Breaking In

After stints at Wieden+Kennedy and TBWA, Val has helped create a new team within Google that specializes in data visualization. In his own words:

Our work is very non-traditional — a mix of data visualization and interactive pieces that are often closer to software than advertising. Ad agencies might not be too interested in this kind of work right now, but I think that will change as the industry recognizes the potential of these kinds of projects to grab people’s attention.

Most of this work requires explanation so I’ll include Val’s own descriptions.

Search Globe: an interactive visualization of Google’s global search volume (more info in this blog post).

The Data Viz Challenge: A project with two purposes: to visualize how the US federal government spends its citizens’ income taxes, and to encourage interest in data visualization in the United States.

3 Dreams of Black: An interactive film that showcases the graphical power of the Chrome web browser. My role was to help build the behind-the-scenes technology page.

Android Activation Visualization: This video visualizes new Android phones being activated for the first time. It’s 3 minutes long and doesn’t have sound — not a traditional ad, right? But it got a lot of attention among Android fans who were encouraged by the growth of the platform.

Life In A Day “Touchscreen Gallery”: We built this project for the 2011 Sundance premier of Kevin Macdonald’s crowdsourced documentary “Life In A Day”. The gallery showcases the 80,000 video clips that were submitted as part of the project.

ChromeExperiments.com: Chrome Experiments is a curated digital gallery of artwork, games, and graphics demos created for web browsers. We have 250 experiments, and add more each week. Every project is user-submitted.

If you missed it, check out some great work from Dylan Lee.

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

DL: I look for big ideas. I don’t have to see digital. I don’t have to see TV. I don’t have to see alternative media. If someone has great ideas, I know he or she can think of something for whatever medium comes up. I also love to see a book where someone has multiple voices. Because sometimes funny works great. And sometimes it doesn’t. I am also always impressed by truths; those ideas resonate with consumers and go beyond gimmicks, word plays, and jokes. 

WS: How important is finish? If ideas are the most important thing, can sketches be enough? Do you look at physical books anymore, or is it all websites? 

DL: I want to say that I’m not affected by pretty books and execution. But it is advertising, and presentation is important. However, a good creative mind should and will see a good idea on a piece of toilet paper. If you have a great idea but not the time to make it look shiny, present it. As for websites, I’m torn. They make portfolios quick to view, omnipresent, and of course, “Everybody’s doing it!” But I fear they do a disservice to the work. TV spots, print ads, and out of home were not meant to be shrunken down and viewed on a tiny computer screen. For a copywriter, it’s sad to have well-crafted copy scrolled through in a way you would never read a real ad. I’m sure I’ll succumb, but I’ll always have a life-sized, tangible, more impressive book to show. We should make our ideas look amazing, captivating, and larger than life. Isn’t that what our jobs are? 

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Take a look at some great work from Dylan Lee of Wieden+Kennedy Portland.

Nike – “Throwdown”

Nike – “Racing Marion”

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In case you missed it, check out some great work from David Oakley and his agency BooneOakley.

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

DO: Looking at a student’s book is kind of like porn. It’s hard to describe what you like, but you know it when you see it. I look for ideas. Also I look for unique ways of looking at things. Approaching a problem from a different angle. And one thing that I don’t seem to see anymore is long, well-crafted copy. I’m really getting tired of visual solution executions.

WS: How important is finish? If ideas are the most important thing, can sketches be enough? Do you look at physical books anymore, or is it all websites?

DO: Mostly I look at students’ websites or the occasional PDF that is sent. Finish is nice, but I think it’s a waste of time to make a half-baked idea look nice.

WS: How important is writing? Do you need to see long copy?

DO: As a writer myself, I think that the craft of copywriting is falling by the wayside. I hardly ever see well-written long-copy ads in student work. I’ve heard it said that nobody reads copy. That’s not true. I do.

WS: What do you think of showing work that is not advertising?

DO: I love seeing photography from art directors. I like seeing things that aren’t advertising. Sometimes seeing something completely different that has nothing at all to do with an ad shows a level of creativity that you don’t see in their work. I don’t want to look at a whole portfolio of their art, or read their whole journal, but a little look at their real personality is sometimes helpful. It could be the tiebreaker that says hire this guy over the other guy.

WS: Do you have any other advice for a student or junior trying to get into the business?

DO: Talk to as many people in the business as possible. Go on lots of interviews. Even if there is no job available. You’ll meet people who will tell you about other people to meet. This is a very small business. Keep trying. Keep knocking on doors. If you want a job bad enough, you’ll get one.

Check out some great work from David Oakley, Co-founder & Creative Director of BooneOakley, Charlotte.

Boone Oakley Website

106.5 The End

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If you missed it, check out some brilliant work from Mark Waites and Mother London.

MW: …for a student to come in and have a book full of billboards and 30-second TV ads shows that they’re not really living in the real world. This is some kind of advertising heaven as it was. I’m 45 years old, and I’m looking for kids to teach me things. Because I know there’s a whole bunch of really exciting things happening out there that I’m not invited into. And they don’t happen on billboards and TV commercials like they used to. They happen on websites, and in discussion groups, and on the Internet. I’m looking for work that could live in the real world, and that, I think, will contribute and will make a difference to a piece of business. I think that’s one thing: everything we do, as well researched as it is, and as much research and development that clients have done with their new products, it’s always only ever going to be a shot in the dark.

So what we do is—and we’d like to think we’ve become pretty good at it—looking at something and going, “I’m going to guess that that’s going to work. I’m going to guess that that’s what the audience wants to hear about a product that they want to buy. And that’s playing out in an environment or in a way that I think they’re going to really like and engage with.” And we apply that as well when we’re looking at student books. And it’s the same when we judge advertising and marketing awards. We don’t know anything about that brief, we don’t know anything about that product, and we don’t know anything about that market, but I’m guessing that that idea will sell. We do it a lot. Right or wrong, and that will be employed when we’re judging a book.

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Here is some great work from Mark Waites, Founder and Creative Director of Mother, London.

Dr. Pepper

Orange

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

MH: I look for humanity that goes beyond cleverness. Although I confess that cleverness is very important. I want to see signs that the student isn’t just trying to impress his or her fellow students. I want to feel that the work is strategically smart—and not just attention getting. I want to see a careful, thoughtful presentation of the work. I’m really turned off by misspellings, poor grammar, etc.

WS: How important is finish?

MH: Less important for a writer, more important for an art director.

WS: If ideas are the most important thing, can sketches be enough?

MH: Yes.

WS: Do you look at actual paper books anymore, or is it all websites?  

MH: Both.

WS: How important is copy?

MH: Being able to write clearly and well is an asset for anyone. For a writer—even in these minimal-copy times—it is essential.

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In case you missed it, check out some amazing work from Mira Kaddoura.

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

MK: A voice. Someone with a point of view I haven’t seen before. And craft. Someone who pays attention to crafting their work. It so obvious when a person loves what they do. They pay attention to detail, to type, to words, to proportions, to how things come together, and so on. You know, old school.

WS: How important is finish? Can sketches be enough?

MK: Initially, sketches are fine, but to really sell an idea you have to bring it to life as best you can. A great idea, poorly executed, is a total miss.

WS: Do you mostly just look at websites now or paper books?

MK: Mostly websites. I have to say though, when I do get a book and it’s beautifully crafted and where I can see the art direction and read the copy at the size it was printed, I get pretty excited.

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Enjoy some fantastic work from Mira Kaddoura, Senior Art Director at Wieden+Kennedy Portland.

Nike – “I Feel Pretty”

The Girl Effect

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