I've been at Mohawk College for 3 years now, learning all about Advertising and the way it fits into our daily lives. A quick look at my portfolio will show you ideas that I, and a few class mates, have thought up of to promote products that were given to us by our professors. We've learnt a bunch of tips and tricks to help us get to the idea, but it certainly comes at different times. Even in second year, an idea could come faster than one in your third year. Making is hard to believe I've "learnt" anything about being creative.

Trust me, trying to get the hang of all the Adobe products by yourself is not an easy task, which is definitely something I've learnt from my professors. It's a whole different story when you talk about ideas, I wouldn't say that I have this newfound knowledge from being at College. However it's allowed me to try to think of different ways to promote something and being open to talk to different people and going to different places. Just doing these things get your creative juices flowing. Some people are born creative, and there are even some bit by the creative bug.

Which leads me into believing that Creativity isn't taught, but caught. If you read a lot of books your imagination will take off, and an idea can come from anywhere. Even just being around creative people and doing things that'll get your ideas flowing will form great ideas. Talk to people until they're annoyed of you or read a book until you fall asleep. If you want to be creative, don't just expect to learn it from someone, you're going to want to have it.

I've recently come alone a few people who like do to their whole creative process on their computer. As soon as the brief comes in, they pull out their computers and start typing down ideas. I ditch the backpack and laptop for a pen and a notebook. It makes for a better ride on the bus for starters. Secondly I find it's better for keeping ideas, I know plenty of computer users that can't find a file. I have all my notebooks on me at all times. 

While having a computer would be great for on-the-go editing, I find that when most people write with a computer they will erase ideas they don't like. Losing it forever, you won't remember it, trust me. I also find when you're in a WiFi hotspot, which is everywhere now, they will easily be distracted by the internet. Youtube will play, stumbles will be clicked, and reddits will be read. 

Notebooks are not WiFi capable and they're a lot smaller then your average laptop. I can't pull up my email, or edit a photoshop file. But maybe I like it this way. I can still write down all my ideas, where they stay in there forever. If i flip back, an idea can just leap from the page. If you've ever lost an idea notebook, it's almost as bad as losing your laptop. Here is my little collection that's quickly growing. (I used paper and binders first year, ew)

So there's only 5 weeks of school left before we have to venture out into the world and look for our own internships. It's scary, showing your book to creative directors and having them look at what you've tried to perfect over the last 3 years. I've found that showing my book has only been a good experience, I get great feedback so I can take my book back home and start tweaking my book. 

With 5 weeks left I'm left with a number of things to do for different clients and different classes. The One Show brief is starting to come together, as well as the stop motion video. These aren't due until the end of the month, so they're on the back burners until all the weekly stuff is done. I love having this much on my plate though, it always keeps me company when I'm home alone, which is often.

All of the work will be worth it at the end of these 5 weeks. Hopefully I'll have more portfolio pieces to show and maybe it'll be enough to attract some creative directors into taking on a new hardworking intern. At school I've won 3 student awards and over the past 5 years i've accumulated over 4 million YouTube views (and I've also been paid by Google). But we can talk about that when we meet. 
;)

-Curt

I, Curtis Denomme, will tell you about what work an Advertising student has to go through. I'll be posting weekly, describing a certain project I'm woking on, and once it's complete I'll post the results as a different blog post. 

This first week I'm working on the brief for "The One Show" awards. We have been brainstorming on the best way to promote fundraising for Pencils of Promise. A charity that builds schools in third world countries. We have a good start, but want to push to cover all mediums. We'll then decide which one to execute.

I've also started working on a new project with a different team. I've volunteered my time to help them produce a video for The Hamilton Toy Museum. It's going to be a stop motion style video, the toys will be constructing their logo out of lego. We predict it'll take a bit of time. However, we are set up and ready to start shooting.

Here are some pictures of the set up: