There’s nothing quite so satisfying (with the caveat that I lead a sheltered life) finishing up a presentation.
The bit when it’s all done and before it gets the mauling it likely deserved, in front of the audience who often seems to enjoy the bloodsport.
Way back, those 30-odd A2 foamboards not only looked the part but had that inestimable ‘never mind the quality, feel the width’ confidence inducing aura. Bit like a shield wall. Plus with the added bonus that you could literally fill the room with your work, so the terror of the event was always tempered by the fact that it was a bravura performance you could put on, in a space you’d made.
But the greatest thing, of life before ‘decks’ became nothing of the sort - because also, I used to assemble presentations in actual 35mm slides. They went into a real carousel. Upside-down and back to front {I think. Lemme just check…} and that thing we use now to ‘make slides’. It’s not slides. It’s all physics, no chemistry - was you never got asked.
Asked if you could just put the work into the client’s format.
But because we made life so much simpler (and yes, frankly, far less wasteful) we can now ‘drop’ our ‘content’ into anything.
And that’s fine, except for how it feels. Tried getting into that shirt you kept in the wardrobe, the one from 1998? I’d bet that it’s rather unlikely that a. It still fits you, b. It still suits you, c. It doesn’t make you look like you’re having a sartorial crisis and d. makes you look like you’re trying to pass yourself off as someone else (why would you do that?)
Sliding my slides into other businesses slides not only feels wrong - it feels slightly unhygienic as well.
Like swapping the jacket of a book for another, in case people might judge you for not reading Sartre while you rather Wodehouse on the train.
Handing over the creative ownership is, of course, what separates the designer from the artist.
But at least give the work a chance - and find the suit that suits it (with a better slide template that the new creative direction would determine) - to set.
It’s kipper-ties all the way otherwise.
