lemony

new york fields

Wow! What a day. The first field trip of the year for the VC kids.

Started off viewing the ACT! show at the Art Director's Club. With a short speech by Hervé C. de Clerck of Adforum: another reminder that ALL IT TAKES IS A GOOD IDEA and you can build a business, start a movement, have a gallery show.

Next rushed down (one month away from NYC and I have already, apparently, forgotten how to tell the Uptown train from the Downtown train) to Chelsea Pictures for an inspiring talk by Steve Wax of Campfire. Our new buzzword: social media. Steve: deciding to make a "viral ad" is like trying to write a "bestselling novel." You have to understand what makes people WANT to follow your story. It's not traditional storytelling, it's about one person being drawn into the action and navigating through it. And then what? And then what? And then what?

And then what WE did was navigate our own way over to Tribeca Cinema for a FANTASTIC panel discussion sponsored by Boards magazine featuring some of the "Advertising Women of Excellence" who were being feted later that night at the ADC. Part of Advertising week, the panel consisted of "Jancy", Nancy Vonk and Janet Kestin - Co-Chief Creative Officers, Ogilvy & Mather; Nancy Axthelm - EVP/Director of Broadcast Production, Grey Worldwide; Jules Daly, President, RSA USA; and Ethel Rubinstein, President/COO, Bluerock. It was moving and enlightening. And even, optimistic - hey, people are talking about the scarcity of women in the creative side of the business, and that's a GOOD THING.

And lastly, we moseyed up to see an old co-worker of mine, Graham Cllifford. His presentation for us was as "honed and crafted" as his gorgeous typography, and the softspoken humor and accent don't hurt the delivery one en-space. Graham was just elected to the presidency of the Type Director's Club and why wouldn't he be. He gave us the best presentation of start-to-finish iterations on a recent project I've ever seen. And lavished us with time. The good ones are always the nicest, don't you think?

Can you tell I just learned (duh) how to LINK things?

it's zachtastic!

On Wednesday September 27th we were sooooo thrilled to have Zach Canfield from Goodby, Silverstein and Partners. Zach's presentation of the tv and interactive reels, along with recent interactive case studies (Comcast, The Fluid Milk Processing Board, and his own personal crazy fun project) were amazing and exciting. Watching the entire reel back to back it was clear why the agency is consistently at the top of the creative heap. But even better was hearing Zach's life story (or part of it) and his positive and optimistic personal beliefs: that you can meet any goal you set, but that goals are actually limiting, because focusing on the goal makes you blind to all the other experiences available (I'm paraphrasing): that constantly pushing your personal boundaries and creating for yourself is crucial to living a creative life (paraphrasing here too). And I think it's safe to say if things don't work out with Lady Sovereign, Zach, there are about a thirty cute art directors whose numbers I could get you.
Lastly, a good reminder to students: if you're lucky, Rich Silverstein WILL stand over your shoulder and make you kern type, and you WILL forget what an ampersand is when you're doing it.

new pastures

boy, advertising sure is fun when you're not in it.
Seriously: long time no see. Lotsa changes.
In august I gave notice to mcgarrybowen to sort of free up some time and energy to teach again at the VC program at Delaware. Finished up a couple of Crayola commercials and was out the door.
Oh yeah, thanks for the going-away party guys! It only cost me a $200 speeding ticket to get up there. But I had at least $250 worth of fun.
So, we're about four weeks into the semester. I'm teaching 4th year advertising design (portfolio preparation) and 3rd year advertising design. It's a big change at Delaware without our fearless leader, Ray Nichols, but there is a lot of new blood and who knows? it's all good. And wow - it's kinda cool to have dinner with my kid every single night of the week. And sleep in my own bed.