Breaking In

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

DL: First of all, I am a “website” person, not a “book” person. Some people are still romantic about books. I am not. I like a site because not only do “ideas” have to come across clearly, concisely, and profoundly to transmit through that medium—as it is less tactile and emotional—but it really does ultimately become extremely poignant and engaging if the ideas are strong and, of course, that is the most important thing. Some may argue that the tactility of a hard portfolio cannot be beaten, but the fact is, we must understand and accept that the digital page is the current focus and the future. The publishing world is equally substantiating that as they go full-speed online. It also gives those who do not have as much digital experience an opportunity to express themselves in this medium and to show their skills in creating a user-friendly experience as well as their creativity.

Beyond the ideas, it will be the formation and character of presentation. It’s individuality, it’s craft, it’s fluidity, and it’s simplicity. It has to blend both your vision of who you are, whether by means of its craft or by means of its aura and impression tonally, with the power of the work. But, at the end of the day, you need to make it easy work for the recipient. If it is hard work, you will be passed over.

And, last of all, no segregation. I look for the power of ideas in its ability to reign across all platforms without compartmentalizing them. It should be unified, natural, and simply an assumed part of the creative process of engagement.

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Check out some great work from Hal Curtis.

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

HC: The first thing you always look for are good ideas. Good thinking. I’m an art director so I’m probably more severe in my criticism if I’m looking at an art director’s work. I’m harder to please. But it’s always about the idea. You look for craftsmanship and alongside craftsmanship you look for passion. I want to see a unique voice. Someone who’s an individual. The best advertising talks to you like a person—not a company. So good writers, they have a unique voice. A distinct voice. And you can see that in a book. In a good art director’s book you see a unique style. They just have a certain something that makes them stand out and makes them interesting. Good books can be very traditional, or they can be very unusual, or they can be very organic. You can see, when you look at a book, someone who’s really excited about the craft. You can also see when someone doesn’t really know what they want to do yet.

But, to sum it up: You look for strong ideas, good craftsmanship, passion, individual voice, and style.

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Hal Curtis is a Creative Director at Wieden+Kennedy, Portland.

Nike – “Morning After”

Nike – “Kid Tiger”

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Check out some great work from Kevin Roddy.

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

KR: I might be different than some in that regard because I look, first and foremost, at the thinking behind any creative solution. Even more than the idea or execution itself, I look at how they are solving the problem…what’s the thinking behind that. Because what I find is that there are a lot of people who approach a problem in a straightforward way and, I think, when you do that you’re on quite a crowded highway. A different way at the problem leads more easily to a different idea. A unique idea. It must be relevant to the problem but it will stand out to me more when its approach isn’t something I’ve seen before or easily expect.

Beyond that I look at what I imagine are the clichés of portfolio reviews: quality of the idea and execution of the idea.

But more so today than ever before, I’m never more disappointed than when I see a book that’s filled exclusively with print ads, television spots, and maybe the occasional microsite thrown in. You’d be surprised at how many of those I still come across. Again, I think more than anything, and this goes back to the first point, I look for big ideas—big ideas that can and are executed in a lot of different ways. I’m never interested in ideas that are executed in a limited fashion. I don’t want to see the limits of an idea, I want to see how unlimited it can be. I want to see it live in more than a couple ads. I want to know that the person behind the book knows the value of a big idea to a brand.

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Kevin Roddy is Chief Creative Officer at Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco.

Smirnoff Raw Tea – “Tea Partay”

FoxSports.com – “Feet”

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

RC:I look for variety and unique projects. Variety in the kinds of campaigns they work on. Not the typical student clients: Snowboards, movie festivals, etc. Somebody who has taken a fairly unique product or service and done something kind of cool with it. And, on top of it, something that’s not your traditional three-spread ads, three-spread ads, three-spread ads, because that’s really completely unrealistic. I mean, even our most senior teams here never work on three-spread ads. It’s very unusual. What have they done with some interesting fractionals, newspaper, guerrilla postings, websites, anything like that, that’s just a little different that approaches advertising in a unique manner other than the super-traditional print. Because, if you can come up with something really unique, I’m assuming, you can probably do a great print ad too.

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Check out some great work from David Covell.

WS:What do you look for in a portfolio coming from a student or someone who hasn’t worked in the industry before?

DC:For students, I look at fundamentals. And I find that it’s really hard to find students now who [have that]. I don’t know what it is—whether it’s the university courses that are being taught now or what—but it seems like those fundamentals are going by the wayside in lieu of what I see as “style,” especially illustration style. There is this weird thing happening now in design, where the designer has become the artist. Where selling your wares, as, say, a T-shirt designer, has become the thing…the utmost in the young students’ minds. It’s too bad because I find that a lot of the fundamentals like grids and typography, and even mark-making, has really gone by the wayside. Just simple, formal training, like how to create tension in the composition—you don’t really find that as much anymore. So that’s what I look for: typography, the ability to make a clean, beautifully drawn mark that also has good content in it as well. Not just for style’s sake, but just a very good story within the mark itself.

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David Covell is Creative Director at JDK Design, New York.

Vermont Mozart Festival

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Check out some great work from Graham Fink.

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WS: When you say “a point of view” do you mean an approach to ads or just a way of looking at the world or both?

GF: If it’s an ad campaign, I want them to show me something coming from a distinct angle. And remember you’re selling something off the page. But there’s many different ways of doing it. What tone of voice are you going to use? If you ever had an argument with your girlfriend, you might talk to her in a particular tone of voice which would be different to talking to your mom if she’s very ill. It could be very different when talking to a car mechanic who fixed your car. If he’s made a complete hash of it, you might talk to him a bit differently if you’re expressing your anger, but then, if you want him to sort it out and fix it, you would use a different tone of voice again. There’s many strands, some of them are quite subtle. You need to decide which one you’re going to use to talk to your audience.

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Graham Fink is Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy & Mather China and a member of the Ogilvy Asia Pacific Executive Committee.

British Airways

Land Rover

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