Hi, beautiful friends! Hello from Quito! It's Estefi here.

Welcome to the first movement collab session with Julis. I discovered the power that comes from "shaking it out" in one of these sessions a few weeks ago. I was driven by her guidance, and of course, doing it all alongside the playlist this incredible creative being masterfully curated for us. I hope this theme session feels like a hug from Berlin to Ecuador and beyond.

From Julis:

Hello, All -

I am excited to shake it out together today.

Creative Unleashed: Embracing the Present Moment

In this class, we will focus on unlocking our creative powers by connecting with our bodies and the depth of this present moment. Through movement, we will create space to listen to the language of our souls. We will lower the volume of our inner critic, our fears, and our doubts and turn up the volume of our excitement to allow our creative potential to flourish. Trusting spirit will shine and flow through us as it is meant to <3

What you need for the session:

• Mat

• Water

• Workout clothes (I practice barefoot)

• Space to move

• Spotify 
  
  Playlist: Link to playlist

  make sure it is not in shuffle mode on Spotify, the order of the songs matters.

Note: It's best to practice with your airpods or have a separate speaker for the music ;) 

Hope you enjoy this session and definitely drop any thoughts in the comments below! Julis and I would love to hear from you. We want to prepare another session in a couple of months so drop any suggestions/wants below for sure.

ok ok love you, thank you for being part of this community.

Estefi from Uni Creative

Follow Julis on Instagram: @julisalvarez_

If you want to reach out to Julis via email her email is: majulianalvarez@gmail.com

Hi friends! Welcome to August Live Q&A!

Enjoy the conversation and cannot wait to see your comments and thoughts in the comment section. Below here are Meijun and I's notes that we prepared for this month's Q&A.

Here's the direct link to the announcement post for you to check the links we constantly mention in the conversation, check them out if you haven't.

Read you later,

– Estefi from Uni Creative

Meijun's Notes

Overall Thoughts:

The Big Picture: The Barbie Deep Dive with Greta Gerwig

Interview with Greta

They had to cast the right people for this movie to make it a success – Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, even bringing in Simu as an asian representation.

Maximalism of it? Barbie is wonderfully too much. There’s not enough sparkles. It was part of that joy to make it “too much”? Layering different ideas. How can we make it loud and obnoxious but also quiet enough for people to be able to listen.

Set Design:

Theatrical, backdrop feel

Creating illusion of waves – ideating different ways to create this

Bringing different techniques together to create an artificial world, visual effects with older techniques – they had time to make this happen. –– this is interesting because Barbie in itself is such a historical icon for many so this approach to utilize older techniques to create the set and other visual effects was extremely vital in the success of this movie

A created world vs. an actual physical location vs. green screen.

Being able to master control every aspect of the set (like the sun) is a almost like a direct reflection of how people play with their barbie dolls. This was very interesting to me and made me appreciate it more than if it used green screen and crazy outrageous special effects.

How would they have gone about doing this in 1959?

Bringing vintage classic techniques to the modern and blending those two worlds.

Even the song choices, blending 90’s songs with newer songs.

The theme of juxtaposing old with new is huge in this movie and the making of it.

Barbie as a representation of someone not knowing how to deal with crisis.

Barbie movie for Kids vs Adults?

Since there is a level of sophistication to the movie and cultural connections, would this overwhelm or confuse kids?

Children are more sophisticated and smarter than we think, maybe even more able to handle things that are more metaphysical since they don;’t have such a rigid mindset.

America Ferrera - The Human Mom

She represents and holds so much as a mother, a woman and human being.

Women are walking on a tight rope, but men also are walking on a tight rope in their own way or have women in their lives that they see are walking these tight ropes.

This made is very moving for people to connect with the material.

The Themes I See

Memory and Nostalgia a huge part of the Barbie movie

Childhood vs Adulthood

Old vs Modern (cinematography, set design, music choices etc.)

Real World vs Barbie World

Men vs Women or no gender (no genitalia)

Human vs An Object, a doll

Estefi's Notes:

America Ferrera's Speech

"It is literally impossible to be a woman," Gloria tells Barbie. "You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we’re always doing it wrong.

"You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin. You have to have money, but you can’t ask for money because that’s crass. You have to be a boss, but you can’t be mean. You have to lead, but you can’t squash other people’s ideas. You’re supposed to love being a mother, but don’t talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman, but also always be looking out for other people. You have to answer for men’s bad behavior, which is insane, but if you point that out, you’re accused of complaining.

"You’re supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you’re supposed to be a part of the sisterhood. But always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged. So find a way to acknowledge that but also always be grateful. You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line. It’s too hard! It’s too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you! And it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault.

"I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us," Gloria concludes. "And if all of that is also true for a doll just representing women, then I don’t even know."

Hi friends! It's Estefi, welcome to the August Live Q&A!

Hi Barbie, Oh Hi Ken 👋🏽

The theme this month is Barbie, the latest movie, will share our thoughts and of course, you know me I'll bring some good off-tangents for us to munch on.

I (Estefi) have watched the movie twice and Meijun just watched it, I went to the movie theatre the second time with a notebook jaja #nerdalert

Since some people on our Instagram were asking for our thoughts on the movie and this was such a fun watch to chit chat about even if you haven't watched it, because the marketing of this movie has been wild. So, 🥁drumroll please 🥁 we've decided to invite those IG friends who were interested in chatting to the Live session, so it will be our first member and non-member Live Q&A. We've honestly wanted to do this before but it never felt quite right 🥺 so this is a dream!

We will have this Q&A be a Roundtable Style so come prepared to chat your thoughts and opinions, if you can't join us live no worries we will upload it as usual but this time we will have this recording up on the public feed of The Community. eeeeeek 👏🏽 so exciting, this is a new addition for you non-members who want to get a little taste of what's inside...

The only mandatory thing about this is that you come ready to talk spoilers, be warned if you haven't watched.

BUT!!!

If you haven't watched the movie or HONESTLY even more if you have I recommend you give this podcast episode a listen. It is a bit long but at the end, they interview Greta Gerwig the director of Barbie and I really learned a lot of the behind-the-scenes of the movie from this episode.

I'll lead the discussion with the help of my notes of things that stood out during the movie, key scenes, theories I want us to chat about, and other good stuff that I'm sure I will find throughout the internet as I prepare even more for this Q&A. It does feel like I was born to host this one. Of course, you all and Meijun will "raise your hand" on Google Meets and share your thoughts throughout so it's really fun and everyone gets to share what comes to their mind.

Here are the details for the call:

Wednesday, August 30 · 11:00am – 12:00pm Time zone: America/Guayaquil

Google Meet joining info: https://meet.google.com/nfb-tfwv-cop

Thank you for your time and excitement! Also below you can find more goodies...

Love you,

Estefi from Uni Creative

Optional Extra Goodies To Prepare for the Live Q&A Chat:

We watched the documentary "Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie" a few years ago in The Community and of course, now that the Barbie movie is out and has taken the world by storm I thought it would be nice to share the documentary links for you to watch, directly from Barbie Headquarters when they were pitching the idea of the Curvy Barbie. Aaaaaaaaand, I also wanted to share some fun articles related to the recent explosive release of the Barbie movie.

Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie

Here's a link to the trailer, I personally loved the documentary because it touched on branding, brand building, communication, society, social issues, diet culture, play, childhood, reacting to your audience's needs, and changing things up in the industry you are in. It may seem like a small step right now but we have to remember that the effect of this "small" step will be felt by other generations for years to come.

What do you have to do? 

1. Watch the documentary on Hulu, Apple TV or search your own way ooooorrr I found this link online definitely don't click on any other links or images in it jaja

2. Take Notes if possible, prepare to share during the chat, and share them down here of course if you want!

Barbie Hoax Targets Mattel and Fools Some News Outlets

The false campaign by environmental activists claimed that the toy giant was launching a new line of decomposable Barbies and would stop using plastic by 2030.

Read the full article here.

A fake Greta Thunberg Barbie from the news release photos. Credit...Barbie Liberation Organization

You have to check out the promo video for the campaign here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi-FpeUByHs

‘Barbie’ Map Controversy: Warner Bros. Explains the Drawing That Got the Film Banned in Vietnam

"The childlike map, with chalk-scribbled dolphins and even a hashtag bobbing around Earth’s vast bodies of water, drew the ire of cinema gatekeepers in Vietnam this week. The drawing depicts what has been called a representation of the “nine dash line,” which reinforces China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea (there are only eight lines in the “Barbie” map, and not in the shape dictated by actual global maps). Vietnam disputes those claims and believes it violates the country’s sovereignty. Officials subsequently pulled the release of “Barbie” in the territory."

Here's the full article where they break this down a bit more.

YOU WILL ABSOLUTELY NOT BELIEVE THIS

This creative/designer LOST THE RIGHTS to her BIRTH NAME because HER BRAND was HER NAME!

Here're 2 podcasts, a few Instagram posts, and articles if you want to nerd out with me on this craaaaazy case!

So next time you think about just making your brand your name remember, Hayley Paige.

Ps. She was on "Say Yes To The Dress"!

Podcast Episodes:

Instagram posts:

First post:

Recent Update Post: 

Article: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/fashion/a38920222/wedding-dress-designer-hayley-paige-legal-saga-jlm-couture/ 

Let me know your thoughts and if you know of any other case like this?

This blew my mind!!

hugs,

Estefi

Hi Friends! It's Meijun.

About a month ago, I shared a small post on How To: Set a GIF as your Gmail Profile Picture and I thought that it would be useful to show you how I create simple GIF's on Photoshop and how I upload them on our GIPHY account.

Why do we do this?

With a creator account on GIPHY, the GIF stickers we create and upload will be accessible on other platforms where you can search and share GIFS, like on Instagram Stories. This is a great way for brands to further express themselves on digital and add more brand personality + visibility.

Hope that this mini-tutorial was helpful and hope to see some of you making your own GIFs for your brands.

Oh also, here are some resources you may find useful if you don't use Photoshop to make GIFs.

Free GIF Maker from CANVA

Let me know if the comments if you have any questions :)

Always here to help.

Abrazos,
Meijun

PS. Here's a link to some useful GIPHY links which include instructions on how to apply for official GIPHY accounts.

HELLO HELLO HELLO MY BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!

Welcome to March Thumb-stoppers :) things that I saw on Instagram that made my thumb stop scrolling. Here I'll share what I think we can learn from it.

Without further ado let's get into it.

1. New Coca-Cola ad features Andy Warhol, Van Gogh, and Munch > watch it here > ok, I must say that this was SO FREAKING BEAUTIFUL AND FUN TO WATCH!! The audio made me feel like a little girl watching an old-school Disney movie. I think that there are multiple things we can learn from here, like, using relevant partnerships to support your product sales, using key sounds that consumers connect to your brand like the coca cola bottle opening sound, and so much more...but first I would love to ask a lawyer: the licensing rights to the pieces shown here how does it work? to the client: how much did this little piece cost? what were the KPI's of this campaign? How long will this campaign run? to the creative team: was this used in multiple ways? was it intended to be just social? –– this then leads me to some research, of course...  I found this article here from Coca-Cola themselves and one thing that I love SO MUCH about this campaign is how they decided to feature the work of emerging artists from Africa, India, the Middle East, and Latin America. In the article, Pratik Thakar, Global Head of Creative Strategy and Integrated Content for Coca‑Cola says "‘Masterpiece’ is not a story in which Coke appears… Coke is the story. [...] Creating human connection and bringing enchantment to everyday moments is what ‘Real Magic’ is all about." AHA! Here is my answer, it was obviously not just for social, they created "an online gallery featuring interviews with emerging artists from the nearly two-minute hero film, as well as  3-D billboards and a series of digital collectibles. The campaign launches this month in Latin America, followed by Asia and other markets later this year." Of course, because I am a great detective and coincidentally the group homework in March & April are both in AI, Ian from CreativeBloq in this article says that the commercial was also PARTY MADE WITH AI (!!!) "The VFX team at Electric Theatre Collective and creative agency Blitzworks used a mix of live action shots, digital effects and AI to create the commercial and its complex transitions. So, have we finally found a good use of AI? [...] The Coca-Cola Masterpiece campaign won't be restricted to the two-minute commercial but will also include 3D billboards and digital collectibles. As a way to celebrate art this is campaign is great, but as a way to introduce the world to new contemporary artists Masterpiece is fantastic."

2. Want to learn a new skill? Use the power of AI and ChatGPT to build a personal course for you to learn any new skill > watch the reel here > GREAT GREAT GREAT example of how to be super specific to ChatGPT with your prompts so that it can actually give you a hand!

3. Puede la inteligencia artificial quitarle el trabajo a un diseñadora gráfica? Quién preferirías que hiciera la identidad de tu marca? > Veanlo aquí, it's in spanish but I think you can get it even without the language? > This is also a resource I shared in this month's group homework but I think this is a great basic example of AI vs a Human.

4. Nail Your Personal Branding > See the post here > I think this was a really great piece, the design is simple but reaaaaally easy to read and digest, the colors are fun and it's easy to read, the amount of text is NOT overwhelming, the design is not the same in every single slide and I think the addition of the hand done design elements bring a lot of warmth and approachability to the content. I also really like the use of the lines to guide from page to page instead of the typical arrow + page number and the final page, ugh such a breath of fresh air, simple, to the point, with no small talk.

5. STOP MAKING NEW POSTS > Listen to this post because it's all we need to hear. > Truly, and with the group homework you know learned how to use AI to help paraphrase your captions!

6. How to brand around multiple passions > check the post here > THREADING, finding a common thread in between your topics, this will become a class in Uni soon, for the OG students you KNOW threading, also we have a bunch of LIVE classes on this, check "threading/content threads" on the search of the community, but anyways... I think this is a great exercise for all of us to do once in a while especially when we get stuck in the "niching" game. But I can see us using AI as well to do an exercise where we share with the AI our wants and dreams and it can help guide us into specific content topics or even ways to create a short explanation of what we want to do as multi-passionate individuals. I don't know just thoughts jaja.

7. We don't do reels and we still grow. > Read the post here > I enjoy the comments thread in this post a lot more than the post itself maybe? jaja I think that the post is great, the message is clear, and I do agree that whatever channel you use within Instagram has to be used intentionally, and you have to think about the audience that is consuming it as well as what you want the user to do, so I think a lot to learn from the content of this post overall. Another thing I want to mention is this new trend I see a lot which ends the carousel of a very thought-provoking/tip-esque style with a call to join their newsletter. I think that's really smart, I actually signed up for a newsletter through an Instagram account, we just need to make sure that the link in the bio goes directly to that subscribe page for the newsletter. 

8. Start selling what's in it for them. > Check the post here > This one has great advice on copywriting, I took some notes and hope to learn from this, it was awesome.

9. No new posts today! > watch reel here > definitely want to incorporate content like this! this account is awesome a lot to learn from him. I can see us using something like this to be used for example to promote a specific guide that has a collection of posts from our feed, does that make sense? In case you want to promote some posts that weren't posted recently you know?

------

That's it! Hopefully, you learned something or you were inspired by any of these posts!

Let me know which one was your favorite in the comments, okay? okay. 

talk soon, 
Estefi

⚡️ Topic: Inspiration & Trends