Damn Good Advice (For People with Talent!): How To Unleash Your Creative Potential by America's Master Communicator, George Lois [Paperback]

George Lois (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 12, 2012

Damn Good Advice (For People With Talent!) is a look into the mind of one of America's most legendary creative thinkers, George Lois. Offering indispensle lessons, practical advice, facts, anecdotes and inspiration, this book is a timeless creative bible for all those looking to succeed in life, business and creativity. These are key lessons derived from the incomparle life of 'Master Communicator' George Lois, the original Mad Man of Madison Avenue. Written and compiled by the man The Wall Street Journal called "prodigy, enfant terrible, founder of agencies, creator of legends," each step is borne from a passion to succeed and a disdain for the status quo.

Organised into inspirational, bite-sized pointers, each page offers fresh insight into the sources of success, from identifying your heroes to identifying yourself. The ideas, images and illustrations presented in this book are fresh, witty and in-your-face. Whether it's communicating your point in nanosecond, creating an explosive portfolio or making your presence felt, no one is better placed than George Lois to teach you the process of creativity.

Poignant, punchy and to-the-point, Damn Good Advice (For People With Talent!) is a must have for anyone on a quest for success.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"George Lois doesn't need advice. But the designer for whom legendary ad man is practically a Homeric epithet has loads to share in Damn Good Advice (for people with talent!), a slim, fast-paced collection. . ." - Print Magazine

"George Lois' brain is an interesting place. . .Get inspired gentlemen. . ." - Urban Daddy Kempt

"Put Damn Good Advice on your coffee table and thumb through it daily for some insight on how to make your work and world better." - Selectism.com

"It's an entertaining read, even for people outside the creative business." - The New York Times 6th Floor blog

"In the meantime, my best (damn) advice to all you creative people out there (and if you're livin' this means you) is to pick up your very own copy of Georges' Damn Good Advice -- a bargain at thrice the price -- and read it (and re-read it) to tatters. We all need our heros." - GQ

"This ad man is Mad man." - New York Post

"An Innovation Bible. . .a must-have spine stiffener for artists and entrepreneurs alike." - The Huffington Post

"George Lois offers indispensable lessons, practical advice, facts, anecdotes, and inspiration for all those looking to succeed in life, business, and creativity." - NPR's Morning Edition

"An irreverent, playful, genuinely useful set of rules to live by for aspiring creatives." -Details

About the Author

George Lois is one of America's most creative, prolific and celebrated advertising communicators. Since his twenties, he has been a pioneer in developing the Creative Revolution in contemporary culture, transforming brands such as MTV, Tommy Hilfiger and USA Today. He is the only person ever to be inducted into The Art Directors Hall of Fame, The One Club Creative Hall of Fame, have Lifetime Achievement Awards from the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the Society of Publication Designers, as well as being a subject of the Masters Series at the School of Visual Arts. He lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press (March 12, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714863483
• ISBN-13: 978-0714863481
• Product Dimensions: 4.7 x 0.8 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,509 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #36 in Books > Self-Help > Creativity

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn how ideas become powerful April 19, 2012

By Statues Of George

Format:Paperback

Forget George Lois. This book isn't about him. It's about you. He just offers himself as an example of what you can do - if you think correctly and go hell-for-leather. Sure he's got ego but it's as big as his gratitude for those he has learnt from. And you won't find better stories and adventures even from a naked Della Femina. I found George's book to be inspiring in a practical way. So much so, it actually made me grow a pair. Within one hour of finishing his book (and rereading the bravery chapter three times), my friends and I started a street campaign to help my mate's band become famous. Fuelled by his Hilfiger story of just acting big (and why not), we have launched a band in Ireland from nobodies to being interviewed in the newspapers, radio and tv in less than two weeks. We're hoping to be on Oprah in less than 4 weeks. Thanks George, you are a brave man and a damn good one. I hope our site [statuesofus.org] is a good compliment and proof that your book works. As I said after reading your book, `Yeah screw it, let's do it.'

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Still my hero May 9, 2012

By Harvey Gabor

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I thoroughly enjoyed "Damn Good Advice." I guess at the ripe old age of 78 I'm still a George Lois Junkie. I've rung the bell a few times in the business of creative advertising (I created the 1971, and now googlized, "Buy the World a Coke.")
I think what touched me in his book is, of all things, that letterhead for a building. It looked like the delicate work of one of the great designers in this business, like a George Tscherny not an ad guy as good as George. I've got all his books, but the one I treasure most is the book of Esquire Covers. I think to some degree, they changed the culture of our country.
To this day, sometimes when I get an assignment, I ask myself, "Now what would George do." ----Harvey Gabor

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Actually contains Damn Good Advice April 22, 2012

By Julien Smith

Format:Paperback

I've recently been re-reading the books that have been influential to my work and writing, so after giving away a few copies of Paul Arden's Phaidon books (Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite; It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be), I ended up buying them again from the local bookstore and grabbing this one at the same time. I didn't know it had been recently published but am pleased I get to write one of the first reviews for it.

I didn't know anything about George Lois when I read this book. Previous reviews were full of discussions of his egomania and self-aggrandizement but that doesn't matter to me. All that matters is whether this book does, in fact, contain Damn Good Advice. Well, it does.

This book isn't perfect, but if you're up to short books that give you a certain feeling rather than information, this could be the one. It's ten bucks, and for that price I can either get an expensive drink at a horrible bar, or I can spend a Sunday morning reading about someone's exploits and what they've learned. I did the latter, and you should too.

Reading Damn Good Advice reminded me of a lot of things that everyone needs to be reminded of: to stand up for what you believe in, to have faith in yourself even against the odds, and lots of things we tend to forget when we get caught in the tedium of our daily life.

It'll probably end up being one of those books I end up reading once a year, to get that feeling again. Maybe you should too.

70 of 102 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars 120 Pages of Utter Egomania March 8, 2012

By Annie Castellano

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is one of the most egregious manifestations of narcissism I've ever encountered. George Lois is so impressed with himself and his work (which, by the way, is old and old-school) that it's not only sad, it's distracting. This book is nothing but a collection of platitudes from a guy who loves to hear himself talk (and preferably, it seems, about himself). I get it George...you've been successful. You're famous in the ad world. Well, now you're insufferable.

Page 1 = a quotation, rendered in bold type, from none other than George Lois. Page 2 = six pictures of the author. Pages 4-5: A full-spread photograph of George Lois presenting to clients 37 years ago. (Who has a photograph of himself presenting work to a client, and has kept it for 37 years?!)

There are hundreds of more relevant books on the subject of creativity and how to unleash your potential. Don't waste your money or time on this one.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good in small dosages August 5, 2012

By Michael P. Maslanka

Format:Paperback

Yes, Lois has an ego. And he is overbearing. But, hey, the guy is 81, let him say what he wants. And his 120 pieces of advice are not just easy to digest but often useful:do not despair if you are in your 50s or 60s, a lot of good work is done in those decades;extoll your mentors;and do not work for bad people(his story of how he fired a client in 1963 re the client's comments on the killing of President Kennedy is memorable and still relevant). The book is colorful, the advice given direct and to the point. Just the way a master of persuasion would write it.

11 of 16 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Not An Education but Teaching by Examples. March 22, 2012

By Beau

Format:Paperback

The other reviewers giving one star seem to be looking for a step by step school book in advertising. This book is more like your father shooting advice from the hip based on his own success stories. WHY would anyone as successful as George Lois provide any advice that he himself hasn't followed?

He provides great examples of how to sell your concept to the client, when to walk away from a client who refuses to hear your ideas, and why a creative person needs to learn to communicate their idea.

In fact, most of this book seems to be intended for experienced creatives who may need some pointers on how to present their concepts; which is something sorely lacking in design schools (at least the two I attended).

So while this book is filled with nothing but examples of his work, ("I Want My MTV", "Think Small") the examples are supported with stories that detail HOW that concept succeeded, despite reluctance from the client. (MTV panned on his idea until he personally got Mick Jagger to do the first clip.) Very little is about HOW to come up with great ideas. Most of it is about "great, you've got the idea. is it REALLY great, and is it great enough that you'd threaten to jump out of a window if the client said no?" (he also did that).

I give it 4 stars out of 5. It would be 5 if it was a narrated audiobook, narrated by Lois himself.

And I'll be happy to concede that these approaches can't possibly be the guaranteed path to creative success. That's the problem; there IS no one path. All we can do as creatives is to continue stealing a little bit here, a little bit there, mashing it up and ignoring fear.