Grad Photos

Hells yes. Gonna miss this sexy crew.

Lorraine Fleck

Today we heard from Lorraine Fleck, a Copyright Lawyer who was nice enough to come in and talk to us about not stealing things. Very informative!

1.What is copyright?
Copyright is the exclusive right to reproduce original content and stop others from reproduction that content
Copyright in the U.S & Canada are drastically different

2. What does it protect?
Original, literary, dramatical, musical and artistic works -Literary includes:books, pamphlets, magazines, plays, scripts
Audible music with or without works
Paintings photos, map;s, charts, plans, photos, engravings, sculpture, crafts and architectural works such as buildings, sculptures and models
3. How is copyright created?
The original work is created by a Canadian citizen or citizen of a Berne Convention country
The work must come into physical existence, copyright does not exist on ideas
If the work is published, the work is published in Canada or Berne Convention country
No need to register of mark - if you want to sue for copyright infringement need to have the mark, but you don't need it
4. How long does copyright exist?
Depends on the type of work and whether there are joint authors
Most works = life of the author + rest of the calendar year in which the author died+50 years
Joint authors = term lasts to the end of the 50th year of the last author dies
Unknown author = lesser of the end of the 50th year after publication or 75 years after the work was made
5. Who owns the copyright?
Photograph - the first person who owns the negative of the photo
Employees - employers are the first owner of the works created for the employer by the employee
If your contract states that all creative works made outside of work, even if non-employer equipment is used, the work still belongs to them
6. Who can use copyright materials?
The owner - ownership can be transferred by must be in writing. The ownership transfer agreement usually is called an "assignment"
Copyright ownership transfers always have to be in writing - doesn't have to be notarized in Canada
"Assignment" is technical legal term for ownership transfer
Anyone who has permission "license" the terms of the licenses dictate that the licensee can do under the license. The fee paid under license to the copyright owner "liscensor"is a "royalty"
Liscensor (person that owns the right) licensee (person who has permission)
7. What is copyright infringement?
The making of an unauthorized copy
There must be a substantial portion of the material copied - no hard and fast rule about this, but if you want to take just a snippet of a photo you might be okay - but if its the snippet with the entire essence of the photo you are probably infringing
1 Primary - a copy is made without permission
2. Secondary the sale, rental or distribution of content of materials
8. Are there exceptions to copyright infringement?
Yes but under specific circumstances
Major categories "Fair dealing":
1. Research/Private study
2. Criticism/Review - i.e. movie review/critique,
3. News Reporting - must state who the author of the material is
While not limited to private or non-commercial contexts, not very useful for advertisers, no advertising specific exception.
Parody is NOT currently an exception in Canada

Moral Rights -What are they?
The authors right to:
1. Retain the integrity of the work, cant be cropped or mutilated, destroyed
1. Not have her/his work distorted
3. Have his/her name associated or not with the work, i.e. Banksy can enforce his work only to be associated as "Banksy"
Activities must be shown to be to the detriment of author's honour/reputation
Eaton Center got sued by Michael Snow because of the red ribbons they put on the Michael snow geese because it was infringing on his moral rights
Read the story here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_v._The_Eaton_Centre_Ltd.

Alexander Younger

"Attitude determines your altitude." Alexander Younger, President and Founder at Design Lab, Pilot, and husband of Sarah Richardson, came in to speak with the class today. Check him out on LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter @designlabinc.

Alex started DesignLab 20 years ago with a passion for emerging technologies, and has thrived by helping clients to leverage those technologies to efficiently communicate with their customers. The theme of Alex's presentation was app design.

Luke Wroblewski at Moblilism 2011 in Amsterdam.

Alex started by showing some interesting facts from lukew.com. Just to put things in perspective; 371K babies are born every day, 378K iphones are sold every day, 700K Android devices are activated every day, and 562K iOS devices are sold each and every day. So I think he's trying to tell us that mobile design is relevant :) And I would imagine that a lot of the demand for smart phone devices is being driven by apps... which need to be designed.

Best Practices for Mobile Design

1) Establish your business goals. How do you make people want to buy your app. In the case of Angry Birds they were able to create this phenomenon, partly by giving it away, and then made off by merchandising it.

2) Keep it simple. People are smart but they are not intuitive. If something is tried and true, use it.

3) Get inspired. Know what the competition is up to. Be on top of new innovations. Cool example of reactive design from foodsense.is. Also check out barackobama.com.

4) Go social. In a case study of DesignLab's work with The Beer Store, Alex walked us through the process of building their app which features a beer passport to encourage sampling and community building.

5) Remember the rankings

6) Measure

Alex's advice on how to impress an agency

1) Put together a great portfolio

2) Have a great attitude, be enthusiastic

3) Research the company and your interviewer.

4) Ask a lot of questions, "how am I going to grow here."

5) Don't settle.

David Gray

David Gray came in to speak with us today. Another grad of the Web Design program at Sheridan College, he is now a Digital Sales Producer at CTV News & Entertainment, Bell Media Interactive. You can find him on LinkedIn or check out his personal website, www.davidgraydesign.com. He's also a singer, songwriter and music producer :)

This one gets me every time.

When David graduated in 2007 it was around the pinnacle of Flash banner design and he was able to land a job an Interactive Designer / Flash Developer, (aka banner bitch) position at Publicis Modem Toronto. He warned us of the hours we can expect to work at an agency, and it sounds like he was worked to the bone in this role. Basically, if you love it, you will thrive, otherwise it's easy to burn out. Projects got pushed out daily, and in this way he was able to learn quickly and soon became a producer.

When the recession hit, David was laid off, and he started out as a freelancer. This is where his network came in handy and he was able to pull in enough work, but the hours became erratic. A common scenario would be to get a job in the late afternoon that need to be ready for the morning, so he'd be up all night to get it done. Freelancing is all about your contacts, being organized and learning how to manage your money. Feast or famine.

After a quick stop at Digital Percent, (now Q Media) he was back freelancing when an opportunity at TBWA came up. There he looked over maintenance of Visa.ca, a huge account with really quick role over times. Each morning started in a meeting with the accounts team to discuss the changes that needed to be implemented that day.

Next, budget cuts, and again he was laid off. David's stressed that you can't take it personally, this is just the way business goes. Soon after he landed his current position at CTV Bell Media where he works on a lot of co-branded units. He got this job through a contact otherwise he wouldn't have even known it had been posted. As a Publisher he's responsible for making sure that everything gets done by the launch date. He needs to keep people happy and motivated while ensuring that the client gets what they asked for on time. He is an organizer, and a delegator.

Tips for survival:

1) Network and make contacts

2) Use LinkedIn to connect and find out about job opportunities

3) Do research at home and stay ahead of the curve

4) Keep your cool and be organized

5) Learn as much as you can about mobile

6) Get to know your browsers

R.I.P Pan Am

Michael Gramlow

Today we got to hear from Michael Gramlow, award winning Creative Director at Lollipop. Before this he was a Creative Director, Interactive at Dentsu Canada, a Creative Director at Henderson Bas, and lots more things, both here and in the United States. Michael has Nakane Teien Kenkyujo listed under his education on LinkedIn. As far as I can tell this has something to do with traditional Japanese painting?? Look him up on LinkedIn, follow him on Twitter @mgramlow, or find his portfolio on michaelgramlow.com.

Lollipop is a creative production company that works with agencies to produce digital experiences. As the industry has evolved, Michael sees three areas of opportunity for work, each requiring a unique passion and skill set. 1) Interactive Pure Play, which includes companies like Critical Mass, Organic and Blast Radius. 2) Integrated Ad Agencies like Taxi, DDP and BBDO. 3) Production Companies which incluce Lollipop, Pixel Pusher, Indus Blue and Fuel. So Lollipop's job is to execute an idea put forth to them by an ad agency. There work is mainly produced for American companies, as their representation is in New York City.


Pureblacksunshine.com was produced for Extreme Group, for a Canadian/Haitian based coffee company with a unique marketing angle. Visitors are invited to step into shadows of the underworld, chartering a flight to a mysterious island to undertake a business deal that simulates a 'movie like' drug deal. Players who keep their cool and make it past the imposing steel door guarding the entrance to a seemingly abandoned warehouse are tested to the limits as they come face to face with the dealer, his pure organic stash, and a gun-toting gang of hired thugs.

Shot in the basement of the Pure Black Sunshine processing plant in Toronto. Michael talked about the process of creating the narrative and building a style and mood for the shoot. This one must have been fun.

Part of a holiday campaign shot for TJX Brands. This is an interesting brand experience that allows the user to customize the background using googlemaps and send a christmas carol to a friend. You can also add a reindeer which they got from Greenscreen Animals.

Nice.

Produced with Dentsu, this is a site created to support the launch of the Legendary Biru campaign for Sapporo Beer. Lollipop designed and built the site, in addition to shooting the sage video. The site itself is centered on a character - the Sage - that is the keeper of the legend of Sapporo. He leads visitors on a 'treasure hunt' through the site where the goal is to collect a number of hidden scrolls. Some are easy to find and tell a brief story about the beer, while others are well hidden and require diligence to unlock. Those who reach the end of the journey are given a message tailored to the number of scrolls they’ve discovered, while those who manage to collect all 15 scrolls are entered to win a trip to Japan. This is a lot of fun and I love this commerical.

Besides showing us about the production side of the creative industry, Michael had some valuable advices. He really stressed that we'd need to pound the pavement hard and bug people, even if we think we're annoying them. People in the industry are simply really busy and will forget to respond to you even if they want to. Guess now is as good a time as any to get started.


Today was plaid day. Wonder if Michael noticed.

Alison Garnett

Alison Garnett, another grad of the Web Design program at Sheridan College came in to speak with us today. Before taking on her newest role as Creative Director at Critical Mass, she worked as a Creative Brand Lead at TAXI Canada, Associate Creative Director at Henderson Bas, and Creative Director at Supercapacity (Self-employed) among other endeavours. Check her out on LinkedIn, follow her on Twitter @supercapacity, or have a look at her work, alisongarnett.com, flickr, my lalaland, hello blog, land of sparkalot, and the valigirls blog.

Alison also balances a family life with her husband (a photographer), two children, and three dogs. She is a Designer, Art Director, Project Manager, Account Manager, Stylist, Photographer, Blogger, Writer, Illustrator, good cop and bad cop. I think I can safely say we are talking about a prolific artist here.


Alison made the move to Critical Mass because, after six years at Taxi she was becoming too comfortable. She was eager to work on big websites, and learn more about pure interactivity and mobile.


A complete identity and website re-design at Theodore Alexander, a high-end furniture company. This involved convincing the company to re-shoot, and re-touch 4000 pieces of furniture. Power of the pitch! At CM they refer to it as the 'ask plus'. Always do more than what the client asks for in a pitch. If they want to see three mock-up pages, do five. Then show them how it will work on mobile and present it all in a video.


At Taxi Alison was able to work on great brands like Mini, Town Shoes, Cadillac Fairview and Telus. Taxi ran the entire interactive campaign for Telus, an exciting opportunity that opened the doors for lots of creativity. Getting to work on photo shoots with pigmy goats was just one of the perks! Telus does a great job finding fun songs for this campaign. Think I remember my mom turning this one up in the car more than a couple times. Just Hall and Oates killing it back in the 80's.


Branding is really important. Alison's advice is to have a great business card and some kind of leave behind. Remember that it's all about the work. Look for fun ways to share your art, like instagram magnets, check out moo.com, and don't forget to send urls.



From Alison's Flickr. What I took most from this presentation was the importance of personal work. Alison stressed that you can't rely on your job to satisfy your creativity. Although you're working in a creative field, there may be only 3 or 4 projects a year that are really rewarding as an artist. It's obvious that Alison also takes care to find balance and prioritize her family life. That was really cool to hear about.

And remember, it's only advertising. So have fun and make cool shit!

SapientNitro

Today we got teamed up on by the good folks at SapientNitro. Very cool to get so much insight and to hear directly about the hiring process. From left to right, Kim Welch- Studio Manager, Gail Leija- Marketing and Strategy Analysis: User Experience Research, Sonia Janovjak- Creative Recruiter, and Norma Penner- Interactive Art Director and a grad of the Web Design program at Sheridan.

SapientNitro is one of the bigger agencies in Toronto with 240 employees in the city and over 10,000 worldwide. Some of their bread and butter clients include Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, and RBC. Part of their philosophy is to take on the personality of the clients' target user when designing. Gail talked to us about the process of creating personas and designing with these users in mind.

"The definition of great is entirely defined by the client you're working for and the problem you're trying to solve."

Microsite created for the Jeep Wrangler using HTML5 and some really cool depth of field affects.

Kim gave us some really great insights and let us in on what she's looking for when hiring. As the Studio Manager she needs to make sure that potential employees will fit in with the culture.

1) Can you work in a team?

2) Will you embrace feedback?

3) Are you committed to learning, mentorship and mentoring?

4) Are you flexible/able to switch gears quickly?

New employees are sent on a one week bootcamp at one of the North American offices to learn about the company and immerse themselves in the culture. Employees choose their own supervisor and informal mentorship plays a big part in a system of internal growth. Lots of opportunity for promotion.

Abercrombie & Fitch is a newer client and Norma talked about working with their team down in Ohio to help them reach customers on mobile.


Photo of the Abercrombie & Fitch main offices in Ohio taken by Norma while working with the team down there.

Norma talked about what SapientNitro expects from applicants.

1) Forward thinking design. Are your ideas innovative and current?

2) Fluency in digital channels.

3) Great typography.

4) Good presentation skills. Can you sell your ideas?

5) Eagerness. Know why you want to be there and how you will fit.

6) COMPASSION & DRIVE. The common quality of every SapientNitro employee.


Vail Resorts is another big client that is really embracing the potential of social media. Check out snow.com, or their facebook page to see how social media is being used to enhance the ski/snowboard experience. Cool ways to keep track of your runs, see how long each took, download free photos from your day, and basically document the experience. Lots of opportunity with geo location and gamification for these resorts. Snowcial is a conference in Lake Tahoe bringing the worlds of ski/snow boarding and social media together.

Young the Giant is headlining Snowcial 2012.



Woah! Nice pics taken in Cuba from Norma's Flickr.

Holiday Break

Some additions to the point & shoot project from Havana. Wish we could've stayed longer.