Meg Kerr - Mosaic

Name: Meg Kerr
Company: Mosaic

Meg Kerr is the Social Media Integration Manager at Mosaic. She's worked at Mosaic since 2006 in various roles. She attended university at Western, as well as Fanshawe college for Broadcast Journalism. She has been interested in social media for a long time, and even created the position at Mosiac to cater to clients' growing need to be active on social media platforms.

Meg describes social media as any network that allows you to share content easily, e.g., YouTube, social bookmarking (Digg), Facebook, even blogs. She went on to explain that social media has shifted the way we interact with each other and businesses. People trust peer to peer interaction more than advertisements.

The bulk of her talk consisted of describing 4 trends that she sees happening in social media today.

1. Real Time + Mobile = Gamechanger

Mobile is like traditional word of mouth, but on steroids, and the volume and velocity of infosharing will continue to accelerate. More than 30% of Canadians own a smartphone and more than 50% of all web searches today are made from mobile devices.

Meg also drew on her broadcast journalism background and talked about how news organizations will never again be the first to "break" a story. Regular people can share pictures and comments about news, as it happens, via Twitter. While this information may not always be the most accurate or unbiased, its speed cannot be underestimated.


2. Location-based services and geotagging

Today's smartphones are GPS-enabled, which has allowed for the creation of location-based services like Foursquare and Gowalla, and extensions for Yelp, Facebook and Twitter. With Facebook and Twitter jumping on the bandwagon, this location information has become mainstream.


3. Privacy

There have been continued conversations about Facebook and privacy issues. Facebook needs to provide users with control over their information without hurting their business model - they need access to personal information because that's how they make money.

Facebook isn't the only network with privacy issues. Meg showed us a story about Twitter and how there are people who have posted their vacation plans and then been robbed because the information was made public. In light of this, there have been some tongue-in-cheek websites created to bring attention to this problem of over-sharing.


4. Social media getting less social

With people's social networks growing large, and hard to control, there will be an increase in new, niche social networks that are much smaller. They can be interest-based or invitation-only. Even Facebook and Twitter have rolled out "list" services, allowing users to narrow down their friends.

Sheridan Athletic Therapy Centre

On Friday, December 2nd our classes attended the Sheridan Athletic Therapy Centre at the Brampton campus. We spent the day there to learn about keeping up our physical health, especially as we work in an industry where we are sitting all day.

Some of the injuries that are commonly found in people working in web design include: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, eye strain and Sciatic Nerve Irritation. Some symptoms of these injuries to watch for:

• Tightness and ache in forearms
• Tightness or knots in shoulders and neck
• Tension headaches
• Tingling and/or numbness (intermittent or prolonged)
• Pain that cannot be relieved with stretching
• Decreased range of motion in neck, shoulders, wrists or lower back
  

In order to prevent these injuries from happening, some of the students at the Therapy Centre taught us some stretches that we should do for 5 to 10 minutes every hour.

Hand and Forearm Stretch:
With your hand open and facing down, gently bend wrist from side to side, as far as possible. Hold for 3 to 5 seconds. Repeat 3 times.

Neck and Shoulders Stretch:
Drop your head slowly to the left, trying to touch your left ear to your left shoulder. Repeat on the right side. Slowly drop your chin to your chest, turn your head all the way to the left, then turn all the way to the right.

Back, Side and Legs Stretch:
Grasp your shin. Lift the leg off the floor. Bend forward (curling your back), and reach your nose to your knee. Repeat with the other leg.

The best part of the trip was getting individual assessments from the Athletic Therapy students. We each got to have some ailment looked at. Personally, I've been having pains in my lower back, so that's what I had looked at. The student that worked with me gave me some stretches to do to loosen up my back, and I can do those along with the other stretches we learned.

Overall, it was good to spend some time thinking about our bodies and being active. I will definitely continue to stretch every hour or so, and hopefully I will continue to be pain-free in my neck, shoulders and wrists.

Jason Bouwman - Compass Creative

Name: Jason Bouwman
Company: Compass Creative Studio Inc.

Jason is the owner and principal creative at Compass Creative. He was definitely the most interesting speaker that we've had so far, because of his unique approach. He didn't have a flashy presentation, but he did speak passionately about his life and the decisions he's made to get to where he is today.

Growing up, he loved drawing and so decided to take Illustration at Sheridan. He specialized in technical illustration because he wanted to balance his love of drawing with the responsibility of getting job; he thought that it would be easier to get a job with a technical background. Furthermore, instead of focusing on marks, he focused on making a great portfolio and he also started calling up companies while he was still in his second year of college.

He told us about how his family had always stressed the importance of being independent and providing for your family and because of this he knew he wanted to have his own business. In his first job at Howard, he explained to his supervisor that he didn't intend to work there longer than 2 years. He was kept on as a freelancer and was even allowed to use the company art equipment for his other freelance work.

After a few years he left Howard and set up a studio in his basement, where he worked as an illustrator. He eventually decided to grow his business, and went to his clients to ask why they worked with him. They told him it was because he forced them to think differently; he intuitively gave them insight into their businesses in order to do the right work for them. He realized that this insight is what would set his company apart.

Jason told us several more things that he's learned running his creative firm. Firstly, he explained that although people say they want websites, they actually don't. What they want is money (either in sales or donations), and websites are only a means to that end. He went on to say that the website has to show how your story is different, because customers don't owe you money, and describe the company's identity, strategy and brand.

He also described that the three types of website approaches are promotional, informative and e-commerce, and that he helps his clients figure out what they need by using insight. He also stressed the importance of managing the expectations of what websites can actually do for the client.

Lastly, he spoke to us about being creatives and the need for us to find balance because we combine our hobby with our work. He explained that we while we need passion for what we do, we also need the skills and most importantly, the market to use them it. He said that we need a combination of those three things to be successful, and even to be less passionate and more specialized in our expertise.

Design Our Tomorrow (DOT)

This past weekend, I attended the Design Our Tomorrow (DOT) conference held at the University of Toronto. Like TED, speakers at the conference had 18 minutes to talk about whatever they wanted - within the broad theme of "designing our tomorrow". Topics ranged from industrial design, to climate change and the environment to technology. The conference is targeted toward students and young people and the tickets were free for students.

My highlights:

Edward Burtynsky
"Photographer, in 15 museums including MoMA and the Guggenheim, TED Prize Winner."

Having studied some of his work in university in art history, it was really interesting to hear him speak in person. He gave an overview of his past work, and the ideas that inspired him. He also showed us some of his newest photographs, ones that haven't yet been seen by the public.

Aza Raskin
"Rethinking medicine as co-founder of Massive Health, former Creative Lead at Firefox, named 2011 Master of Design by Fast Company Magazine."

His talk was about the rising number of people who are obese and who have diabetes, and how to getting people to change their habits is not easy. His talk was part science, part psychology and part common-sense. He showed us how current blood glucose technologies work, and explained that they don't offer the user any kind of real feedback. He suggests that the only way to affect change in people is to create a feedback loop.

His mobile app, called The Eatery, has the user take a picture of their meal each time they eat, and the community of other users rates the meal as "fit or fat". Over time, the hope is that the instant feedback from peers will give people incentive to think about what they are putting in their bodies and eventually eat better. Aside from instant results, it also gives you information about your habits over time (e.g. by week). I think that the most important feature of the app is that it is so quick to use, and doesn't involve any kind of calorie counting or indexing.

Alex Pejcic - Sonic Boom

Name: Alex Pejcic
Company: Sonic Boom Creative Media
a.pejcic@sonicboom.com

Alex Pejcic is the Vice President at Sonic Boom and also one of the company's founders. He told about how Sonic Boom began out of a basement as a web design company. Eventually, Sonic Boom was acquired by a PR firm, and Alex describes this as being a boon to the company; he says that they have a different perspective than most advertising agencies and have the ability to take social media to another level. Sonic Boom has a huge list of clients, from RIM to HomeSense to the City of Hamilton, as well as some advertising agencies.

Alex had a lot of interesting things to say concerning the relationships between advertising and social media. For instance, in order to describe the differences between marketing, advertising, branding and PR, Alex used the following graphic:
Marketing: a one-way dialogue from a company to an audience
Advertising: who can yell the loudest and the most often, wins
Branding: the marketing and advertising at work
Public Relations: all three of the above and more, speaking to the influencers

Alex gave us a lot of advice regarding our job searches next year. He first told us to keep in mind that we have options - we can try and get a full-time job, or we can do freelance work. He also described to us the different roles and disciplines at Sonic Boom. The idea that stuck with me was that creatives aren't the people who drive campaigns - it's the strategists. Alex explained that strategy is the driving force and creatives need to understand and synthesize the strategy in their designs.

More advice from Alex:

What do I need to know:

1. The meaning and role of a brand
- The company's DNA
- It's more than a logo

2. Marketing basics
- Direct and mass marketing

3. Latest trends and technologies
- Social design
- The business purposes behind them
- Some examples of who to follow: Mashable and Digital Buzz Blog

What I should possess:

1. Proven skills in your discipline

2. Strong portfolio

3. References

4. Positive attitude
- be ready to pay your dues

5. Willingness to learn
- you don't know it all

6. Passion
- be sure to research the company

How to get noticed:

1. Join interactive media groups
- Virtual groups
- Conferences like Flash in the Can
- Get to know people

2. Submit your portfolio to online communities

3. Create your own online space
- e.g. blogging

4. Ask for advice and interviews
- Have an open mind and a thick skin

5. Take opportunities as they come

6. No ego
- Don't be an idiot
- Always pay your dues

Lastly, Alex reminded us that working in advertising is not a 9 - 5 industry and that it's fun but also hard work. He was also adamant that we understood that wherever we end up, we need to pay our dues. He told us that jumping from shop to shop every 6 months doesn't look good and also doesn't give you a chance to learn and show progression. He said that for him, it's about your head, heart and hands - essentially, show your smarts, your passion and your talent and you can be successful.

Jay Schacher - Henderson Bas Kohn

Name: Jay Schacher
Company: Henderson Bas Kohn

Jay Schacher graduated from the Sheridan New Media program in 2006. Before that, he went to York for Visual Arts and also Multimedia.

Like many of our guest speakers, he started his career at Organic doing a lot of small production work such as banners and image sizing. After four years in the industry, he then became an Art Director at Henderson Bas Kohn (HBK).

HBK is located between Bathurst and Spadina in Toronto. They specialize in digital advertising, but have started doing some traditional advertising as well. The shop has 60 people working there, and of those, 10 are part of the creative team. HBK has a number of big brand accounts including: Coca Cola, Nintendo, Tim Horton's, Nestle, LG and Mercedes Benz. Of those, Jay designs for LG and Mercedes Benz.

Some recent and ongoing projects that Jay is working on include:

lggetconnected.com
- a hub to showcase LG phones
- entirely product-focused

Power Up Your Life
- an LG campaign
- a game created around the launch of 3 new LG phones
- a website and a youtube video showing people how to participate

driveandseek.ca
- a mobile game for Mercedes
- based on a movie
- winner of the game actually got to win the car

Mercedes Benz Facebook Page
- reskinned the design

Jay also spoke to us about some experiences he's had working with clients. He explained that even if you love your design, it doesn't mean that the client will. He told us an anecdote about the LG Get Connected website design process and how everything about the design was fine except for the navigation bar. He illustrated the design process he took to please the client on this aspect of the website, and showed that it took about 10 iterations of designs before the client was happy.

Some advice that Jay imparted on to our class included staying close to our classmates after we graduate, being sure to network a lot and being a team player at your work and not a hero. He also explained that though it's beneficial to us to specialize in what we're good at, it's important to understand a little bit of everything in order to work more efficiently with different people.

Lastly, Jay gave us some recommendations for building our portfolios. He says to know the shop you're going to (in a digital shop, show digital work), and that having your portfolio online is imperative for applying to digital jobs. He also said that's it's good to show some process work to show how you think and how you evolve your ideas from conception to the final piece.

I really enjoyed Jay's presentation; he was both informative and personable. He gave us some sources of inspiration that he uses (Mashable, Web Creme and Colour Lovers) and even told us his favourite hex colours (#fefefe and #010101).

John Alabazowski - MacLaren McCann

Name: John Alabaszowski
Company: MacLaren McCann
@johnala
john.alabaszowski@maclaren.com

John Alabaszowski, or John "A", is the Vice President Group Creative Director at MacLaren McCann, and he's been at MacLaren McCann for 7 years now. Though he said it's unusual to stay at one agency for so long, because MacLaren is so large, he's had the freedom to move around and work on many different accounts during his time there.

He works in a branch of MacLaren that focuses on relationship marketing - the relationship between website, mobile, social media and real-world experiences. Some notable projects he's worked on include a mobile version of the GM website, production of a series of FAQ videos for Goodwrench, the Gears of War 3 alternate reality game and promotion of an internship program for MasterCard.

John has worked in small, medium and large shops, and has also freelanced, and was able to give us some advice based on this. He told us when he first started freelancing, he would need to cold call places and ask if they needed a website. He warned us that when looking for a job, that we should not just take the first thing we can get. For instance, don't take a Flash-based job if we don't like Flash. He also explained that in his experience working at smaller shops, he had to be more of a jack-of-all-trades and prefers working a larger agency because he didn't want to be limited by his personal capabilities. He likes working at MacLaren because he's in a place where he can be an ideas person and tap in to many people's strengths to create the best possible work.

John also gave us some advice about how to be successful in finding a job.

Your Portfolio:

• Have one - online, or at least a .pdf, and carry it with you on a USB stick
• Put only your best work
• Put your strengths up front
• Diversity is good - demonstrates you can pick up a style guide and be flexible
  
• Show your passions (side projects)
• Organize it!

Your Interview:

• Research the company
• Know what's in your portfolio, and again, make sure it's organized
  
• Ask questions, even about your portfolio and what is good / bad about it
• Develop a thick skin - don't take critiques personally
  
• Definitely don't drink beforehand
  

Your Job:

• Do what you're paid to do, and more
• Be noticed, volunteer for things
• Find other things to work on
• Participate in social events
• Don't be drunker than your boss

Lastly, John reminded us not to take ourselves too seriously, to have fun and enjoy it!

Fall Tour Interactive 2011

The Fall Tour Interactive began 6 years ago as a way for current students in interactive design programs to find out what is waiting for them in the industry before they graduate. There were several different schools and ad agencies that participated in the tour. There were 5 tour groups and each tour group had the opportunity to visit 4 studios and attend 2 presentations.

Nurun
The first studio my group visited was Nurun. They focus on purely digital advertising, and although they have offices in places all over the world, the environment still felt friendly. From meeting rooms named after superheroes, to ping pong tournaments it definitely seems like an inviting atmosphere to work in.

Though it wasn't a far walk from the tour home base at the Underground Cinema, we did have to climb 9 flights of stairs to reach it! I was very impressed by the reception we received by employees there. We were split into two groups, which allowed for a more intimate tour, and after the tour there were representatives from each department (Creative, Development, User Experience, Project Management, Social Media and Human Resources) for us to talk to. They even mentioned that Nurun would be starting an internship program soon, and if we were interested to email intern.toronto@nurun.com.

Idea Couture
The second studio we visited was Idea Couture. They are all about innovation and they do this using their philosophy of "d-school + b-school" which refers to people from design and business backgrounds working together to come up with innovative, useful design solutions. Along with design and business people, they also have anthropologists and ethnographers to help translate needs into human experience.

Idea Couture has design internships which are posted on their website as they become available, as well as a company blog, Noodleplay. They also produce a design magazine called M/I/S/C (which I won a copy of!)

Adaptive Marketing Presentation
Next in the day, we heard a presentation about adaptive marketing from Dave Stubb (MacLaren McCann). Dave is a veteran in the marketing industry, and the three most important things he wanted impress upon us about marketing in today's world were:

1. Helpful - whatever you present needs to be helpful to your audience
2. Relevant - if it's not relevant, it's not important and won't be paid any attention
3. Adaptive - changing your strategy to match with how the audience will want to interact

Dave spoke to us about two of his own experiences using adaptive marketing. One of the examples he gave was the "#internswanted" campaign for MasterCard. Essentially, MasterCard has an internship which they wanted to target to young, digitally-minded people. In the past, they were not able to reach the audience they wanted and couldn't find the right people to hire. To find a solution, Dave used social media to not only reach out to potential candidates but as a way to start the application process. In this way, they were able to find the tech-savvy young people that were ideal for the internships.

Oddly Studios
We then made our way to Oddly Studios, where we had lunch. Oddly is actually the studio responsible for organizing the Fall Interactive Tour, and spoke to us about their ad agency while we ate. Oddly is a small, privately-owned studio that has been around for about 5 years. Something interesting about them is their emphasis on only working on projects they will have fun doing.

Finance Panel
After lunch, we headed back to the Underground Cinema to hear a discussion on finance from three industry experts. They discussed the history and power of social media, different opportunities for getting projects financed and how to use analytics to help present your business plan. Overall, I thought that the panel was interesting, but was definitely targeted to people wanting to start their own businesses.

John St.
The third studio we toured was John St. At John St., they do digital and traditional advertising. Overall, their presentation was quite impressive. They first gave us a tour of all the different floors in their building, which is beautifully decorated with artwork that had a creative and eclectic feel. I especially loved the mural in the cafe level that said `Everybody hates advertising` - I thought it was an interesting reminder for everyone who works there to come up with original ideas that audiences will want to be interrupted by.

After the tour, we sat in their cafe area and they gave us a presentation on how they put together an advertising campaign from start to finish. It was interesting to see this process and even more so because the campaign they used was one I was familiar with (Tetley Tea Infusions). I liked being able to see how something so familiar came to fruition.

Grip
The last tour of the day was at Grip Ltd. They are a smaller advertising agency located right across the street from John St. Their brand is very easy to spot in the design of the studio space - there is a lot of orange, and even an orange slide that can take you from one floor down to another. (In fact, their company blog is called Big Orange Slide.)

Not only did we get a tour of the agency, but they spoke to us about the kind of person they look for when hiring, and a large portion of it has to do with ideas. They look for future-minded, curious, independent, creative people. They also stressed the importance of having personal, side-projects to set us apart from other students applying for jobs.

All photos credited to the FTI Facebook Page

Dwayne Grech - Momentum

Name: Dwayne Grech
Company: Momentum
dwayne.grech@momentum.com

This week's guest speaker was Dwayne Grech, a designer at Momentum. He also owns his own design company, Sultan of Beard. He graduated from the Seneca Graphic Design program in 2004, and our Sheridan Web Design program in 2009. Some passions Dwayne has outside of interactive design include travelling (he backpacked in Australia for a year) and cold-water surfing. Aside from working at Momentum, Dwayne teaches User Interface Design at Sheridan's Brampton campus.

After leaving Sheridan, he started working at Organic Online Media. There, some of the clients he worked for included Jeep and Chrysler. After Organic relocated from Toronto, he went to work as a Flash designer at Young and Rubicam. Unfortunately, he was laid off during the recession and spent some time doing short-term contract work.

In his current position at Momentum, Dwayne continues to work on digital content for automotive brands such as Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Fiat, Mercedes and Mazda. Some of the types of work he does includes Flash ads and microsites. He is even working on rebranding Momentum's website into an "elevator" website - using new HTML5 capabilities.

As someone who recently graduated from our program, Dwayne had a lot of advice for us.

It won't be easy. There are a lot of graduates from different schools, and not every agency can hire people. Keep in mind that junior designers end up doing all the things that senior designers don't want to do.

A lack of sleep. There are many last-minute projects that will need to be completed. It is not a 9 - 5 industry, and you'll need to put in the time to earn respect.

An ultra-competitive market. How will you stand out against 8 or 9 other schools' graduates? Remember that art is subjective, and your design style may not appeal to everyone.

It's a small industry. Everybody knows everybody else, including the good and bad things about you. First impressions will affect the rest of your career.

Crazy office politics. Creative people tend to have their hearts on their sleeves - they are invested in their work. The process for choosing designs can be cut-throat, but it's always important to stand by your fellow creatives.

Dwayne also went on to explain that despite these realities, Toronto has heaps of agency choices. From large, multinational agencies to small, privately-owned agencies there are different work environments out there. He urged us to attend industry parties to network with future employers (and friends!), and told us to keep an eye out on Twitter and LinkedIn for information about events that may have spaces available for students.

Lastly, Dwayne left us with some of his own life lessons to keep in mind:

1. Burning bridges is employment suicide.
2. Networking events are your easiest way into an interview.
3. You are never too old to stop learning.
4. theFWA.com is the Bible - look to it for inspiration.
5. Sometimes you'll have to sacrifice a weekend, or six.
6. Red Bull doesn't give you wings, but it does make you the saviour of the "last-minute, all-nighter" request.
7. Pay it foward - find juniors when you're a senior and help them out.
8. If you're not enjoying what you're doing or where you are, it's time for a change. You can make changes without burning bridges (#1), by not letting your ego get in the way and not leaving in the middle of a project.
9. Booze is your friend.
10. SOCIAL MEDIA. Get a Twitter account and get LinkedIn.
    

Catherine Baird - Dashboard

Name: Catherine Baird
Company: Dashboard

Catherine Baird is currently an Associate Creative Director at Dashboard. She's worked at Dashboard for the past 2 years, after working at Ecentricarts, Henderson Bas, and even 5eme Gauche in France. She studied art and art history in university before graduating from the same program at Sheridan in 2001.

While at Dashboard, she has worked on some pretty cool things from advertising the new ING Direct chequing account to rebranding Toronto's Santa Claus Parade.

Although she specializes in interactive design, Catherine stressed the fact that we will need to possess many more skills than just web design in our future jobs. She explained that every project description will be different, and we'll need to be able to adapt to these changes.

She clearly laid out 5 steps we should take to be successful:

1. Be a really, really good designer.
In the end, we want to get design jobs and need to have varied design skills. This should be our focus; we shouldn't become overwhelmed with new technologies.

2. Understand (and love) technology.
We need to know how it works and be excited about new technologies that will enhance our designs (e.g. touch screens).

3. Learn video, Flash animation, and social media.
Having these skills will enable us to do better work and it's important to be able to create video and animated content. We also need to take time to understand how advertising can effectively extend into social media, and especially learn how to design for Facebook.

4. Understand what UX and IA are.
User experience and information architecture are vital - you need to know what the user's experience will be before you start designing what it will look like.

5. Work hard, be flexible and keep up.
Every project will be different from the last.

Each of these steps are things that I will definitely keep in mind as I move forward, as well as my favourite piece of advice she gave which is "do what you love and be inspired".

Stephen Coomber - TAXI

Name: Stephen Coomber
Company: TAXI

Stephen graduated from Sheridan in 2005 and has already made a mark at 3 different advertising shops. He moved from Organic to Young and Rubicam and is now working at TAXI.

He gave us some advice to consider:

1. Speak up
Make your passions known to your employers. This is how Stephen was able to move from Flash animator to designer to creating the initial ideas for projects.

2. Find a mentor
They know your job better than you and can show you new things. Someone who will help you grow. Later, you'll want to return the favour.

3. Never take shotgun
Always be in control and seek out opportunities.

4. Tweet
Twitter is a powerful marketing tool. Some good accounts to follow: @mashable, @taxicanada, @theNextWeb, and @ConanOBrien.

5. Drink beer
Advertising is a social industry and connections happen after hours.

6. Don't take yourself too seriously

7. Be passionate and have fun

Stephen touched on some other topics such as office style (closed or open), the differences between small and big advertising shops and the length of hours worked depending on the philosophy of the company (at TAXI, where creativity and teamwork is encouraged, he works much longer hours than at his previous jobs). He also gave us some freelancing advice - make sure you can prove your worth to potential clients as they may not be willing to pay a freelancer as much money as a studio.

Overall, I really enjoyed Stephen's presentation, he was funny and seemed to give an honest description of what working in advertising is like from the time commitment to the types of people you could work with. He definitely gave me some things to think about for the future.

Welcome!

This is my blog that I'm writing for my Career Options class. Here I'll be discussing and posting notes outlining each presenter that visits our class.