In this Commencement Speech at the University of the Arts, author and Artist Neil Gaiman talks about how the world is change, and the creative industries are changing with it, and encourage us to “make up your own rules”
Neil Gaiman — award winning author and artist — addresses the University of the Arts Class of 2012. A must watch for any artist and everyone who hopes to be creative and successful.
Make Up Your Own Rules
New Gaiman
So I thought I’d tell you everything I wish I’d known starting out, and a few things that, looking back on it, I suppose that I did know. And that I would also give you the best piece of advice I’d ever got, which I completely failed to follow…
We’re in a transitional world right now, if you’re in any kind of artistic field, because the nature of distribution is changing, the models by which creators got their work out into the world, and got to keep a roof over their heads and buy sandwiches while they did that, are all changing. The distribution channels that people had built over the last century or so are in flux for print, for visual artists, for musicians, for creative people of all kinds…
The rules, the assumptions, the now-we’re supposed to’s of how you show your work, and what you do then, are breaking down. The gatekeepers are leaving their gates. You can be as creative as you need to be to get your work seen. YouTube and the web (and whatever comes after YouTube and the web) can give you more people watching than television ever did. The old rules are crumbling and nobody knows what the new rules are.
Originally from Brazil, Itamar Medeiros currently lives in Germany, where he works as VP of Design Strategy at SAP, where he leads the design vision for the entire Human Capital Management product line, ensuring cohesive product narratives and establishing best practices.
Working in the Information Technology industry since 1998, Itamar has helped truly global companies in multiple continents create great user experience through advocating Design and Innovation principles. Itamar has also served as a juror for prestigious design competitions and lectured on design topics at universities worldwide.
During his 7 years in China, he promoted the User Experience Design discipline as User Experience Manager at Autodesk and Local Coordinator of the Interaction Design Association (IxDA) in Shanghai.
