Saturday, November 19, 2011
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.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
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.
Monday, November 14, 2011
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: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.
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
Friday, November 4, 2011
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.comJay 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.
- 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
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).
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