Archive for September, 2009
Sketching on your iPhone
All you creative people out there, put your pencil and pad of paper down and pick up your iPhone… the time has finally arrived – you can now literally sketch on your iPhone. Autodesk has come out with SketchBook Mobile, it is an app that offers a full set of sketching tools designed specifically for the iPhone and iPod touch. It gives you layers, brushes and yes even colors. What you created in SketchBook Mobile can be saved as a picture and opened in SketchBook Pro. This is amazing, I just threw my pad of paper in the drawer. To learn more, check it out here.
Pantone on the go – WHAT?
Now all you designers and production people can leave those multiple, bulky Pantone books back at the office – just pick up your iPhone or iPod Touch. Pantone came out with an app that gives you access to a variety of color libraries. You can create your own palettes and share them in different ways such as by email, or simply post notifications to Twitter and or Facebook.
To learn more or download the app, go to pantone.com/iphone.
Bring your online brand to life
Could your logo have untapped potential to deliver a unique, relevant online brand experience?
Take a look at the MooBella® website. MooBella is an emerging, disruptive ice cream brand, and their animated online logo is flirtatious and engaging. It’s clear that they have an innovative, playful company culture, and a product that’s perfectly positioned for Gen Y.
Architects of Education 2.0
During a casual conversation today, I complimented a young marketer on her MBA from the University of Maryland. She went on to tell me that she never met any of her professors, never set foot on campus and never so much as shared a beer with a fellow student. She had completed her MBA from her home in Atlanta completely online.
While distance learning is not a new concept, this particular conversation begged the question about how far the Internet will take higher education. According to a recent Fast Company article entitled Who Needs Harvard?, American higher education is being transformed by the Internet at an accelerated pace.
Startups are poised to harness the exhaustive amount of open courseware, social media and video capability. Though, it’s still too early to tell whether the Internet will disrupt our college and university systems to the same degree it impacted the newspaper and music industry, exciting market forces are at work bridging the gap between free information and less expensive education.
It’s no surprise that venture capitalists have mobilized in support of for-profit online education, as well. Many attractive, innovative companies have solved the technology and knowledge-sharing challenges and are now working on establishing rules for accreditation and assessment. In the meantime, colleges and universities gain an opportunity to generate new revenue streams by considering to license content, which could point to a win win scenario.
If nothing else, we should probably all prepare for more complex answers when simply asking about someone’s college education.
Student visitors to CBD
Recently, I was visited by a group of students from the University of Texas-Pan American. I received a call from Dave Martinez, an Associate Professor at the university earlier this year. He asked if a group of students could tour our office and have a question and answer session about what it is like to work in an ad agency. I immediately said yes. I believe any chance to help students along the way should not be passed up. Here is a description of the seminar that the students signed up for,
Seminar to Chicago, Speak to those who know! Learn from top professionals and gain exposure of the Chicago art world. A variety of studios will be visited that will offer students insight to the world of advertising, corporate design, and professional illustration. Career guidance will be supplemented with informative lectures by top agencies and portfolio presentations by freelance designers, photographers and illustrators. Students must conduct research on each agency before visits take place and complete an informative paper upon their return to Texas.
The group arrived lead by Dave and included students Kristen Jandusay, Marisa Mendoza, Jeanette Sosa, and Maria Cameron Martinez. All eager to learn what a career in the ad biz is all about. I was happy to answer any and all questions such as; how long does a project take start to finish, what is your role, what’s an Art Director’s day involve, etc.
I was very impressed with the questions from the group. Having been a graduate of an art school here in Chicago where I majored in advertising and design I had never been inside an agency until my first interview. How great, I thought, that Dave was bringing his class from Texas to Chicago to give students an insiders view of the business.
Best of luck to the students! And cheers to Dave for giving four students a really great start in the business.
Notes from AdTech: Chicago
AdTech is two days of conferences, workshops, discussions and exhibitors dwelling on the latest research, application, and thinking around effective online marketing. Again, we had the industry thoughtleaders and local agencies and clients participating, including Cam Balzer from Threadless, arguably the most successful community-driven business; Adam Curry, former MTV VJ turned episodic video messaging; Gian Fulgoni, Chairman of comScore; David Moore, founder and CEO of 24/7 Real Media; and the various minds of the leading online marketers in the Midwest. This year’s AdTech was highly informative so let me share some quick hits.
