book vs blog

Despite the decline in pure creative advertising blogs, the growth of design blogs has flourished. However,I'm a bit torn by these design blogs. They quickly inform me as an art director of all the talented designers, illustrators and photographers out there, fantastic you would think, your jobs done, easy, wal laa!
No.
It means I have more of the same choice that everyone else has. Of course nothing is original, but everything is becoming mainstream. For an illustrator or designer its perfect to finally showcase yourself but at the same time it can become boring. Once, beautiful design and illustration used to move me. Now, i've become a bit blasé, which is outragious considering the majority of work is brilliant. Perhaps I'm just overwhelmed in a overcrowded marketplace and its become much too easy to look at new trends and styles for "inspiration", that also go out of fashion as fast as they have come in.

So this week, whilst trying to tackle a full on brief I've returned to books to try and find something original, (if that's at all possible). Yes, its taken me longer, but it has proven very refreshing and feels like I'm discovering great work myself, in my own time. Also, I find that when looking through books you seem to have more time to consider and think about the little leads that crop up inside your head and although it takes longer it feels as though you have a wider spectrum to think in. Where as on the computer my thoughts feel confined to the frame of the computer screen, with the finger on auto pilot scrolling through pages and pages of new work, my brain just flicks from one thought to another, treating peoples work like " throw- away" design.

The only benefit I can see from these blogs is that standards are generally raised. Everybody is aware of what other people are doing and everyone can see the quality they need to reach, or mimic in some cases, in order to compete in the creative industries. Work is compared and critiqued internationally within seconds of being published. This type of blogging to me is all about showing your work off at its best in the quickest and most interesting way to a huge audience.

Despite the pros and cons, the pace of producing adverts has accelerated and so the speed at which looking for new illustrators and designers needs to be faster than ever. Blogs give you the ability to keep up to the speed of production whilst keeping one eye on trends. So perhaps blogs are a very useful tool to get the job done, but this doesn't necessarily mean the best. However, with books or blogs, its the end result that matters. Its not about what you've fffff-Found and more about how you've aaaa-Applied it (possible sister site suggestion ha ha?)

Now where did I leave my library card?