In late April I received a call from Roxanne Eflin of the Maine Development Foundation who asked if I would be willing to present Pica’s experience and viewpoint on ‘The Power of Great Graphics and Film’ at the 2012 Maine Downtown Conference in Farmington, Maine. I was asked to frame the conversation towards Maine downtown communities and present alongside filmmaker Ben Kahn of Nomad Pictures in Portland, Maine. One week and a lot of soul searching later led me to a focused presentation on developing ‘Great Graphics’ for downtown communities. Ultimately, I derived the equation ‘great graphics = meaningful messaging + smart design’ to offer the audience. I also suggested enlisting professional help and setting expectations and ground rules for community input from stakeholder organizations so that the investment in creative would yield the desired result: supported brand awareness for the community. My presentation complemented Ben’s which extended the idea that to harness the power of film, the creative team, the design/messaging, and community stakeholders all need to be aligned in order for the story to be told effectively. Based on the ten minutes of engaged questions following the presentations, both Ben and I had the sense that we delivered an illuminating session for downtown revitalization stakeholders. (At least that’s what I like to think). Here are a few images from the presentation.

Post by Rob Dietz