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!