NAKED

Con�ellations for Change

This is a collaboration between Rodrigo & Louise.

Two hopeless optimists who want to change the world for the better.

United Kingdom :: December 2013

Constellations for Change

While reminiscing about the struggles and disillusionment we felt when first starting out in the world of work we felt it was time to give something back to people who might be at the beginning of their journey too.

We’ve spent some time consolidating our inspiration, documenting the processes we’ve used and also thanking the people who have helped to put us on a path to creating change - both for ourselves and for others.

We’re calling this our Constellations for Change.

Included here are the clusters we’ve been collecting things around, which give you a flavour of the breadth of this project.

We don’t know exactly where this collaboration will take us, but we wanted to share some of our ideas and our stories with you and see what you think.

This issue is number zero and its name is Naked. Why Naked? because we want to share what we are; passions, works, minds and people around us.

Now we want to start from the beginning, so please let us tell you a couple of stories.

The booklet you’re holding (or reading) is Naked which in a way is number zero.

Naked is about how we remembered our paths and the niggles and questions that have set us on our way.

Louise

No one really tells you what it feels like to finish formal education, to suddenly have many paths and choices ahead of you. It should be exciting and liberating but I remember finishing university and feeling isolated it felt like I had just climed a mountain only to free fall off the other side.

Now there was a clear path ahead of me at that point- to become a management consultant or work for an advertising agency, but this just didn’t feel right.

I went on a two day insight into management course. There were 100 other people there & everyone round me loved it, I should have been too, after all I was studying a business studies degree at the time. I felt so out of place and it confirmed all the niggles I had about corporate culture. But I felt I couldn’t say anything.

Around the same time I went to some advertising agency milk round events. They put on a good show, it was flashy, they sold a sexy lifestyle - living in a big city, working with big brands, after work drinks and to be honest it was everything I had imagined myself doing as a grown up, so what wasn’t to like? But I left those events not understanding why anyone would want to work sell toys to children who really didn’t need them, it felt exploitative and like something was missing.

I wasn’t totally in denial at this time, I was a bit proactive, I went to the careers service and asked about alternative careers. But there was nothing that really got me excited and after a few sessions I was still feeling frustrated and even more isolated.

One thing I did go to was an event about landfill sites and how there would be no space in Manchester in the not to I distant future for all of the waste being produced. Why wasn’t this common knowledge? Why weren’t more people concerned about this or looking for other solutions?

I got worried and I think had a bit of an environmental realisation.

I realise this now, that when I’m in doubt, I end up doing something creative. So at the back end if my degree I volunteered at a film festival and then following that worked at the Association of Illustrators. It was a bit left field but was great to experience, applying organisation skills in creative contexts, I felt a shared sense of purpose with those I worked with.

By this point I had decided I would take a year out – save some money – go travelling – get a bit of a reality check and try and work out what it was I was going to do. In effect I ignored this niggle about finding a ‘real’ job ‘and my dissatisfaction with the status quo and put it all on ice. But I guess you could say it gave me new perspectives and experiences from which to build on after that.

Rodrigo

A few years back I was in a party organised by the creative crew from Leo Burnett (the advertising agency) where I used to work. A big party, imagine all the excess that you can think of and multiply it by two.

We were having candid conversations about our profession, the industry and the ‘meaning’ behind our work, suddenly I just said the truth, ‘I hate advertising.’ The room response was; an uncomfortable silence.

Obviously I didn’t even think about it twice, before saying it. In a very funny way some guys only said ‘uuuhhh!’ which was their way to say, what a f*** are you doing here then?! And they were right, what on earth I was thinking, why I was working for one of the worst industries someone can think of, designing for Phillip Morris (a cigarette company).

I studied industrial design, and was surrounded of a buoyant middle class influenced by american materialistic culture, superficial media, and a linear growth understanding of life. I experienced all that back in Mexico, my homeland.

It is hard to explain how materialistic colonialism has influenced values of societies in emerging economies, and how this deforms culture collective conscious and self perception.

I knew something wasn’t right, one of my questions back then was how can I use my skills, earn a living and create something that I am proud of?

After Leo Burnett I started to work for the richest man in the world (back in 2007 and according to Forbes he still there on top). Mr Carlos Slim, who everybody (more than 300,000 employees) call ‘The engineer’.

I was doing retail design and new product development which at least was a bit more exciting for America Movil the biggest telecom in America (including north, central and south). Thanks to being there, while working in telecoms, a bit randomly I was involved in a team which helped collaterally to promote a series of events named ‘Pase Usted’ (Please come in).

It was thanks to these series of events organised by my good friend now Clorinda Romo, which finally opened my eyes. The first event was in sustainability. I still remember when I arrived to the floor 27th from a semi-abandoned Torre Latino in Mexico City back in 2008.

I heard a series of multidisciplinary talks about a wide range of issues related to sustainability in a local, regional and international scale. That night I discovered a completely different world, a world of uncertainty, passion, commitment and purpose. By the end of that event I said, ok, I had enough I am going to quit my job, and I did (a few months later).

We are going to share with you six different constellations of things that we’ve identified, which we believe are fundamental to create a better future.

The constellations have helped us to change and see the world as a place of opportunities, despite recognising that humanity is facing unprecedented challenge.

Technolo�?

Creativity

NewStatusQuo

Art&Design

In�iration

People

Technolo�?

Creativity

NewStatusQuo

Art&Design

In�iration

People

The first one is Art & Design. These are things we have both been heavily influenced by the power of. This will be a curation of designers and artists from all over the world who are creating work to inspire a new generation of creators.

Second theme on our list is Technology?. Yes, with a question mark. We will share our view of how technology can be part of the answer to create a better world; though don’t forget that behind technology there are people.

After that we have Creativity. This point is a reminder that EVERYONE is creative and creativity is a mindset and a process. We will enlist cool processes that help you to identify real challenges and share with you tools on how to tackle them.

Forth constellation is Inspiration. A collection of the things we believe are pretty amazing happening now or years ago. We have a hunch that when these things collide and mix our reality will change dramatically.

In the end is all down to People. Number five is profiling the people we’ve met, changed and influenced us. It’s how we would like to say thank you to them.

The sixth one is New Status Quo. Here we want to share what we see like the new normal, what are the set of norms, concepts, values, organisations and types of econo-mies that will go boom! (Soon we hope).

What is your story? (please share it with us and write it down here!)

What do these make you think of? Which of them resonates with you and your journey?

How would you map your constellation for change?

Obviously this is only part of the story...much more has come since, but want the next chapters of constellations to tell some of that story

Next chapter - Art & Design

This is a collaboration between Rodrigo Bautista & Louise Armstrong.

Two hopeless optimists who want to change the world for the better.

If you want to know more please get in touch with us @rodgox & @louise_a

February 2014

Constellations for Change