruiters can also help employers become more diverse by removing some of the unconscious bias in the hiring process.

“It can be more objective than a human – but if untested, AI will amplify whatever bias already exists because it is trained to find patterns and replicate them.”

Some worry that the rise of the robots will displace the human recruiter, but Anna Seely, principal of talent strategy at Mercer, says: “The role of HR is evolving as a result of digital disruption. Rather than replacing humans, AI gives us access to much richer data to drive better decision making.”

(3) Head psychologist at Hirevue (a company that offers software that screens job candidates using algorithms and artificial intelligence, used by global giants such as Unilever and Goldman Sachs), says “finding the right employee is all about looking at the little things” (Mondragon,2018). Their flagship product asks candidates to answer standard interview questions in front of a camera.

Meanwhile its software, makes note of thousands of barely perceptible changes in posture, facial expression, vocal tone and word choice.

Example: “We break the answers people give down into many thousands of data points, into verbal and non-verbal cues. If you’re answering a question about how you would spend a million dollars, your eyes would tend to shift upward, your verbal cues would go silent, or turn to ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’. Your head would tilt slightly upward with your eyes. The facial movement analytics would tell us you were going into a creative thinking style.”

(Nathan Mondragon, 2018)

How Mya Works • The AI interviewer When a candidate applies for a job online, Mya introduces herself and initiates a dynamic, written conversation - similar to a text message format • Real-time answers The bot asks the candidate a series of interview questions, such as: “What’s your pay range?”

“Can you handle the physical requirements of the job?”

“What is your shift availability?”

- can also answer questions about the job in real time.

• Language assessment The AI uses natural language processing to pick up on conversational details.

Based on the candidate’s answers, Mya assesses whether they are a good fit.

The bot sends a scorecard and transcript to the employer.

Cloud-based, Mya is designed to integrate into existing HR software.

• The next stage If the candidate is a match, Mya will schedule an interview with a human hiring manager.

If they are not, she will suggest other jobs that may be relevant to them.

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

The program turns this data into a score, which is then compared against one the program has already “learned” from top-performing employees. The idea is that a good prospective employee looks a lot like a good current employee, just not in any way a human interviewer would notice (Buranyi, 2018).

(4) Tesco, the UK’s largest private employer, received well over three million job applications in 2016. As the number of people applying for jobs has increased, employers have removed human beings from the hiring side whenever possible, automating more and more of the decisions in the process. This started over a decade ago with simple programs that scanned text CVs for keywords about education, skills and past employers in order to flag them for recruiters. It has expanded to include a bewildering range of quizzes, psychometric tests and custom built games that can be used to reject applicants before a human ever sees their application.

This shift has already radically changed the way that many people interact with prospective employers. The standardised CV format allowed jobseekers to be evaluated by multiple firms with a single approach (Buranyi, 2018).

Now jobseekers are forced to prepare for whatever format the company has chosen. The burden has been shifted from employer to jobseeker - a familiar feature of the ‘gig economy’ era – and along with it the ability of jobseekers to get feedback or insight into the decision-making process. The role of human interaction in hiring has decreased, making an already difficult process deeply alienating (as the Arrival Case Study previously mentioned).

(5) “It’s a bit dehumanising, never being able to get through to an employer” says Robert, a plumber in his forties who uses job boards and recruiters to find temporary work.

Harry, 24, has been searching for a job for four months. In retail, where he is looking, ‘just about every job’ has some sort of test or game, anything from personality to maths, to screen out applicants. He completes four or five tests a week as jobs are posted. The rejections are often instant, although some service providers offer time-delay rejection emails, presumably to maintain the illusion that a person had spent time judging an application that had already failed an automated screen. The rejections pile up without ever signposting a different path. Every time you start again from zero.

“It’s frustrating. You never know what you’ve done wrong; it leaves you feeling a bit trapped.” (Harry, 2018).

(6) Deborah Caldeira: a masters student at the London School of Economics, says after 86 unsuccessful job applications over the past two years – including several Hirevue screenings – she is thoroughly disillusioned with automated systems. She says that without a person across the table, there is ‘no real conversation or exchange’ and it’s difficult to know ‘exactly what the robot is looking for’.

Despite her excellent grades and extracurriculars, she was plagued by doubts that she didn’t look or sound like the ideal candidate, whose form was unknown to her. Sitting at home alone performing for a computer, she found herself questioning every movement. “It makes us less confident, and feel that we’re not worthwhile, as the company couldn’t even assign a person for a few minutes. The whole thing is becoming less human, which is concerning. What’s the limit for the use of automation when we are evaluating people?” 'Dehumanising, impenetrable, frustrating': the grim reality of job hunting in the age of AI.

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Case Study: Why data can't replace human interpretation (Dallaway, E. 2015)

MONEYBALL FILM DATA ANALYTICS

At Propel London, a specialist recruitment database technology is used to segment candidates according to multiple factors, which allows high volumes of candidate profiles to be sorted in a timely manner. James Webb, the firm’s managing director, does counter that “relying solely on technology to pick out specific data points would run the risk of the exclusion of certain people who may not have presented the information in a specific way”, which is why the human element in recruiting frequently outweighs the data (Dallaway, 2015).

#2 Finding the right candidate for a job is labour intensive and rarely easy, which is why an increasing number of candidates are turning to job crafting / freelance to streamline the process.

Case Study - Design You Own Job through Crafting (Demerouti, E. 2014)

The importance of human-driven interpretation, as raised by Ross (chief technology officer at global marketing and technology agency DigitasLBi), is one not to be underestimated, and it’s worth exploring how, even when relying on data analytics, human involvement is still required.

“People are trying to make it so that a computer can do the analysis but as soon as you lose the human interface, that’s where it falls down. There is still the need for an expert to interpret the data, to have a detailed understanding to realise what the data needs. They only tell you half the story. Humans will always be needed to analyse other humans for job suitability,” he explains.

“No matter how technical recruitment gets, personality will always be important.” (Harry Jones, co-founder & chief technology officer at Top10).

Alec Dent, partnership manager, at BlaBlaCar, explains that it’s impossible to replace the human element in recruitment. “It’s all about fit – and an algorithm just can’t predict that yet. Still, we’re optimistic that as they develop, algorithms could eventually play a bigger role in our recruitment process. Mathematically minded people will love Moneyball-style stats and probability, whereas others will be more into changing the culture and knowing their art.”

predictor, ‘x-variable’ independent variable, explanatory variable

Y=

0

+

1

x1 +

coefficient

2

x2 + ... +

p

xp +

E

linear predictor response, dependent variable, observation, ‘y-variable’

random error, “noise”

“There is still the need for an expert to interpret the data, to have a detailed understanding to realise what the data needs”

Case Study: TV Show “Suits” - Data Comparison Analysis In Season 8, Episode 1 “The Right Hand-Man” of the TV Show Suits, there is a particularly interesting scene regarding characters Katrina Bennett (up-and-coming senior partner), Louis Litt (managing partner) Brian Altman (an associate) and Donna Paulsen (chief officer of operations).

Katrina, being a very ambitious lawyer, directs to Louis Litt in an attempt of advancing her career, asking to be in charge of laying off the low ranking associates (who will no longer be needed after the merger with Robert Zane). Katrina is data-driven in her approach – developing a model that rates the associates on their quantifiable metrics, like productivity and billing, leaving Brian at the bottom of the report. She’s proud of her objective reasoning, but when Louis finds out that his other protege – soft-spoken, good-hearted, new-father Brian Altman, is at the top of the kill list, he refuses to let him go. Katrina decided to take Brian to lunch in an attempt of sparking justifications within a conversation with Brian, but ends up by firing him anyway, since he triggered a deep spot by calling her a robot. Donna, knowing this, decided to have a talk with Katrina in an attempt to identify the top 4 people on her report. Going into Brian’s office space cubicles, both realised Brian was at the center of those exact 4 people - having intangible quality that makes Brian a keeper... he makes everyone around him better, resembling Donna’s character within a seniority role - recognising emotional intelligence as a valuable attribute. She hires Brian back and on Donna’s advice, asks him to help her evaluate the other associates, in order to not make the same mistake twice.

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Job Crafting is defined as the changes that employees may make to balance their job demands and job resources with their personal abilities and needs. In order to understand why individuals craft their jobs, it is informative to look at related literature on proactive behavior. Several motivation theories, like self-regulation theory (Bandura, 1991), but also goal-setting theory (Locke & Latham, 1990) and expectancy theory (Vroom, 1964) suggest that individuals’ goals are hierarchically organised into two broad systems: (1) Goal Generation: individuals anticipate desired future states or outcomes and develop strategies to reach those goals, and (2) Goal Striving: mobilise and monitor their day-to-day behaviors to attain their goals (Parker, Bindl, & Strauss, 2010). Thus, job crafting is driven by the motivation to set and attain goals. According to Parker et al. (2010), ‘‘proactive goal generation involves envisioning and planning, under one’s own volition, the goal to bring about a new and different future by changing the self and/or the environment’’ (p. 831). The individuals act of their own volition rather than following instructions from someone else in order, for instance, to increase person-environment fit. They do so by enacting, that is, undertaking actions to achieve their proactive goals, and by reflecting whether goals are consistent with their core values and interests (Bindl & Parker, 2009). The more the envisioned future is central to one’s identity or values, the more one will be motivated to bring about that future (Parker et al., 2010, p. 837).

Moreover, Wrzesniewski and Dutton (2001) suggested that the motivation for job crafting arises from three basic individual needs. (a) employees engage in job crafting because they have the need to take control over certain aspects of their work in order to avoid negative consequences – such as alienation from work, (b) employees are motivated to change aspects of their work in order to enable a more positive sense of self to be expressed and confirmed by others, (c) job crafting allows employees o fulfil the basic human need for connection to others. Thus, according to Wrzesniewski and Dutton (2001) individuals craft their jobs in order to experience enhanced meaning of work and a positive work identity. By making changes in the job, they can experience the job in another way and craft another purpose of the work.

In support of this suggestion, Mattarelli and Tagliaventi (2012) found on the basis of qualitative data that offshore professionals responded to threats to work identity through individual job crafting aimed at restoring their psychological well being. A final reason why individuals craft their jobs is to create conditions in which they can work healthily and with motivation. Following a work psychological perspective, Petrou et al. (2012) as well as Tims and Bakker (2010) suggest that job crafting might be enabled by the need for certain job characteristics. They state that employees might increase their challenging job demands or job resources in order to match these demands and resources to their individual needs.

Individual Differences Big-Five Traits Proactive Personality General Self-Efficacy Regulatory Focus

Job Characteristics Job Autonomy Workload

Demographics Age Tenure Gender Education Work Hours

Job Crafting Increasing Structural Job Resources Increasing Social Job Resources Increasing Challenging Job Demands Decreasing Hindering Job Demands

Work Outcomes Job Attitudes: Job Satisfaction Turnover Intention Occupational Well-Being: Work Engagement Job Strain Work Performance: Job Performance Contextual Performance

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Job Design and redesign approaches have been criticized for no longer reflecting and integrating the dramatic changes in the nature of the jobs that have occurred during the past few decades (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007; Grant & Parker, 2009; Humphrey, Nahrgang, & Morgeson, 2007), like the shift from manufacturing to a serviceoriented economy, the emergence of the knowledgebased industry, the globalized models of business management, and the use of innovative technologies and flexible work methods (Ten Brummelhuis, Bakker, Hetland, & Keulemans, 2012).

The job design literature has gradually recognized that the ‘one-size-fits-all approach’ is no longer sufficient (Grant & Parker, 2009). Not surprisingly, modern job redesign approaches have come to recognize the role of individuals as proactive agents that form their jobs and change their job characteristics (Fried, Grant, Levi, Hadani, & Slowik, 2007; Grant & Parker, 2009; Nielsen, 2013; Oldham & Hackman, 2010).

Such bottom-up approaches have come to complete the traditional job design literature. Because job crafting includes individual proactivity and the self-initiated changes in the job, it can be used to supplement these traditional top-down, job redesign approaches. In this way, not only job redesign approaches can become more successful as they are tailored to individual needs, but improvements of jobs can be a continuing process creating in this way sustainable changes.

Several studies have confirmed that job resources and personal resources independently or in combination predict work engagement (e.g., Xanthopoulou, Bakker, Demerouti, & Schaufeli, 2009). Work engagement, in turn, has a positive impact on job performance (Demerouti & Cropanzano, 2010). Recently, it has been suggested that job design represents the way through which employees who are engaged and perform well are able to create their own resources, which then foster engagement over time and create a positive gain spiral (Bakker, 2011).

As already indicated, this is a specific form of proactive behavior in which employees initiate changes in their levels of job demands and job resources (Tims et al., 2012).

Job design enables employees to fit their jobs to their personal knowledge, skills, and abilities on the one hand, and to their preferences and needs on the other. Because of job crafting, employees may be able to increase their person-job fit and to experience enhanced meaning in their work.

Taken together, these represent a means that can be encouraged by organizations to keep their employees enthusiastic for and engaged in their work. Thus, job crafting can be implemented not only to complement top-down job redesign approaches but also to help organizations to obtain competitive advantage by attracting and retaining engaged employees.

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How might we... find what creative companies are looking for?

C

reativity has become increasingly the key driver of organizational success and innovation. In dynamic work environment, more and more managers are realizing that they need to find creative employees who need to be actively involved in their work (Lee & Tan, 2012). Nowadays, understanding and knowing creativity and tools of creative organizations is a high priority in organizational behaviour research (Zhou & Hoever, 2014).

Accordingly, for creativity, a company can: (1) select the creative job candidates, then (2) motivate them and stimulate individuals, and (3) accept the birth of new ideas. To achieve the goals a suitable environment has to be secured, in which workplaces facilitate individuals’ creativity.

Educators, educational psychologists, policy makers, parents and journalists are deeply engaged in both the practi-

cal sides of creative education and teaching for creativity and developing aspects of creativity theories, which are of special importance for education (see Beghetto & Plucker, 2006).

Since the beginning of creativity theory, the educational side of creativity has been at the heart of scholars’ thinking and research. Torrance’s classical findings (Torrance, 1968), such as those of the fourth-grade slump (see also Krampen, 2012), or applications of motivation theory for education (Amabile, 1996; Hennessey, 2015) may serve as key examples.

The study of creativity can be characterised with the direction of the research study’s focus. This can be determined with Rhodes’ (1961) 4Ps. (1) Product: the research studies examining the result of creative work; (2) Personality: the studies examining the creative personality; (3) Process: the stu-

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

dies mapping out the mental process of creative thinking or activity (creation); (4) Place/Pressure: studies introducing environmental influence and pressure.

In case of creativity a lot depends on the environment, how it stimulates the individual, and how it accepts the birth of new ideas. From these four factors we focused on two Ps, person and place. Regarding the issue of creative person (self) and creative idea, arises the question who or what can be considered creative?

Kaufman and Beghetto (2009) answered this question by designating the different levels of creativity. Within this categorisation the ‘Little c level’ creativity is highlighted in the scientific literature of organizational creativity.

According to this, creativity is present in all people and it appears with proper environmental conditions and motivation.

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(Fun Fact: This statement is profoundly defended by:)

Bruce Nussbaum, ‘Creative Intelligence’

David & Tom Kelley, ‘Creative Confidence’

Having the pleasure to meet Nussbaum at ‘Productized Conference 2016 in Lisbon (PT), he presented his VUCA approach: volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity and Creative Intelligence framework (IQ--EQ--CQ) Mining for Meaning Framing and reframing Serious playing (metaphor, analogy, connecting the dots) Making Scaling (role of the curator and the patron) Curating the vibe In his book, being analogous to Florida’s 2012 book The Rise of the Creative Class Revisited, Nussbaum simply urges readers to practice creativity, by encapsulating strategies to think and act creatively. Whereas Florida promoted creativity for economic gains, Nussbaum promotes creativity for successful innovation.

The author believes that students can be trained to become creative and that it is a skill that can be assessed, by combining lessons from the “personal growth movement of the 1960s and ’70s’ and observations about how successful enterprises harness creativity and team effort” (e.g., Google, Apple and Facebook).

Nussbaum also proposes supplementing the standard IQ measure with what he calls a creativity quotient, offering a radical model for investment in technology startups based on local sources of financing and the possibilities of broad-based online social networking.

For Nussbaum, such an economy would embrace risk-taking, see uncertainty as opportunity (serving as inspiration for this research‘s methodology) and require minimal government intervention; education would be transformed to emphasise hands-on creative activity, and students would be encouraged to wed ideas to their implementation.

As for David and Tom Kelley’s (founders of global innovation and design consultancy IDEO) Creative Confidence book, this was written after experiencing decades of success working with -and designing for- many of the biggest companies in the world.

Having survived cancer, David Kelley has committed his life to helping others to realize their creative potential and chose to do that by starting with a physical item. Creative Confidence may at first come across as an idealistic discussion of creative processes and their applicability in our world but in reality, Tom and Dave’s attitude toward creativity is more of a can-do approach to solving problems.

Growing up in Barberton, Ohio, the Kelley boys didn’t have the luxury of buying a new washing machine when their old one broke, they had to figure out how to fix it, sometimes they even had to improvise solutions when they couldn’t find the right replacement part.

They had understanding parents, so by taking things apart and trying to put them together again, the Kelleys developed the confidence to try new things.

Ultimately, they developed the optimistic attitude that trial and error are ways to learn, not a repetition of failure.A big message of this book is to start now, to not wait for the right conditions or the perfect project since almost every project can benefit from some creative disruption, from committed team members.

Creative Confidence is more than a feel-good book promoting positivity and design thinking, it truly discusses the psychological basis for creativity and guided mastery, a method of becoming comfortable with our phobias.

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The Target of Assessments Cognitive skills Divergent Thinking skills/ Finding several solutions Expertise

Methods and Instruments

Evaluation

IQ Tests

Of limited use because of this one solution (one way method)

Guilford’s alternative uses tasks, Metrick’s word test, Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT), Puzzle Test (Aptitude Preparation Questions)

Of limited use (the tests are often published, the candidates might know the answers and there is a discussion wether these tests truly prognosticate the real useful creative product or work

Grades and School Degrees (CV, motivation letter) and biographical interview

Up to 1,5 hour / Paper pencil test

Depending on test type around 45 minutes / paper pencil test

Both useful

Pre-selection of the CV’s and motivation letters than part of the interview 15 minutes Depending on test type - 1,5 hour

Personality traits

Personality tests (CPI or Big Give Personality inventories [self-report])

Controversial, how can the creative personality be described

Motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic motivation)

WPI and Amabile’s Key Tests other work tests (questions concerning work motivational part of interviews)

Useful but these methods are costly and need proficiency

Part of interview 20 minutes

Creative products (references or hobby)

Interview including case studies and discussions of work sample, CV, references, Webpage or Facebook profile)

Useful but in case of entrants are missing

Part of interview 20 minutes

Former creative behaviour as predictor of future creative b.

AC and DC (Assesment and Development Centre), probation, case studies, Besemer and O’ Quin creative product analysis and matrix

Very useful, assessed behaviour personality and creative product as the same timev

AC/DC up to 2 hours case studies 30 minutes part of the interview

Competences

Competency based interview Competency test

Of limited use (if meets the requirements of the company)

Up to 30 minutes

Combination of Creativity Assessment Instruments Proposed for the Domain of Produc Engineering Creativity

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Approximate Time needed for Assessment

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Source: Kebe and Goler, 2005

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Another aspect of categorisation depends on the level one intends to apply creativity: some might enjoy to regard creativity as a feature of geniuses and some insists creativity can be found hidden in each and every one of us human beings (also mentioned in Nussbaum’s Creative Intelligence book). Fortunately, a need for clarifying these two controversial aspects appeared in scientific papers a few years ago. As mentioned above, the various levels of creativity were summarised by Kaufman and Beghetto (2009).

Feist (2010) proposed that personality influences creativity by lowering behavioural thresholds, and he underlined that the genetic and epigenetic influences brain qualities leading to personality variability, affects creative thoughts and behaviour. Cognitive personality traits mean how people habitually process information, solve problems and respond to new situations. The most important cognitive personality traits are: ‘openness to experience’, ‘originality’ and ‘novelty’ even when the situation and task is ambiguous and not well defined.

According to Feist (2010), creative people are flexible, these people like playing and humour. Social personality traits involve behaviours and attitudes that concern one’s relationship to others. Creative people prefer to look for new challenges, and often reject social norms and traditions. Motivational- affective personality traits are defined by a person’s activities to be successful in his or her activities to achieve goals.

According to previous findings (Zoltay et al. 2014), creativity was the’small c’ type, inherent in everyone (Person), 73

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regarding the creative outcome (Product) turning out to be unique, novel and useful. Field specification (Press) was also proven, and was shown that the utility of creativity will be of any value on the relevant field only. For the Process of creativity, it was proven that phasing, development and measurability are all possible.

The highest number of empirical studies can be related to Teresa Amabile, who mostly concentrated on individual characteristics during her empirical studies, (particularly on intrinsic motivation and its effects on creativity).

Amabile’s works (the most wellknown: 1996) are the most referred regarding this topic, even if the author herself does not use the concept of organizational creativity. During her research, she examined work processes, workplace relations, and organi-

MDS Scale: Individual and Company characteristics depending on Creativity

-1.0

TINY DETAILS (KNOWLEDGE) C R E A T I V E

CHALLENGE HUMOUR INTERESTING JOB FUNDAMENTAL EXPERTISE

-0.5

AMBIGUITY

SPECIAL IMPORTANCE COMMON SUCCESS

0.0 IDEA IN THE BOTTOM DRAWER

The Progress Principle Events signifying process: -Small Wins -Breakthroughs -Forward Movement -Foal Completion

The Catalyst Factor Events supporting the work: -Setting clear goals -Allowing autonomy -Providing resources -Providing sufficient time -Helping with the work -Learning from problems and successed -Allowing ideas to flow

N O N C R E A T I V E

PRECISE TAST DESCRIPTION

DEADLINES

IDEAS AT HOME 0.5 STUCK AT FIRST IDEA

Positive Inner Work Life

NO NEED FOR CREATIVITY BORED WORK The Nourishment Factor Events supporting the person: -Respect -Encouragement -Emotional support -Affiliation

1.0

-0.8

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

(Individual) INTERNAL CHARACTERISTICS

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For that reason, nowadays every job advertisement lists creativity as a requirement, so creativity is among job seekers’ needs. Numerous techniques of varied types have been developed to assess job candidates’ creativity. TheCriteria for The Creative Process Assessing -Divergent thinking refore, the question is given: Job Candidate’s -Innovative thinking Creativity How do creative workplaces meet creative employees?

How can companies select the wanted The Creative Environment The Creative Individual -General knowledge on creative candidates? developments Personality Traits -Persuasive skills Creativity assessment can be classi-Risk-taking -Self-Confidence fied into several types depending also -Tolerance of ambiguity -Need for achievment on the 4Ps and the distinction between -Autonomy Intrinsic Motivation (eminent) big C and (everyday) little c -Reward in the activity Cognitive Processes -Mental flexibility creativity. The last classification desCollective Orientation -Remote associations and Problem Solving -Suspension of judgement cribes two contrasts. Big C creativity is -Helping behaviour -Originality of ideas displayed by creative geniuses (such as Einstein or Michelangelo) and little c is sed the effects of these on creativity. displayed in creative endeavours that She also examined the impact of have less impact on society (such as leadership style, time pressure or unique artworks produced by ordinary workplace mood (among many others). person or small adaptations).

These types of creativity (4Ps and Lee and Tan (2012) observed what kind different levels) are studied using seveof conditions can promote the creative performance of employees in the ral methods. Clapham (2011) summariworkplace. They suggested the sed the measuring methods which following: “First, across the empirical serve as an important contribution to studies reviewed, individuals need to feel the assessment of creativity. She sugthey are working in supportive work gests the primary types of creativity environment. Second, leaders should measures which are (a) divergent communicate and support the goal or thinking tests (b) attitude and interest role requirements of being creative in the inventories (c) biographical inventoworkplace to employee and encourage ries (d) personality tests (e) ratings by them through the behaviours leaders peers or supervisors (e) judgements of engage in creative ways. Third, organi- products (f) self-reported creative zational support and innovative climate activities (g) environmental creative develop employees’ creativity in a collec- climate inventories.

There are many techniques for identive endeavour and involves collaboratifying and selecting creative employetion and interactions with others and help to achieve his/her better perfor- es. Kobe and Goller (2009) proposed for job recruitment of creative product mance at work” (Lee and Tan, 2012) Employee recruitment to select the engineers an assessment methodology creative job candidates is a key composed of different instruments as element of a company’s innovation. shown in the completed Table (Nº?)

The Creative Product -Novelty -Domain relevant knowledge

0.000

0.2

0.4

0.6

(Company) EXTERNAL CHARACTERISTICS

0.8

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Case Study: Google, Virgin, Manchester Metropolitan University - Culture of Innovation and Creativity

Career Crisis and Self-Knowledge Prompt Cards (The School of Life)

Google is famous for keeping its employees happy and productive and their staff perks, such as pool tables and bowling alleys, free food and gym memberships – and even employs a Chief Happiness Officer whose sole job is to keep employees happy and maintain productivity (Coleman, 2016).

Now other companies are catching on fast, boosting engagement and motivation by involving employees in creating breakout zones and gaming areas, where staff can chill out, chat, and stimulate their creative juices, or offering classes that equip staff with creative skills, such as languages, painting and drawing, and learning musical instruments.

“Because organisations that foster a workplace culture of creativity are likely to have happy, motivated employees who are more loyal and more productive” (Rhodes, 2016).

60 prompt cards to help work through moments of career crisis.

Finding a job we can love and that makes use of our talents is the single greatest challenge we face. Unsurprisingly, many of us regularly hit career crises: moments of intense anxiety about finding our true vocation in the time we have left. We can get painfully stuck in how we think about what we should do.

These incisive and wise prompt cards are here to unblock career crises and free up our thinking around work - setting us on a path to a job that will tap into the best parts of us.

Example Cards: What job is the person doing whom you would most like to see fail? There are clues here | A job you love doesn’t mean that there is only one job you could love. So it will always be reasonable to have regrets. | Not having a plan quickly puts us at the mercy of those who have one. | Which of these are you – in the end – best at: numbers, words, images, people?

Some employers are actively encouraging creative collaborations between teams. Every year, Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) runs an event called Engage Week (more than 100 events take place), where staff host events for other members of staff who want to learn something new. These range from sporting events to craft activities, such as metalwork, sausage making, chocolate making, picture framing, and learning basic sign language.

“Creativity, lateral thinking and the ability to communicate are crucial skills in progressing through the ranks in any organisation. It is easy to lose some of that natural creativity in our adult lives” (Dunmore, 2017).

Employees can be entrepreneurially creative within the confines of their full-time role, injecting fresh ideas into the company, some of which are implemented and rewarded - Virgin says that some of the ideas that have been implemented were originated by members of staff (submitted via a forum). Small ideas, like having hand dryers installed because “they are cool and environmentally friendly”, Medium ideias, such as feedback ranged from ideas around the aesthetics, and what they wanted their workspace to look like or Big ideas such as unlimited holidays, were also the product of employee innovation. The key to making employee innovation work lies with a management team that listens to all the ideas and commits to making the best ones work. Usually no more than three ideas are taken on and implemented every year. “If you are open to the gathering of thoughts, people will respond. When people feel more involved, they are happier, more engaged and more productive.” (Pommells, 2017).

60 prompt cards designed to help lead through the important task of knowing yourself a little better in life.

It's hard to understand who we really are: what we want, how we feel and why we react as we do. This lack of self-knowledge can be trouble, for it makes us get into the wrong relationships, pick unsatisfactory jobs or spend money unwisely.

No wonder Socrates summed up all the counsel of philosophy in just two words: 'Know Yourself'.

These cards are designed to assist us in a journey of self-knowledge; they present us with a range of ideas and questions that can help us to understand ourselves better. Each card carries an exercise on one side and a piece of analysis on the reverse to help you gain insight and clarity on that ever elusive subject: yourself.

UnBias Awareness Cards (Proboscis) The fronts of the cards contain examples, activities, scenarios and information about algorithmic bias and the ways prejudiced behaviours can emerge in systems. The focus of the illustrations is on how algorithmic decisions could affect people and communities; how do we know decisions are being made fairly and not threatening rights; how do we know decisions are not being based on gender and race? How do we know we are in social media bubble, what is real or fake and what to trust?

Case Study: Innovation Engine (Seeling, T. 2012) Tina Seelig is a Professor of the Practice in Stanford University and is a faculty director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. She teaches courses in the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school) and leads three fellowship programs focused on creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Dr. Seelig earned her PhD in Neuroscience at Stanford Medical School, and has been a management consultant, entrepreneur, and author of 17 books. She is the recipient of the Gordon Prize from the National Academy of Engineering, the Olympus Innovation Award, and the Silicon Valley Visionary Award.

In Seelig’s Innovation Engine model, attitude, knowledge, and imagination overlap and are internal because they reside in the mind, whereas culture, habitat, and resources are of the outside world. These influence the process by which imagination catalyses the transformation of knowledge into ideas; thus the individual and the environment are interdependent in interesting and non-obvious ways and essential for creative problem solving.

The Identity Toolkit (New Philosopher) “Sum yourself up in a couple of words”. Users of social media do it to introduce themselves online. “Surfer, father, writer, film director.” “Yogi, vego, humanitarian.” “Banker, golfer, traveller.” You’re unlikely to see someone list their personal ideals, the goals to which they strive, or the principles that govern their behaviour - “Integrity, Love of Virtue, Equality, Freedom.” Why is this? The way we define ourselves has altered over time, and probably not for the better.

Seven Levels of Consciousness (Barrett Values Center) Service Selfless Service Service to Humanity and Societal Contribution Global Sustainability Making a Difference Making a positive difference in the World Internal/External Collaboration, Community Involvement Strategic Alliances and Regional Partnerships Internal Cohesion Finding meaning in Existence Sense of Purpose Stron Cohesive Culture Transformation Letting go of fears On-going Improvement and Employee Participation Democratic Process and Continuous Renewal Self-Esteem Feeling a sense of self-worth High Performance Systems and Processes Institutional Effectiveness Relationship Feeling protected and loved Positive Relationships that support Organisation Needs Sense of Belonging and Social Stability Survival Satisfying physiological and survival needs Financial Viability and Economic Stability

Habitat, for example, is outside of imagination and parallel to it, because our “habitat is the externalization of imagination, In turn, the environment affects the way we think, affecting the types of environments we build, and those spaces and the organisation affects our imagination”, being true for knowledge and resources as well. Knowledge is parallel to resources in the model, because “the more you know, the more you can unlock resources. The type of resources in your environment also determines what you know. Someone in Silicon Valley is likely to know about venture capital, and the more he or she knows about venture capital, the more likely he or she is to get funding. It’s really important to look at the interrelationship of all these pieces and not look at them in isolation” (Seelig, 2012).

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One creativity technique Seelig advocates is working with forced constraints, which she says leads to better products.

For example, by spending the least amount of time on a product before releasing it, developers can get faster customer feedback. Amazon uses this technique, she says, to consider what would happen if they tightened or loosened them.

Similarly, although Twitter’s 140-character constraint seemed terribly limiting initially, people have found remarkable, innovative ways to use it.

Seelig believes creativity can be taught, that we are all naturally creative, and that we just have to unlock our Innovation Engines. We are inherently creative in communicating and responding to the world around us, “Interacting with the world requires creative problem solving every day. Every sentence we utter is unique. We don’t just have robotic answers, our brains are creativity machines.” The problem is that our environment and culture have squashed that and our education system is to blame, Seelig says, because it assigns problems with one right answer, and favors multiple-choice tests.

“Yet we are frustrated that people are less creative. Putting pressure on students to memorize facts instead of learning to solve problems is stultifying. While we need to teach information, there are myriad ways to do so, for example, exams could ask students to design an experiment. They should be exposed to this in elementary school, high school and college. Despite such hurdles, we all have the power to overcome challenges and generate opportunities of all dimensions.” Seelig concludes at the end of InGenius but the Innovation Engine has an ignition key and it’s not easy to turn.

“It’s hard to get beyond obvious answers, it takes work and commitment to get beyond the first, second, and third waves of ideas to get to the ones that are really interesting.” (Seelig, 2012).

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The Timeline Technique (CREST [Centre for research and evidence on security threats]) This technique uses a ‘timeline’ to provide a structure for remembering and reporting recently experienced events.

Working memory has a limited capacity and can easily become overloaded. Recalling details about complex events that happened over a period of me is dfficult for most people because it places a lot of demands on cognitive processing.

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Convivial Toolbox Generative Research for the Front End of Design (Stappers, P. and Sanders, E. 2012) “Generative design research is an approach to bring the people we serve through design directly into the design process in order to ensure that we can meet their needs and dreams for the future. The book introduces an emerging domain of design that is of immense interest today not only to the academic design research community but also to those in the business community charged with the development of human-centred products, systems, services, and environments.

There are no other books with this focus and coverage currently available.”

Sunday Sketching (Niemann, C. 2018) For years, Christoph Niemann spent every Sunday conducting a drawing experiment. The artist would sit down with a blank piece of paper and a random, everyday object. He never knew what he was going to draw—only that his drawing would include whatever object was in front of him - and so he would turn pennies into scoops of ice cream, or bananas into horse legs, or highlighters into light sabers.

Framing your Authenticity (Kelley, J. 2018)

Niemann devised hundreds of these visual puns, and now he’s collected them—along with more work from his career—in his new monograph, Sunday Sketching. Published by Abrams, it’s a retrospective of Niemann’s work, but it’s also a meditation on the creative process. Throughout Sunday Sketching, Niemann uses clever drawings and his charming breed of humor to tackle tricky subjects like insecurity, money, and changing course while things are going well.

The model suggests that heightened self-awareness leads to integrity, compassion, and relatableness. The concept of integrity is a vital attribute of an authentic leader and breaks down along the moral and behavioral impact they have in a leader-follower relationship. The heightened self-awareness and a leaders ability to own their crucible provides context across situations and more importantly compassion. Compassion is tool authentic leaders use to create micro-moments of shared meaning with their colleagues. The heightened self-awareness and a leaders ability to own their crucible allowed them to use the concept of relatableness across the organization, able to create shared meaning with people.

It was found that relatable leaders actively seek out people across their organization to learn more about them as individuals. It didn’t matter if they were talking to another executives, middle management, or the cleaning crew. They understood that making a personal connection creates a moment that can impact that person’s life, whether it’s for the day, for the week, or for the month. Authentic leaders have the drive to learn about who they are, about who their colleagues are, about what their profession is and where their profession is going. They want to learn how they can increase their impact on the organisation culturally as well as improve the bottom line.

A ‘Toolbox Approach’ for developing thoughtfully structured, creative art experiences (Hanson, M. and Herz, R. 2011) “Abstract: In a classroom, unlike a business setting, learning is a primary objective. [...] thinking about a class project as a creative group process may add important collaborative skills to a student's toolbox, but it does not escape the challenge of addressing each individual's creative development. A teacher's Creativity Toolbox is a set of concepts and techniques that a teacher develops over time to help students think and act creatively. In collaboration with students, teachers may also develop a class toolbox, which includes relevant concepts and techniques that are part of a classroom culture.

Finally, students can develop their own toolboxes, which include interests, activities, goals, and habits of mind that spark their curiosity and help them to think creatively.”

Get Connected Tools ( Barrett Values Center)

Personal Development Plan ( Jeffrey, S. 2017)

Core Motivation: This exercise helps individuals and groups discover what is important to them about their work and what motivates them at their deepest level.

Personal 4 Why's:This exercise helps individuals in a group to create their personal vision and mission.

Personal Values & Hot Buttons: The exercise does not only help you understand yourself better, it also offers the team the opportunity to voice their beliefs and values which is a critical part of building a stronger social capital and connection within a team.

From PVA to Action: A good start on your personal journey is to get better connected to your personal values. There are many ways in which you can do this, Barrett Values Centre offer you two possibilities.: one is to do an Individual Values Assessment (IVA), or a Personal Values Assessment (PVA).

From Fear to Trust: The purpose of this exercise is to help participants gain a greater understanding of fears that hold them back from courageous action and to create next steps to resolve a current problem situation. It can be used as a stand-alone exercise or used as a module in a longer workshop.

Manage Your Energy: Our performance and actions depend on the individual level of energy in each of the members of a team or organisation. In order to cope with new demands in a productive and healthy way, we need to connect to our current level of energy and understand how and where we need to go to re-fuel.

Align to Strategy: The process to align your strategy with your culture is not as complicated as it may sound. Simply put, it is a conscious act of asking yourself what culture you need in order to reach your strategic objective. This tool provides you with these steps.

Ai to Free Collective Aspirations: The collective “wisdom of the crowd” is more powerful than each individual wisdom.

Appreciative Inquiry, we collect the positive wisdom to free our full human potential and build a shared commitment of our collective ambitions of behaviors connected to our desired values.

Values in Action: At a start-up of a team it helps define the expectations and demands. It is also helpful later when the team goes through different phases and is being reshaped for ‘follow up’, ‘reflect’, ‘recognise’ and/or ‘fine-tune the defined and wanted behaviours’.

From Conflict to Creativity: There is great strength in diversity. A team comprised of members with different backgrounds, beliefs, world-views, experiences and skills can bring remarkable creativity and results. Sometimes those differences can get in the way and cause conflict which stifles progress and performance.

Culture Report: It helps if we view culture for what it is, something that is growing and developing through dialogue and learning. Additionally we need to have ways to recognise and follow up on progress during our journey to grow our wanted culture. This tool provides the potential.

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1. Learn the Human Potential Landscape (mapping system by categories: Lines of Intelligence (also called Streams of Development, such as: Logical-mathematical intelligence: logic, abstractions, reasoning, numbers and critical thinking. This intelligence is associated to IQ and intellectual aptitude. This line is also referred to as cognitive intelligence as explored in Jean Piaget’s research.

Linguistic intelligence: words, languages, reading, writing, telling stories and memorizing words. Intrapersonal intelligence: to know thyself including one’s strengths and weaknesses, emotional triggers and motivations. One’s ability to be introspective and self-reflective. Kinesthetic intelligence: one’s ability to control one’s body and one’s skill in using it.

Also called body intelligence or body-mind connection.

Musical intelligence: sensitivity to sounds, pitch, rhythms, tones, meter, melody, and so on. Visual-spatial intelligence: spatial judgment and the ability to visualize and imagine with the mind’s eye.

Interpersonal intelligence: sensitivity to others’ moods, feelings, temperaments, motivations, and their ability to cooperate with others. Psychologist Daniel Goleman popularized this as Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence.

Naturalistic intelligence: sensitivity to one’s environment; the ability to recognize flora and fauna; nurturing and relating to one’s natural surroundings.

Existential intelligence: sometimes called spiritual intelligence; relates to one’s understanding of themselves in relation to reality or the cosmos OR Cognitive development, Self-related intelligence (including human needs, morals, values, and self-identity), Talent lines of development (including musical, visual-spatial, mathematical, and kinesthetic), Everything else (including spiritual, aesthetic, emotional, psychosexual, and interpersonal); Skill Development (skills in communicating, creative problem-solving, collaborating, computer programming, bookkeeping, analyzing, persuading, negotiating, learning, presenting, goal setting, listening, managing, planning, reasoning, predicting, to name only a few.

All skills are associated with at least one line of intelligence); Lifestyle Management (The Wheel of Life is a tool a coach uses to illustrate the various categories of one’s life, measure how an individual is doing in each area, and set goals to improve in those areas, might include physical health, relationships, social, financial, professional, personal growth, spiritual, creativity, fun, and emotional; Behavioral Change (We all have set patterns of behavior that get entrenched by unconscious repetition.The time necessary to install a new habit varies; research suggests it takes 66 days on average); Personality Development (Enneagram system, Meyers Briggs Types, DISC, etc.)

2. Dream and Create Your Vision (Ubermensch, by Nietzsche; self-actualization and self-transcendence, by Maslow) 3. Select Your Areas of Focus | 4. Discover Your Practices | 5. Establish Personal Development Goals 6. Set Your Schedule | 7. Monitor Your Progress Further explained at scottjeffrey.com/personal-development-plan/

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Johari Window Model (Luft, J. and Ingham, H. 1995)

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OPEN/ FREE AREA

Self-Disclosure/ Exposure

HIDEN AREA

O3.

Feedback Solicitation

O1.

ASK

Shared Discovery

Self-Discovery

KNOWN BY OTHERS

TELL

Example: How the Johari window works with an individual within a team. In this instance there are two factors at work within the Johari window: (1) what you know about yourself and (2) what other people know about you.

The model works using four area quadrants. Anything known about the -self and are willing to share is part of the Open Area. Individuals can build trust between themselves by disclosing information to others and learning about others from the information they in turn disclose about themselves.

Any aspect not known about the -self, but others within the group have become aware of, is in the Blind Area. With the help of feedback from others it can become aware of some of the individual positive and negative traits as perceived by others and overcome some of the personal issues that may be inhibiting it personal or group dynamics within the team.

There are also aspects about the -self to be aware of but might not want others to know, this quadrant is known as the Hidden Area. This leaves just one area and is the area

KNOWN BY SELF

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A psychological tool for understanding and training: self-awareness, personal development, improving communications, interpersonal relationships group dynamics team development; anD inter group relationships.

It is one of the few tools out there that has an emphasis on “soft skills” such as behaviour, empathy, cooperation, inter group development and interpersonal development. The Johari Window is a great model to use because of its simplicity and also because it can be applied in a variety of situations and environments.

UNKNOWN BY SELF

O2.

BLIND AREA

Other’s Observation

UNKNOWN AREA

O4.

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Thought Process

Authentic Leadership Theory (Northouse, P. 2007)

that is unknown to the individual or anyone else, entitled the Unknown Area.

The balance between the four quadrants can change. The individual might want to tell someone an aspect of their life that they had previously kept hidden. For example, maybe is not comfortable contributing ideas in large groups. This would increase the open area and decrease the hidden area.

It is also possible to increase the open area by asking for feedback from people. When feedback is given honestly to the individual, it can reduce the size of their blind area (e.g. sometimes the individual doesn’t realise these aspects of their character until it is pointed out).

By working with others it is possible for the individual to discover aspects that neither of he/she may never have appreciated before.

Authentic Leaders are comfortable being their -self. "They integrate skills, methods, and techniques that they learn from others into their personal, unique expression of leadership." The path of developing their own deeply held leadership is not in imitation of others, but brought from personal experiences and beliefs that are developed over the years of a lifetime.

"Authentic leaders are motivated from their deep values and convictions to take action, rather than being driven by status and position. They are true to their-self and servicing of a greater purpose. Leaders who exhibit authentic leadership demonstrate high integrity by "taking courses of action independent of pleasing their audience or political expediency.

They walk their talk, and in doing so create a level of trust that allows others to follow" (Authentic Leadership Institute, 2010).

Emotional Intelligence

Inner Drive

Deepest Values

-Intrapersonal

-Intepersonal skills

-Developmental

-Developmental

+ Self-Knowledge

+ Positive Relations

+ Life Events

+ Moral Perspective

+Self-Concept

+Adapt to Followers

+SCareer Changes

+Strong Ethics

+ Self-Regulation

+ Followers Response

+ Experiences

+ Experiences

Gestalt Practice (Dick, P. 2007) A contemporary form of personal exploration and integration (Goldman 2012). The objective of the practice is to become more fully aware of the process of living within a unified field of body, mind, relationship, earth and spirit (Kripal, 2007). Gestalt is a German word that denotes form, shape or configuration, and connotes wholeness. Practice is an ongoing program or process of development. Gestalt Practice is an ongoing process of integrating human awareness across a broad spectrum of consciousness.

This form of awareness practice is different from Gestalt therapy (Anderson, 1983) because it is not a “cure” for psychological symptoms, and it relies upon the interaction between two equal partners, namely an "initiator" of awareness work and a "reflector," rather than a patient and a therapist. Some aspects of Gestalt Practice are derived from the theory of Gestalt therapy. However, as Dick Price conceived of Gestalt Practice, if a "patient" wants to do Gestalt work with a "therapist" then they belong in Gestalt therapy (Erickson, 2005). In keeping with this approach, eclectic techniques of meditation, physical exercise, environmentalism, contemplation and spiritual practice are incorporated into Gestalt Practice, along with some typical Gestalt awareness experiments borrowed from the Gestalt therapy model.

Field Guide to Human-Centered Design (IDEO)

Johari is a very elegant and potent model, and as with other powerful ideas, simply helping people to understand is the most effective way to optimise the value to people.

When people really understand it in their own terms, it empowers them to use the thinking in their own way, and to incorporate the underlying principles into their future thinking and behaviour.

What is unique about the Self Awareness Diagnostic is it explores not only an individual’s ‘soft skills’ and working style preferences but also how participants like to learn; their learning styles. In an education or business environment this can be a great enabler for a teacher or trainer to ensure all the members of the group are motivated and able to achieve their full potential.

“In April 2015, IDEO.org launched an exciting new evolution of the HCD Toolkit the Field Guide to Human-Centered Design.

The Field Guide is the latest in IDEO.org’s suite of teaching tools and a step forward in sharing the practice and promise of human-centered design with the social sector. A full-color, 192-page book, the Field Guide comes with 57 design methods, the key mindsets that underpin how and why IDEO.org believes design can change lives, a full slate of worksheets, and case studies from projects that show human-centered design in action.”

The Field Guide was funded by more than 1300 backers in a Kickstarter campaign that reaching nearly three times its initial goal. IDEO.org received an amazing outpouring of support and strengthened its deeply held belief that human-centered design can push the social sector forward.

Cultural Probes (Gaver, B. 1999) It is a design-led approach to understanding users that stressed empathy and engagement, usually by packages of maps, postcards, and other materials. Probes are collections of evocative tasks meant to elicit inspirational responses from people—not comprehensive information about them, but fragmentary clues about their lives and thoughts. This approach has proven valuable in inspiring design ideas for technologies that could enrich people’s lives in new and pleasurable ways and since then, it has been adopted by several industrial and academic research and design groups around the world.

This is heartening, of course, but the problem is there has been a strong tendency to rationalize the Probes. People seem unsatisfied with the playful, subjective approach embodied by the original Probes, and so design theirs to ask specific questions and produce comprehensible results - summarising and analysing the results, even use them to produce requirements analyses.

Appropriating the Probes into a scientific process is often justified as “taking full advantage of the Probes’ potential” (Gaver, 1999) as if, by not analyzing the results of our original Probes, it was let valuable information slip away. However, this misses the point of the Probes. It has been suggested that research questions could be packaged as multiple, rich, and engaging tasks that people could engage with by choice and over time. Beyond this, however, the Probes embodied an approach to design that recognises and embraces the notion that knowledge has limits. It is an approach that values uncertainty, play, exploration, and subjective interpretation as ways of dealing with those limits.

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brainstorming sessions let’s gather people interested in the same issue as me! industry experts and university students and social media followers and strangers I meet at the pub and random encounters within housemate’s office and incredibly insightful conferences and from the beauty of entertainment!

with my vertiginous brain rainbow

how to not be colourblind and look into all the layers a person holds?

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start

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08 where creative we don’t individuals not focus only 09 seem to be very on individual’s (which is everyone!) creative in labour skills 10 has a spectrum finding our which carries creatives! of colours to see several layers of 12 interpretations

i don’t even have a whole year to handle a project with so many different, deep and meaningful dimensions

ok, research question? oh, and methodology, and literature review, and ...

constantly be challenged

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different, interesting and meaningful projects pleaseee

run

“students, please select 2 topics of your interest to develop on your final master’s project”

design & innovation

totally t ransform my life and move to London?

mining for meaning

THINKERS AND DOERS

LEt’s GO

design + self

S ET

it’s all

about

the people

I strongly believe in

Co-Creation

well let’s introduce this issue to the industry at the international Brand Design Conference 2018

what if we can develop an unsystematic system?

semiotic of the self !! of course but w here’s the c omme rcial applic ation?

company’s biggest struggle is on finding the right person for the role...

new portfolio?

new cv?

credentials

Develop knowledge and skills

and meanings

Attend events

s

THESE EVENTS ALLOW ME TO REFLECT ON WHAT DESIGN MEANS TO ME

INSPIRING TEAM

“YOU CAN DO IT!”

holy sh**

run catia,

o

it

be g

ins...

curiosity alert (won ‘best presentation’ silver award and found connections for a collaboration on developing my final master’s project !

d

THE DREAM JOB?

is easy

NEVER SETTLE NEVEEEEER

an

WHAT IS

hops oB Works

foru

ms

o k s

o pe n u p a w h o le n e w a re n a f o r d i s c u s s i o n !

The One with the Target Audience

Individual Applying for a Role

The One with the Target Audience

Industry Hiring for a Role

Applying for a role (The Candidate Experience) believes recruitment processes need a thoughtful overhaul

Hiring for a role (Employer Branding) stands for recruitment disruption

Time, Money and Energy Waste

Time, Money and Energy Waste

On creating or customizing their personal brand to fit companies requirements. On filling forms with the same data about their employment history and school records.

On 70% spent in work life. On frustrations, dissatisfaction.

On mentoring, training, hoping.

“Every time, it’s the same listless process, dragging and dropping information that I’ve replicated a thousand times” (Tyrko, 2017) “Over the last six months, I have probably applied for over 80 jobs. In that time, I have probably written 30 essays, made 10 films, and recorded my voice answering questions on countless occasions. Each one of these applications has taken a huge amount of my time. With each one having to be carefully crafted to fit the specific job description. There’s the emotional labour to consider, as well as the ability to break from other work to make these commitments to applications.” (Wojciechowski, 2017)

“Hiring the right people can be a challenge. We spend around 70 per cent of our time with our colleagues, so it’s pretty imperative that they can not only deliver results and not diminish your business clientele, connections and general office morale in one swoop. So, how do we hire not only a good employee but the right employee?” (Santos, 2016) “By dedicating more time to the hiring process of people you will actually save yourself time. It’s easy to find candidates that aren’t right, offer them the job, they leave the company shortly afterwards. Remember, it’s not about finding a person, it’s about finding the right person.” (Francis, 2016)

Humanity Waste

Humanity Waste On unanswered e-mails. On unanswered question on unquestioned insights. On non-personal interview techniques. On non-human awareness, mutual respect and understanding.

On industrialized, mechanized, standardized processes.

On relying solely on digital-everything, digital platforms, digital communication, digital personas. On traditional methods, conventional systems, contemporary tools.

“It’s got to the point where the information that would have at one point been the pride and joy of my working history, now just reads like a couple of dates that I can’t really feel, understand, or establish as part of my own narrative.” (Wojciechowski, 2017)

“The talent pool of this industry means that recruitment is a battlefield, so why are all these companies approaching it in the same way. People browse through endless streams of uninspired and generic job ads, in online job boards, guilty of tossing around the same phrases.”

(Francis, 2016)

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The One with the Abstract

The One with the Conversational Debates

Regarding the strategy for finding creative individual’s willing to participate on not an in-depth structured interview but a flowing conversational debate, the approach focused essentially on social media platforms, namely: On Personal Profile and Group Pages (art and design members and universities)

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On Network of Contacts (unexpected requests for participation)

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

Re-Post by Strategic Players (experts and influencers in Lisbon & London)

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The One with the Conversational Debates

The One with theConversational Debates

Request Through Email

Conversational Debates

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Nicolas Grassi The Swan Code There were too many candidates and I did something with her that I didn’t do with the others - I wanted to see her thinking process, her ability to actually Think so I gave her a challenge for her to get back to me the next day - If I like what I see, you’re hired. And that’s what happened. I was very impressed.

But there you go, that was a feeling I had of someone who still doesn’t quite know how to express herself, but had all the potential. I was happy.

David Crow Professor at UAL As someone who hires a lot of people, does a lot of interviews, I kind of get the other part. First of all, there is certainly something to be explored in the process we generate to try and bring us the desired result. It does rely, you are absolutely right, quite heavily on knowledge, skills, qualifica

Patrick Burgoyne Creative Review We are small enough and personal enough that I think we’re not doing it on such a scale that it means we don’t rely on process, we can rely on some more human qualities when we’re trying to find somebody to join the team. There’s enough time to be able to meet somebody on more than one occasion and learn a bit more about them and get that sense that they are the right person, for lots of different reasons.

The HR team will recommend some to me, I can go through all of them and I have gone through all of them in the past when we’ve really just not been satisfied with what I’ve seen. One of their things they will, based on the job description, they’re able to leave out people who have so few of the things that we’ve said that we need they really couldn’t do the job. They’ll give me a list of people, we quite like these, these are more outliers, these are people who are a better fit. Often

this conversation with somebody recently actually, he works for Sky Creative, he was talking about how they try and just, rather than it being just tick boxing rather than having some sort of target, just trying to ask yourself ‘have you seen the best people and if you haven’t what could you do to encourage people from different areas to apply?

I think that’s something we’re really aware of as well now when we’re looking for somebody to fill a job.

Before that as well if people were coming in on work experience or whatever, where are they coming from? Because the danger is you just end up with people coming from the same group or someone's niece, who already works here says ‘Well can she come in for a weeks work experience?’ and really what we are trying to do, and we’re trying to do it formally at the moment, is build some relationships with some organisations that can funnel in some people from different kind of backgrounds.

Whether that’s through schools or through organisations who work with

The One with the Conversational Debates

David Crow Professor at UAL What do you expect them to represent in what ever format we manage to do them? I can’t remember the company who was doing this, might be somebody like Google, but they were asking for 3min. videos rather than sending out a template CV with written words on it, you make it a 3min video, talk to the camera or you make visuals so, you know, is a different kind of explanation of you.

And the text, if there is any text, is spoken. Video material, moving image of you, becomes the first contact. (dynamic, not a static version). And then the official set of qualifications comes later. And that is hugely different obviously, it tankes it right out of the conformance of the official way of doing it, into a new paradigm, doesn’t it? Starts to get compared against drama, video, animation… The world we live now. - How that is handled though, is a whole other set of semiotics isn’t it? You could just do

Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer I’ve applied to various design roles that have been full-time as well as apply for freelance positions.

Starting out as a student I landed a part-time inhouse design job at a small company that wanted to replace another student they had originally hired but had graduated. They came to the uni to talk about the company and what they were looking for as a candidate so I applied with my portfolio and CV to them directly and was offered the job after my interview with the company director and marketing department.

Other freelance jobs I have applied for and gotten have been through posts on the company's facebook page or groups looking for someone and I have emailed them my showreel and CV directly, or have had my details passed on to someone looking for work. My current job was offered through my diploma course end of year exhibition where people from the industry were invited and we showcased our work. I chatted with my (now supervisor) about my work and gave him my business card and was invited for an interview the following week and was asked to do a two week trial at the company. After the two weeks they

Current Recruitment Process tions and more importantly, experience. That’s the one that gets a lot of attention. And what it doesn’t focus very much is in what I call ‘personal attributes’, or what you call ‘human agency’. Things like you’re ability to negotiate your way into a team, you’re resilience in all sorts of pressuring situations, those kind of things are not always evident in experience because you can be inexperienced but have a high level of resilience.”

they’ll call them as well for an initial chat and find out a bit more about them. So they will do quite a lot of that work if we want them to.

I think we are always looking at the balance of the team that we have, from a male and female perspective, at the moment it’s entirely female, apart from me. Also we’re trying to look at “are we representing from a diversity point of view” yet we don’t want to be tick boxing… I was having

groups from different kinds of areas.

So you’re always really kind of aware of that but it really mustn’t become a kind of… it’s a balance really. There’s no point in bringing somebody in because they tick some box and they can’t actually do the job because that’s a disaster for everybody. So you’ve got to have this awareness really.

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Re-Select applicants for videoconference with team Re-select applicants for face-to-face interview Give exercise/brief/ challenge

See how a person reacts or behaves Sit down and make a decision with the team What matters: thinking process Trial-Run (1day-1week) Successful - probationary period 3 months

(what, why, who, how, when, where) they do what they do

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Katja Van Heugten Freelance Designer It’s hard to stay focused. And not wander off to other things that can be interesting. I find companies that I would like to work for without vacancies and vacancies for companies I don’t want to work for.

I think it’s hard to find vacancies for what I want to do here in Brazil. I see a lot of interesting things going on in Africa, but I can’t move there at the moment.

As with all workflow in London, everything is segmented, and there are professions for every kind of segment, even for recruitment processes. Unless, to be hired by an advertising agency, there must be a need for a creative in an agency that will be resolved by your 'talent' department, who in turn will brief an external recruitment agency that operates with ' headhunters' that will filter the creatives according to the 'brief' given to them to be interviewed. Previously these creatives will already have to appear in the database of the headhunter of an earlier interview with himself.

João Oliva Freelance Designer The process starts with me, sending my application to the agency. If it is accepted, I get an interview (usually with the creative and art director) where I can talk about myself and my work. After that, I’m supposed to get an answer from the recruiter (if they liked my profile or not), but if the answer is no, I commonly don’t.

The Candidate Experience a video that talks about your experience (identities), or you could do much more about your values (which is much more about the self), what’s your personal values in life? what drives and motivates you as a person rather than what experience have I got.

JOB POSITION : YOUNG DESIGNER Profiling: Process: Define a profile HR Dep does first Create Job Descripion screening (first internal, than Re-adjust details on external) J.D Place ads and/or Selecion of candidates announcements Present CV and Application Formal vs Portoflio Informal . certain background certain school masters Years of experience ...

Nuno Gomes Freelance Art Director

offered the full-time position. I have had unsuccessful applications as well. After finishing my course I applied to about 3 full-time positions at relative design companies. One came back to me 3 months after applying and after I had already accepted my current role, and never heard back from the other 2 even after sending 2 follow up emails asking about my application.

Similar stories have happened to me with freelance jobs that after I have sent them my showreel and they have said they are happy to take me on board for a project, for them to push the project back and then stop responding to my emails/calls. Same thing when I applied to 2 jobs via linkedin, got no response.

João Tito Gouveia Junior Designer It really depends on the recruitment process, some companies outsource their human resource, which makes everything very difficult for the candidates since it creates an excess of steps and interview levels on different occasions.

Camilia Dehapio Graphic Designer Rejections or HR departments not getting back to my emails. It’s just slow and annoying.

Dankoliq Fashion Designer It was really good. My boss was really interested in my CV, really happy, we had a good vibe, showed her a presentation of what I did, met the team and met her boss. So basically she speeded up, because she wanted to give me a job fast.

Professional Network: Ask recommendations from peers Contact key school teachers Teaching/ Mentoring/ Lecturing/ Portfolio Reviews

Neha Khandelwal Service Designer If I use the LinkedIN platform to look for companies hiring Designers in the development sector, I find it hard to find anything behind Graphic Design. What you are left with is, building your own network offline, which isn’t an easy thing!

Gabriele Tropiano Motion Graphic Designer My candidate experience has been quite escalating from many difficulties to demonstrate my reliability in the first interviews in London, until becoming very accurate on how to sell my skills and propose myself in the right way to the companies I really wished to work for.

Internship, Full time, Permanent, Freelancer

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João Tito Gouveia Junior Designer I believe it can be an amazing tool for recruiters, being able to apply marketing tactics to recruiting is a very smart move if you think of candidates individually as brands.

Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer Within the creative industry, and even more for the film industry it is very much down to who you know. I find that now when I am asked for work, but can’t as I am full-time I pass on the details of friends or colleagues that are available or even asked if I know anyone directly for a role needing filled. A lot of the jobs I have come across now are all internal so once you are in, your in

Gabriele Tropiano Motion Graphic Designer

João Oliva Freelance Designer I think that is necessary more communication from the recruiter after the interview. Us, the candidates, often get the feeling that we are only one more “pawn” on the board.

Katja Van Heugten Freelance Designer I never realised that the one who looks at you portfolio and CV isn’t a designer itself. It’s the HR manager.

So it’t more important to have a CV dat is compellable with the vacancy than it is to show creativity it. This makes me a bit frustrated. I also think it’s very hard to put myself in a box, and say what kind of designer

The One with the Conversational Debates

I believe there are still many difficulties by the employers to attract the right candidates and choosing who can really bring in something.

Nuno Gomes Freelance Art Director Strengths: a huge database of contacts (creatives and agencies), Ideally it would be your agents, where they actively seek to improve your professional career, They solve bureaucracies and try to negotiate your salary. Weaknesses: Impersonal, A huge database of contacts (creatives and agencies), Recruiters look like machines reading scripts with no idea what they're talking about and just want to tick 'em in the box', A lot of (creative) and low demand (agencies) which causes the first 2 Strengths to be invalid,

Dankoliq Fashion Designer In my experience in London is very difficult, (named big fashion companies, been to all of them), but it depends. People are super bored right from the beginning, they know that they don’t really want to do this now, it’s just a waste of time for them, it’s a waste of time for me, Some are really pushing you, they go right into details from the start…

I feel it’s a lot of time consuming search, a lot time and effort you put

I am. We are all cross disciplinary but most vacancies are very constricted. Also having an education in Europe and then moving to Brazil I experienced different things are expected from a candidate. Things that I was taught to be good, aren’t that important here and vice versa.

Neha Khandelwal Service Designer Organisations look at the traditional form of hiring and like to stick to it. Very few organisations know how a designer will fit into their organisation and how they can work together. It’s a process of discovery. The challenge is that due to the non standardized form of a designer role, they shy away from recruiting them. Instead they hire a business analyst, a consultant.

Secondly, the established way of working doesn’t allow space for design thinking. You are skipping research, you are skipping so many steps because you haven’t been able to convince the ngo to see the value in it?

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They have no idea what the creative industry is and consequently they do not know how to look for the best candidate. Opportunities: Headhunters with more 'know how' about the creative industry, Interviews by Creative / CDs. Threats: promises do not correspond to reality, customers (advertising agencies) are not satisfied then look for other options, Loss of loyalty - Agencies brief more than an agency to make sure they find what they are looking for (crowdsourcing).

Camilia Dehapio Graphic Designer Long, tiring.

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

This has to do with the theory of cognitive economics. If most people do certain action, process or procedure in a certain way, I will too. This avoids having to think in different ways and spend time and resources thinking about another solution.

It's easier.

Ricardo Miranda WonderWhy Old habits die hard. People tend to use what they know. We tend change to something we know to something we may not know but everyone tells us is a safe bet. Everybody tends to avoid risk as much as possible.

Mário Mandacaru A Equipa Nicolas Grassi The Swan Code Nowadays, your LinkedIn functions has a digital CV, your website functions has a digital Portfolio, but it is what it is. It’s a form of getting some organization, putting everyone with the same ways of information, I think it has to have these same platforms, because if everyone decided to be different, it would be chaos, no one would know how to recognise what - and we, in the middle of endless information, need something stable. And maybe this is a way of discipline as well.

We are lucky because most of other areas don’t have a portfolio to evaluate!

Rui Simões Pepper Brand Well, this is a tricky question. Both sides: a) probably agencies or other companies don’t ‘open doors’ enough to caught the talent – open days, portfolio days,.... b) probably students could think about that and create new (creative) formats to make the approach.

Franziska Stoltze Hirschen They are quite efficient so I think It is fine.

But people used to be chosen soley on portfolio or CV. That is no longer the case.

Interviews and recommendations go a lot further now in the industry. So portfolios and CV give you a way to sort a larger number of applicants but a conversation decides.”

Patrick Burgoyne Creative Review It might be a CV or a portfolio but they still want to see a small selection of really strong projects, they want to see a certain kind of skill level. A lot of times again there’s a cultural fit. When you speak to creative directors and designers a lot of them really do want to bring in people who are going to add something to their team but maybe are not the final thing, they can still be polished, they can still help them develop, they’re looking for potential. It depends on what level they are coming in at.

Formats and System of Evaluation on Finding the Right Person

Swot Recruitment but I have seen how difficult it is to get started with this model. A lot of opportunities I find come from networking or attending event, or being in groups that are within your industry. They tend to keep job postings to these groups as its more reliable and means applications are job specific and appropriate for the roles they are looking.

Alexandre Duarte Foreteller

in with recruitment processes, with applications and job interviews and you never know if you got it or not (criteria based), and then on the final stage they always want someone with more experience, and that for me is the worst part.

After going through all of this… It was for nothing. And then you decide to copy and paste into Linkedin because it’s not worth going through personalisation.

(1) Broad View place in all kinds of channels - see Job Descriptions section) (2) LinkedIn (global yet superficial vision, holistic view of candidates’ past experience, time spent on the organisations, roles and skills - maybe add more detail than only title) (3) Recommendations (”crucial, since normally people don’t like to commit and put their own name in jeopardy by recommending someone they recognise no value, as they’re at stake as well”) (4) Cover Letter (get a sense of more than qualifications and skills) (5) Personal Initiative (entrepreneurship level) (6) CV & Portfoli ((unexpected interesting elements, education, internships, path…)

(7) Interview (personalised and in-depth, this is where one can identify and understand details that they might have missed previously) (8) Presentation (Present their work and them -self at the interview)

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The One with the Conversational Debates Dankoliq Fashion Designer

.

João Oliva Freelance Designer Nowadays, besides the portfolio, the power of the “word spreading” is the best weapon a designer can have.

Katja Van Heugten Freelance Designer No thoughts specifically. I think they are very logic results. It would be good if they would learn you a bit more about networking and the whole ‘how to get a job’ thing in art school. And not assuming everybody will be a individual designer. I think another problem is that a lot of time very general things are asked in a vacancy.

Things like; good communication skills, a team player, problem solving skills. To me it seems that these are things that would be required in any job. So if it’s one of the requirements, it don’t get very excited to apply. (this is the thing about a company being self-critical I mentioned earlier.)

The One with the Conversational Debates

Nuno Gomes Freelance Art Director It’s hard to tell my thoughts about it, because even though I don’t totally agree with it, I can’t present a viable solution to it, so I guess we gotta trust on the good judgement of the system. CVs and degrees doesn’t work between creatives, you’re as good as your last work. In other hand, it’s the only language a recruiter/headhunter can read.

Camilia Dehapio Graphic Designer I guess it’s just the norm nowadays… But it’s always better to know someone.

Is there another way? Do you want an app and swipe away? It’s just a process, and i think we came quite far already with having skype interviews with people from different countries. Without your cv and portfolio, it’s what, your instagram? I don’t know. Of course they want to see your background and experience, I don’t think this will change.

Neha Khandelwal Service Designer Because networking is just super hard.

Portfolios and cvs keep you behind screens and become your first level of defense or rejection (in case of recruiters).

In the creative industry finding someone who fits your needs, for eg: I need a designer who understands data and is able to draw relationships and at the same time help us with our internal strategies !!

When your needs are so niche, it is hard to find the exact match, so you start with a aggregation model. Collect as many cvs and resumes as you can so that you can look for the diamond in the ruff.

Matt Rudd, St. I agree with what you’re coming from, regarding mechanized CV’s. I don’t think I’ve ever done one in my whole life.

Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer I think personal recommendation is still used as within the creative industry it is very much who you know and familiar with as lots of jobs are passed around internally. It also helps as you can state that person is able to do the job they have been asked to do or not. Portfolios are important as it can showcase your work and talents and the CV is only really needed as a formality to have on record your past experiences and education to meet standard requirements. In my interview they were more interested in my portfolio than my CV but it was still good having it as it was a good talking point and were able to ask me questions about my background and personal interests outside of design.

Kate Moross, St. We don’t use any sort of maths or any sort of systems. I might find someone that I think is specifically talented or would benefit from some experience and their work or their methodology kind of appeals to the studio so I might offer a position completely outside of the recruitment process. Because it shows me an understanding of that person. It shows me their understanding of the role and/or their personality a little bit and/or why they may want to work here. I think that can often be a good indicator of someone interest in the position because obviously we do get people that just send blanket job applications out. We look for creativity in those things, it has been sent to us in different

Formats and System of Evaluation on Finding the Right Person Gabriele Tropiano Motion Graphic Designer My thought is that we’re still humans and when talking about business the ancient fears and instincts are coming out easily so the employers tend to follow those instead of the cold skills analysis, because personal connections are what they trust more.

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(1) Broad View place in all kinds of channels - see Job Descriptions section) (2) LinkedIn (global yet superficial vision, holistic view of candidates’ past experience, time spent on the organisations, roles and skills - maybe add more detail than only title) (3) Recommendations (”crucial, since normally people don’t like to commit and put their own name in jeopardy by recommending someone they recognise no value, as they’re at stake as well”) (4) Cover Letter (get a sense of more than qualifications and skills) (5) Personal Initiative (entrepreneurship level) (6) CV & Portfoli ((unexpected interesting elements, education, internships, path…)

(7) Interview (personalised and in-depth, this is where one can identify and understand details that they might have missed previously) (8) Presentation (Present their work and them -self at the interview)

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

Kate Moross, St. So, we are looking for an ability in terms of use of software and understanding of the craft - that’s really important. However, I have hired people that are amazing idea generators who are not necessarily as well equipped technically. It does depend on the role I am trying to fill so from job to job it can fluctuate. If we really need a technical person, we will look for a technical person and we wouldn’t necessarily hire someone that isn’t from a technical role but if we are looking for a junior position where we are open to someone that might have either be very technical and not have a lot of creative or not have a lot of technical skill but might be very creative or just be super keen, it just really depends.

José Santos Signify Well it depends, if it’s a junior can be about the interesting education, popped up with a few internships in interesting

Kate Moross, St. We ask people to prepare a project to show specifically in the interview and prepare some time to talk about the process that goes behind that project if they want to create an in depth presentation about the work, that’s great. Sometimes they do that, sometimes they talk about it quite casually and that depends, it’s up to them and how they want to approach it. I usually bring someone else with me, from the team, to do the interview just so it’s a bit more casual. I don’t have a specific list of questions that I ask people I just have a conversation with them. I might ask about the work or their specific skills if I’m looking for someone that is really good at X and Y I’ll ask them about their experience doing that maybe but most of the time it’s just a conversation and to get an idea of what they’re like and seeing them present their work is very important to me because I do definitely believe it’s important for someone to be able to present their ideas and organise their work and present it visually because that’s something we do every day.

José Santos Signify If it’s a designer, I do pay attention to their portfolio, the cv to the curriculum, companies that they were in, try to not get distracted about things that are personal companies even though it can dictate some entrepreneurship level. Also try to understand if they jump too many times or not, how much time they stayed on each job, if its a sideways situation or getting more responsibility, (doesn’t necessarily mean managing, sometimes it’s just doing more things). I like when they describe the things that they did and not only the title.

Patrick Burgoyne Creative Review My answer to ‘How do I get to be a journalist?’ would be, these days, there’s absolutely nothing stopping you publishing your own stuff. Doing interesting things on twitter or running their own blog, obviously we’re able to see they’ve developed an interest and a point of view,

Franziska Stoltze Formats and System of Evaluation Hirschen on Finding the Right Person

João Tito Gouveia Junior Designer Because we mostly need stuff that works, and that can be at the same time, mutable.

forms. Sometimes it’s an email with 10 GIFs in it, sometimes someone will make a website and they’ll send that to us as a cover letter. I am also quite happy to receive a plain text PDF if that PDF is someone really understanding what we do at Studio Moross and talking about how they’re interested in that in a way that makes sense to me, what they care about, things like that. I like creativity but I am not one of those companies that is expecting someone to reinvent the wheel for a job application - I know there are companies that love that and turn it into a kind of competition but for me I’m happy with either end of the spectrum. I would do without a CV completely but I feel like it helps me when I’m in an interview.

For me I am really looking for someone that is willing to share a project with other people but will also have the confidence to put forward their own ideas. It’s a really complex thing to describe and I very rarely get it wrong so I trust my instinct most of the time. I always talk about it with other people, I don’t the process as an individual.

companies, and to have the basic skills and portfolio that allows you to let them in. If it’s a senior, than you require different things. Above all, what matters is their thinking process, how they got to whatever they did, why they made the choices they made, and why they went this way instead of the other.

Nicolas Grassi The Swan Code Basically, there’s a first conversation and we generally have a direct sense, feeling that person might be interesting. And then there’s a second conversation to confirm this first gut feeling. I’m all about feelings.

It's all about the interview. The person needs to bring the staima as well as the personality to work for the respective agency.

Alexandre Duarte Foreteller Ethic > social > technical skills. Começa com os valores éticos. Que tipo de pessoa é fora do âmbito profissional. Quais os seus valores, passado, histórico de empresas e de relacionamentos. Em segundo lugar, o âmbito social. Hobbies, gostos, passatempos, amigos, etc.

Finalmente as questões técnicas, e a adequação das competências ao cargo pretendido.

Mário Mandacaru A Equipa Never trust a CV, no matter how good it looks. A personal conversation is always the best way to evaluate someone

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

an ability to do that regularly. You can find someone who can write a one-off interesting piece but to be able to do that every single week or every single month… those people are rare. So we’re always on the lookout for new voices but finding people who can do all of that is difficult.

To be honest… I can’t remember a time when people haven’t been complaining, particularly around graduates, that they don’t have the skills we want, they don’t have what we want. Fortunately I’ve not had that but I can definitely say particularly for something like design that’s very easy to do, that’s very easy for somebody to fake a portfolio, very easy to base it on their mates work or something. I know people who have got into art college years ago with somebody else's work. I can see how that’s… it must be quite hard to employers to protect themselves.

Alexandre Duarte Foreteller The CV’s are one thing, now people, their way of being, personality, hobbies and sparkle in the eyes... that’s another thing.

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The One with the Process Mapping

The One with the Abstract

OTHER FREELANCER PLATFORMS

THE DOTS

PHYSICAL PORTFOLIO HANDOVER

WE ARE PEAS

Nuno Gomes Freelance Art Director

INDEED LINKEDIN RECOMMENDATIONS

JOB POSTINGS COMPANY’S CAREER PAGES

MONSTER RECRUITING AGENCIES TALENT SEEKING AGENCIES

SLACK

EVENTS

NETWORKING

Katja Van Heugten Freelance Designer I think they hire people that can fit their short term needs. Someone who can get the job done and help out the team.

Especially in junior positions. I think it more beneficial to everyone to see how you can grow together.

SOCIAL MEDIA GROUPS

TWITTER

MEET UPS

João Tito Gouveia Junior Designer

CHANNELS

They’re looking to hire less people with more skills and not lots of people that are very, very good in specific skills.

WORD OF MOUTH

They don’t miss anything, in fact they should drop almost all the steps and creatives should reach out creatives. They know what they want/need instead of people unaware of it that is just making business out of it.

Dankoliq Fashion Designer I think they know what they’re looking for.

Most of the times is the hiring manager who is looking for a certain position, and they know the team, they know which area needs more support, they know the dynamics, they know what kind of personality would fit in, there are skills required,...

Gabriele Tropiano Motion Graphic Designer They are looking for useful people and they’re missing some not experienced enough applicants who is still not able to get over his humbleness.

João Oliva Freelance Designer From my experience, companies are looking for the most perfect and “ cheapest” designer.

Notify Offer / Rejection

What Companies are Missing to See Application ACCEPTED

COMPANY

Contact/ Update on process

JOB SEEKER

APPLICANT

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/ ise ert Out v Ad ach Re

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SOCIAL MEDIA

Re vie Ap w/Re pli cat direc ion t Co mm Op unic en ing ate HR DEPARTMENT Select Few to Interview ise ert ning v Ad Ope Job

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DEFINE PROFILING

COMPANY EMPLOYEE

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UNIVERSITY STUDENT

Reach Out Directly

EMPLOYEE

TEAM EMPLOYED

HIRING MANAGER

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Reach Out Directly

Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer I think that companies are looking for someone to benefit the company by contributing to its success and helping it grow and with their return. They also look for someone they can trust and stay with them in the long run. What they miss I think is what the candidate wants from them in return and how the company can help contribute to the personal wants and skills of the candidate. I wasn’t asked in my interview what do I want to do in the future or what my future career goals were and how they might be able to help me build towards that.

Camilia Dehapio Graphic Designer They are looking for the best, but also the cheapest. Fucking bastard. Go Freelance.

DEVELOP JOB DESCRIPTION

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

David Crow Professor at UAL If you think about education, is the same thing. We have a set of rules, on how you get qualifications, we make you write an essay which has got this many words and is has tot to be referenced like that, it’s got to have a Harvard reference system, you have to do quotations like this, and this will be your format. These rules, rule after rule, and what you’re writing about can be all about creativity and yet… So, in recent years, there has been a move to offer alternatives because that is quite a limited way to do it, secondly a very high incidence of dyslexic individuals in the creative arts so try to trying to come up with these new ways have been a drive in our education.So my suggestion is to do something similar within the HR process, you would break down the strictness, the official way of delivering it, and offer alternatives to people that can bring them -self to the table as it were, using a language that is much more natural to them.

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

Neha Khandelwal Service Designer Hahaha actually i dont think a lot of companies know what they are looking for if they haven’t engaged with design a lot.

The ones who do, have very straight fit requirements. They don’t understand design even when they claim to. ( We love design thinking but we cannot explain how it is relevant for us! ) Companies use the jargon but I don’t think they understand in fact I don’t think designers understand.

I learned about design thinking and what entails in its implementation when I started working!

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The One with the Abstract Patrick Burgoyne Creative Review I would first definitely look to see if someone has already demonstrated an interest and some sort of point of view in this area, that they’ve taken it on themselves to… That they’ve written some stuff of their own back, maybe they’ve engaged with us already, they’ve been responding to something we’ve put out there or commented on things, that’s a big help.

There still is that need to be able to demonstrate you can write, so I would want to read stuff. It’s the skill to tell a story, it’s some technique, it’s some craft, some basic ability that shows that they can, whether it’s dealing with an interview or dealing with a more news based piece.

It’s surprising how few people can do that.

Not passive but I would say more critical, reflective, analytical, those sort of qualities. It doesn’t mean we are all clones, there are obviously different personalities in the teams and you want a bit of mix of that. Some people more extravert, some people more introvert, you want to have some kind of mixture. I think a lot of that is gut feel really, maybe it’s just because I’ve been doing it a long time but touch wood it works pretty well. People who join us seem to stay a long while.

Kate Moross, St. I am looking for someone that wants to work in the studio, that’s really important.

You’d be surprised, sometimes people are really enthusiastic, so enthusiasm is very important. It may not be obvious to me in their behaviour, for example, but in terms of their knowledge on how they have researched the studio or they like what we do. I can tell if someone is interested. But I try not to set a set of criteria because people are so different. I don’t look for people that are a certain way because otherwise you’ll get the same type of people. I think it’s just important to see how they’ll fit within the team, so for me there’s a dynamic that needs to be upheld and that means we want a good mix of people in a team, we don’t want 5 extraverts all working together we want a mixture of people.

I think that as long as someone is prepared and they are open and they are super flexible because there are some many different parameters and reasons why people may be a certain way or behave a certain way or do things a certain way or it’s important to like understand, to give someone a chance to show who they are. I do tend to tell people in interview, if it feels appropriate, whether or not they will move forward to the next stage of the process. So if I feel that someone is really talented but under qualified or they need 5 more years experience or a year more experience. We give feedback to anyone that comes through to interview so if we don’t accept somebody after an interview we send them feedback.

Nicolas Grassi The Swan Code Nicolas Grassi The Swan Code For me has to be someone that is actually different. Thinks differently, wants to do things differently, and has this passion and we can very easily understand this passion. And of course, being polite takes you a long way, someone that respects, someone that ‘se integre’, and understand that he/she takes part of something that is not all just them - not egocentric, we’re a team.

Talent is a delicate thing. You have to know the company you work for, the people you work with, what you want from this particular job, get to know the person you may hire and understand if there’s a fit between all these elements.

Number one, is he/she a good human?

How is he/she as a person? How are his/hers personality traits? Only after that do I begin to analyse number to: does he/she fulfil the requirements (technical skills) for the job?

The position in the industry (i’m always looking for a leading company), if it’s a start-up (is it a good experience for a first job) it depends. For me, it’s a well-known company, good reputation, good name on my cv, if i can progress and if it fits with my own thoughts, what they do for social community.

Dankoliq Fashion Designer Opportunities to learn, grow as a professional, career promotion, salary, intellectual creative colleagues, clients with huge visibility/exposure and nice briefs, a good CD who can lead me in the right path and support my madness... in fact, everything said walk hand in hand.

Kate Moross, St. Most of the time it’s much more subtle.

There will be a thing that I’ll just be like, maybe they’re not right. I think we’ve had people that have shown up and haven’t prepared for an interview at all, so they’ve

Kate Moross, St. José Santos Signify I’m usually fairly open. If i say it must have 5 years of experience, but they only have 3, i will still look into it. And I say that people that jump too many times - but then again, I would be curious on to why this happened. People that have quirky titles i might wonder what that is about, if it is that this person is looking for this or if they just made it up - but i don’t have a lot of big No No’s. when i have face to face interviews, depending on if the person has to do a lot of customer service or if it’s more studio oriented. Big no no, might be their capacity to communicate, to talk about what they do and how they do it and why they do it - but usually i don’t have these big no no’s. My team is very diverse, which I’m very happy about.

I don’t mind if people are nervous, that doesn’t bother me, nervous people are normal in a job interview. I guess someone demanding a certain salary straight out of the door and that has happened. I like for that to be a conversation rather than a demand because we are really fair here and I totally understand that people want to talk about money early on but that’s not the nature of our company, that sort of very highly competitive, financial conversations and I’m not really interested in that before we have even had a conversation about what they do.

I think the key thing is someone that wants to be part of a team, we aren’t looking for lone rangers because in my experience someone that’s an individualist doesn’t fare well within this type of studio because they don’t necessarily have the desire and support to work with the team.

Patrick Burgoyne Creative Review “I think that in the creative industries, in particular in advertising, there used to be this romantic idealised sense of the creative who was difficult but talented.

This sort of ridiculous behaviour was tolerated because they were a genius. I think that hasn’t existed for quite a while now. Most people who exist in a leadership role would say it’s just not worth it. Yeah you want talented people but not if they’re just going to be a pain in the arse. If it ever really existed I think there’s a lot of myth making around that idea that the creative was full of these type of crazy people that everyone else would be scared to approach. I think that doesn’t really wash with organisations anymore. Also I think

The Big No No’s

Camilia Dehapio Graphic Designer

Nuno Gomes Freelance Art Director

How integrated they are within the industry and how well known they are outside of it. Going to talks and events, showcasing their work and awards they have been nominated for or received. I also like to find out as much as possible about the company via their social network channels as well as what they are doing for equality and equal rights within the workplace if possible. I remember thinking about applying for a job at one agency and on their “meet the team” page on their website was just wall to wall white middle aged men and it turned me away from applying to the company as I felt there was no representation (young female) or enough diversity.

Pessoas banais’, people that are politically correct, too ‘goodie goodies’. There’s a question I always ask - What’s the best idea you’ve had to this day? - and that for me reveals tremendously. First, there’s a lot of people that don’t know how to answer this question and Two, they answer but don’t quite have the profile I’m looking for, and Three, they have so many ideas and passions for everything they’ve thought about, that they can’t even choose just one. They talk about several - which is, for me, always a good signal.” Nicolas Grassi

Alexandre Duarte Foreteller

Ricardo Miranda WonderWhy

Companies Main Attributes Individuals

Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer

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The One with the Abstract

Small studio agency. I hate corporate!”

not brought any projects with them and most of the time I will tell them in the interview ‘You haven’t done the one thing I asked you to do’ I’ll entertain them for 5 or 10 or 15 minutes but I would be already perturbed by that, obviously unless it was something like an emergency or something bad had happened.

Neha Khandelwal Service Designer Don’t underestimate yourself. Don’t go into the spiral of not knowing what to do.

Take the first step and the clarity will follow.

I’ve had people walk in to an interview and tell me that their end goal is to set up their own studio - and that’s fine and great but I’m not necessarily looking for people to work here that want to set up their own studios. Maybe if they were 18 and they were like ‘I want to have my own studio in 10 years’, fine.

the way people work with clients is so different now, you have to be collaborative, you have to be respectful, you can’t just tell people ‘This is it, if you don’t like it you can go fuck yourselves’. It just doesn’t work like that anymore. So that’s changed I suppose.

Neha Khandelwal Service Designer Now the main attribute I am looking for is competetive salaries. My design education has cost me a bomb. The argument that I gave myself (and the one that was given to me ) when I joined my present job was maybe they don’t pay as much in the social sector. Except now I really want to see who does?

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

Companies Lack of posture or pride on his/her work, lack of a smile, Lack of talent, lack of will to perform, untrustworthiness; Lack of staying in the same company, Lack of capacity to communicate, Lack of character, Dishonest, Lack of preparation, Demanding a certain salary straight out the door; Arrogant behaviour, pretending to know everything, arguing points one does not know enough about to argue, pretending the job is easy, Too politically correct/Not genuine/Authentic;

Individuals Companies that have been involved with not paying freelancers, stealing/copying others work and having internships that are unpaid; Very commercial work, Boring work, No portfolio but just talking about the services they offer, Bragging about partners and clients, No reference to their team or people behind their company, If there are a lot of buzz words, Only business to business and very very specific > no impact on the world; “The modern examples of slavery,

the unpaid trainee programs”; Internships and a bad workspace environment; Working for free, unless it’s charity.companies have money and often try to exploit ‘young designers’ everyone knows this. It is common knowledge by now.”

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

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The One with the Conversational Debates

José Santos Signify There’s always a balance of one and the other because we are people, the process is human so interviewing humans so of course there is subjectivity. That’s why you bring other people into it but even then the reality is that there is always going to be one person that calls the shots, which in this case it was me. I do try to have some kind of consensus but I end up following my gut, I’ve been doing this for a while so you tend to let your gut be your guide. So yes it is subjective with a certain level of objectivity, but it is impossible to not be just one or the other.

Alexandre Duarte Foreteller It’s the impressions that matter, the marks that interview left… There’s an insane amount of subjectivity throughout the whole process… Afterall, we are all different.

Franziska Stoltze Hirschen There will always be – and has to be - a level of both. The focus should be objective points: can the person do the job, will they deliver etc. but you also have to work with the person, so subjective questions such as: ‘can I handle this person on a daily basis, will others get along with them and will they accept my authority’ are important, too. It's not about likeability but a functioning working environment.

Nicolas Grassi The Swan Code When I hire someone is completely subjective. It’s a leap of faith in that person. And sometimes that hope, that faith, makes mistakes - but I got it more times right than wrong. I don’t believe there’s anything objective when dealing with human beings. That’s unthinkable.

That would be the machine world.

The One with the Conversational Debates

Patrick Burgoyne Creative Review Sometimes you just like people and you just think ‘Okay, I can see that they maybe don’t have this bit but this bit is so good and I’m so impressed by this thing that I’m going to give them a shot’. You can see that they will be out there meeting people, they will be out there really wanting to discover who’s doing exciting new stuff and the technical stuff... maybe we can teach them that, we can help them develop that skill.

There’s always opportunity for that, we’re not that rigid. We will hire for potential.

Ricardo Miranda WonderWhy Mário Mandacaru A Equipa I have no doubts about it considering that I’ll live close to this “someone” on a daily basis longer than with my own family.

In a junior position I’m expecting their portfolio to be rubbish and I don’t mind if it is, I can see beyond that.

There has to be objectivity as the company has their needs in their best interest, and the candidate has to be able to for fill their role. Likewise for me I need to be objective for the jobs I apply for as I want to go down a career path that interests me and the company or role has to abide to that. I am in no doubt that in the creative industry there is subjectivity as a portfolio can be taken out of context and different people might like work you have done and others don’t.

Katja Van Heugten Freelance Designer Can we be objective? Of course I think I’m a good candidate, but I’m not sure it that’s always the case in the eyes of recruiter.

Neha Khandelwal Service Designer Surely there are still limits on the personal opinion of the recruiters, it is then a slow evolution of this field because it’s involving psychology and sociology to make a good recruitment, where those are usually lacking as general knowledges

Alexandre Duarte Foreteller We evaluate portfolios… But we choose people.

Franziska Stoltze Hirschen

Nicolas Grassi The Swan Code

If a portfolio is really bad, personality can rarely make up for it completely. A good personality can however be a leveller for a meh portfolio.

Level of Subjectivity Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer

José Santos Signify

Kate Moross, St.

Rui Simões Pepper Brand Of course. One thing is the portfolio.

Another thing is the interview. And another, completely different is the day-by-day workflow. In Portugal we usually say that you don’t know how is a melon before you opened it.

You have to have both. When dealing with a junior designer, the portfolio shows the potential talent, which you will translate into work you will sell your client; personality shows the person you and your team will have to work with every day.

The portfolio is an important factor, but the personality will always outmatch the good or bad (depends junior/senior) portfolio.

I don’t care about personality if the portfolio is shitty. Maybe there is a balance and if you have to tell me what I have to choose sometimes I’m more tolerant about a personality that might not be 5 stars but an excellent portfolio because a junior might still be growing in terms of personality while the skills might mean that person is capable of doing extraordinary things. Sometimes people that do extraordinary things are not the most interesting from a personality point of view so you need to tolerate that.

Personality Outweigh Portfolio Gabriele Tropiano Motion Graphic Designer

Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer

João Oliva Freelance Designer

Not really. The process of hiring is so long , it is so important to find the right resource that even when you start with a set goal (which a lot of organisations don’t because they don’t know how the person they are hiring will solve their challenge ) they tend to let go of certain expectations in order to beat the deadline.

Yes it does. I have seen this in the industry as well, where a company might hire a less experienced candidate on the basis that they show they are hard working, passionate and a nice/friendly individual over a candidate with a stronger portfolio.

Being nice and polite can go a long way

I think it is an eliminatory factor when both portfolios are good.

Ricardo Miranda WonderWhy

Katja Van Heugten Freelance Designer It’s 50 50. If you are not a nice person, it’s impossible to work with you. But if you can’t do the work, and are not eager to learn or simply can’t than you are also in the wrong place.

Nuno Gomes Freelance Art Director IMHO, shouldn’t outweigh work. I mean, your actually work, portfolios can and are fake most of the time and doesn’t reflect the work. So does the personality. Yet personality outweighs too much the portfolio these days and that’s not going to make the work for you.

Dankoliq Fashion Designer Definitely. For me, it can be the best portfolio but if you come all insecure, no social capabilities what so ever, you probably won’t get the job. Ideally, you should have both great. I think the door opens up from your portfolio, but you only get in from your personality.

Camilia Dehapio Graphic Designer Yes, but not all the time!

Neha Khandelwal Service Designer Sometimes. Even with a good portfolio, if you aren’t able to make the connection with the people who are hiring you, it becomes a challenge. Also, a lot of people don’t know how to evaluate a designer. It’s easy to do so for a graphic designer or a UX/Ui designer. But what about people who design large systems?

Gabriele Tropiano Motion Graphic Designer It is sometimes a 50/50 because some jobs require not only the simple “manual” skills but a lot of teamwork and good approach to customers.

It’s not like we’re buying a machine. There are too many factors that we have to consider. Some people are outstanding in a particular team and underperform in a different work environment.

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You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

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The One with the Conversational Debates

The One with the Conversational Debates

Ricardo Miranda WonderWhy Things have to get worse to truly understand someone’s character. Values only matter if a person has something to lose.

Patrick Burgoyne Creative Review Franziska Stoltze Hirschen

José Santos Signify It’s a combination of portfolio and CV but if it’s a junior designer a CV to be honest usually just consists of the school and the degree that you took and of course if there’s internship or even if the person did something in the summer but that shows initiative, capacity to do something different, because a professional CV is usually something you wouldn’t really expect so you have to rely a lot on what you see in the portfolio and what you see in a CV that is most directed towards life experiences much more than professional experiences.

Kate Moross, St. If it were a design position it would be a CV, a cover letter and a portfolio, a PDF. Even with that we sometimes say it should be 10 projects. So if someone sends us 300 projects we might still look at it and if someone doesn’t have 10 projects, it’s not like we dump CVs if they don’t meet exactly the criteria but we try to give people a guide because it shows us that they’ve tried to cater something to us. For me, the cover letter is the most important.

Well-presented work as much as good work. A portfolio should look good, concentrate on a few things and not just show everything a person has done. In a CV I am looking for clear signs the candidate has looked at the agency and is able to answer the question why they have applied.

Nicolas Grassi The Swan Code Sometimes all it takes is a different name, a different picture. An aspect in their journey, there’s no rule for this attention.

It can be the ways people have approached me, it’s hard to answer this.

t would be particularly if they’ve done their own publication or their own site, they’ve shown initiative and skill and energy and some passion for the subject.

So if it’s somebody that’s coming to work for us, if they, say, run their own regular design event where they get people to come and speak or they run something that has really caught on a particular group, a particular bit of design, that’s really interesting because a lot of what we end up doing as journalist now is not just writing but you have to do talks, you have to share discussions and come up with ideas for things like that.So that could be somebody that I think ‘Oh that’s really interesting they could bring that’ they’re obviously entrepreneurial, they’ve got some energy about them and it’s something that we know we need more of in the future so actually that sounds really

Nicolas Grassi The Swan Code It has to do with the experience whilst dealing with that person, to know that person, to understand - again, feelings. I don’t submit anyone to weird tests.

José Santos Signify We usually tend to ask questions ‘Why did you do this or that’ and also you understand by the way they talk about projects they had, or teams, about missing deadlines, about perseverance, about following up on something, about being stopped from doing something in one way and how they overcome obstacles, how they lead their path, all these things end up being a sign of character.

Eye Grabber’s Mário Mandacaru A Equipa Portfolio of course, but many times I saw great portfolios but I considered that the designer wouldn’t fit the team for some reason.

Ricardo Miranda WonderWhy The portfolio and the way some people tell their life & work experience.

Alexandre Duarte Foreteller Soft skills. Entrepreneurship. Hobbies.

Social life. Deep down, anything that shows how a person is, beyond a cold and impersonal CV.

interesting. It’s not on the basic job description of the staff writer but it’s a really interesting extra they could bring.

So i’d definitely look out for something like that. That’s probably the number one thing to be honest. I’m not going to be looking at what university you went to, I’m not going to be looking at what degree you got. I think it’s always reassuring if somebody has done a postgrad journalism course, we know from experience that people who come with that are quite ready to go. It’s a kind of guarantee they know what they are doing, they will be able to cope and do the basics really well. That would help but it’s not a prerequisite.

Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer

Alexandre Duarte Foreteller By its actions, speech and attitude. It’s a mix. You can’t just say it. You have to be it.

João Tito Gouveia Junior Designer

I determine a person’s character through how they talk to and about others with me.

How they treat their peers and those that work under them. I have found that people believe that if someone is quiet and doesn’t talk to them that it must mean they don’t like them or have it in for them, when really it might be that they are just shy or haven’t spoken much because they are unfamiliar with you and your interests which is usually the case! Not taking things personally in my experience can be tough, but it is so much more healthy for your wellbeing and benefits you in the long run.

“By the way they talk about themselves, others and their life experience. Also the way they move, that gives out a lot about the person.

Dankoliq Fashion Designer That’s a very deep question. Probable best suited for a recruiter. I personally feel it right away in the interview, if i click with this person or not. In 3 seconds you know if you can work with them.

João Oliva Freelance Designer Through their way of expressing themselves.

Nuno Gomes Freelance Art Director By knowing the person.

By getting to know them.You can probably do some test and questionnaires but that won’t give you a full picture.

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

Let them talk about themselves and not just fire questions at them. It is quite easy to see markers in a person when listening so how they speak about themselves and others, their work and others, former colleagues, bosses, places of employment.

From the way they position themselves in their surroundings you can find out most of the things you need to know.

Sometimes it’s little things, it’s behavioural, how they relate to you, are they late are they not late and if they are late how do they talk about it because it’s not a crime to be late but it’s not a good attitude when you’re late and you ignore completely that you’re late. On the other hand if you excuse yourself profusely but don’t have any particular explanation about it...

It’s not something you can put your finger on, there is not enough time in the process or life experience moments that will allow you to say I like this persons character. A lot of times because you can’t even define or detect if this person is lying or is this person not saying truthful things then you end up having to deal with a lot of subjectivity and have need to trust your own experience on looking, hiring and understanding people.” José Santos “By its actions, speech and attitude. It’s a mix. You can’t just say it. You have to be it.

Person’s Character

Katja Van Heugten Freelance Designer

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Franziska Stoltze Hirschen

José Santos Signify

Gabriele Tropiano Motion Graphic Designer

Neha Khandelwal Service Designer I am going to substitute character with attitude. In a work environment and as a designer, how do you engage with the products, how do you use your curiosity and learning effectively in your own organisation is what matters more. On a side note, character is usually determined when one spends time, a probation period is a good time do so. Observing behaviour during challenges is a good measure as well.

I can analyse it simply by the way they choose which questions to ask me and how they react to those made by me.

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

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The One with the Conversational Debates

The One with the Conversational Debates

José Santos Signify

José Santos Signify

Kate Moross, St.

Ricardo Miranda WonderWhy The creative sources are all around us.

Creatives just have to open up, avoid the prejudices and use the 5 senses.

I determine potential through trial. So I have two people on the motion team who were interns originally, they did 6 months internship and I increased their employment to full time junior positions. So within that 6 months that was a longer time, because it was an internship, I could see how quick they were improving, their abilities, their skills coming out, becoming part of the team and then after the 6 months I wanted to keep them as part of the team and their portfolios were very much… I wouldn’t have even really known what their strengths were from their portfolios because I feel like graduates aren’t particularly equipped to communicate what their skills are or they haven’t had enough time or experience to fully have invested in that. Sometimes they’ve hated the school process as well, so they may not have learnt a thing, they might

The sources have to do with how they tackle projects or problems, where do they go for inspiration, what do they look at and where do they start. The potential has to do with how they tell a story, how they illustrate, how they communicate, how they choose to put that particular story on the dot. It’s how people connect the dots which creates the potential, it’s not one particular talent. If you find someone that’s an excellent sketcher but then everything else is weak, that doesn’t define a potential but if you find someone who can connect 2 or 3 things and come up with an interesting way of approaching to get a different solution, a different explanation, a different way of looking, a different point of view, a personal point of view and can explain how they got there, not matter how viable or not, that’s what ends up signalling some kind of potential.

Ricardo Miranda WonderWhy Is curiosity/eclecticism needed in a young designer? Absolutely. As the Blur band says, you have to have “lust for life”. Is the Pope catholic?... We create things by redesigning bits of things we already know. So, the first step in the creative process is to know, find out, discover, understand, putting external things into our minds so we can process them and come up with something new. The knowledge that comes from curiosity and experience is the breeding ground for creativity.

Person’s Potential Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer The ability to take chances and say yes to jobs/roles/tasks that might not be fully comfortable but you believe in the idea or the outcome. By activity seeking out opportunities and speaking to others and being curious about the field you want to work in just screams potential.”

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have just struggled throughout the whole process but they may be super talented. So it changes all the time.

João Tito Gouveia Junior Designer In the personal projects mostly, and the will and availability to work; In their work methods; In your guts. Being an ‘headhunter’ requires talent and vision that gets better with experience.

More curiosity than eclecticism. Eclecticism in the sense of... this is a word that’s being misused. If being eclectic means you make sophisticated choices that are very classy and they’re very aesthetically beautiful and all that, meh, less interesting. Eclectic by being a person that actually studies and reads and knows where things are coming from and will use irony or use a smart way to connect something to something that already exists, that might be more interesting.

Curiosity for sure, whoever is capable of demonstrating that they can be curious and that they went down some rabbit hole and they explored something in order to get here or there, that is important because a lot of times what I typically don’t like very much is somebody that tends to go into a topic that is actually rather complex but they just skim the surface and come out with a solution that from their stance it looks like they have discovered gold when they actually didn’t do the work, they didn’t go deep enough, they didn’t do the research or do the thinking to justify some sort of result.

Kate Moross, St. Depends what their role is going to be. I guess curiosity is something that I’m always looking for but I don’t know if it’s exactly the right word because sometimes you need someone that’s very strategic and can just get through things and who doesn’t necessarily really want to know everything. You might just need someone who’s a machine at artworking or setting text or whatever. Some roles are not creative or curious roles and some people are not creative and curious sometimes they’re just technically brilliant and I’ve had people who’ve worked here who have no interest in doing the creative side in terms of the visual creative but the strategic process based thing is the thing that they’re really interested in and that can often be ignored by recruitment because there’s no tangible evidence but when they’re doing the work and they’re there you can see how they might drive a project forward or help you financially because they’re being efficient. So there’s other qualities

Matt Rudd, St. Yes. I think it is needed in any job, but in creative environments a desire to keep learning (whether young or old) and a curiosity about things outside of the field are crucial for inspiration and fresh ideas.

An incurious designer is a bad designer.

Franziska Stoltze Hirschen Should curiosity be encouraged? Yes, I definitely think so. It’s crucial for me, when finding someone new, to see something really exciting. Another thing about portfolios, when working in the workplace-collaboration, it’s extremely hard to know which bit was done by who, and there’s a very good chance that they did not came up with the idea for the logo, for instance.

Person’s Curiosity Gabriele Tropiano Motion Graphic Designer I see the potential by looking at the instant reactions while the attention lowers on the direct conversation, for example if someone is simply walking and he notices something in particular if it’s something interesting or not.

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer Yes it is vital! And it might not even be curiosity about the field of design as well.

Having the drive to learn and explore is what makes you grow and improve.

Neha Khandelwal Service Designer Yes, if you’re a young designer, if you’re in the start of your career you should be interested in many things. Not only if you’re young, creativity comes from your passion. I don’t think it’s about being curious about things, but to have a mindset for the business as well, I feel that’s more important.” Dankoliq “Absolutely! A young designer is still establishing their practice, so it is the most important quality to learn and see what influences you. Not to mean that an older designer doesn't need to be curious.

They can be more selective about the areas they choose to be in.

Gabriele Tropiano Motion Graphic Designer Not necessary as some people tend to be more focused on the workflow rather than the creativity

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João Oliva Freelance Designer It is very much needed, no doubt about it.”; “Yes, of course”; Definitely.

As a young designer, it is essential to have a good know-how of different topics.

Needed in every creative being.

Oh, voices in my head.

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The One with the Conversational Debates

The One with the Conversational Debates

Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer Matt Rudd, St. Kate Moross, St. A flexibility I think. If someone is super rigid and set in their ways or super stubborn let’s say. I don’t mind stubbornness, because I’m stubborn, like I have got people that are super stubborn that have worked here and they’re great staff members so I wouldn’t say I wouldn’t hire someone that was stubborn, just as long as they weren’t arrogant in that, that they were still open to hearing other people’s ideas because there is an element of a self-assuredness that can be really valuable in a staff member but also I’m open to people who are completely open to hearing other people’s opinions who aren’t necessarily fixed on their own opinions. So it’s difficult to say. A team is a combination of different types of people so… Right now I have an amazing team, I think it’s one of the best teams probably

So when you’re employing, is very important to know what team they’re going in to. When hiring the young designer, I would hire not solely looking at the execution, but also the conceptual way of thinking. Actually a lot of the work I’ve done in this later years has been executed by outside parties. Animation wise, I’ve worked with other people. Photography wise, same. And even logos, they have often taken my drawings of logo ideas and they do the final products. It’s a model of work, it’s fine. Is super important to think right and come up with nice ideas - nice ideas not as super broad conceptual concepts ‘this identity is all about movement’, but good ideas as quite specific things, ‘how those letters sit together, how do you get a tennis board in the middle of that’. But if that person doesn’t know how to take it all the way home, there’s plenty crafts people out there that can.

I have most of my work on Vimeo and send them a link to my channel and showreel.

Personally I like to be clear and formal.

José Santos Signify Finish education (we do pay attention to the university you went, because schools end up being a guarantor of the quality of the education, even though sometimes is not 100% right), degree has some level of connectivity/relationship to what I’m looking for, portfolio has projects that come from 0 to the end, so i can see from sketching/doodling from refined drafts or drawings to Cad, to renderings, to different things so I like to see projects that display the progress beginning to end.

If you’re a junior I don’t expect that you have published or produced work that’s in the market, but sometimes instead of a portfolio that’s got like 12 projects, i prefer to see a couple of projects, ‘Choose 1, talk

Katja Van Heugten Freelance Designer I have a online portfolio, which is not very up to date but does capture my more conceptual work and thinking. And I make pdfs with work that is most applicable to the vacancy.

Nuno Gomes Freelance Art Director

I present myself firstly as my work attitude and background, then about my studies and in last place telling my personality sides and hobbies.

João Oliva Freelance Designer Portfolio (online and pdf) and CV.

Dankoliq Fashion Designer So if I have an interview, i do my research, and then prepare for the most common questions ‘why a new job, why a new position’ which you can find on the internet. The beginning is a bit tough because you need to seem confident, but after time, interviews get better - after all is the same questions over and over again.

Oh and make sure you don’t look like you just came out of a gym. Business/casual is always a good look. (9:20 his fashion choices) - be comfortable in yourself, you’ll come out more successful. Too underdressed or too overdressed - make sure you align with company fit.

Professionally, but let my personality seek through. If someone does not want to hire my because I am too direct, or just don’t like my way of being and thinking, then that’s their loss.

Gabriele Tropiano Motion Graphic Designer I present myself according to the organisation I am applying for, at the same time I like to highlight my strengths.

Except I would generally prefer to have a conversation, just listen to the organisation and the challenges it faces and see what similar work I have done before and share that as an example.

Person’s Presentation Person’s Constraints | Self-Expression to me about it, the options that you took, why, what were the things you encountered, the things that you learned, where did you have to change your mind - so I try to understand more less the story of the project, of course I do judge the deliverables that are within that story, but I usually try to focus on the story itself.

COMPANIES Tenacity, Humbleness, Curiosity, Sociability, Talent. Performance. Salary. Character. Human chemistry “I’m going to be with this person every day, so this connection is important” , Education, Portfolio (technical skills, thinking/creation process), Communication (verbal/visual) “people that can coherently express themselves and make me understand easily and quickly what they’re trying to say” , Trust, friendship, empathy, loyalty, Open minded, Desire to work within a team/ Fit, Being nice “I think the same qualities you would hope for in a friend” , Flexibility/ Sense of Adaptation, Warm, Focus, Care, Learn and Develop, Insatisfaction, Genuine energy and excitement/Fun/Joyful/Positive/Optimistic “by what they do - translates how people talk and what they show, if the passion is real - not only commercial projects, briefs, but also personal wise.” Potential, Attitude, Brain.

INDIVIDUALS Salary, Work/Life balance, Creative Freedom, Respect and Career Trajectory; Empathy, Working for a better world, Innovative thinking, Diversity of projects; Paycheck, Agency or company renown, Client base, Location and extras; Opportunities > Money > Brief > Agency > Client; Good Name, Good Branding, Social Impact, theFields within the Industry, Identity, Good Team Members, Fun Environment, Vision, Process, Future prospects (what skills I am going to takeaway when I leave this organisation), Trust, Management.

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This question is quite inconclusive but i’ll give a “i guess” type of answer. So I present myself as a brand, I gather my qualities personally and professionally and build a concept and or a persona around all of that.

Hi, I’m Nuno.

Neha Khandelwal Service Designer

Five Priorities because I’m in probably one of the better times of my development as a director so the team is often a reflection of me as well and if I’m not doing well or struggling then the team is obviously going to be affected by that too. No one else in the past has been to blame for that, I think it just takes a while for things to balance out.

Camilia Dehapio Graphic Designer

João Tito Gouveia Junior Designer

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer I put in as much self-expression I feel I am able to do so. Depending on the project it varies but I still get away with making a design here and there my own with little personal touches that really contribute to the overall design or project.

João Oliva Freelance Designer Sometimes, if there is no communication at all between me and my colleagues, I tend to become more constraint in my way of thinking, and lose my ability to “see the bigger picture.

Dankoliq Fashion Designer

João Tito Gouveia Junior Designer I put it all in.

Nuno Gomes Freelance Art Director I express myself more as an artist and as far as I know I don’t feel much constraints about it.

I try to put as much of me as possible but it depends where you’re working. Of course if you have all the money in the world and build your own brand, you can do whatever you want. Until then, you have to fit to company’s standards. I think it’s best to put more of you, because you can take it to less; rather then put less of you… because, what do you have to work with now?

Neha Khandelwal Service Designer I work in an ngo where they don’t understand how design is applied. For the longest time I was looking at some sort of direction, some validation and I realised that it will never come through. That was the time I felt the most constraints on my self expression. When I decided to use my expression to make sense of things, I found that my experience and confidence both grew.

Gabriele Tropiano Motion Graphic Designer “I feel often very limited to my self-expression because the tendency for the customers is to risk the less possible with the creator’s own ideas.

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The One with the Service Blueprint

EMOTION

NEUTRAL

IMPATIENT

TIME

20 MIN + 30 MIN

1 WEEK

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

CONFIRMATION EMAIL

INTERNAL JOB POSTION

CUSTOMER ACTION

Hiring Manager asks HR to post a position

The One with the Service Blueprint

WORRIED

DESPERATE

RELIEF

NEUTRAL

2 WEEKS

1/2 MONTHS

PUBLIC JOB POSTION

RECRUITING MATERIALS RESUMES

reaches out to their network

Wait

HAPPY/SAD

pick who to interview

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS LIST MARK ON CALENDAR

put interview date on calendar and prepare interview questions

conduct interview

Line of Interaction send resume FRONT OF STAGE INTERACTION

fills out online form + intake conversation

HR work with HM to set up interview schedule

plan recruiting event

Line of Visibility HR reviews job post requests

HR post job posting internally

BACK OF STAGE INTERACTION

HR post job posting publically

searching LinkedIn review resumes

schedule interview with applicants

send direct messages to passive candidates review referals from employees

awating responses with passive candidates

Line of Internal Interaction

SUPPORT PROCESSES

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Word of Mout

Job Boards

LinkedIn

Advertising

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You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

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The One with the Conversational Debates

Mário Mandacaru A Equipa It has been changing quite a lot with the development of the digital media.

Ricardo Miranda WonderWhy Self-centered but necessary. It creates a collective culture. It stimulates the evolution of the ‘genre’. It gives the creative people a sense of identity. It provides a criterium.

Patrick Burgoyne Creative Review

Kate Moross, St. I don’t think about it that often to be honest. It’s interesting how we kind of see it as this creative industry when actually it’s this really huge business sector and lots of business fall in and under it. I think that’s changed a lot since when I was at university, the creative industries were much smaller than they are now. Maybe not university, when I was at secondary school, maybe I just wasn’t aware of them.

I know it’s becoming a growing sector, financially in this country anyway. I don’t know a huge amount about it, I sort of tend to stick to my area.”

Alexandre Duarte Foreteller Everything is/wants to be creative. It’s a buzzword now. Unfortunately.”

José Santos Signify Uf... That’s a whole other interview, isn’t it?

Franziska Stoltze Hirschen It's my industry so I do enjoy it. It is, however, neither a particularly important industry nor one that does something crucial for society. It is just a service industry needed in the context of how people consume, vote etc. I think great ideas can come from that and the industry

Isn’t it ironic that the advertising agencies want people that never worked in advertising, so the ones that are taking advertising… they don’t actually want them?’ Yes, of course. To some extent I think it’s been like that for a long time. For years and years and years people in agencies have said to me ‘We want people that haven’t… we don’t want just normal ad agency people we want somebody who’s done something cool in a different field’. I think the ad agency world is less attractive to those kinds of people, they have many more options now. It used to be that the ad agency world was a good vehicle or platform to get where you wanted. If you wanted to be a film director, if you wanted to write a TV comedy, if you wanted to be a novelist, an ad agency was a good place to get paid and learn some skills that would help you, or make some contacts. I think to some extent that still works but I think that there are other ways you can get to that thing now other than advertising, there are more choices for people. There’s

The One with the Conversational Debates

Kate Moross, St. I think the effort that is required for that is often not invested by a company. They’re investing in their qualifications most of the time. I think that the reason this happened is because when you’re in a large company, obvious in a small companies I’m sure the success rate is higher, I’d imagine it is because your investment in the person you’re recruiting is much more significant, whereas if they’re like 40 people in an office, or 50 people in an office the person who’s recruiting may not even need to work with that person they might just be measuring them on a set of attributes that they’ve been set through a document or something which has most of the things, How do you outsource unmeasurable requirements? You can’t do it, you just have to have someone who knows what that is and that’s a role in that job. The other issue I think that’s quite famously bad within the creative sector is that only 40% of jobs are even advertised. Most people go into a job because they know somebody which is why it’s a closed industry and why we

Creative Industry Rui Simões Pepper Brand Nowadays we live between the fear to fail and the will to go further. Most of the brands have fear to give creative steps and do different things. Things that can transform the world in a better place to live. We think the creative industry has responsibilities to the world, to the future.

Selling products aren’t the main goal anymore. We have to help the world to become more human, more fair, more sustainable. It’s very important for ad/design agencies to have this clear help their clients to act this way.

Peter Anderson, St. Everyone is a liar. Maybe your whole project should be centered around WHY people lie.

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has grown more client and consumer oriented. But it is still just advertising most of the time.

Matt Rudd, St. It varys from course to course, but a lot of the degrees have gotten increasingly high applied - meaning, it’s quite the expectation that you’re gonna have a website by the time you graduate that is gonna have a corporate identity on it, social photography on it, magazine/editorial type of thing, and I’m slightly worried about that because quite often, people weren’t given the time, or found the time develop their own initiatives, find their own thing and do something that was... a bit magical.

certain structural things going on at the moment that have changed the market for designers. I hear a lot at the moment from designers especially in London that so many people just want to go freelance now, so many people want to be freelancers because they want to be in control of their own lives, they can earn more, they can take time off. That’s a challenge for business because it’s costs more, it’s more difficult to build a culture with freelancers coming in all the time. I think that’s changing quite a lot and that fits in with the wider world of work where people are asking for more flexibility in their careers, they’re looking at not working five days a week, in the same place, in the same job for 10 years. From what we hear a lot of people are expecting and would like more flexibility and the other side of that is employers are actually trying to be more flexible as well. It keeps costs down, it means they’re not having to pay pensions and benefits and it’s easier to hire and fire people. So there’s a downside to this flexibility, as an employee you might not have the same rights that you would you, you may not be as protected, you may be less secured. So there’s good and bad in that world of flexibility.

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer I love it and I feel there needs to be more investment in exposing young people to the opportunities the creative field has. It is HUGE and ranges across so many disciplines and areas. I don’t believe or agree with how art departments and the creatives at schools are being cut and pushed out.

João Tito Gouveia Junior Designer The creative industry is again at a turning point of it’s history since most companies are beginning to take matters into their own hands and leaving the outsourcing behind.

Dankoliq Fashion Designer Katja Van Heugten Freelance Designer I think we should learn better to co-operate, work in teams. Work with people outside of the creative industry. I think sometimes it’s too much focuses on itself.

We have to ask ourselves; what difference doest this make in the world?

João Oliva Freelance Designer Too many “bedroom designers” in the industry.

It’s tough. Tough, tough, tough. One of the most difficult, interesting and dynamic industry to work in I think. It comes down to your personality, if you can’t take bad feedback or people giving you bad criticism with no critique, basically ‘ this is shit’ - the thing when you get out of your degree is that you feel that every project is your baby and later you’ll find out that you can’t really create that much, you do as much as people need you to. You can’t create amazing things, you do… not-so-amazing things and need to find your peace with that. You can have a lot of fun though.

Camilia Dehapio Graphic Designer Too competitive, and salary is shit!

Neha Khandelwal Service Designer Creative industry is funny coz there is just so many types of it and a lot of it overlaps.

On the other hand sometimes it is extremely rigid. Though, the underlying factors of the creative industry is similar. I can talk about my own perspective, I am a designer interested in systems design but I don’t have an MBA. Very few social impact organisations see value in hiring “designers “. Because in the creative industry the term means one thing. On the other hand the ones who do see the value, understand that the user centric approach is important especially in the social impact space.

Gabriele Tropiano Motion Graphic Designer It is a good time for developing incredibly creative but very small projects but a bad time for the old big productions.

Nuno Gomes Freelance Art Director Is more Industry and less creative.

Standardization (that come from ‘standard’, opposed to creative) should only be applied to factories.

Creative Industry don’t have a particularly diverse range of people working in it but that’s also how people get more of a success rate, I imagine, in finding the right person because they already know the person or they’ve been recommended the person by somebody else. So that in turn is a problem because I believe there should be a rule that every job is advertised. When you’re a junior coming out, you don’t really have your own network yet, that’s why creative mentor network exists because it’s kind of problematic because it’s creating a network to tap in to a network that people can’t access however it’s one of the only ways that you can do that so unless you change the system it doesn’t work, so the best thing you can do is create a new pathway which is what they do and there are lots of other companies that do that and they’re mostly all community interest projects or charities.

The government doesn’t do it anymore, all this work is being done by independent companies and people who are passionate about it. You have to have someone that is involved in the recruitment process that actually cares full stop and I think that’s very difficult to find.

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The One with the Conversational Debates

Mário Mandacaru A Equipa I’m really not fan of job descriptions.

Nicolas Grassi The Swan Code I put a post on LinkedIn and a lot of people answered. It’s that easy, a post on any social media, people show up. Is it the right people though?

Depends if it’s junior or senior. For me, his/hers background doesn’t matter much, what really matters to me it’s their ability to Think, with capital T. Their passion for what they do, ambition to be better than they are, the will to be ‘outside of the box’, wanting to change the world. So I look for more the attitude and will, and I think it’s what they say ‘you can read, the rest you’ll learn’. I look for people that have something to say, people that are outside the normal patterns, people that have this internal wish to express. I believe that an interesting person has an interesting life.

That person might have a life path particularly strange or odd, but interesting perspectives are important factors.

Alexandre Duarte Foreteller

Ricardo Miranda WonderWhy

I start by dividing technical and human skills. I consider both to be fundamental for a correct definition of what one is looking for. If we are too detailed, less chances we have of getting it wrong, making it more efficient in the process.

Franziska Stoltze Hirschen Usually, the core information about the job, the qualifications needed, the kind of personality wanted. Additionally, some information about the agency. Everything else is usually then told during the interview rounds.

José Santos Signify Usually is about a few generic things, which are enough to position the person in terms of years of experience or industries or type of training.

If I say the candidate has to have 10 years of experience, or a masters, or if I want

I would say they’re necessary. Not all graphic designers do web design or motion design, for instance. However, these challenging times also demand that we let people create their own job descriptions. Consists of a list of tasks the person should be able to perform. A general inspirational summary of what the job should be and could be.

Matt Rudd, St. I haven’t developed a job description in a long time, but it had the basic essentials about the softwares - i remember one for an animator - i think i said ‘you probably have 3 years of experience’ and i think i talked about it would be very important that you loved music or ideally you play music. All the great animators I’ve known are also musicians. It’s just kind of a thing.

Basically if you know about music then you know about making things move. So that was a funny extra i put in there. Also it’s quite nice that you can stop working and

The One with the Conversational Debates

Patrick Burgoyne Creative Review It’s hard to quantify a gut feeling. When you write those things down on a job description they always sound a bit ridiculous you know, it would say ‘they must be able to be collaborative’ well what does that mean? I think it’s hard to… people always say you need to be flexible or...what are the other things they always put down on...adaptable. It’s almost a given that people would need that but you’re looking for a sense that they can do that and they’re not going to find it difficult to get on with others.

We never split off print from digital, we never had a separate digital editorial team to print, we always crossed over because I thought that was much healthier. But other people organise it differently and that’s up to them. So you will have that starting point, so I might say to HR ‘What’s our standard Centaur job description for a staff writer?’ and they can send me something and then I can adapt it to the specifics for Creative Review.

Then within that job description, classically it would say: this is the role,

Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer I find that jobs for young creatives want you to be skilled for everything under the sun. Personally i find this ridiculous as they state candidates “MUST” be able to use the entire adobe suite confidently, with 3D software knowledge, editing skills, animating skills, design skills, VFX skills AND being able to film and shoot and work sound and cameras. I have known people to apply for jobs where they match maybe 3 out of the 10 requirements in the job posting and still get the job. I have known others that will NOT apply for the job because they only match 3 out of the 10 requirements because they don’t have the confidence that they can match the requirements even though a lot of those skills will be taught on the job or are actually in fact a bonus to the application and really only 3 skills listed will be the most important. Another thing is how the job description is worded. Some jobs in the creative field can be very tongue and cheek with witty humour and smart comments, and others can be very dry and boring. However the dry and borings one

Job Description Kate Moross, St. I would say they’re necessary. Not all graphic designers do web design or motion design, for instance. However, these challenging times also demand that we let people create their own job descriptions. Consists of a list of tasks the person should be able to perform. A general inspirational summary of what the job should be and could be.

We are looking for a motion designer at the moment, so I got up a job description that I wrote 3 years ago and re-read it and Wow, no wonder I have mainly men applying for jobs. I never really thought about some of the words I had used, terms like ‘Slick Rick’ which is obviously gendered, so the need to research about the types of language you use in an advert is essential. As someone that has gender at the forefront of my mind all the time, It’s curious how I didn’t even think about that when I wrote… the thing. Especially within inclusive job descriptions. Must haves’ vs.

‘Would like to’ or ‘Would be great’ makes a tremendous difference when it comes to womens’ application, as they are less likely to apply. Just by only changing 10 words in a job description, we have had far more people who aren’t men applying for jobs.

Crazy, isn’t it?

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people that come from a certain school, from a certain background,.“The best people that I have, are people that question the job descriptions. How to do it, what are the conditions, what are the ways to get that done, what are the connections to other areas, autonomy, etc.he funny thing is that for a while IDEO and other folks talked about the T-shape personality, the ideal that companies should look for, so something that had to do with one part of the T that goes deeply into one certain knowledge, and then have a number of areas on the other part of the T that embraces and covers all this different areas - and many times that might create a hybrid, and companies love hybrids on paper but then they have a tough time hiring them because the more structure they are, and the larger they are, the more complicated it is. Usually these hybrids, they get very well along in small companies or start-ups because those companies cannot afford to have specialists and so, whenever they find someone that can put on several hats and serve certain objectives, they tend to hire them.

jam for a couple of hours with your co-workers, isn’t it?

Rui Simões Pepper Brand Most of the times we develop an original ad with the most important characteristics we want. But is never a traditional job description. I don’t use them on a traditional way. Job descriptions like age, key-personality words and stuff like that are useless in an ad for a creative position.

Franziska Stoltze Hirschen They either tend to be vague and focus too much on details instead of giving a good overview of the job or they are incredibly specific and seem to be derived out wishful thinking to find a person that can do everything.

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

Katja Van Heugten Freelance Designer Most of them seem to be very narrow. I know you have to have some skills, but in the end what will make you a good employee are not the skills you have when you enter the organisation. It’s what and how you will learn on the way and the passion you have for the job.

João Tito Gouveia Junior Designer Most job descriptions tend to lack the true nature of the actual job.

João Oliva Freelance Designer From my experience, I’ve only applied to jobs which have complete job descriptions.

Nuno Gomes Freelance Art Director Generic. Standard. Scripted.

Dankoliq Fashion Designer Quite important, because normally they came with these keywords - if you’re smart, you know how it works. They will filter with the programmes you use and such with what is written in the job description, and then you can make sure you have more chances to get to the next step or invited for an interview. They’re basically telling you what they’re looking for, and if you send a cv with something completely different, chances are: you don’t get any feedback. They get millions of applications every day, so it’s programmes that run these things, not human beings. So try to adapt so that you can match more successfully. Make sure to read it carefully and use the keywords on your cover letter or cv, you’ll see more matches.

Camilia Dehapio Graphic Designer They don’t really describe the job accurately. It seems like it’s all a copy-paste from a pre-set template.

Neha Khandelwal Service Designer I think organisations should share their challenges and let the person apply tell them how they will do the work. Most often then often, I see a lot of fancy words but lack of clarity.

Gabriele Tropiano Motion Graphic Designer It is hard to find proper written descriptions as most of the time I feel the job is quite different from what it seemed to be.

I use every kind of website which is used by average people to post any kind of requests (while I search on the specialized job searching ones), that’s because many big companies are too much in a hurry to create a proper recruitment through their hr sector, so they prefer to take a short way and make a job post “anonymously” to find somebody who suits for them.

Job Description these are the skills - usually they split it into essential skills and desired skills, and then there will be something in there about the kind of level of prior experience we might anticipate they might need. But again all of that stuff, for me, is fairly adaptable and things do change, especially in media now the requirements for what you are working on change so quickly.

That you might have ‘this is what I think I’m going to be recruiting for’ but then you’ve found someone you really like, and maybe who’ve got some other skills you weren’t anticipating, you can then shape the thing when they start to say ‘this is what you’re doing, this is what we’ve agreed with you’. That’s really helpful for the start of the employee because it gives them something to be measured against but also something to safeguard them so that the employer doesn’t then say ‘Well actually we want you to do this as well’ and they can say ‘Well that’s not part of what we’d agreed, if you want me to do that I’m happy to consider it but you’re going to have to pay me more because you’re adding some extra’. I get your point that they can be something that’s restrictive but they’re also useful both for employer and employee. You’ve got to have something which defines what your role is.

are more clear and to the point in what they are looking for which helped me more as if I am applying to lots of jobs and looking for work I don’t have time to scroll through paragraphs of dad jokes and banter to just get to what the job role is and how much it pays. The best ones I found are are a balance between the clear and to the point with a bit of a personal take/humor which makes the job application much more attractive to me to apply to.

Content Description of the role, description of the company, salary sometimes - ‘must haves’ vs ‘nice to have’ Parameters: “My needs vs. the applicant’s experience”; Personal skills.

Intelligence skills. Technical skills. Soft skills. Practical skills. Inspirational skills; Technical and human simultaneously, complementing each other, both necessary.

Client's or agency's need as well as industry standards (Distribution) Channels Companies Personal Contacts (Network), Monster (“that the hr manager won’t like because they attract all kinds of crap” José Santos) Xing, Guardian, LinkedIn, Behance, The Dots, Facebook, HR people, Recruiters, Headhunters, (Agency) Website, Social Media (personal and company)

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

Channels I.: (Format) Word of mouth or networking such as going to events, meetups, and social (media) groups such as facebook, SLACK and twitter; career pages of companies I am interested in working with to check if they have anything available; job posting sites such as: LinkedIn, We Are Peas, Motion Hatch, Motiongrapher, Indeed, and My First Job In Film; recommendations are very highly valued; Websites, talent seeking agencies, Recruitment agencies, whether through linkedin, email or in person, online recruitment portals like The Dots and freelancing platforms, using a simple presentation on email while adding link to website and some personalised links to my works,via the websites in which they are posting the job such as Indeed or We Are Peas, Mostly digital, but i don’t put aside the traditional physical portfolio handover; recruitment agency.

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Franziska Stoltze Hirschen

José Santos Signify I think it takes time for you to coordinate and gain empathy, and that level of understanding for them to know what exactly are you looking for, and precision within each situation to understand. They must also be good gatekeepers, on understanding company culture and sending things that might be more specific to where people are coming from and this and that. I think it’s not easy to get through the right people. I think managers need to have a clear idea of what they want and don’t want, and they need to make sure that they do not compromise. I get a bunch, from the internet, from recruiters - or so called recruiters, contacting me and offering me jobs, but usually they didn’t even read what I’m about, or go through my profile.

Kate Moross, St.

Internal departments keep my desk free of lots of applications to sort through and make sure that we find candidates that fit the bill. I do not believe they should interview candidates in the first round.

People in managing positions should do it themselves as they know what the job entails and are a lot better at giving candidates real insight into an agency. I would not consider a place where an HR person is my main conversation partner during interviews so I would not make my candidates do it either. I can understand the need for agencies and headhunters when recruitment is difficult.. but there are a lot of bad ones out there, so it is worth paying more for a good agency…. If there’s any.

Nicolas Grassi The Swan Code “I have to confess - I hate recruitment agencies. They’re fine for more politically correct jobs, involving logic, more functional, works fine. What they’re

Within big companies, HR Departments are essential for the initial screening process. They save us a lot of time by previously selecting the candidates that fit the predescribed parameters. It’s their job, they need to be specialized that, but the big problem here… They never raise their hand up and say “I don’t know.”

Alexandre Duarte “I don’t use recruitment agencies because they tend to be skill-based in terms of how they position an applicant and so much about our studio is not about technical ability it’s about other sides to somebody, that’s what I hire based on. I think that for a recruitment agency if they’ve never met me, they’ve never been here. I think it would be different if you were a big company and you hired recruitment companies to come in and understand the role but for those sort of callous emails where somebody is just sending you a list of five people, I’m not interested in that at all. We are not so concerned with who people have worked with before, what clients they’ve had before. We’re concer-

The One with the Conversational Debates

Patrick Burgoyne Creative Review Having that kind of level of process, in one sense I think it’s very healthy because it takes out the danger of there being, I suppose, nepotism or bias. It can safeguard you as a large organisation, employing 400 or 500 people. It does, I mean they’re not a recruitment agency as such, they’re people who work within the business who kind of help us with that process. How far we use them is up to use really. I think in the creative world there are lots of other platforms now, like The Dots or Creativepool, that enable people to bypass that to some extent. I think LinkedIn and things like that how changed the landscape. So that role is maybe slightly different. I mean you hear a lot about people who get continually pestered by recruiters to move jobs. The thing is that these outliers wouldn’t even go through these mediation systems to begin with and I think that then it’s up to employers not to resist being pushed into a situation where they have to use a recruitment agency in order to fill a vacancy. I don’t know how many agencies

Gatekeepers Mário Mandacaru A Equipa I’ve never used any agency to choose for me.

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basically looking for is this standard profile of people, and people have to fit in within those patterns and parameters and being in the creative industry, it’s very hard. First, they don’t understand at all, one bit, what we do. Second, they don’t understand the potential you have because sometimes there’s excellent creatives that don’t have a portfolio yet, they’re just starting out - and is necessary to comprehend the potential each has.

And recruitment agencies simply don’t know how to do that. I don’t know what they’re looking for, I mean, RA are some sort of filter of personality X and box framework - like Tinder. Matching incorrectly - it’s not just the image.

“You’re looking for a great love, but that great love can’t be smaller than 1.80cm, blonde, blue eyes and love surf”. In a great love things don’t work like this - is not a catalogue. In a creative agency, with creative functionalities is exactly the same thing, too many criterias that don’t make any sense whatsoever. Being a creative, a thinker, escapes the normal patterns and traditional conventions and try to sum that up into boxes - I think it’s preposterous. Ridiculous.

ned with seeing a portfolio of work we like and feeling like we can sit down next to that person every day and they would get it. Which a recruitment person can’t understand at all.

Ricardo Miranda WonderWhy Recruitment has evolved. People demand more from jobs than just a payroll and an opportunity to climb the corporate ladder.

They want a community, freedom, emotional satisfaction, feedback, to become influencers – it’s a different ball game now. We need people who specializes on people. Recruitment agencies and HR departments have evolved and now they also do internal communication and corporate culture transformation for their clients, not just finding the right person for the job.

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Katja Van Heugten Freelance Designer

Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer I have been contacted by recruitment agencies via linkedin and only once via my personal website. I haven’t followed up with anything from those as they withheld information about the role from me or were for jobs that are not within my skill set or interest. I also have a negative affiliation with recruiters as I know they work on commission and they can be very pushy on trying to get me interested, even though I am in full-time work. My experience with HR departments has been positive and I have always had issues resolved and supported by the HR department in my current and past jobs.

Camilia Dehapio Graphic Designer They give you expectations then never get back to you!

Normally they are not super excited about talking to you. And it might feel as if they don’t understand the value that you have or could have if you don’t have the exact same requirements that are asked on paper.

Dankoliq Fashion Designer My experience with hr departments might be different, because there’s so many people to take care of, and they’re swamped with work, I must have waited for almost a month for my contract for example. Recruitment agencies wait too long for feedback from the companies, they send a lot of emails and call a lot, but normally is for companies that just want… anybody, because they need to present somebody to get a certain commission.

But it never really fits with your experience, or what you’re looking for, and I ended up turning down a lot of offers from RA. HR Departments is straightforward, you apply to them and is easier, i think.

João Tito Gouveia Junior Designer I believe they make sense for some areas, like financing, engineering and stuff that generally requires more steps to evaluate a group of people that are applying for a specific position. For the creative areas like design, art direction, copywriting, I believe it doesn’t unveil the true potential and nature of candidates since recruiters in these specific cases also need the one on one gut feeling involved.

Gabriele Tropiano Motion Graphic Designer Recruitment agencies are actually more advanced on finding good candidates but they still put some filters between the worker and the company sometimes, where the last one is tending to treat the candidate as someone always “outsider” from the workplace itself, for example using very particular contracts”

Nuno Gomes Freelance Art Director What do I think about this? Many steps to a very simple goal. I have to please and fill in many requests from many intermediaries who are not connected to the creative industry in order to be interviewed who I should have contacted in the first place, the CD that will work and trust me and my work daily. Outside of the format, the Recruiters are impersonal gap filler, which after being interviewed by multiple recruiters, the feeling it gives me is that robots are reading scripts and that the only thing they understand about my work is the brand.

Neha Khandelwal Service Designer I don’t think I will go through one for the kind of positions I am looking for. Though, I have seen quite a few individuals who work in this niche area.

Gatekeepers and design consultancies there are in that boat given that so many creative companies are actually very small I would suspect there are not many of them that are tied to using one particular recruitment agency, they might use them as part of a process. With bigger organisations in could be that they have a partner that they must use but again I would have thought with creative departments they’ve probably got enough flexibility and power to say ‘we also need to be able to look wider’ a lot of them have their own internal recruiters now who proactively go out to find interesting people

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The One with the Persona Map

The One with the Conversational Debates

Ricardo Miranda WonderWhy I was feeling confident, and there wasn’t much between me and some downtime at home except for a short car ride.

And, a 500-foot walk down the hallway to the parking lot.

p e r s o na : c a t o a k

The kind of walk that’s just barely long enough to get you seriously thinking about things.

I started replaying the past year in my mind, looking back on my efforts to break into the advertising and marketing industry, thinking about all the time my mentors put into helping me out, the time I spent reading about and practicing copywriting, the emails to creative directors that went unanswered, the scores of applications that got lost in the mix, and the constant feeling of doubt — which was growing with each passing day — that I would never land a job in marketing or advertising.

At some point in this moment of reflection, I got to the door, and with my hand ready to push it open, I stopped.

If your culture is built on innovation and artistry, your hiring process is an opportunity to showcase that to your candidates.

In a sea of similar interview experiences, yours can be a buoy in their search.

And they’ll be more likely to jump on the opportunity to join a team that appreciates what they have to offer.

A directionless employment strategy can yield poor results for your company, especially if you lack any overall plan or focus. Even still, some companies do have a recruitment strategy, but one that is hopelessly outdated.

José Santos Signify If it’s trying to stand out because ‘Hey look at me, I’m an artist, I have a personality’ and ‘I paint in gold because I really think it’s cool’ and if it’s just about that then usually that really doesn’t, at least to me, mean anything. If you stand out for the right reasons, and it might even be because I got expelled from my last school because I did this beautiful sculpture that was 12 foot high and the school dean didn’t like it, that’s a good way to stand out because you’re hands on and you had a

Franziska Stoltze Hirschen

“A directionless employment strategy can yield poor results for your company, especially if you lack any overall plan or focus. Even still, some companies do have a recruitment strategy, but one that is hopelessly outdated. Something borrowed, something blue, something traditional, something new. It’s not enough to simply place an ad, that type of recruiting won’t attract innovators to your business. In fact, that kind of traditional recruiting is unlikely to attract any candidate.”

(Burt, 2017)

It works if you are a person that stands out anyways. If you try and it shows you cannot deliver on it, it tends to not work.

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It’s another buzzword, most of the times with no correspondence with reality.

Nicolas Grassi The Swan Code It’s inevitable. If you want to be noticed, you have to do something about it.

Amazing and original. This is valid for brands and for people. It’s a common idea for us to be all here.

Kate Moross, St. Oh I have a very good quote for this by Jono, who I saw two days ago at the Creative Mentor Network. He said:‘Even if your portfolio is rubbish, if people like you they will help you, so just get it in front of them’ so I thought that was great and I definitely think that is true in a sense that I’ve met young people and graduates who - even not young people, I mean a spectrum of people - at a point in their career were not sure or just looking for an opportunity and because our paths have intercepted they’ve got that opportunity and that’s usually from them coming up to talk to me after a lecture or getting me to come to their university to speak. You know I met our intern Sayori at a bus stop after I did a talk and I told her to apply for an internship and she did… now she

Patrick Burgoyne Creative Review If you speak to people at ad agencies they would always say they look at ‘what else have you done’. It could have nothing to do with advertising but what else have you got going on that makes you sound like an interesting person. I think that’s the way those outliers come in, particularly ad agencies. Again, it will be a balance. On the one hand they will be looking for people who’ve maybe gone to the School of Communication Arts or Watford or whatever and done that process, D&AD, maybe they’ve done some New Blood thing but they are very, very mindful that they need to start bringing in people from different sorts of backgrounds and they

Matt Rudd, St. To be honest, a lot of people are taking a lot of use of freelancers these days because they’re nervous about the size of their monthly wage bill. So they will hire a particular person for a particular job.

I met years ago, from Romania. He wrote an extremely articulate nice email, not just nice in terms of praise but well written, beautifully written email. Poetic. He explained his background, what he knew of my studio’s work, and why he liked it and I was compelled to click on his website and when I did it was very, very good. It was not only beautiful, but it was coherent and I knew what was going on, what was what. He has done some very serious work, which I was very impressed but not particularly excited about - but, he had several personal projects going on at the same time, one called ‘picturing thoughts’, super interesting, fun and enjoyable, you couldn’t quite believe it came from the same person, this contrast.

A lot of designers websites don’t tell you much - it’s a lot of pictures but very little explanation. I’m super interested in seeing

“Standing Out” Conundrum viewpoint and you built something. So it depends on what you’re trying to stand out for and how you’re trying to stand out.

I tend to like people that are what I call organic stars, people that might be quiet, they might be not very expressive, but what they do and when they do is just beautiful, it’s just nicely done, it’s nicely detailed. Then you’d see other people instinctively just looking at those people for their example, for their ideas. So the standout thing it depends on how and why.

With all the mediocre hiring practices out there, we believe the creative industry can do better. If you truly want to attract and retain top-tier talent, it’s worth investing in top-tier hiring practices. If your culture is built on innovation and artistry, your hiring process is an opportunity to showcase that to your candidates.” (Burt, 2017)

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Trying to stand out and trying to fit in are 2 of the most powerful opposing forces within each creative individual. You have to have both. Branding is about more than standing out. It’s about establishing a human identity that will bring meaning to people’s life and allow them to bond with a particular product or corporation, while establishing a commitment for the brand.

Alexandre Duarte Foreteller

works at Google. There’s lots of people that have come through the studio that just because they made a simple choice to try and get one step closer to getting that advice they were looking for and it wasn’t necessarily about having followers on the internet or anything like that, it was about human interaction. So I think giving yourself as many opportunities as possible is great but then of course there’s people who’ve come to every talk I’ve ever done and I haven’t given them a job and I know who they are but they just aren’t right so it’s not like a catchall ‘this is how you win the game’, it’s a combination of factors.

Mário Mandacaru A Equipa

would. I think, in terms of what grabs them is if this person has done some kind of popup or startup or...what have they done that’s totally different to advertising but sounds pretty exciting and cool and when they come in can they talk about it in a really engaging way. That would be the door opener for those types of outliers. I think actually ad agencies are desperate for those types of people because they’re finding it really hard to recruit people now, there’s so much more competition for them now from media organisation, tech organisations... those kinds of people.

I suppose there’s always this area of tension between do you write as an outsider observing or do you write as an insider taking part? I think that’s always the kind of balance to have.

I enjoy a lot when I discover a new talent.

Although, I must say, it happens less frequently nowadays

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people’s minds, brains and processes for sure. I mean, on my website I put quite a few drawings there - when I talk about the logo, I put a lot of pictures of the drawings from my sketchpad, sometimes i show logos that ‘didn’t make the cut’. I don’t tell people what to put on their websites of course, but I certainly value the story. If I find their work interesting I do want to meet them and if they want to show me their sketchpad, then great. I am kind of aware that young people don’t necessarily walk around with one of these - I do believe that a sketchpad is a great way to start but I don’t wanna be like an ‘old-fart’.

I try to be open minded, but I would personally like to see both the raw sketches and the final product - I think i would enjoy it more if at first, i see the sketchpad.

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Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer It’s tough as now with social media being driven by visuals and easy access to others work the need to stand out is very strong, but also the feeling of not being good enough as you are constantly comparing yourself to others work online. The work online also is only the best and the showcasing of their talents but you’ll never see the crappy jobs they do with no fun or creative freedom to just pay the bills. My personal take on standing out is to just compare my work with the work I have done in the past. Only be better than who I was yesterday, last week, last year mentality. It wasn’t easy and it took a long time to get into that mindset but I feel it has helped me let go and be critical of my own work that has helped me improve, grow and produce work I am most proud of. It has also helped me follow my career path and dreams and starting out with nothing I am on my way to making an impact in the design world (or so I like to think haha)

Katja Van Heugten Freelance Designer It’s hard to stand out if you are only surrounded by designers. If you surround yourself with people that are different from you, you will get other ideas about yourself and what you will be doing. Then it’s less hard to stand out I guess. But I’m not sure if you should worry about it too much. You just must be good, and enjoy what you are doing. Everybody is different so if you think more about what is important to you and less about how to stand out, I guess it will happen naturally.

João Tito Gouveia Junior Designer It’s the natural choice for survivability.

Camilia Dehapio Graphic Designer You need to be different, otherwise they have no reason to hire you over the next person. You need to create the need for your capabilities.

The One with the Conversational Debates

João Oliva Freelance Designer You really need to know the target of your communication if you wanna stand out and become relevant to them.

Nuno Gomes Freelance Art Director I’m not getting into that.. we live in a world leaded by ‘influencers’ that nowadays they just need a phone to be that. Dangerous times..

In work, you want to stand out if you want to go ‘up the ladder’.. , now if you stand out because your work is beyond the imaginable, that’s meritocracy ! if you stand out just because you’re loud and socially connected, that’s reality.

Gabriele Tropiano Motion Graphic Designer I believe this is often too much misunderstood as people tend to seem too awkward/eclectic instead of being noticed of what a company really need.”

Ricardo Miranda WonderWhy Dankoliq Fashion Designer Hum… It’s important but I try to be more minimalistic in many ways. Less is more.

It’s good when you want to build your own brand, if you have a job interview but… if it feels fake or orchestrated, manipulated… that’s not for me. Cardi B (she’s an actress. she created a character, but people like it) and Nicki Minaj (girl from the streets and etc, and people go for it) are good examples. Don’t build a personality to entertain a fact.

Neha Khandelwal Service Designer Everyone wants to be an original, I feel that you don't have to try though because it’s an evolving thing. Though, you have to put yourself into as many different, complex and learning situations you can so that without trying for it, you will stand out eventually for you end up bringing to the table.

It will only get bigger. There’s no escaping it. People want new things from themselves and others, and branding is a tool that brings methodology, commercial approach, visual excellence, coolness, and a certain touch of “scientificity” to the human experience. New technologies allow people to connect themselves with millions bypassing the need for a big budget. Branding provides them with a system that unifies the perception people will have of them.

(Recruitment regime:) First, if you have a strong personal brand maybe you’re not looking for a job, in a traditional sense.

You probably have a direct connection to the market, you’re an influencer and you have means to get money for yourself.

However, if you have a personal brand but you’re still looking for a job, you’re providing an HR person with meaningful tool to evaluate your potential and understand if you’re a good fit.

“Standing Out” Conundrum

“I think empathy is more important than that. You can have a very good personal branding and I will hire you. However, if you’re not good on the job on a daily-basis it means nothing and your reputation is only going down.” Rui Simões (Recruitment regime:) ”I prefer references and eye-on-eye talk or even a small test (technical or about personality).”

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Necessary. Almost a commodity. We’re all brands and managing it… is fundamental.”

Alexandre Duarte (Recruitment regime:) In creative areas, people's value often has more to do with what others think about you than what you are really worth. Hence the importance of the personal branding referred to above.

Managing perceptions is critical in an ever-faster and more instant era of networking, sharing, and superficiality.

Kate Moross, St. It’s fine but I’ve met people who have no personal branding and it’s not like I thought they were less equipped for the world. Again, it can go the other way, there can be people that are so personally branded that they could be constantly going on about all of the… if they design a napkin for a coffee shop they’ll be like Kate Moross x coffee shop napkin. They’re like overly branding themselves like they’re a corporation and every single job they’re doing is like a high profile

Matt Rudd, St. use it, but I can tell you about people that have approached me. They all have websites and is very important - do I like it, does it speak to me, in terms of quality of work and also the way they talk about their work? Also, when I receive emails (which I get about 1 or 2 a week), I hire on a freelance basis not full-time permanent.

Websites are important but what they write to me is extremely important. I’m fine with a link to their website but first they have to write a coherent, meaningful and genuine email to me. And about 4 out of 5 emails do not feel that they are written to me, personally. They haven’t said anything about my work, in the worst case they haven’t even said “Dear Matthew”.

This copy paste thing doesn’t exactly resonate to why they should come and work in my studio. We’re in the business of communication, the business of words, so if you can’t manage words and you can’t use words well and be persuasive, be sincere and be truthful, trying to connect with people in the design that we do, trying to bring people into something - if that doesn’t happen in an email in the first

that kind of work through establishing his personality online through social media. I think that’s a very good example of that. I think that kind of personal brand thing, particularly through social media, somebody then looks at collaborating with him, it’s not just about his work or his style, it’s… if it’s a brand for example they’ll be looking for his following and they will be thinking ‘Well if we get Seb Lester to do this piece of work with us and then he puts it on his own channels it magnifies the reach of that piece of work hugely’.

I suppose it depends how you do it. If it’s all about the image and not the substance there is a danger. One thing that’s really interesting, particularly about instagram, is that it’s a great shop window for people and it enables people who are quite young, early stage of their career, to be able to work for quite a wide array of international clients from almost anywhere. The worry is how substantial that… people kind of buy a style they see on instagram, it’s quite superficial in many ways. I think it would be interesting to see how long people can maintain that because what happens now, particularly around things like illustrations, people peek very fast but

Personal Branding Rui Simões Pepper Brand

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Alexandre Duarte Foreteller

collaboration and that’s just silly. Or they might write ‘Art Director’ in their bio and they’ve done two projects. There’s a spectrum when you’re taking it too far and when you aren’t doing it enough. Some people might like the people that take it too far but for me there’s an element of humbleness that is a requirement to be part of a team and if someone is just constantly going on about how great they are without any regard to people who they are working with, or their collaborators are not crediting the team correctly, or saying their own role in a job that is appropriate...then I would maybe be put off by that too.

(Recruitment regime:) I mean, it’s not necessarily something I measure. If it’s good, it’s nice. I’ll make a note of it, maybe in my head that would impress me a bit more but if someone had a bit more neutral, non-existent personal branding I wouldn’t be put off at all. For some people that isn’t necessarily their approach either, so that doesn’t bother me.

stage, it’s a dead loss.

Patrick Burgoyne Creative Review It does enable people I think… though you can see those people that have really been smart using, particularly, social media channels. You can see how opportunities come up for them. Not necessarily people at the very start of their career either, there’s been some people who have been quite senior doing different kinds of roles and have then almost reinvented themselves on social media. There’s a guy called Seb Lester, calligraphy, who must be in his forties or maybe his fifties, and he’s got quite an interesting example of that. We did a piece on him recently about how this happened. He was a type designer, had quite a successful career as a type designer and then his wife became very ill and he had to take time off, had to spend a lot of time at home working with her and he ended up doing, almost in his spare time, a lot of hand lettering, hand drawing.

Then he started taking pictures of this or making videos of this and they became wildly popular on instagram and suddenly this other career opened up for him doing

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

their work is everywhere and in order to maintain a career over 30 /40 years it’s very difficult I think, unless you have some professional advice. The danger is people peek and nobody wants to touch them anymore because all that was last years hot person and now we’ve moved on to something else. I think that idea of a personal brand that burns very brightly very quickly can be all very well for that short amount of time but then what can you do? This thing about authenticity…

And also people latch onto a very specific aesthetic or thing ‘Oh she’s the person that does that’ well now we’ve done that so we’re looking for the next person who can do something. So if you’re the person that does knitted representations of food or something, that’s great for a year or two, those things have a kind of life cycle. But then what? When everyone is bored of that and moves onto the next thing what do you do? Particularly with illustrators the successful ones realise that and realise that they can’t say yes to everything they’ve got to manage things, be quite careful about who they work for and what they work on and what people see their work as if they’re going to have a career doing this and not just an amazing 4 or 5 years.

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Dankoliq Fashion Designer

João Oliva Freelance Designer One of the longest procedures of a designer’s career.

Nuno Gomes Freelance Art Director It’s for standing out.

(Recruitment regime:) Works, either you have a flawless awesome work with you, or you either if you just came out of uni and want to ‘stand out’ from the other freshmans.

Camilia Dehapio Graphic Designer Very important, as you need to be able to sell yourself.

(Recruitment regime:) It might be a way to make you stand out from the crowd, but also shows your values and what you stand for.

Oh it’s so important because a lot of people do not look beyond the cover. I can wear a nice suit and talk big words to corporates, to land those hi profile projects and do decent work to establish myself while people who are fabulous but don't have a brand find it extremely hard to get an in, a seat at the table.

(Recruitment regime:) Know your shit and talk about it in scenarios where its relevant.

Gabriele Tropiano Motion Graphic Designer It’s something we can’t be without anymore, like if it was our personal ID. (Recruitment regime:) It surely works well because demonstrate independency and a strong mission on that particular field.

José Santos Signify I’m fine with personal branding as long as there’s something there, just like with any branding. If it’s just show off, if it’s just a visual part of it and you go on and there’s no deliverable, there’s no content, there’s no juice to it, then it’s just not important.

(Recruitment regime:) I don’t think recruiting will stop any personal branding as long as the rest is there. I wouldn’t see my recruiter stopping somebody that sends in a nice box of cookies that were done and ontop is a piece of paper explaining that this was done by baking trash on a sun oven. I don’t think this person would be rejected or turned back.

So there’s nothing in there that stops personal branding or flamboyant person, there’s nobody that would walk into my building dressed in yellow and polka dots and be stopped to come for an interview, as long as he or she got there for a reason and when I talk to him or her that the portfolio, the rest of the things were there.

If it was all just about the polka dots then we have a problem.

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Alexandre Duarte Foreteller Necessary. Almost a commodity. We’re all brands and managing it… is fundamental.”

Alexandre Duarte (Recruitment regime:) In creative areas, people's value often has more to do with what others think about you than what you are really worth. Hence the importance of the personal branding referred to above.

Managing perceptions is critical in an ever-faster and more instant era of networking, sharing, and superficiality.

Franziska Stoltze Hirschen I think too much is made of it.

(Recruitment regime:) “I think personality and portfolio are definitely more important.”

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

PLAN

JOB DESCRIPTION

Nicolas Grassi The Swan Code I think it’s futile. I think it makes sense that people feel the need to position themselves in the market, in this shape or form, and build this image, but this is something that for me, doesn’t excite me. I think there are people very good in this personal branding and have a reputation (em função disso), but I look to all of this and doesn’t excite me.” Nicolas Grassi (Recruitment regime:) “If i were to have a candidate, where he was susceptible to this personal branding, I wouldn’t hire him for example. I think I would be too suspicious about it, about him.Too mechanic of a process.

RECRUITING

APPLICANT SCREENING

2. Ensure some applications from potential candidates who are not actively searching for new jobs but who may be perfect for the role are received

Hiring Staff Marketing team?

Recruitment Agencies

Hiring Staff Marketing team?

Recruitment Agencies

Hiring Staff Marketing team?

Recruitment Agencies

Organisation meeting

.Internal Adv (current employ ees can apply or referal) .External Adv (company’s website, online job boards, social media, job fairs and industry publications

.Passive Recruitment, via job posts .Active Recruitment, via LinkedIn, social media and industry events

E-mail or ATS

.Job description (preparation)

.Job description (launch)

.Job description (look beyond)

.Review resume/Cvs and cover letters from C. .Feedback to qualified C.

1. Hiring Decision players agree on: hiring process, steps and communication channels to be used

2. Hiring staff meeting

2. Plan includes: timeline, recruitment plan, criteria for initial candidate screening, selection committee, interview questions and instructions for taking notes

2. Other necessary information includes: essential functions to be performed in the role and the advantaged of working for the company (i.e., workplace environment, compensation and benefits, perks, etc.

Hiring Staff

Hiring Staff

Hiring Staff

Organisation meeting

Organisation meeting

List of job requirements: special qualifications, characteristics and wanted experience from C.

.Hiring process, steps and communication channels .Timeline, recruitment plan, criteria for initial C screening, selection commitee, int. questions and instructions

3. Generate prioritized list of job requirements.

Includes: special qualifications, characteristics and experience wanted from a candidate

POST AND PROMOTE JOB OPENINGS

1. Job applications arrive via E-mail or Applicant tracking system (ATS) 2. Hiring Staff reviews résumés/CVs and cover letters based on the criteria established in the planning step 3. Unqualified candidates’ applications are withdrawn from the applicant pool 4. Qualified candidates are informed of next steps beggining with a screening interview

1. Identify available job positions: can be newly formed or recently vacated

1. Agreed-upon job requiremens form the basis for job description

TEAM

Personal Branding

IDENTIFY HIRING NEED

TOUCHPOINTS

I’m not a big fan of it. It feels like branding isn’t complex enough to capture everything that is inside a human. Maybe for some people that have a very clear and focused idea of what they want to do it could be nice. But it takes away the fluidity of people.

(Recruitment regime:) I think it will give only a very superficial idea of the person.

Very much agree with it, how could I not if I branded myself.

Neha Khandelwal Service Designer

CHANNELS

Katja Van Heugten Freelance Designer

João Tito Gouveia Junior Designer

Very very important. I did that throughout my whole application process. My cover letter, my cv, my website, is all in the same branding, the same font type and size, the same design and layout, and goes from instagram profile to facebook to linkedin trying to brand myself as a person.

Google, you have millions of results on how to do it.

(Recruitment regime:) Makes you stand out from template based CV’s, or application from the internet as a photoshop file and they see 50 other people have the same thing, so why should they take you. Again, shouldn’t be too crazy because that can have a negative effect as well.

MATERIAL

Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer It is HARD. I am never satisfied with whatever I try to brand for myself and feel I have no idea what I am trying to do or convey who I am as a designer as I haven’t even gotten to that place yet. At the moment I’m happy just kind of floating along with a basic icon that I can call “A logo” and when the time comes I’ll know what I want to do to brand myself as.

(Recruitment regime:) I think it’s good as it clearly conveys your skill as a designer and what your interests and work is.

The One with the Customer Journey

1. Job listing advertised internally - current employees can apply and make referrals 2. Other avenues for promotion includes: company’s website, online job boards, social media, job fairs and industry publications

AWARENESS

1. Beyond passive recruitment via job posts, the Hiring Staff should seek out qualified candidates, includes: via Linkedin, social media and industry events

ATTRACT

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The One with the Customer Journey

SCREENING INTERVIEW

INTERVIEWS

1. Depending on the size of the selection committee, several are schedule for each C 2. Early interviews typically in person, one-on-one int. with applicants and the 2. These determine if hiring manager. Focus: applicants have the applicants’ skills, experience, qualifications needed to work history and availability do the job and serve to further narrow the pool of 3. Additional meetings with: management, staff, executies candidates and other members of the 3. HR may also explain the org. can be one-on-one, or panel interviews (formal or interviewing process relaxed), on-site, off-site, or during this step online (skype, google hangouts).

1. Initial interviews with applicants typically include phone calls with HR rep.

INTERVIEWS

In some org., each interviewer focuses on a specific subject or aspect of the job being filled to avoid overlap between int. and to discover more about the applicants 4. Final interviews might be conducted by the company’s senior leadership or an interviewer from a previous round of int.

These latter-stage interviews are generally extended to a very small pool of top candidates

The One with the Customer Journey

APPLICANT TALENT ASSESSMENT

BACKGROUND CHECK

DECISION

REFERENCE CHECKS

JOB OFFER

HIRING

1. Before, during or after int., hiring staff often assign applicants one or more standardized tests to assess personality type, talent,physical suitability for the job, cognition (reasoning, memory, perceptual speed and accuracy, math and reading comprehension), and/or emotional intelligence.

Some org. also require applicants to take tests or complete assignments to demonstrate professional skills applicable to the open position

1. Prior to making a job offer, review candidates’ criminal record, verify employment history and eligibility and run credit checks. Some org. also check social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, etc) to make sure potential employees are likely to represent the company in a professional manner. Drug testing may also be warranted, depending on the nature of the job

1. Hiring staff confers and evaluates applicants based on the interviews, job experience, skills and talent assessments (and other relevant information, e.g. recommendations).

2. Top choice should be identified and agreed on.

Back-up candidate selection should be made as well.

3. If no candidates meet the hiring criteria, the hiring process should start over

1. Once a candidate has been selected for the position, professional references should be contacted. Verifiy candidantes’ employment details, including: job performance, strenghts and weaknesses. A typical question to ask references is “Would you rehire this person?”

1. Offering a job includes providing an offer letter stating the position’s salary, start date and other terms and conditions of employment (based on the agreement between the company and candidate).

Should be clear that the candidate understands the terms of the offer. Candidate may agree and sign, initiate negotiations (typically focusing on salary) or turn down the offer.

1. Once the candidate accepts the job offer, he/she is hired. Kicks off a phase of filling out paperwork related to employment, including: eligibility to work forms, tax, withholding forms and company specific forms

1. A comprehensive onboarding process is a crucial step in the hiring process.

2. Should involve making the new employee feel welcome, even before he/she officially joins the organisation.

3. Preparing his/her workplace, providing necessary access credentials for work applications and networks and outlining an orientation and training schedule can significantly

Hiring staff

Hiring staff

Hiring staff

Hiring staff

Hiring staff

Hiring manager

Hiring staff

Phone call, E-mail

Phone call, E-mail

One-on-one, in person

One-on-one, in person

.Job offer letter .Green-light, yellow light (negotiation), red-light

.Paperwork: eligibility to work forms, tax, company’s specific forms

.Prepare workplace .Provide access credentials .Outline orientation and training schedule

These int. are more in-depth.

Hiring Staff HR representative

Phone call

Hiring manager, Management staff, execs, ... senior leadership

Hiring manager, Management staff, execs, ... senior leadership

One-on-one, in person Panel interviews (formal or relaxed), on-site, off-site, online (skype, google hangouts)

One-on-one, in person Online resources?

Panel interviews (formal or relaxed), on-site, off-site, online (skype, google hangouts)

Online resources?

Organisation meeting

.Interview script .Critical thinking .Performance challenge

.Criminal record, employment history, Credit and Social media check .Drug testing

.Review job/C experience .Select top choice and back-up choice .If no choice, hiring process reset

.Set of questions: determine .Interview script candidates’ qualifications .Critical thinking .Explain interview process .Performance challenge

REVIEW /

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/ SELECT

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

ONBOARDING

.Personality standard test .Pre-employment test .Physical suitability? .Cognition evaluation .Emotional Intelligence eval .Performance challenge

OFFER

.Professional reference check

MAINTAIN

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The One with the Conversational Debates

Ricardo Miranda WonderWhy Never thought of that. I doubt there’s a bullet proof process because everything is always changing and there are always new elements that become relevant now, which weren’t relevant years ago.

Still if I thought of that I would say that I would experiment with a combination of several elements: a long interview, insights, ambition, colleagues recommendations, portfolio highlights, interests, cv… all of this within an algorithm that would somehow make sense and not replace the human decision José Santos Signify I’d like job fairs or some sort of thing where we have continuous engagement with people who are out there. I don’t know if it’s speed dating processes or if it’s actually come in and do hackathons on work with us or do this or that. I like ways where you shorten the distance between the company and the candidate and/or simply designers out there. So not only

The One with the Conversational Debates

The thing that’s missing is we have an unequal society and we have lots of power structures that are creating disadvantages for people. You have to work extra hard to reach the widest audience. If you post a job on motionographer you’ll get only white men applying for the role, there are just certain places where you could put a job where you don’t audience. It would be great if all the job recruitment sites, all the sites where you post jobs, could tell you what the statistics were, what kind of viewers they have so you could understand. I know on my instagram, unfortunately most things are only based male and female so there’s no option for people who identify as neither or both or whatever, but it would be good to know a bit more about a site audience so you make sure that you’re choosing the right site to post your jobs or sites are making an effort to create that equality within the numbers for multiple factors, not just for gender.

We use and have used ‘creative access’ which is an intern recruitment company that looks for people from BAME kind of audience specifically, so we’ve used that in

the line, so that’s the main thing that we do. Work experience organisations and mentorship organisations are the places that do that and we do all of those things, we work with a local work experience charity called We Rise, who run workshops so they use this space to do their workshops we often give them equipment, they borrow our cameras and our video gear to do their workshops with their students from various schools in the area.

There’s just so much you can do, endless really. I think it’s three positive interactions in a work environment for a young person can increase their salary by 30%.

It’s crazy how small things you can do can increase the likelihood of people going into industry knowing about the industry.

I think they call it ‘if you can’t see it, you can’t be it’, that’s the phrase that they use.

So if young people don’t know that this is a job how the hell are they supposed to know to become it? I’m responsible for doing that too and going out there and showing people that ‘Yeah, you can draw a picture and get paid £30,000 for it’ and they’re like ‘What, I can do that?’, ‘Yeah go

Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer

Patrick Burgoyne Creative Review I think it’s more that we don’t start looking for people when we have a vacancy, we are always looking for people to be contributors. Then if we do have a vacancy it might be that one of those contributors could become a staff. So we’re always on the lookout for somebody who has something interesting to say and whether they could say that thing with us rather than someone else. In that way it’s a completely open end process. Every day I would be looking at Twitter to say ‘Oh that person seems to be engaged a lot with what’s going on with design. They seem to have some interesting things to say.’ maybe they’ve done this thing or published something, these are quite fertile ground for us to look at who’s publishing stuff. So we’re always on the lookout, we should never have a vacancy where we have just

New Process Creation they understand what the company is about but also what the teams and the leaders and the managers are about but we also get to see how these people react but also how do they play well with teamwork, what is their brilliance, how does it get shown and stuff like that. “I used to be jury of design schools, go there and see people, that exposure is great for them and for us and sometimes I’d end up hiring people which I was a jury when they were graduating. I don’t know what that could be, I’m just saying that me and other corporations to have access to real talent, junior talent, that’s still in school or coming out of school, in a continuous way, so that whenever we need we know where to go and actually access those people, but also be open to the fact that that talent might open opportunities by themselves, might suggest even new opportunities and new hirings just for the simple fact that you see people from their intrinsic talent, their essence, they could add value to the corporation, to the team, in a way you probably didn’t think you needed but when you see this, when you expose yourself, you end up understanding that yeah, you might actually do something with that person, with that person's talent and give that person also an opportunity to apply that talent and to grow.

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João Tito Gouveia Junior Designer

Kate Moross, St.

the past as well to try and reach and offer opportunities as well to people that maybe aren’t seeing those opportunities through traditional recruitment processes but it’s very difficult to retain and maintain a diverse team.It’s a full time role really to make sure that you’re giving opportunity and sometimes there’s not that much you can do at the recruitment processes earlier so the things that we do are speak at schools, we have people who work here who are 16 and they come for a week or two weeks so we’re giving hopefully some insight and experience to an audience of people who wouldn’t necessarily have access. So we’re doing things at a lower down level with younger people in different areas like schools and community projects as well as trying to recruit in a good way. So it’s difficult, you have to be both. You can’t just want to hire more different types of people if you’re not then helping the future channel into that network develop and that’s something that we actively do. That’s my main focus actually because you struggle to find, because it’s just smaller representation, so we need that representation to be bigger so in order to do that you have to go down

for it, go to arts school or do a GNVQ or a diploma or something or do it in your free time while you’re studying biochemistry, whatever’. I think because there’s a huge increase in STEM subjects kind of being pushed, especially on young girls and young women, we’re forgetting the arts as well. So there’s an initiative called STEAM which is to add the A back into STEM, because the creative sector is so important. There’s so much, every time I go to a new workshop I learn a new thing or I’m blown away and I’m trying to make sure that doing it as much as we can.

Mário Mandacaru A Equipa

It would consist of a single job interview with a practical exercise.

I can’t think of any process which gets the company closer to hiring the creative they need for the role they are looking for, and for the creative applying for such roles other than the traditional hiring method the industry still uses.

João Oliva Freelance Designer It would consist in a set of challenges based on the role of the job listing.

Minimum three challenges, from a easier one to a harder one.

Katja Van Heugten Freelance Designer I think fear of rejection plays a big role in applying for jobs. I often don’t apply because I’m afraid I won’t come across they way I’m supposed to. Or feel that I don’t have the required CV although I think I could do the job with a bit of studying etc. I think giving case studies, or assignments would really help me to show what I can do. It is a time investment, but if it can be used as portfolio piece or on your CV, than it might even help you getting in the next job if you got rejected.

Also, good feedback would be very beneficial.

Nuno Gomes Freelance Art Director Like the question is put, ‘closer alignment’ . Cut all the middle terms, and make creatives manage their teams accordingly.

Neha Khandelwal Service Designer Companies engaging with design labs at colleges to explore how design works for them.

Dankoliq Fashion Designer If you really read the job description and take the keywords and also use buzzwords, you will have such a bigger chance to get invited for a job interview.

Trust me. If you find a company you really want to work for, make sure to change your cv, change your story, sit down and align it with the job description. I know for a fact these applications go through filters in the hr departments, done by programmes, so that way you’ll be successful.

They’ll call you. It’s as easy as that.

Gabriele Tropiano Motion Graphic Designer It would consist of putting them in contact of what the employer is struggling to find as type of person to fit inside the team and what the candidates have really to offer.

New Process Creation got no idea who we might get to fill that vacancy. I’m sure designers are similar.

I’m sure, particularly as there’s so many freelancers going in and out, that every design consultancy will have a list of regular freelancers they use and they know and they like and if they have a permanent position coming up the first port of call would be that network of people that they know of.“It just never really occurred to us that it would be something useful. I’m not sure I necessarily believe in those things either. They come out and say you're a facilitator or an enabler or your a challenger, you’re a this ,you’re a that. Personality testing… Hum...

I don’t know.

Perhaps AI will do all the hiring job one day! ;)

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Ricardo Miranda WonderWhy

Mário Mandacaru A Equipa Leading creative departments for about 30 years I always understood that each designer has to be approached in an individual way if we want him/her to get involved with any project. We, humans, are complex. Thank God! :) (Materialisation:) “Before being a leader I’m a collaborative person, for me working on teams is essential to achieve higher goals. I could be represented by a bee (it’s the first image that came to my mind). Bee creative, bee curious, bee assertive, bee kind, bee human ;)

José Santos Signify I think that individual essence is a viewpoint. It’s a way you connect the dots with the things that are around you and how you make that relevant to ever you might be doing. Sometimes that might be more articulated in a more refined manner with visual and sometimes that might be less but it’s much more about

Kate Moross, St. If you’re recruiting and you aren’t like that person and maybe you don’t know that there’s just something about that person that you don’t like that gives you an opportunity to be biased. It’s very difficult to say and you have to be a good judgement of a person but your judgement is likely to be from your point of view and your perspective and and that’s usually skewed to your experiences, your privilege, whatever that is. If we ever start to try and measure that in some way I think that’s impossible, like it’s your soul, and unless you’re really good at seeing that and doing that without bias or judgement, we’re talking about very heavenly things, these aren’t tangible in any way.” Kate Moross (Materialisation:) “I don’t know, you can’t get someone to say that about themselves.

You’re only measured by what other people’s thoughts of you. Not everyone can see their own - you can’t get someone to

“A pattern which is only of a particular person and will never change.” Ricardo Miranda (Materialisation:) “Art is the best way to make the invisible, visible.

Nicolas Grassi The Swan Code I think we live in a world where we value the mundane, the mediocre, the politically correct - in relation to people. Companies, for example, will hire nice people that make them feel good about themselves rather than different thinking people, talented people. I don’t think people like it very much to actually hire these people (they do say it differently on paper). So it’s all about culture and (massas) which I think is very problematic and that’s why genius people are not in corporative (meios). They live (à margem) and try to find other ways to express themselves. So we live in a world where they’re not nice to different people - which is hard, but on

The One with the Conversational Debates

Patrick Burgoyne Creative Review Well I suppose you’re really talking about a mixture of personality and potential of somebody. I think this is why we would always be trying to take notice of people, looking out for people, meeting people, because that’s where you get a sense of that and that’s where somebody has an opportunity to find a role for themselves or to get a job outside of the formal process. A lot of the time you might just be at an even and you get talking to somebody and they sound really interesting and you bear them in mind, you might check out what else they do and when you do have that opportunity come along you might think of that person for that role and it won’t be a case of them sending you their CV or apply through… it will be ‘Oh I know that person and I think they might be really interesting to work with on this’.

There are opportunities to do that in design and the creative industry so I guess it depends on what level you are at. I think there’s probably, especially with the larger organisation, there is a bit of a fight between the formal and informal here

Rui Simões Pepper Brand I think this could be described as the human behind the professional.

Other characteristics like soft skills, emotional intelligence are determined for this. Design like other creative jobs can never be taylorized.

(Materialisation:) Energy. That’s me in one word. But other things like team spirit or HR management can be here too. What can I say... I like people and their stories.

Matt Rudd, St. (Materialisation:) I do consider to have this self-awareness about myself? I’ve recorded my self-reflection in a physical way through mainly 2 forms of expressions (that are not my main work): one is music and songwriting and the other one is photography based art. Both of those two realms they’re very personal expressions. Not many people see them - but they help be think about, work out the sense of myself. What I feel about the

Individual Essence what is the thinking, the process, the dots that you connected, why, and how do you think and why do you think that is a really good solution or a good way of looking at something or a good question. That for me is the individual essence.” José Santos (Materialisation:) “For me in needs to be a combination of things I say, of things I’ve done, a sketch, a doodle, it might be a photo of me and my kids, so it’s a combination of things that paint a picture where somebody would be able to understand or at least beleive they understand who I am or what I am about just by reading those details. People that know me might know that I brand my shirts and that might be part of my individual essence but it’s a lot more interesting when I explaining that I’m following a tradition that my dad did when he branded his shirts and it’s my way of creating a personal homage to him. So the second part is personal, we don’t go flashing around, the first part might be people notice it or not, all these little details become part of my individual essence.”

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measure themselves - because not everyone can see their own version of that or understand it yet, they might be too green or too new in the world to know what they are truly like. I really think that if we’re talking about recruitment, putting someone into an environment and asking them to do work over a period of time where they have individual human interaction with the team, not just on a work level but on a personal level, if after that you can’t tell whether they’re the right person for the job or not then you have a problem. That for me is how you know if someone is right and that’s the only way I can know. I’d never hire anyone after an interview. I think it’s based on your action, not what you say about yourself and I can sit here and talk about what I’m like and who I’m like and all these things but that will still be my perspective, my point of view, it won’t be the reality, I’m sure there are people that have worked here that hated working for me. I would like to think that they wouldn’t. Everyone’s experience of me is different. So I can’t summarise what I’m like because it’s different for everybody.

another hand; they start to develop communities and groups where this is respected.

Alexandre Duarte Foreteller This individuality that we have been speaking of. The uniqueness of each person, their characteristics, tastes and specificities. The DNA, in the background.

In this case "the professional DNA", which seems to me an expression never once used. ;-)” Alexandre Duarte (Materialisation:) “In a word: through personality. It is the different way each person reacts to the same stimuli that sets us apart. It's knowing and getting to know people by how we anticipate and anticipate their reactions. This is the individual essence of each.

Franziska Stoltze Hirschen Whatever a person can bring to the table that is unique and might be a needed or wanted addition to their new place of work. Usually that is a merger of a number of factors.

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer Your personal contribution and ideas.

How you can be irreplaceable through you contribution to the company via your creative ideas and means. It doesn’t mean how well you make something, but how well the IDEA behind it works and you being the driving force behind that.

(Materialisation:) Through the work I produce or put forward. It might be a creative solution to a problem that I can solve visually or it can be solved by communicating my idea clearly to a colleague that can execute it because of my lack in technical skills.

(Look into:) I am my own individual essence so it wouldn’t be materialized anywhere else outside of my mind and body. The only thing would be an avatar of some type representing me. I could be a tomato that’s full and plump, it says I am tasty and nutritious, sourced from the mediterranean that expresses my background and my culture

Camilia Dehapio Graphic Designer

Nuno Gomes Freelance Art Director The individual essence is its basic and most important characteristic which gives it its unique identity.

So it’s what would make you stand out from the crowd.

(Materialisation:) Artist.

(Look into:) Artist.

Not sure what it means… but I’m guessing the person being individual and different from others?

(Materialisation:) By doing stuff and activities I like, and not going to a job or working because everyone says and does so. I guess this is just the millennial in me talking, but our generation is stuck. We don’t have a guaranteed pension, there is no way for us to invest in anything because: price! So yeah, live your life the way you fucking want to! Not because your told to do this or that.

(Look into:) My freedom. could be materialised by an eagle. A strong bird, that flies away, free from all this bullshit

Individual Essence where you’ve got large organisations that are trying to impose a HR structure and all this and creative departments are saying we don’t want to take part in that because we would rather be looser and more flexible and we don’t want to work like that. It doesn’t necessarily fit that easily for a creative industry.” I think if I was trying to look for someone in terms of the human side it would be go to that sense ‘is this somebody that I feel confident others in the team are going to react well with? is it somebody who’s going to add some quality we don’t have?’. In junior i’m not going to be looking decision making skills or leadership, I’m going to be looking for some initial passion and interest and this sense that this person is going to provide something that the other members of team aren’t doing or can’t do. Particularly for a junior person I think proactivity is very important. This is somebody who is going to take it on themselves, to go out there, to meet people, to come back with some really interesting ideas for stories or having met some really interesting people or have that energy and have that time, that people in more senior roles don’t have, to add something to the mix of what we are looking for.

world, where I’m heading, what I’d like to do. MeetUp, for the past year, we get together and share our own stuff, which is quite nice. I don’t have a regular regime, like Sunday Sketches or Morning Pages, but what I’d say I’m an avid sketchpad user, and write words or draw things that are in no way related to any specific project.

Katja Van Heugten Freelance Designer Maybe it’s your personality (values & qualities) + your life experience (personal & professional).

(Materialisation:) For me it would work to make a short animation or stop motion video. I have been thinking about doing this to find work. Tell what I have done and what I’m looking for. I haven’t because it’s a lot work. And even if I make it I would probably be to shy to sent it out. But I should.

(Look into:) Why do you want it to not change over time? Doesn’t your essence changes all the time through new things that you experience?

João Tito Gouveia Junior Designer The sole thing that makes you unique and irreplaceable.

(Materialisation:) Visually.

(Look into:) Materialize my personality.

João Oliva Freelance Designer

Gabriele Tropiano Motion Graphic Designer I believe it’s your own lutalica, the part of somebody’s personality which doesn’t fit into categories.

(Materialisation:) I could do it only through my own visual art (Look into:) I would like you to look over how I do the act of creation of something.

Is that one “thing” that identifies me as professional. My distinctive factor per say.

(Materialisation:) Through my portfolio.

My personal brand. It should reflect my individual essence and the way I work.

(Look into:) Into the taijitu symbol. It’s a great representation of how we are never truly “completed”. Nor personally or professionally. We are always in search of new things to learn everyday.

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Mário Mandacaru A Equipa #1 OMG! No idea… #2 It’s so hard to me to think on myself to be honest.

Rui Simões Pepper Brand #1Asking and challenge my own believes.

Testing myself in new approaches and challenges. #2 Daily diagnosis.

Ricardo Miranda WonderWhy #1 There are some moments in my life which defined me. Some have to do with people I interacted with, books I read, movies I saw, sports I practiced, conversations I had, trips I took, thoughts I wrote, projects that succeed, projects that failed, etc. They were meaningful because they affected my life on the long run, or

The One with the Conversational Debates

José Santos Signify

Katja Van Heugten Freelance Designer

#1 So I try to be active in doing in my job and my job in the majority of time it’s basically about creating the right conditions for designers to thrive and to grow while being able to support the corporation that I work with in being more impactful and more effective through good design. That’s basically what I do and that’s basically how I try to put my essence to work. Essence is great but if it’s just for you to show, to be brave about it, or nice about it then maybe it’s not that important. It’s important for you but it probably doesn’t do anything to the world. #2 “I’ve had times in my life when I create a mindmap of what’s happening in my life and what I need to do. I tend to create visuals to explore what I’m going through.

There are moments in my life when I want to stop and I go to do carpentry for a week or for a couple of days or just fix things around the house and that might be a self statement or a self expression of something that’s going on in my life so there are many different ways to explore myself. So it’s also very much about making

Kate Moross, St. #1 I don’t know. I do it all the time, my whole world is, in my mind, is that because I’m a boss. It’s like being a parent in the sense that there’s a measurable outcome of your success, if that makes sense, as a human and instead of it just being your partner or your relationships with your family and friends it’s like on another layer of that, you have a relationship with your employees and your clients and in a financial summary of that process so you almost have a metric to measure your success as a boss which is quite surreal. You have to learn when that is accurate, this is something I’m talking about in my book that I’m working on with Neville Brody, the idea that profit is not a measure of success and that’s how we see it in a capitalist world. Profit is a measure of business but it’s very difficult to separate those. Like I said I’m quite straightforward although I have lots of these conversations in my head about

Matt Rudd, St. #1 Oh, blimey. I mean it certainly is interesting, you sort of hit on something quite interesting there because I have wondered in my life whether I should kind of condensed all aspects of my creative endeavour into one… thing. I probably won’t do it through a website, I decided sort of against that, so there’s not really evidence of my musical activities on the website… but there is the art stuff. So I’ve decided that those 2 things were quite good at co-existing. So yeah I think there’s an overlap there and made sense to put it on to one platform and talk about them as integrated. I mean, I’m a massive fan of Milton Glaser, the one who developed graphic design as we know today and some projects that are definitely art, but also developed some very supermarket commercial stuff - yet he talks about all of it on his website. He doesn’t separate them. At the same time, it needs to be

#1 I have various diaries. Write down ideas for projects and thoughts.

In the post-graduate I did there were a lot of reflective exercises, so I’ve done some work on it. #2 I do like to make these kind of personality tests. At the post-graduate we did many and it helped me a lot. I think what was interesting to see was to reflect on it in a group. An example: in one test I scored very high on ‘being kind’. I thought that this was quite obvious, and expected everyone to have an outcome like this. But that was not the case. I was amazed that other people didn’t bother about being kind, they rather be honest or something else. Maybe to find out essence, we need to be exposed to a lot of different experiences.

It’s like when you discover a new sight of yourself when you meet a new person.

They see something else in you which you maybe have never realised.

So maybe it would be good to ask a lot of other people how they see you? And expose yourself to new situations/people and see how you respond.

Individual Essence because I felt them really intensely and that fact changed me. All of them somehow became part of me, became part of my essence. I believe everyone has some sort of idea of what their essence is, even if they don’t call it essence. Our brain is the master recorder and manager of our essence. It defines it and refines it. Still, our brain simplifies things and sometimes it fails to maintain the notion of what our essence is so we should record the key moments that illustrate our essence. For me, it’s writing. It provides me with clarity, but for other people it could be a photo, a painting, a program, a conversation and every recording tool is valuable. #2 As a new eclectic form of art.

Franziska Stoltze Hirschen #1 The way I present myself and my work, the way I interact with others, my social status, my individual preferences in communication, working conditions,... #2 I would probably get myself a therapist.

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#1 Observation, reflection and recording to capture -self essence #2 Possibilities exploration of -self to create a synoptic view commitment and doing the things you said you would do.

Nicolas Grassi The Swan Code #1 My essence is abstract, I mean I can’t say. Evidently it’s abstract and then manifests itself in everything I do. I have 3 kids, I have a very important family dimension, which someone that looks at me won’t understand, but if you come into my home, you’ll understand. In the bottom line I think it’s the ability to create new things, new ways of thinking, and I’ve managed to some interesting stuff and this independence, this freedom that is inside of me and a very massive creative will to do things, these are some of the things that make me stand up in the morning.

Now, how to represent this? I have no idea. #2 Wow, this is a very complex question.

myself and my ability to lead a team or be a good human being in the world and all of this stuff, I very rarely have a chance to talk about them so I may be a bit less experienced in verbalising that abstract thought. I’ve probably deviated completely from the question but probably because I’m avoiding answering it. I just don’t know what to say. #2 I talk to people a lot but no. I guess for me that’s what writing the book about the process is, about being a human and in business but also not, how you are in business is also how you are as a person in my opinion and you can separate the two but they need to work in harmony with each other. So I do go through that a lot but it’s a long read.

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João Tito Gouveia Junior Designer Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer #1 “I do record myself but not in ways I am conscious of. Such as work I post online to share or portfolios of work that I put together which I look back over and see my improvement and strengths.” #2 Day to day challenges, like the doodle a day challenge similar to Christoph Niemann Sunday Scetches http://www.christophniemann.com/portfolio/sunday-sketches-2/ #3 Probably through a self initiated challenge like the Sunday Sketches. #4 (self-awareness) Yes, because I am always wanting to improve and grow. I am also curious and like to challenge myself and skills.

#1 Introspectively, yes. #2 Daily introspective. #3 Don’t have a clue. #4 Not yet. As I evolve as a designer I try to get that self-awareness through my work.

Camilia Dehapio Graphic Designer #1 meh, why not! #2 I look at my past, the actions I could have undertaken in certain circumstances, and see where I can do better next time. #3 I get angry very often, so would need to work on that. #4 oh god! what? film myself? I don’t know!

Nuno Gomes Freelance Art Director #1 Through introspection #2 Extract / communicate my artist essence verbally #3 What are the question exactly? Making an emoji out of me? I highly doubt it, I’m really hard to describe myself in a short/brief words #4 I will never stop wonder.

Gabriele Tropiano Motion Graphic Designer #1 I believe I have partially this self-awareness #2 I do observe me through other’s pictures or videos of me #3 I would look at the way I’m expressing my real thoughts

Individual Essence clear - I don’t want to see a website where I’m confused: “Is that a self-initiative project, is that a brand,...” Yeah... I do know what you mean... that’s a very interesting thing to reconsider how these sort of communications might happen.

Please do, Cátia.

There is this thing called tacit knowledge; a big part of what we can do and learn but what we have learned through experience and not on a school. A lot of times we are not conscious about this part, even though it makes up a lot of our ‘essence’. #3. it should be fluid, something that changes.

Here in Brazil they are crazy about star signs and you can go to a person that creates a whole mapping for you about this. I don’t belief in these kinds of things, but it would be fun to do. Also, probably you take out the things you like, things that feel aligned with what you already thought, and leave out the thing you don’t want. Like with any kind of test I guess. It’s might not be very helpful in that way because you will only emphasise on what we know. But it can help to use someone else words instead of your own. The format will depend on the purpose. Will this be something I would show to someone or is it more for the sake of self exploration. But something with a combination of visuals and words would probably logic. #4 I think I do reflect a lot on myself. But I’m not sure if that brings self-awareness or if I’m just self-criticising or narcissistic. Thinking a lot about something doesn’t have to constructive.

#1 Self-Awareness #2 Observation, reflection and recording to capture -self essence #3 Things to think or work on to capture -self-essence #4 Possibilities exploration of -self to create a synoptic view

You judged me by the colours you haven’t even seen.

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Nicolas Grassi The Swan Code

Kate Moross, St.

José Santos Signify I’m familiar with semiotic analysis, Krippendorff for example. I think it’s great, it’s been out there for many years, I haven’t seen a lot of people really picking up on it and translating it and bringing it out into the world of business and corporate creativity. I think semiotics is the basis of a lot of interpretation and a lot of communication that goes beyond the straightforward, in your face, red is red means stop. So people that are able to view it, and explore it, and apply it, and have a viewpoint on it are really interesting. But the simple fact if somebody came to me as a junior and explained they did some kind of approach using semiotics analysis that would pop up my curiosity to know exactly what they did, and how they did it and why they did it.

I find it very interesting but I think it’s also again one of those things where it’s a framework in which you can analyse anything in any way based on your experiences. I think semiotics speaks more of the person who’s talking about it than the reality. It’s one of my favourite topics that I learnt at art school, out of all the sort of theory, art theory, design theory. Any project can be broken down in any number of ways but it’s as intangible as what we’re talking about. It’s interesting but for me I’m quite down to earth. I’d like to think I was emotionally intelligent and I was good at abstract thought and stuff like that but it’s not my part time. I chose not to go into that world of design for a reason, I very much work in the commercial world where of course you have those feelings as a designer in your mind when you go through things but I don’t ever have to rationalise them. I never have to sit down and write an essay about it, I just do it, I just use them as a practical tool to understand something.

Yes, of course and it’s super important. We live in a world where everything is a representation of anything.

Mário Mandacaru A Equipa As designers we must constantly give meanings to what we do.

Chris Arning Creative Semiotics You need to determine a circumscribed format for individual representations – otherwise the breadth of format for representation will make analysis unmanageable as you’ll require different techniques and the results will lack any comparability - -totally idiosyncratic doodles or caricatures may be amenable to psychological assessment, but from a

The One with the Conversational Debates

David Crow, Professor UAL “And again the thing about identity and signal… You know, a interview, a phone call, the screening process, the CV, cover letter… I see the semiotics in all of that.

Clearly in the interview. Actually I never thought about it before, but there’s a huge amount of identity display going on when you get to an interview.”

“The reason we like to interview people face to face is because I can read all sorts of things, not just a consumption of clothes or what music do you like, but I can read other signals. I wonder what might be worth experimenting with is an application process where you didn’t write down any words, so it wasn’t about text, you have to find a different kind of text if that makes sense. Because text is just one set of signals, we like it because is very accurate, it’s very fixed in that sense.

I guess this is a game with its own language, it’s a kind of neuroscience combined with symbolic power, this kind of official language and this is the way that you play that game. Just as you do in a

Kate Moross, St. Yes, for sure. Let’s say, completely abstractly, you could see a visualisation of someone's essence, then you could see lots of those visualisations at once if you were looking at lots of people and you could see all the visualisations of your team and you could see how maybe they could fit together or what would compliment but I do that with personality tests all the time.

We use the Belgan test. They are useful but they’re also rejectable like star signs, horoscopes, they have got foundations which I do think is from doing them with the teams, as my team adjust we often redo the tests to see everyone but for us they’re just an opportunity to talk openly about how we work as a team so it’s a structure, a framework, to have those conversations against something rather than just abstractly in a room talking about teamwork. I really do feel like it’s so unique to every employer, what that is and what that looks like, so I don’t know if that system could be prejudice, like we talked about bias, so if there was a way of summing someone up in a certain way then that might give someone an opportu-

Ricardo Miranda WonderWhy Yes. Because the search for the true self in our personal and professional lives is a never-ending quest and every contribution may light the way, and this one seems relevant, but also because it would simplify the recruiting process and make it faster, more efficient and inspirational.

José Santos Signify If there’s ways for me, in my job, for corporations to have access to talent, to design talent, to junior design talent, in a way that that talent is on one side real and on the other side growing and in potential (because it’s never in a finalised state) and if there is a way to reach us, in a continuous mode because timing is sometimes important but it’s harder when I’m looking exactly at that moment I’m looking to have that talent there, so sometimes it’s about a continuous exposure, then great. What is that? I don’t know.

Semiotics Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer Yes I am somewhat familiar. I know it through reading books that look into the making of comic books and graphic novels and the impact of visual storytelling which is something I reply heavily on in my work as a title designer. I think its important to take into account as different visuals means different things to different cultures. If i was to make a title sequence with the theme of red for a dramatic and horror film it might not be perceived the same way or even cause offence if screened to a chinese audience for example where the meaning has a very different take.

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Nuno Gomes Freelance Art Director The study? it seems important.. I found it comes naturally with perception.. symbols and signals evolve with the society and they’re meant to create a ‘user friendly’ world. So I guess it’s important their ‘analysis’.

David Crow, Professor UAL Overall I think it’s interesting I mean, someone who is looking into the HR process actually came to me because I wrote something about semiotics. So that’s interesting in itself. I do think it’s about the appropriacy of the language for the arena that is in. I think that’s where the project is sited.

semiotic perspective different modes will be hard to compare – I not sure how you do this – I was thinking of an emblem as something relatively abstract – probably easier to analyse semiotically, though not as individualistic… Maybe an avatar? Not sure. Or an icon or something – people like digital forms? Also consider: Graphology, think about what other systems for assessing individualism have been devised. Not my field! As for the semiotics itself – you can sure apply connotations – that will be useful for sure. Myth won’t be useful, as we have discussed. But you can also use things like visual metaphor, metaphor theory, Gestalt psychology, neuro aesthetics etc etc. Also have a look at Laura Oswald’s analysis of drawings done with people suffering from pain. It’s in her Marketing Semiotics.

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

Nicolas Grassi The Swan Code Anything that can bring vitality on the individual, on us-human beings, is of course very important. The question here is, is this something that you can determine, or measure, or express in one way and that works for everyone. People get to know each other and I think that’s the most important thing. The individual applying and the company hiring, the question is who is looking for who and if there’s a match. I’ve been offered multiple marketing jobs and I never said yes because I never thought I would fit in a normal corporate culture. I didn’t recognise ‘the fit’ in that aspect. Again, the I vs C, it’s a matter of facilitating this interaction. If I did a platform that works for everyone - it wouldn’t be good as well, because at the end of the day, this is People and People. From that moment on, it has to have chemistry, company fit, shared values and dreams (and that’s why there’s some companies that have a very distinct and strong culture) - and that attracts people, or business, or how we handle business, or the way they’re changing markets. And people identify

Matt Rudd, St. Yes, definitely. It’s just interesting to have a wider view, picture of what’s someone is all about. Like their relationship to music, ah!. It’s hypothetical because I haven’t hired much, but to have this overall feeling of excitement for what they do, what they’re about, what their energy is, would be the most important thing for me. I do find it kind of strange and unnecessary when I see people put ‘this is how good i am at indesign, x…’ I find that a bit off-putting. Having said that, there are times where you need something specific, and to get someone that you know it’s gonna get the job done, more in terms of craftsmanship - but that’s more… factory.

Not too long ago, the company that took me, overlooked my lack of computer skills… but they recognized my enthusiasm, and energy and resting images, and will to learn and in 6 months I was offered an official position. They didn’t hire me based on technical, ready-to-go skills, but on greater, creative potential and an interesting asset to the studio. I’m so happy that someone... that you, are looking into this subject. Please do keep me

Solution courtroom, this has its own particular language that they have to use to convince the judge or the juri, that’s (i guess) the same in an interview situation. In a particular subject area, there will be a language, you learn what they are, you pull them out under the table and you say it. So what you’re asking is ‘can you design a system where you can use an unofficial way of doing things?”

Might be worth mapping where all the semiotic moments are. “The first thing is (young designer position) the telephone conversation, where you can read all sort of semiotics in the minute they pick up the phone: the tone of voice, the words you used, the pace of it, your accent, that’s all signals. And then there’s a CV, which in these days I would expect it to come through some sort of Instagram site. A portfolio, a reference somehow. That’s huge actually, just the way you describe yourself, the words you use, the way it is organised, will have something to do you about, about your identity. And they will make judgments about that, and you might not get the job because you were scored has having poor communication. So that’s a semiotic moment that requires a visual identity being expressed and then you get the interview.”

nity to have bias against them because there is a visualisation of that. And it would need to evolve every day, the system, because it would have to make sense with every change in the world, every person. I think it’s a constant feedback and response because your experience of the world changes how you are. I didn’t know anything about diversity 10 years ago because I was a privileged middle-class white person so from my position of privilege I could see the rest of the problems in the world, because you can only see what you see. So until you are opened to other things... I probably had a very different point of view and the core of my soul was very different then than as it is now. I think experiences and education and exposure, these are what develop your personality and not just your personality but your wants and your will to do better or be good or be a good human or whatever that is. You’re right though, fundamentally a good human is what I want in my team and if I could find a mark for good human, bad human then that means you’re measuring… but how do you measure that? I have friends that are great humans that did something bad once, maybe it might be really bad, but it was a mistake. So if you’re talking about if someone is innately good or bad or wrong or right or whatever that is then we’re getting into Black Mirror territory.

Franziska Stoltze Hirschen In most of today's job applications I have to say that individuality and personality of that designer do come have a place and do come through. Even portfolio-only applications tell you something about the person as they picked it, put it together and decided to present it in a certain form.

Portfolios also rarely come without personal information and details. I think, they could contain more. If that is how it is seen, then usually the recruiter, decider or creative director are bad at recruiting.

themselves with that. Some have already that purpose and want to participate on that journey, and some create new journeys. All of this is very complex to try and find patterns or standardize everyone and everything. I have to say though, this is a massively interesting subject!

Xanthe Bodington Motion Graphics Designer Yes I would but I believe it will be hard to design a process that can be widely adopted by creatives and become industry standard as the industry standard at the moment still works.

updated about this.

Very interesting indeed.

Katja Van Heugten Freelance Designer I think using a model is quite a paradox with capturing individuality. I would try it out, out of curiosity. But probably never use it to apply for a job, if I belief that expressing my individuality is very important in that situation.

Nuno Gomes Freelance Art Director Well, everything that would help closing the middle steps/ fillers and solve a need from an agency, seems nice to me.

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PATRICK ROBERTS

BEST PRESENTATION AWARD WINNER, SILVER PAUL PANGARO DESIGN, CONVERSATIONS FOR ACTION

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MOST DISRUPTIVE IDEA AWARD WINNER

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Implications

Originality and Contribution

Naturally, each individual self-organises and records their essence throughout life, constantly capturing and processing information. The risk within the most common educational and recruitment practices, within the creative industries, is to try and go beyond his/her labor/technical skills and recognise the individuals’ integral and integrated whole, in order to create a socially acceptable scheme (not a one-size-fits-all), which currently threatens the applicants’ individuality.

In its ethos, this project is straightforwardly a conversation between creative individuals who find unable to express themselves when representing their essence (restricted by prescribed frameworks given by the existing gatekeepers, unfit to communicate to the company), and companies that also find themselves inefficient when creating the message to discover ‘the right person for the right role’ (ravaged by the intersection of mediators and waywardly received by the candidate).

It is intended to propose a powerful model and a practical antidote to misfit and to the paradox of non-creative job applications prepared by those who are trying to get a creative position.

The model will enable designers to capture their individuality in some shape or form to then render it into usable broadcasting for a company to respond to it, hence filling a gap in the identified communications’ problem – possibly originating a more creative approach to the symbiotic relation between employers and future employees.

Therefore, both the prevalent educational and recruitment systems should adopt an alternative, a new posture to substitute the already worn out teaching-learning approach, based on an obsolete relation of cause-effect and archaic call-response conversation.

We should look out for an education that stimulates the development of uninhibited creativity, leading to new forms of intercultural relations, opening up a whole new arena for discussion.

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Limitations and Future Studies The research began with the central problem tackled by Wiley (1994) concerning the Cartesian influence on various forms of contemporary reductionism affecting the self as a universal category. Theories such as constructivism and social constructionism tend to identify human generic nature, the self, with the shifting identities that are adaptive to changing social contexts and different life circumstances. The research argues that the framework of the pragmatic triadic semiotic and the phenomenological categories which serve as its foundation could contribute to the search for an alternative perspective to the dualistic opposition between idealism and realism and to preserve the distinction between the self as living process of sign action, of meaning generation, and the particular identity or identities which are construed as momentary, concrete realizations of that process, applicable within a commercial proposition, the hiring interaction context.

It is more realistic to consider the self as a process that is based on a spontaneous logic of inquiry in a self-governed, self-corrective and self- critical mode of functioning. Becoming a self is not to remain faithful to one particular content or interpretation but a dynamic interpretant.

Neither does it imply the loss of unity as a sense of continuity across time. It implies a constant engagement in a self-controlled semiotic endeavor which is inseparable from the fallible pursuit of some evolving ideal (Colapietro, 1989, pp. 92–97).

The conclusions that drawn in this paper point to the need to examine a theoretical issue which could only be briefly discussed here, namely the relation of Peircean teleology with the develop-

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ment of the self/ identity process. This appears as the next logical step in order to understand both the conservative (telic directionality) and the innovative tendencies (telic originality), and thus to delve into the nature of human autonomy and agency.

It was said that triadic signs have their own, proper meaning, which is the individual’s task to observe and gradually understand in their endless road to the truth, which is not invented or constructed but laboriously and fallibly discovered.

Main conclusion, then, is that not even something as real and as close to a human being as his or her own self can be truly constructed, hence the “Under Construction” movement, as the result of either a collective or a personal decision. “We are neither the passive recipients of social signs nor the omnipotent creators of meaning, but beings who are actively engaged in the universal process of meaning generation. This semiotic involvement is what makes us truly human, namely part of an evolving, meaningful reality, and not its external and alien constructors or inventors”.

In addition, given the time frame for such an extensive identity-industry complex context, the research focused heavily on empirical data and theoretical propositions, however these must be tested. Accordingly, at the Brand Design Conference presentation, this work received some curiosity and possible collaborations to implement the future model at a Design agency in Germany and an innovative Application entitled “Youseum - The Museum of You”.

For now, I’m just happy to open up a whole new arena for discussion.

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Creative Title

Why “You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind” you might wonder?

Creative talent across the world always has so much to say, so much to give, in a very unique way. Creatives are very individual basis yet, somehow, mechanized processes keep stripping them out of their individuality.

It is impossible for an observer to see a rainbow, if not from a certain angle, meaning: Poetic point of view, serves as a metaphor for these gatekeepers that continuously fail to see the individual’s many colourful layers - different traits and features and thoughts and desires - only focusing on their labor/technical skills, but not their perpetual spectrum of colours, ending up becoming colourblind; Pragmatic point of view, as Pierce’s triadic semiotic reveals, the actual meteorological phenomenon of a rainbow is caused by reflection (firstness), refraction (secondness) and disperson (thirdness).

The purpose with the creation of a Rainbow theoretical proposition (which carries several layers of interpretations and meanings) and its practical antidote to the misfit of non-creative job applications is to disclose what gatekeepers keep neglecting, giving companies their return on investment but most importantly, giving creatives their return on individuality.

The author also chose to make a statement in crossing the ‘Not’ out of the title to account for the attempt with this project - ‘They’ might be, but I’m not.

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Thank you.

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You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

You’re a Rainbow and I’m Not Colourblind

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