The Little Big Idea Book
Author(s): Ann Lemon
Edition: 2
Copyright: 2013
Pages: 40
The purpose of this book is to provide a scaffold or structure for generating ideas; specifically, advertising or design ideas.
In interview after interview, the very best creative people in the very best agencies and studios consistently stress the importance of research, thinking, writing, and sketching LOTS of ideas before committing to a campaign. However, advertising art direction and copywriting students tend to skip straight to the executional part of making an ad. This book is an outline that makes that invisible process of "ideating" more visible. The book can serve as both idea-gathering and generating tool and as a record preserving the creative process for later reference.
- Small pocket-sized format (similar to a Moleskine notebook) is convenient enough to carry in a pocket, since inspiration can strike anywhere at any time.
- Compactness forces the user to reduce each idea to a bare minimum of elements.
- Steps for research, writing, thumbnails, roughs, revised concepts, feedback, type design, and final revisions are clearly outlined
- Prompts and guided feedback provide direction for refining ideas.
- Great for instructors - replaces large notebooks, portfolios or collections of scrap paper in "development" process
- Grading and feedback pages provided within the book.
- Compatible with other texts on advertising and design
- Designed to supplement, rather than replace, your current textbook.
A companion website is available at littlebigideas.com that includes sample assignments, examples, and further process information.
The Second Edition is expanded in size and has added features including more pages for research and type design.
An internationally recognized art director, Ann Lemon was honored with inclusion in Communication Arts Magazine's list of the 100 best pieces of graphic design or advertising of the 20th century. Her distinctive visual style has been applied across fashion, packaged goods, publishing, and Fortune 500 brands. Her campaigns for Steuben Glass, Family Circle Magazine, Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch and Bamboo lingerie all won multiple awards including Clios, Addys, Andys and inclusion in the Art Director¹s Club, Communication Arts and One Club annuals. As a young art director, Ann worked in many of New York¹s best creative agencies, and then went on to a Creative Director position at Young and Rubicam. In 2003 Ann joined the fledgling creative department of mcgarrybowen as co-creative director on Marriott Hotels and Crayola. She was instrumental in mcgarrybowen's growth into the largest privately owned agency in the US, before its sale to Dentsu.
Ann is now a full time professor of graphic and advertising design at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, and has also taught at the University of Delaware, Reading Area Community College, and at the high school level.
Her former students now work at agencies including Ogilvy and Mather, Weiden and Kennedy, Saatchi and Saatchi, mcgarrybowen, Red Tettemer Partners, Crispin Porter + Partners, and others. She is a member of the OneClub and the New York Art Director's Club.
Ann is a native of Richmond, Indiana and a graduate of the University of Delaware¹s Visual Communications Department. She has an MSEd in teaching writing and is currently enrolled in an MFA program in graphic and advertising design. She lives on a beautiful farm in Mohnton, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Dane, and son, Amos. She is also the author of Digital Design Toolbox for Beginners, to be released in fall of 2013.
View her work hereThe purpose of this book is to provide a scaffold or structure for generating ideas; specifically, advertising or design ideas.
In interview after interview, the very best creative people in the very best agencies and studios consistently stress the importance of research, thinking, writing, and sketching LOTS of ideas before committing to a campaign. However, advertising art direction and copywriting students tend to skip straight to the executional part of making an ad. This book is an outline that makes that invisible process of "ideating" more visible. The book can serve as both idea-gathering and generating tool and as a record preserving the creative process for later reference.
- Small pocket-sized format (similar to a Moleskine notebook) is convenient enough to carry in a pocket, since inspiration can strike anywhere at any time.
- Compactness forces the user to reduce each idea to a bare minimum of elements.
- Steps for research, writing, thumbnails, roughs, revised concepts, feedback, type design, and final revisions are clearly outlined
- Prompts and guided feedback provide direction for refining ideas.
- Great for instructors - replaces large notebooks, portfolios or collections of scrap paper in "development" process
- Grading and feedback pages provided within the book.
- Compatible with other texts on advertising and design
- Designed to supplement, rather than replace, your current textbook.
A companion website is available at littlebigideas.com that includes sample assignments, examples, and further process information.
The Second Edition is expanded in size and has added features including more pages for research and type design.
An internationally recognized art director, Ann Lemon was honored with inclusion in Communication Arts Magazine's list of the 100 best pieces of graphic design or advertising of the 20th century. Her distinctive visual style has been applied across fashion, packaged goods, publishing, and Fortune 500 brands. Her campaigns for Steuben Glass, Family Circle Magazine, Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch and Bamboo lingerie all won multiple awards including Clios, Addys, Andys and inclusion in the Art Director¹s Club, Communication Arts and One Club annuals. As a young art director, Ann worked in many of New York¹s best creative agencies, and then went on to a Creative Director position at Young and Rubicam. In 2003 Ann joined the fledgling creative department of mcgarrybowen as co-creative director on Marriott Hotels and Crayola. She was instrumental in mcgarrybowen's growth into the largest privately owned agency in the US, before its sale to Dentsu.
Ann is now a full time professor of graphic and advertising design at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, and has also taught at the University of Delaware, Reading Area Community College, and at the high school level.
Her former students now work at agencies including Ogilvy and Mather, Weiden and Kennedy, Saatchi and Saatchi, mcgarrybowen, Red Tettemer Partners, Crispin Porter + Partners, and others. She is a member of the OneClub and the New York Art Director's Club.
Ann is a native of Richmond, Indiana and a graduate of the University of Delaware¹s Visual Communications Department. She has an MSEd in teaching writing and is currently enrolled in an MFA program in graphic and advertising design. She lives on a beautiful farm in Mohnton, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Dane, and son, Amos. She is also the author of Digital Design Toolbox for Beginners, to be released in fall of 2013.
View her work here