It only takes a spark to get the fire going.
Since I found out that I was going to be a CreateAthon team leader, I believe that I have been carrying the torch and spreading the word. Almost everyone that asks me what I’ve been up to, I reply with “…and CreateAthon”. In which they generally ask, “What’s CreateAthon?”
This will forever be one of those experiences that I will share with people. It will go on my resume. It will go in my portfolio. And it is something that I will always remember about college as something that stands out - because it wasn’t just a class. CreateAthon is a life experience. A mile marker on my career path. A memory that brings a smile to my face.
CreateAthon is a torch and it will never burn out. I don’t believe that anyone who experiences CreateAthon can just let it go. I know that I won’t.
How would I change CreateAthon to make it better?
This question is actually one of the most difficult questions for me to answer about CreateAthon. To me, CreateAthon, is just a beautiful process. I don’t know if I would have wanted anything to be changed. I think that my experience from beginning to end has taught me so much that I couldn’t think of any way to make it better.
The only thing I would possibly suggest is for it to be longer. Or if this could be a two-part course. Perhaps, if there was a prerequisite for it. Because something I would have liked to know beforehand is, just more about non-profits as a whole. I wish there was a class that taught me before CreateAthon about how non-profits begin, how they run, and how they can be successful through branding.
If I had a better understanding of non-profits from the beginning, it might have better prepared me for CreateAthon. Other than that though, I really cannot think of anything I would change. I loved CreateAthon and I still have not really accepted that it is over. I absolutely cannot wait to see what future generations of CreateAthon-ers bring to the table!
Best,
Erica
My dream planner from Carter Printing. I need to do this to my wall :)
It smells like a hot glue gun in here.
Probably one of my favorite things about the entire process of being a creative – the brainstorming, the beginning, the editing, the final, and the production – is the PRINTING!
It brings me back to my high school yearbook days. Where you slave over making something for so long and the printing is when you see it all pay off. There is just nothing better than seeing all of your work finally printed and shown to the rest of the world the way it was meant to be shown.
Now Carter Printing was an experience itself. This place was not your average printing place. First of all, it was huge! If we didn’t have Christine giving us a tour of the place I know I would have gotten lost. We went from where the prints were being proofed, all the way to the boxing of them. Along the way we saw one of the largest printing machines on the East Coast and heard machines that made noises that sounded like someone was screaming or shooting a gun. We smelled the aroma of hot glue guns. And smelled ink so strong you felt like it was seeping through your pores just from being in the same room as it.
But most unforgettably, we were able to see some of our prints! And that made the total trip, pretty much awesome.
So a big shout out to Carter Printing, for letting us come and creep around for a day!
Best,
Erica
The way I work goes through stages
The way I work goes through stages because there are endless variables that can affect the way work gets done. Sleep is a BIG one. I definitely get really excited and want to talk to everyone when I have had enough sleep! I am the best person to brainstorm when I have energy because I’m not afraid to bring up suggestions and for the most part they end up pretty decent… because I am well rested.
However, in the work process, I always end up in a lull. I become irritable or just start mumbling random thought processes because my last coffee has just worn off. And the way you can tell is - I just give this kind of scary smile or I get silent. When this occurs, do not mess with me. And do not work WITH me. I will still do work, but I must do it alone if I am this tired.
Overall though, I just want the work to get done. Whether that means being quiet and putting your headphones in, or making jokes, or drawing things, talking it out, WHATEVER it may be - just get it done. Do work!
I think this is even a simple guide for life :)
The client relationship is kind of like the Tango.
Honestly, working with my client was absolutely wonderful. I think that the main reason, is that both ends (the client and myself) tango-ed very well. I think Kim and Tiffany came in to CreateAthon with the right mindset and I think that I worked with them along the way, in the right mindset too. It was always clear that if we were ever uncertain about something that it was OK to communicate. I also never went in with the mindset like “I HAVE THE CONTROL and I AM GOING TO DO IT THIS WAY and YOU WILL LOVE IT” it has always been “I think this idea really fits what you have expressed that you want and need, but let me know if it is coming across the same to you, because if it is not – I will fix it”. It certainly takes two to tango. And I think we were great dance partners.
Do something real.
The number one reason I think people should get involved with CreateAthon is because it is real. You can learn all of the tools of the trade in class but if you never get a chance to apply it, then you may face many more troubles later on in your career.
Not only do you get to see what it is like to work with a client. But you, in general, have to work up close and personal with a group. You have a real deadline and you have to take everything that you have learned so far, and cram in into a 24 creative marathon.
It’s kind of like Murphy’s Law - what can go wrong, will go wrong - instead in CreateAthon it is - what can happen, will happen. Emotions are high and you will probably face situations that can only come through in such an intense process.
But it gives you a backbone. It gives you a strength that you didn’t know you had. It makes you better. It makes you learn. And it gives you the confidence to know that no matter what, you CAN do it.
So try it out. Do something real.
The “beautiful”, the “not fun”, and the “impossible”
Hey ya’ll!
So the past few weeks have been an absolute whirlwind. I cannot believe it has been almost a month since the big day. Really, for me I needed to hide in a cave afterward and take in everything. The whole process was non-stop collaboration and sometimes even now talking about it – I just can’t. There are almost to many words to sum the whole thing up. So tonight, I’m writing about the good, the bad, and the ugly in terms of collaboration which is also my introduction to my CreateAthon experience.
It’s always refreshing to get the worst news out first so I will begin with the ugly. In collaboration when you run in to a little, evil, and/or pesky person, you may call them “the impossible”. Every once in a while you run in to a person that you are just not compatible with. It is as if almost every part of your inner make up and theirs is completely opposite. Of course when there are 100 people working in the same place for 24 hours, you are going to run in to one of the “impossibles”. I know I did. It was tough, stressful, and you feel as if you are not entirely sure what do to.
Basically, there is nothing you can do and that is why they are an impossible. My tactic was, the nod and brush off. My main focus was not letting the impossible take the whole team down. So sometimes you just have to say yes, yes, that’s good, ok, go ahead – and then work with those who are actually there to collaborate and listen. However, there is always a positive to the ugly – especially in CreateAthon – is they don’t last forever. You push through. You truck on. And you STILL get everything done. And that… is an accomplishment in itself.
So not everything is as bad as the ugly but sometimes things can be plain old bad. Typically the ugly is a little plague that leads to some of the bad. But you just have to handle the bad the same you do as the ugly. In my opinion, “bad” things about collaboration are sometimes things that are “not fun”. For example, in CreateAthon it is not fun not sleeping. Forgetting to brush my teeth or not washing my face. Not. Fun. In more important business though – what I think is bad is when you have to figure out how to best get your group to run. It’s not fun telling people what they should be working on, it’s not fun saying that you don’t like something, it’s not fun waiting for things, a lot of things are just not fun. But it just comes with the territory. Because 90-95% of CreateAthon is GOOD!
Instead of using the word good to describe most of CreateAthon, I would use the term beautiful. I feel like I came away from everything appreciating it all – ugly or good. But in terms of collaboration - it was the most beautiful part of the process. Most of the initial collaboration for us was the logo. And RGC’s logo was definitely part of the ugly and bad process. But with collaboration, it turned in to one of the BEST parts of CreateAthon. One of my team members is a Marketing student so he wasn’t very familiar with the design programs. However he communicated this idea where there would be two rows of people, one representing the donors and the other representing the people that these donors impact. So I told him I would make it in the program and it turned out to be perfect for RGC.
The feeling of this collaborative process was euphoric. He was so excited to see his idea executed and I could not have been happier to make an idea come to life. That moment is something that I will never forget. And it is moments like those - as to why CreateAthon is such a special process.
