NURUN

Friday March 11th, 2011.

Nadeem Cisaju---------------------Dondy Razon----------------------Hilary Jackson

digital stragetgist              associate creative director             project coordinator
works on everything             works on everything                   TD & Holt Renfrew

ENVIRONMENT

- family.
10am - 6pm ; usual, but each day is different.
multiple campaigns, daily projects

ITINERARY
1 then, now, future?
2 why the consumer is king!
3 a discussion
4 hilary finds a job


1. THEN - we shout it at you. (tell you want you want)
    NOW - we listen. (imagine-plan-create-improve-ask)   (put ourselves in your                atmosphere; consumer shoes)
    FUTURE - we read minds! :)   (build loyalty) 

2. but seriously, we start by.... ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS... what are the right questions? (Design thinking for Digital) - what do you need? what do you want?

-consumer relationship is key.

3. Now let's try to solve a problem together....
Introducing the iWidget!.

- currently non-existant, new product.
- leak it; buzz creation.
- fit into the consumers life.

4. Hil.
- interrogate, not be interrogated.
- find a passion outside of the workforce/schoolife
- be true to yourself
- what can you bring to the company? what makes you stand out?
- ask all the right questions
- it's personality, they already know your qualifications
- creating a repore is key with your interview
- 1st interview; testing ground - 2nd interview; diving deeper
- if you're the right fit, you're the right fit
- it's how you think, not always what you can do
- you need to be a strategy thinker
- sure you design pretty things, lots of people can do that. Is there thinking behind it?
- don't plan, it won't go that way

TAXI

"TAXI prides themselves as being cutting edge and idea driven. They are all about the creative process and ideas. They will drive you hard."

On March 25th, 2011 Stephen Coomber, Interactive Designer from TAXI made a presentation to our Sheridan Web Design class. Unfortunately I missed it. So the information in this blog post has been taken from my classmate, Johnathon. Please view his blog for more information.

STEPHEN

• graduate of the Sheridan Web design program

• has become quite a successful designer

• his first job out school was as a flash animator at Organic

• his second, Young & Rubican

• now, he is at Taxi

According to Johnathon, "Stephen's presentation was very informative, and he handed out some awesome TAXI t-shirts to boot!".

Stephen's main points: 

• BASIC KNOWLEDGE - remember your guest speakers and classmates

• KNOW YOUR COMPANIES - find where you'll fit in and impress them by showing interest in what they do and how they do it.

• FIND A MENTOR - a mentor can greatly improve your skill-set and proficiency

• SPEAK UP - make your passions known and you will likely work on the things you are passionate about.

• NEVER TAKE SHOTGUN - always sit in the driver's seat. You should be in control of you career and where you want to go.

• TWEET - Stephen reccommends @mashable, @jtoeman, @TaxiCanada, @ConanOBrien

• IF YOU LEARN, THEY WILL PAY - if you show that you are interested in learning most companies will pay your way.

• DON'T TAKE YOURSELF SERIOUSLY - "It is not the end of the world if a project is not quite right." You are not doing surgery or anything ... you are doing web design ... no one is going to die.

HELPFUL LINKS:
mashable

engadget

creativity-online

fwa

DASHBOARD - catherine baird

www.dashboard.ca

Dashboard defines itself as a "digital engagement agency". Which means they use both traditional and digital media to create a full branding experience. Always using the appropriate media whoever the consumer is, in order to drive interest in the product and traffic to the website.

 

CATHERINE BAIRD

• Sheridan Web Design grad

• 10 years in the field

• Associate Creative Director at Dashboard

*has worked with a graduate from our web design program at Sheridan every year since she graduated in 2001. From our very seats!! How encouraging :D

WORK HISTORY:

• Senior Designer at Ecentricarts
• Senior Designer at Henderson Bas
• Associate Creative Director at Henderson Bas
• Senior Art Director at 5emegauche (Paris, France)
• Senior Art Director at Draft FCB

HOW TO BETTER YOUR CHANES: getting the job

1. Be prepared! Having your work ready and easy to get too.

2. Do something unusual. Stand out.

3. Do a follow up, but do not make it a book.

4. Show diversity, but make it clear on what you are "best" at.

5. Network.

TRICK: If you don't get a interview, ask for a portfolio review.

IN THE FUTURE OF WEB DESIGN: according to Catherine Baird

• Touch screens (Dashboard has experience with these)

• Mobile and apps

• Facebook and YouTube Campaigns

• Augmented Reality - like the QR codes

• Cloud Computing

• HTML5 - aka the death of flash??

• Web fonts - she offers us a few typographic links for aid

In the end, this was a very solid presentation and I'm glad she came in. Especially when those of us in the class can hear success stories of those who sat where we currently do.

FIND CATHERINE:

personal website
catherine's blog

Investors Group

http://www.investorsgroup.com/

Financial advisors Rachelle Allen & Adam Plaxton from Investors Group gave a presentation to the Sheridan Web Design class on Feb.24th. They offered us some valuable advice that will soon be put to as we enter into the workforce.

According to the statistics that they presented, people born today are having a perceived life expectancy of about 140 years. WOW-wee! This - and other - new realities means that it is important to plan. Will you outlive your money? Or will your money outlive you?

Rachelle talked about the four reasons why people tend to fail financially in their retirement, eventually fall into debt or become financially dependent on others:

1. lack of planning

2. taxes

3. procrastination

4. investor behavior.

They also described how to save and pay less tax by using RSP, RRSP & Tax Free Savings Accounts. They also briefly spoke upon Critical Illness Insurance. This type of insurance is designed to help you financially if you develop an illness that requires you take a lot of time off work to recover.

Important Note to Consider:

"Mortgage Insurance" is designed to protect the banks.

"Term Life Insurance" is designed to protect you.

CONTACT INFO:

Adam Plaxton

416-695-8600

adam.plaxton@investorsgroup.com

Rachelle Allen

416-860-1668 ext. 227

rachelle.allen@investorsgroup.com

LEO BURNETT - brendan good

big ides come from big pencils

Brendan Good, Associate Creative Director at Leo Burnett (Toronto) provided the Sheridan Web Design Program students with a friday morning of thought-provoking Q&A. He didn't show us Leo's work. He didn't tell us they were the best. He barely even talked about himself. He made his presentation about us, his audience.

It was rather refreshing. And although other guest speakers have done the same, they didn't do it quite like him.

He started off by passing around a few books that he recommended we take a good look at: Guideline for Online Success and The Internet Case Study Book bot by Rob Ford/Julius Widemann.

His presentation was guided by the classroom. Full of topic choices, we got to chose which ones to talk about and in what order they were talked about in. Some Topics were questions for us to answer (rewarded with a USB key that held articles on them, for the class to put them together afterwards). Other topics we questions for him to answer, and the other others (lol) were just random tidbits or life lessons or funny stories. Hands down my favourite presentation of the year thus far.

You can view his presentation here:

a few key notes:

• always present on a calibrated monitor!!!

• sketch. always carry a sketchbook with you.

• PASSION - it's all you need.

• and sticky notes.....everywhere.

quotes: 

"The computer has played a role in destroying creativity with Photoshop Everybody thinks they're a designer." — George Lois (Clients from hell)

"Logos have become the closet thing we have to an international language, recognized and understood in many more places than explanation— Naomi Klein (no Logo)

links:

www.leoburnett.com 
www.brendangood.com/

thatstevemiller - ONE METHOD

ONE METHOD - steve miller comes to visit

http://onemethod.com/

One of the bigger fishes in the sea of multimedia design, One Method covers both print and digital areas of the industry. Here's the breakdown:   

One Method is an open concept shop working out of Liberty Village in Toronto, Ontario. Steve (picture below) has been there for six (6) years.

He's gone from retail to musician to bcomm marketing to being a "suit"! He's even done some copywriting. And now? Now he's a Creative Directer (CD) at One Method. The Creative Director does a variety of tasks within the company. ie) Creative and strategic thinking, presenter, performer, communicator, marketer, idea conveyor.

What he's looking for?

• fantastic design; if you're going to be a designer. be fantastic at it.

• no ego; you can't have one is this industry, you've got to take criticism.

• variety - multifaceted; know other programs, not perfectly, but be familiar.

INTERVIEWS:

- work (50%); presentation (portfolio)

- brief rationale

- think mobile! think social.

- ideas

- not just sites, put a little of everything you can do. Show diversity.

- you (50%); first 5minutes

- speak intelligently

- take comments

- you're only as good as your weakest site - update your portfolio and show only what you think is your best work.

obvious tips: no sunglasses, no chewing gum, and no blackberry messaging!!

CLOSING REMARKS:

• take courses, stay up-to-date!!

• practice your presentation skills

• read a lot

• get all the experience you can

• think social,think integrated

• get on LinkedIn and Twitter

• be DEV savvy - flash, html5, wordpress, etc...

• offer more than just design

• be a people person

and a final....

"you are a salesperson - remember that."

and check out these awesome books and links:

http://www.delicious.com/thatstevemiller

HOW TO CONTACT STEVE?

@thatstevemiller

steve@onemethod.com

ECENTRICARTS

ECENTRICARTS

www.ecentricarts.com

engaging. enriching. enlightening.

EcentricArts is primarily a digital site creating interactive websites that engage the user.

They are a small shop compared to some of the big fish companies in the city, but have made a great name for themselves! Their work is outstanding.

Their work includes brand names such asL Kids Help Phone, OSLER, Bennett Jones, the National Ballet School of Canada, and munkdebate.com.

In House:

• 3 owners

• 4 project managers

• 3 designers

• 2 "oddies" - float between design and coding

• 5/6 front end development

• 6/7 back end development

They work in an open concept environment like most shops do in the industry.

The presentation and discussion is finished off with a few pointers for getting an interview and when you get it.

1. Personality! You're work will get you the interview, your personality will get you the job.

2. Oral Communication! When in an interview, use appropriate language and speak clearly. (You laugh, but they have had someone interview while being intoxicated).

3. Spelling! It's all in your attention to the details.

And, keep up with the ever-changing technology and industry ways, accessibility standards and website standards.