In case you missed it, check out some great work from Todd Lamb.

WS: What do you look for in a student book and what impresses you?

TL: I don’t look at very many student books because my attention span can’t really cope with it. It’s a shame, but most of them aren’t very surprising. I want to laugh out loud. A lot of the student books are too controlled.

WS: Do you think you can put together a book of sketches and, if the ideas are good, that’s enough, or do you think you have to finish work on a computer?

TL: I think that sketches could be enough. I would be more intrigued by a group of sketches that were really funny than a book that looks like it’s from the future, but dull. So, I think it’s very possible to have a hand-done portfolio, if it’s good.

WS: Do you think you need long copy in a book?

TL: I’ve noticed that many writers in advertising can’t put more than three sentences together. So long copy would show that you could write. On the other hand, I wouldn’t want to read ten paragraphs about men’s underwear. Unless I worked in an underwear factory, then I’d read it on my lunch break.

WS: What do you think about putting things besides ads in a book?

TL: I think it’s good because the hope for the advertising industry is that it can be more interesting, more compelling, more entertaining than the stuff that surrounds it, otherwise no one on earth is going to care. So you shouldn’t limit yourself to just the form of an ad and there shouldn’t be a form to an ad. There should just be a thing you made, and hopefully it’s selling a product for a company and they’re happy about it. So, there’s no reason why it should be like what is regarded as the traditional form for an ad. No creative person should limit themselves to that.

WS: But even outside of nontraditional advertising, should you put in stuff like your journal writing or your photography, or just whatever you’re into, totally separate…

TL: Yeah, put all creative things in it. Show you’re a person who has other interests. For me, I’d like intermissions that show that I’d actually want to spend some time with that person.

[ … ]