Issue #8 | Graeme McGowan and making creativity fun again
Welcome to RIP, a tribute to every great idea the world didn't get to see
Last week I managed to tick something quite big off my (career) bucket list. I wrote some copy that ended up on billboards and posters around New York, Miami, and LA. And I’m not telling you this to show off (I swear), I’m telling you because at the very same time I also finished a personal project—creating a custom book of ABCs for my niece’s first birthday—and the sheer elation I felt holding that silly little book in my silly little hands was greater than any silly little billboard in any silly little city.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot. And I think the reason I felt such a sense of accomplishment in a book of ABCs for a one-year-old, isn’t just that it’s a project for a kid I’m obsessed with. It’s because I enjoyed every single second I dedicated it.
Spending an entire weekend engrossed in “flow,” I curated a full alphabet of niche references and personal anecdotes for the benefit of nobody of my sister. The glue of our relationship distilled into 26 perfectly nonsensical pages, in the hope that one day her daughter will be in on the joke too.
I was giddy with excitement at the prospect of them seeing the finished result, and just the simple act of giggling away to myself (hey, no judgement please) completely transformed my relationship with what I was creating. And it’s not just this project.
I recently moved into a new studio space in Glasgow, which I share with a bunch of other creative folk. Every day we nip out for coffee and we have lunch and we vent and we gossip and we make dumb jokes, and suddenly having this laughter in my day to day routine made me realise how much I’d been missing it. There’s that heartbreaking stat that adults laugh around 15 times a day compared to children’s 300. And I think a combination of depression, working from home, and living alone sucked more of that laughter out of my life than I realised.
So I guess the moral of the story is laugh more? Do projects that make you laugh (especially if it’s at yourself) because it turns out the things that bring your life meaning are way more satisfying than the things that look good on LinkedIn.
My guest this month also talks about the importance of enjoying the creative process (but he learned it from the Oasis drummer which is much cooler). Telling me about an idea that never saw the light of day is Graeme McGowan, Creative Partner at Jamhot and host of Gab, one of Glasgow’s finest speaker events.
Welcome to Rest in Progress, Graeme. What’s your idea and what happened (or better yet, didn’t happen) to it?
This feels a bit like creative therapy. Thank you kindly for this cathartic opportunity.
We produce a lot of seasonal campaigns for a shopping centre, and one year we wanted to add some humour into their Christmas campaign to help them stand out in a crowded market, and also to have a bit of fun.
The copy idea was ‘Get Your Gift On’ and the visual concept was to take a series of shots of different people wearing bold Christmas pyjamas, and then replace their heads with big oversized gifts (which we would build as props for the shoot). We’d use quirky wrapping paper that we could commission a couple of illustrators to design and top the whole thing off with cartoon facial features and googly eyes. So they were literally getting their gift on!
The client originally said yes, but it was not a convincing yes—more of a weak agreement which hinted it might be withdrawn at a later date (which it was).
After a few other ideas were rejected, the client decided that they wanted to keep the line of copy (as they liked it) but went with a different visual approach. While the end result looked great, the lack of big crazy gift characters made me very sad. Sad enough to bring tears to a googly eye!
What is it about this idea you love?
I think it must be that I just personally liked it. It entertained me, made me smile. I guess I hoped it might make some other folk smile too. Also, it involved googly eyes so frankly what’s not to love?
Your agency, Jamhot, hosts a (frankly brilliant) speaker series in Glasgow called Gab. From all the events so far, what’s the creative takeaway that’s stuck with you the most?
Thank you, that’s very kind of you to say.
We’ve had over 60 different speakers at Gab since we launched the event and every one has brought a different perspective and something of value.
Personally, my favourite event was the one we had with founding member of the band Oasis: original drummer Tony McCarroll. He was my inspiration to get started in drumming when I was 14, so to have him along at our event telling his story was pretty special.
To hear Tony’s whirlwind story of forming a band, achieving the huge rapid success that he did, and then sadly being forced out of the band against his will (a heartbreaking story!) was an amazing thing to experience. The key takeaway for me was to remember to enjoy your creative journey as it happens, as things can pass quickly and it’s easy to forget to recognise the good times.
🛎️ QUICK-FIRE ROUND 🛎️
Three things that made lockdown more bearable…
Animal Crossing on the Nintendo Switch. I retreated into a make believe world of mad characters to avoid the chaos happening in the real world.
Radiohead. They started a stream of their live gigs on YouTube every Thursday night and I would watch it while texting my best mate (who is also my business partner in Jamhot) who was watching it too. It allowed me to rediscover a band that I love and kept me (almost) sane.
Creativity. Although the studio was a lot quieter than usual I really valued the work that we did have. Getting a rest from the usual full-on quick workflow meant I could appreciate the fact I get to do creative work for a living.
Where do you get your best ideas? (E.g. at your desk, in the shower, on the train)
Mine usually come when on the move or often at random in meetings while listening to other (much smarter) people.
What did you want to grow up to be when you were younger?
A bus driver. Then a drummer. But I’m pretty happy and fortunate to do what I do.
Huge thanks to Graeme for taking the time to chat to me, and if you’re in the Glasgow area then grab a ticket to the next Gab. Now for some (other) things that have brought me joy over the last couple of weeks.
This perfect painting
The pudding have done it again
This wildly accurate description of NFTs
This history of an iconic sound
I approve this message
Stop making brand campaigns, Liquid Death has already won them all
Going through the backlog of this podcast
Every Hayley Nahman newsletter, but especially this one on redefining habits