PUTTING ON THE RITZ—-THE DESIGN AUDITION
TAKEAWAY: One tries harder when there is that element of competition.
“I hope I get it, I hope I get it,” sings a gypsy in that legendary musical of all musicals, A Chorus Line, still playing in a revival on Broadway.
That is the way I feel with my team today as we prepare for TWO auditions—- the design kind. Yes, it is like putting on your tap dancing shoes, your top hat, stretching every muscle, and then “hoping you get it”.
Gone are the days when a media firm would call its preferred design consultant for that most important of jobs: the redesign of the newspaper. Today, in a world of choices everywhere from Starbucks (make mine a frapuccino) to The Campbell Apartment ,that bar in New York City hidden in a corner of Grand Central Station (try the lychee martini –lycheetini), it is no surprise that publishers ALSO hold auditions to see what design firm can provide the most exciting, envigorating and youthful prototype.
My team and I work on pages that we think offer these solutions,so today—-as we do often these days—-we go on stage, and strut our stuff, then go home like those dancers in A Chorus Line , hoping we get it.
But, knowing that ONLY one prototype presented will be that one singular sensation.
I like the auditions.
I like the rush of adrenalin, that pre-marathon race feeling of “can I run this marathon and finish it?”
I also learn from experiencing rejection. Yes, it is part of what life is all about.
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose; not all projects are meant for everyone.
Then, I tell my team, we have ONE day to do the crying, the funeral and the burial.
And we put on our tap dancing shoes again, lift our heads, grab the hat and the cane and go our for another audition, as if it was the first time.
Somehow, it always feels as if it is.