North Bound City Office

I'm going to the our office in the city today to do some needs assessment for the graphic design team all huddled up in a lonesome penthouse.  Last Friday's trip to that office made me realize how painfully abandoned they have been.  Hired as graphic designers and promised a creative career they find themselves now stuck with routine work retouching finished designs for magazines and brochures.  I learned a lot about this retouching process.  A zit?  A body curve unwanted?  A crumple on a blouse?  Adobe Photoshop is their bestfriend.  What is painful about this process is: that's all they do all day.  

Imagine creative people who are born to create from nothing now stuck zoning in to their computer every single minute working on the most creative way to clean up skin tone.  

Don't get me wrong.  It's not a bad thing.  It's still a job that pays them.  But, for me the challenge in this case is how I can help them make this job creative?  How do you put some spice into their day?  How do you fix up their time so they have room to do a little bit more variety?  

I can actually think of many creative ways to do it but unfortunately on this side of the world, people have very little exposure to any kind of activity that attempts to deepen the creative mind.  It's sad and frustrating but it's been my personal advocacy for as long as I can remember.  It's gotten me through graduate school and other plights of near insanity.  

Besides, I'm looking forward to any opportunity of interacting with artists any day.