The Failure Issue
The Failure Issue
"My strategy has always been: be wrong as fast as we can... which basically means, we're gonna screw up, let's just admit that. Let's not be afraid of that. You can't get to adulthood before you go through puberty. I won't get it right the first time, but I will get it wrong really soon, really quickly." – Andrew Stanton, director of Finding Nemo and WALL-E
Why do we have such a negative attitude towards failing? What are we so afraid of? With this Issue, we explore another side of failure: listen to a podcast that celebrates mistakes; deep dive into a series of articles about rejected designs; read a book which encourages screwups; tune into a conversation about how failure is part of success; learn about the art of quitting; and get to know our Cover Artist and Jury Member, Justin Blyth.
Image above created for this Issue by Justin Blyth, Global Head of Creative at Ambassadors and Jury Member for Craft: Animation & Motion Design / Illustration / Typography
SHIFTING PERSPECTVES
Learning from things that have gone wrong.
How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is a podcast that celebrates the things that haven’t gone right. Every week, a new interviewee explores what their failures taught them about how to succeed better. Don't miss the episode with Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point as well as the episode with Phoebe Waller-Bridge, actress, writer, and television producer.
EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
What to do with designs that end up in the reject pile.
AIGA Eye on Design have collected a series of articles and interviews with creatives focused specifically on rejected designs. Check our their interview with our Dutch Creativity Awards Partner Thonik on the Netherlands Government Identity That Never Was or Waste Not, Want Not: Designers, Here’s What To Do With Your Rejected Work.
Image credits: DR.ME, FIN?
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Celebrating the art of making mistakes.
Failed it! by Erik Kessels encourages you to be inspired by your screw-ups, to abandon the never-ending search for perfection and to intentionally seek out failure instead. It celebrates the power of mistakes and shows how they can enrich the creative process.
Image credits: Failed it!
TUNE IN
Turning lessons of failure to reinvention.
In this episode of the podcast series DOPA (The Department of Pro-Activeness), ADCN Member Alex Normanton speaks with Maxine Penney, Culture Manager of Inclusion, Equity and Diversity (EMEA & APAC) at MediaMonks, to discuss how to navigate from failure and failed ventures and move towards reinvention. Throughout this heart-felt conversation, the two discuss practical tools on how to be kind to yourself, top tips on how to get that next job and how failure, ultimately is part of success.
BREAK THE MOULD
Understanding the art of quitting.
As part of WePresent's series Work Sucks, I Know, writer Ruby Tandoh explores the art of quitting – 'My definition of quitting well is, as it happens, more or less exactly the same as most people’s definition of quitting badly.'
Image credits: Comic by Baptiste Virot
FRONTIER
Get to know our Cover Artist.
‘I thought about the feelings of failure. In a way, it’s like grief, how you go through stages. Nobody ever likes to hear that they’re wrong, but it often leads to a breakthrough or makes an idea or execution better in the end.’ – Justin Blyth, Global Head of Creative, Ambassadors
A huge thank you to our Jury Member Justin Blyth for being our tenth FRONTIER and the Cover Artist of The Failure Issue. Justin leads Ambassadors’ multidisciplinary team of artists in creating high-end craft for clients. Originally hailing from Los Angeles, he’s lived and worked in Amsterdam for over 10 years as a creative director and motion graphics artist. Check out our interview with Justin below to find out more about this work and his relationship with failure.
We invite all members of the ADCN community to co-create and curate our Digital Magazine.
If you have seen or made something that we should all learn from, please get in touch!