10 things which have disappeared from creative studios

I kicked off my creative career in an advertising agency on Fleet Street, twenty-odd years ago. Apart from the general excitement of actually being paid to write ads, I drew great inspiration from the very particular pieces of equipment around the place - marking the studio out as somewhere very different from a run-of-the-mill office. This was at the cusp of the digital revolution, so there was an intriguing mix of screens and analogue devices.

The other week I was shown round an agency in Bristol and it struck me how many of those tools had disappeared. So here's ten objects which have vanished from creative studios in the last two decades.

10. The scalpel

The idea of the scapel was to crop and mount artwork on a environmentally unfriendly, CFC-heavy board - so you could present your creative pride and joy. It worked fine until the Art Director got to 4am on pitch night, and fuelled with beer, would  inevitably slice off the top off their index finger and bleed all over the artwork.
Verdict: Not missed

9. The spray booth

A large hood with an extractor fan, which prevented creative staff from being asphyxiated by clouds of Spray Mount (see below). Of course this didn’t really help the poor sod who had to use it when the extractor couldn’t cope and had to be escorted from the building by paramedics with oxygen tanks.
Verdict: Not missed

8. Spray Mount

Huge blue cans of pungent liquid glue, used in alarming quantities. The nozzle always clogged before the can was empty (which may have been a sly tactic by the manufacturer), and the fumes given out would subdue a small rhino (see above). Also made a powerful hairspray for those sporting mohicans.
Verdict: Missed, but not by rhinos

7. Layout pads

Usually in vivid yellow covers and shrink-wrapped. Allowed Copywriters to pretend they could draw, and Art Directors to prove they could. Hilariously, often refrerred to as 'colouring books' by suits. Could be handily deployed to prop up wobbly desks.
Verdict: Missed

6. Magic markers

Choose from big fat black ones, big fat red ones, or the complete range of Pantone colours. Also released similar pungent fumes to Spray Mount. Not in any shape way or form 'magic' (unless inserted into each nostril).
Verdict: Missed

5. Scamps

The result of a union between the layout pad and the magic marker. Essentially a drawing of an ad, unless it was executed by a Copywriter, in which case it looked like a drunk four-year-old's drawing of an ad. That said, mankind has yet to find a better way to generate great advertising ideas.
Verdict: Sorely missed

4. Blu-Tak

Used to attach scamps to studio walls, thereby confirming the creative team was actually doing some work. Could also be mixed with toothpaste to create a tasty, cost-effective chewing gum. Smelled uniquely awful when very old.
Verdict: Not missed but better than Post-It notes

3. Enormous CRT Mac monitors

Before the advent of flat screens, early Apple kit came with a monitor the size of a mid-range family car, which threw out enough heat to give the user a light tan. Also meant that designers needed three desks to accomodate their equipment. Although, they could rent out the back of the screen as a bed-sit.
Verdict: Not missed

2.  Ashtrays

It seems incredible now, but twenty years ago the studio was the one room in the agency in which you could smoke. If nothing else, it masked the fumes from the magic markers and Spray Mount. Also gave the creative studio the air of a film noire detective's office.
Verdict: Missed by smokers, not missed by those hoping for a long and healthy life.

1. Fruit & Flowers

Items which used to appear on the expense account of a certain agency when the purchase was actually, and more accurately, booze and other stimulants. Eventually brought the business down.
Verdict: Not missed, unless bankruptcy and prison is your big thing.
 

Magnus Shaw is a copywriter and blogger.