A walked in with no expectations. I did not know what the city had in store for me.

With that frame of mind, my entire trip exceeded all that I had ever imagined. I took it all in like a sponge and never relinquished the idea that it would be mundane, irrelevant or boring. The reason I wanted to go to this study tour was to be there in the mix and not having any expectations of where and what I would be doing.

New York has always been my dream city - I have taken several online quizzes, you know the ones that facebook keeps recommending to you, and the city I would be most suited in was always New York City. So you could say that I belong here.

SOME DISAPPOINTMENTS

I also came here to experience the design world. I know that it was superior to Melbourne's market and I wanted to see that first hand but upon being there for 19 days, I did not see the kind of caliber that I was expecting. The design work is very similar to other parts of the world and even though many design companies are based there, it was apparent to see it around the city. Melbourne has been utilizing design in more of its environment than New York so that was slightly disappointing for me. The design culture isn't as apparent or maybe it was the fact that we didn't visit enough studios to experience the talent.

PRIOR TO NEW YORK

I want to put an exert from one of my previous blog posts on my project that really made a difference in my narrative:

"A sudden realization. 

The very people I am trying to connect in my project are the ones that are reflected back to myself. 

Born in Pakistan. Raised in Thailand. Living in Australia. 

I have become the very essence of what MOVE is all about. Never stopping. A nomad from its own heritage. Yet finding new horizons creatively being a creator of content. The beautiful thing is there are a million of me striving to do the same thing. Our culture no longer is a crutch to trudge through - it is ingrained in us.

We are all made of stories.And this is a magnificent canvas to show everyone what we really are about."

"While making my daily 10km walking commute from university to home, I couldn’t help but imagine as if I was travelling a great distance each time from one place to another. 

Then it came. Eureka! I can relate this back to MOVE. We are constantly moving from one paradigm to another - changing as we move through it. It’s not the destination but the path we walk in. Not only in physical landscapes but also in our minds, our thoughts and ideas. 

MOVE is just that. 

I would like to share the video that also inspired me on the execution of this certain idea. The Japanese band “Toe” made this exquisitely charming music video of a man travelling through the landscape on an amp.

I will do a similar execution to this video, walking through a long distance and taking stop motion photography of the journey. That’s exciting to even think about it !"

COWORKING EXPERIENCE

Fueled Collective Coworking

These guys are situated at Prince St and Broadway making it a great location in the heart of Manhattan. First of all I was impressed with the rustic 40’s style decor that’s placed all around. From soap box wall mounts to padded chairs, this coworking space really makes you feel at home or in your grandfather’s study. 

Ironic from their setup, most of the startups here are tech companies like Mobile App Tracking, Curioos, and Twilio. (Most of them to be honest, I don’t recognize)

Their coworking area is large and spacious with plenty of tables, seats, sofas and free chocolate to curb your enthusiasm.

Makeshift Coworking

Newly opened in Brooklyn, Makeshift has been around in San Francisco for some time. This coworking space, created around a pencil factory has plenty of charm. Light ducts flood the space with natural light all day brightening the lobby urging people to be happy and work. 

Graphic designers, architects, and developers are the mixture of this group with small business as their core. Downstairs you can work in comfort and privacy. Soon they will have a large format printer for making posters and such which is something to definitely wait for.

I really enjoyed working here as it's quiet enough to get your work done but there is enough there to keep you busy - I personally I enjoyed the mini-library they had that actually helped me on my project - I read the SIMPLICITY OF THINGS which was a good read. This trend will rub off on me in Thailand when I go back home because I have a few friends who have made their own co-working culture spaces in Bangkok and it will be quite interesting to see how they have approached it in Asia. Maybe I will even get a day pass there and try it out for myself.

THE BOOK FAIR AND WORKSHOP

This was a really interesting event and workshop that literally had my hands dirty. I am usually apprehensive when it comes to hand-made crafts and illustration. The book binding workshop urged me to dive in and just do it. And that I did.

I never even touched a thimble and thread to save my life but the workshop was done in a way that it became a necessity to give it a shot. So we bounded books with three different but simple ways.during the twine.

Other than that, the exhibition / pop up fair had plenty of little publishers and freelance designers passionately displaying their print sales and ideas. Events like these help the community understand print and that it’s still alive and well.

KICKSTARTER OFFICE VISIT

We took a quick guided tour of the Kickstarter office in Brooklyn and were pleasently amazed at their approach to office space. Instead of being like a modern tech company, they took the other rustic and natural approach. Rust exteriors, concrete pillars and rooftop ‘farmville’ type environment creates a very humble and transparent (literally) space.

Me and Amy P already did an extensive research presentation of Kickstarter’s activities and Andrew did well to reinforce the company’s mantra. All in or nothing. That’s what differentiates KS from other crowd-funding platforms.

NEW YORK IMMIGRATION COALITION

Having worked closely with Thanu, my friend who works in NYIC, I have learnt a lot about the immigrant society of New York City. It is the backbone of this city with more than half of its inhabitants being immigrants. This is apparent because every second person I met was either a Latino or African. This is a real testament of the city that doesn't care about where you are from. Cultural communities are so abundant here that it's almost impossible not to feel like being different and similar at the same time. Alas there are still many arduous challenges the immigrants have to face; the help of NYIC is trying to negate the disparity of immigrant rights and social stability. This city really is a social community more than anything else and the government needs to address that.

FINAL KEEPSAKES

I'm using my project and experience in New York as a part of my growth as a visual communication designer. This will be the selling point - I can demonstrate that I have worked on a project in New York with creative people and have seen the growing startup side of it. This will forever be an experience that I can use in the future - my goal as an Art Director and Creative Director will be given weight with this experience.

the MOVE campaign

Live and ready to be shown to the world.

Please visit my behance on the full release of the project.

Emmett Shine is the founder and president of Gin Lane Media. I asked him a whole lot of questions about creating innovative media content and the best conditions for generating ideas.

Emmett grew up in South Hampton, Long Island, with an artist mum who encouraged him to be creative. He began studying photography at NYU in 2002 just as the ‘whole industry transformed’ and ‘digital cameras started outselling traditional cameras’.

Emmett was struggling to pay his way through college and realized he could use these new digital platforms to make money. ‘I was doing photography, design work, interning, I had my own T-shirt skateboarding line, just entrepreneurially doing whatever I could do’. 

After college Emmett was doing a lot of freelance graphic design, photo shoots and websites, but he was struggling to get paid. He invented a company named Gin Lane, after the richest street in the Hamptons, and added media at the end because it ‘sounded legit’.

After that people took him more seriously and paid on time, ‘so I kept the guise going’.

Emmett ‘got introduced to a lot of artists and photographers that had needs for web presences. We would work with a lot of people who were talented but may not know how to run a website. We'd build simple systems.' 

Jobs with Adidas and Stella McCartney followed.

The company has now evolved into 'helping product-centric start up brands that want to disrupt pre-set verticals or industries’.

‘I less like working with traditional fashion houses,' Emmett says. 'They'll want us to come in, make something cool and innovative, but they have all these legacies and systems and they're like closed box solutions.’

‘I'd rather work with the Bonobos Group or Warby Parker or some of the Venture Capitals in New York that have incredible start ups in their portfolio that are trying to do the most innovative and progressive, best experience work.’

‘A lot of times we're working with early to mid-stage brands. They've built a product, they have it vetted, they've got some funding or capital, and they'll come to us.’

Currently Gin Lane has 22 full time employees, a large proportion of which are engineers and designers. As well as their Manhattan office, they have a studio in Brooklyn where they shoot web content to be interactive.

The company has a design aesthetic which Emmett describes as, ‘minimal, clean and simple’. He says with this style, ‘it can last a lot longer and be more approachable and useable’ than an interface that’s overly complex or technology-driven.

Transitioning from founder to leader of the company has meant an evolution of sorts for Emmett.

He believes the number one thing employees value is the culture and the people they work with, and says they always ‘try to take in projects where we think we can learn a lot’.

'The best businesses and technologies come from the people who can collaborate the best'. 

'You have to have confidence to persevere into the unknown. You have to be extremely thoughtful and agile on your feet, because it's going to change many times'.

'I really like focusing on the innovation and the creative parts of the work'. 

Tomorrow is the final exhibition of my MOVE Project at Media Center, Dumbo Brooklyn 11AM EST.

Kickstarter Office

We took a quick guided tour of the Kickstarter office in Brooklyn and were pleasently amazed at their approach to office space. Instead of being like a modern tech company, they took the other rustic and natural approach. Rust exteriors, concrete pillars and rooftop 'farmville' type environment creates a very humble and transparent (literally) space.

On Saturday I watched so many people skate over Williamsburg Bridge for Go Skateboarding Day. It's not really work, I mean some people do it for a living...but it looked like a lot of fun!

The weekend was a whirlwind of activity. Time goes by so quickly in New York. 

Come Friday I was in need of a bit of time away from my project, so I left it laying dormant while I soaked up the city by weekend. We barhopped our way through both Friday and Saturday nights, experiencing firsthand the city that never sleeps. It's true. I've been surprised at the extent to which there is always something going on. When shops close, others open. New York street life is continuous.