What Comes First? A few tips on ordering your portfolio

So, you've been working on your portfolio for the last 20 odd months. You've got countless late nights and long weekends-worth of work sitting in front of you, and you're thinking, Yes. I am done. Throw these puppies in a case and get me out the door.

Wrong-o.

There is one very key step you cannot skip here: ordering your book. For the most part I thought worrying about order was bull. I sat down, thought a few minutes on how everything should flow, decided on something that seemed satisfactory to me and off I went.

I took my portfolio on a trip around Manhattan a few days later. Generally speaking, it went really well; I got a lot of positive reviews. But it wasn't until I saw Creative Circus alum Cooper Smith and Dave Canning at Y&R that I really thought too much about the order. They dug my stuff but thought it could be presented better. They told me, when they were in the height of the job hunt, they would often sit in their apartment, spread their work all across the floor and spend hours ordering and reordering everything. (Or so they told me). We sat in their seventh floor office for a bit doing just that. Ultimately, I didn't use the order they thought was best, but their obsession with portfolio ordering showed me its importance.

What was the biggest problem with my book? It didn't have an easy in. My first campaign was a beautiful three-piece print that was based on ridiculously intricate illustrations and super heady headlines. I put it there because it was a personal favorite and seemed the most impressive to me. The problem was, it was so intense, it was like getting punched in the gut as soon as you opened my portfolio. In the end, I changed the pole position to my another campaign that starts off right away with a big, silly joke. Bold, stark and black and white on the page. They never suspected a thing, but they couldn't escape it. It was the best thing I did for my portfolio.

Right off the bat. If you can make someone laugh, they've already got a big smile on their face when they're turning to that next page. And if you've gotten them smiling, they're already on your side.

From there, it's really a matter of the different pieces you have. Generally speaking, you want to kick them in the teeth at the beginning and get a nut shot in at the end. That way they'll remember you. Big, fun, memorable campaigns. In between is where your dense stuff might go—non-profits, body copy, tech heavy.

Pacing is important as you don't want someone to feel fatigued as they trudge through your book, so it's great to throw a fast, fun campaign in between two heavier ones. (Read: This does not mean do a visual solutions campaign. I am and will always be against that. Worthwhile visual solutions are dead. Just like "viral videos." Just not impressive for a student book. You can do better.)

When you actually sit down to do this, I'd start with taking all your campaigns and putting them in piles on the floor. Decide on your bookends—what's going to kick it off and then what's going to close the deal. From there, you'll likely see what should come second. If you've won any awards, I'd probably throw those campaigns in first or second, maybe last. One of my campaigns that won something wasn't the most exciting campaign so I didn't want it first. But the name dropping alone helps, so it made a great second piece. It gets people thinking early, Hey, this kid won something, I should pay attention.

And don't get too attached to your order. I hate self-editing. Once I decided on how my book would read, I didn't feel like changing it. But I'm very glad I did. It made a huge difference. So don't be afraid to get in there and mess it all up and look at it with fresh eyes.

Really, it's just like telling a good story. You've got to have a hook, development and then a big climax. Now, go make a best-seller.

A bit of advice on what you NEED to put in your portfolio

Nothing.

When you're in school and obsessed with the all-important book you'll here a lot of stuff about what you have to include in there (implying if you don't, you won't get a job) and what you can't include in there (which will, of course, preclude you from a job). You hear you have to have something tech, a financial, travel, a package good, a service, long copy, headlines, a visual solution. I'm here to tell you all of that is bull.

I think in the book I graduated Creative Circus with I had a service, an automotive, two packaged good, two food (both candies, no less), one video game. Overall, it lean pretty heavy on the fun. I'm not sure I have a single thing super serious or hard-hitting. All of them are pretty absurd campaigns.

It's a great idea to challenge yourself in school. You should take on clients you wouldn't normally think to do. Do women's products, financial, furniture, get out of your comfort zone. It's good practice.

But ultimately, when it comes to putting your book together, don't murder yourself trying to fill this hole and that hole. Your book should reflect the kind of work you do. Some people are very serious, dramatic screenwriter-like writers. There are plenty of places out there that you will fit in perfectly. If you're an art director with a seriously artistic bent, there are places that need and want someone just like you.

Sure, you need to show some range in your book. But ultimately, your book will determine the type of job you get. So, logic leads us to say, if your book is a reflection of you, you'll get hired somewhere that's a good fit for you, and you'll be much, much happier and do better. I'm a bit of the mindset that if you have a generic, check-all-the-boxes-off book, you'll get a generic, check-all-the-copy-points-off job.

Some things will never change though. Writers need to show you can write. That means having some great headlines in there plus some sort of body copy. Art directors, show you can kill a page. That means beautiful design, attention to type. (My one complaint on student books is that they all feel dimensionally flat. It's amazing what a drop shadow here and there can do.)

The two things your book should do are: prove you're smart and prove who you are. If it does that, you'll be just fine. Don't fret on the details of how you do it. Everyone will have a different way.

(And the great irony of this all is, two of the major clients I work on are a women's fashion brand and a financial. But the best part is, I'm doing it at an agency that aligns with who I am as a creative, so it's a perfect fit.)

I've got more thoughts on perfecting your portfolio if you guy want to hear. Just let me know.

I got NSAC'd in the face

This weekend I had the pleasure/honor of being at judge at the AAF District XI NSAC in Spokane, Washington. (If you're not one for acronyms, that's the American Advertising Federation's Northwest National Student Advertising Competition.) Normally it'd be an rad event to take part in, but it was particular cool for me because I actually competed in the NSAC back during my senior year at the UGA (University of Georgia). So, being back three years later, sitting on the other side of the table, it was a strange experience. (And to make things even more bizarre, one of the other judges was Lori Hicks from the Traffic Agency in LA. She was from the University of Tennessee team that we competed against our district, but we had never met until Friday morning.)

To particiapte in NSAC, teams of college seniors (mostly) spend one or two semesters preparing an entire advertising campaign for the same brief. Research, media plans, creative, PR, everything. It's the first time that most students get a taste of what it's really like to put a full campaign together. As I was doing it, I remember thinking, "Wait, you mean I can just focus on creative and other people can worry about making a budget and putting all that other crap together?" That was the first time I started to understand what it might be like to actual be a "real-life creative."

This year the brief was for an anti-binge drinking campaign for students 18-24, sponsored by The Century Council. In the past it's ranged from Yahoo! to Coca-Cola to Toyota Matrix to Postal Vault. (Postal Vault was my year. Look it up. Ugh.)

Definitely a tough assignment for anyone, and it was great to see the students really tear into it. There were some issues here and there, but for most, it's the first time out of the gate. Overall the other judges and myself were really impressed by the all work and especially the presentations. One thing I particularly enjoyed was when teams built an identifiable brand around their campaign, rather than just makig a pile of advertising. If you look at any of the really good non-profit work nowadays, most of it is centered around a great brand—truth, The Tap Project, Project (RED), all brilliant. It's easier and more powerful for us to associate an idea was a logo, name, design and tone of voice. So, it was great to see some of the teams nod to that. There are some very smart kids out there in the Pacific Northwest.

Congrats to all the students and sponsors that threw away sleep, sanity and in some cases boyfriends/girlfriends/spouses to crank out some great work. I know Lori and I especially appreciated it because we've been in the exact same spot and know exactly what it's like. I also know how much it sucks to do all that work and then get anything but first place. (My team got sixth. Lori got first.) It makes it seem like the entire thing was all a waste of time. But it's not. To be honest, it was just the start of one crazy career ahead. There will be many more nights, weeks, months like that. And each time you do it, you'll get smarter, better, faster.

Congrats to the top teams too: Portland State, Boise State, BYU and Washington State. Nicely done, folks. And best of luck to everyone.

Don't celebrate too hard. OK, maybe just once or twice. You've earned it.

Roooooar!

The last 48 hours have been completely mad.

The reason being, Liza Behles and I just found out that we won an AKQA Cannes FutureLion for our Toyota Prius digital campaign. That's Cannes as in Cannes.

Not only did we win a little lion statuette, but so did two other fellow Circusians, Katy Graham and Karen Gereffi. That's severely impressive when one considers that only five of these puppies are handed out in the entire world. And beyond that, this is the second year in a row that the Circus has had two FutureLions teams. That's 40% of the FutureLions in the world.

So, after our obvious eruption of excitement, our next thought was, "How are we going to get to Cannes by Monday?" None of us quite had the $1,500 to shell out on just the airfare alone. "What's the best way to raise funds?" we thought. A bake sale!

We immediately set out to make an e-flyer to send to everyone we could possibly think of. Here she is:




At first we didn't get any responses. But then, just 20 hours after we found out we had to get to Cannes, the floodgates opened. Through the amazing generosity of others, we suddenly went from, "How the hell are we going to get to Cannes?" to "I can't believe we're going to Cannes!"

Beyond that, our bake sale got picked up as a news story on a number of advertising blogs, including AdRants. It's pretty awesome to think that our idea got in front of that many eyeballs in that fast of a time. I guess it's our first successful ad.

We still can't believe it's happening. I've only slept two hours the past two nights trying to get ready to leave by Sunday. It's 10 pm, and I just ate my first meal of the day. I don't really know what's going on right now. But I do know that if I show up to the airport Sunday night I'll somehow magically wake up in France the next morning. It's unbelievable.

A HUGE thank you to everyone that's helped us out, financially and otherwise.

An enormous thanks to Kara Taylor, Mark Tutssel, John Condon and Debbie Bougdanos at Leo Burnett who were ridiculously kind enough to buy a dozen of our cookies to cover our plane tickets.

Super big thanks to Ajaz Ahmed and Lars Bastholm and the whole crew at AKQA as well as MaryAnn Frerman from 22squared who are helping us out with accommodations and travel.

Also, mega thanks to our friends Dave Holloway at Publicis, Jannie Gerds of Matheson Gerds Advertising, Jeb Quaid at DDB and Duane Hawkins with the Creative Circus for helping us out too.

Lastly, we're forever in debt to all our friends at the Creative Circus who have helped us over the past two days as we scrambled to get our act together. If you liked the photos, they were done by Bobby Prokenpek. He is amazing. Please check out his stuff. Also, thanks to Susanne DeLoach, DC Washington, Dan Balser, Heddy Lunenfeld, Berwyn Hung, Judy Hertz, Beth Ann, Kim and everyone here.

(Also, Kasia Haupt gave us one strawberry, one raspberry and two orange Jolly Ranchers and a blue raspberry Pixie Stick. I think we only have the strawberry left.)

We've really been completely overwhelmed by everyone's generosity and commitment to helping us get over to France.



Next time you hear from me I'll be in Cannes!

Student Show Wrap-Up

Friday was the Creative Circus Student Awards Show. It's always a festive time with ego made or broken with just a few words from the presenters. It's basically like the One Show except instead of amazing scallop and seaweed ceviche and an open bar we get slices of Jimmy John's subs and some Cokes.

Actually, it's really not that big of deal. But, any award feels good to win. Congrats to my illustrious if sometime misguided friends Kasia Haupt who took home Student Choice Art Director and Best Art Direction awards and Bobby Prokenpek who nabbed a Circus record 22 photography awards along his way to also winning Student Choice Image and Best Image awards.

I did alright for myself. I ended up getting a few things including Best Copywriting (completely undeserved, seriously), Best Concept and Best in Show.

But that's now what I'm most proud of. What was truly an honor to win was the first-ever Worst in Show. Advertising department head Dan Balser pulled me aside the other day as he was tabulating scores to tell me that one of my campaigns for Culprit fishing lures received one of the worse scores he had ever seen: a 3 out of 10 from the judges. As a result, the new category of Worst in Show was created just to punish Brandon Rapert and I for such callous disregard for tasteful, thoughtful advertising. I am truly more proud of that award than any of the other ones that I received on Friday. To have made the single most despised piece of work in the entire show, it's truly an honor.

Below are the winning (or losing) pieces for your consideration.




I still think they're funny. And if you know about fishing, you'll understand the benefit of having a lure with erratic action. Apparently the judges didn't.

Big, big day for me

Advertising didn't know what hit it today. Or, more likely, it didn't even notice.

But either way, I've made two appearances in the industry-important media today.

The first is a small feature in international advertising mag Archive.



One of four student ads chosen for the issue so that was pretty nice of them.


And one of the other four ads was also done by the illustrious Steve Nathans and Jon Morrow. Congrats guys.



Secondly, my copywriting compatriots Liza Behles and Kyle Cavanaugh had the honor of sitting in on a podcast with freelance creative director and Creative Circus department head Dan Balser. He hosts a fantastic show entitled Don't Get Me Started in which he picks the brains of advertising's top creatives. And then he talked to us.

If your interest is piqued click over to Balserville.com and change your life.

I'z on yur computerz!

For those of you that don’t know, I’ve just unleashed my portfolio onto the world wide net at www.ievenwrotethissickurl.com.

But don't get too attached because, just like all the work in my book, the site is subject to severe change and slaughter. In fact, I’ll be launching a second (much more fun) site within the next two months or so. Oh yeah, and I’ll also be making a site for our agency, the Brandy Agency.

Web design bonanza.

Anyway, sneak a peek and let me know what you think.

I'm a Luerzer

So, I just found out yesterday that one of my ads made it into the April issue of Luerzer's Archive magazine. That's a huge honor as Archive is an international magazine, and only four student ads make it into every issue. It's one of the major industry pubs.

Oddly enough, it's not my favorite campaign. It wouldn't even go in my in-progress portfolio. But hey, we got into Archive! It's still awesome.




Big props to my awesome art director Mia Deng.

The last minutes of lastminute.com

As the theme of sleep (or rather, lack of it) has seemed to be the main focus of this blog recently, I'll continue with a) one more related fact and b) one related anecdote.

Fact:
I pulled an all-nighter again last night. That makes four out of the past five nights that I have gone entirely without sleep. Hooray.

Anecdote:
When I finally passed out this afternoon I had a dream that an impending wave of destruction was on a collision course with my town. A volcano had just erupted, I believe. My friends and I were running around trying to grab our key possessions (computers mostly) before doom struck. We could hear it rumbling in the distances and knew that any second a giant wave of molten lava would come spilling into our house. Just as we grabbed the last monitor and scurried to high ground, a giant, churning tsunami of bright 100% magenta lava came bursting through the door. Then I woke up.

The reason why I've been pulling these all-nighters is to get campaigns finished for the British D&AD Awards. In fact, I did two for the lastminute.com brief. Their brand color is 100% magenta. That's all I've been looking at for the last week. Enter gigantic wave of magenta lava.

So, to justify all this madness, here's the first of the two campaigns we fondly call the Death Campaign. Just so you know, lastminute.com is basically England's equivalent to Travelocity but with a bit more edge and more offerings. The brief was to make adventurous, somewhat wealthy Europeans make the most of their free time by booking holidays and in-town tickets to play, concerts, sporting events, etc. So, enjoy!




EDIT: I know it might be lame, but I've taken the work down temporarily. I'll put it back up once campaigns are due in London on the 20th. It makes me a bit nervous having it up. So, hold tight, and you'll get to see it soon.

Seeing (red)

Death Match collaboration done with designer Krichmar and writer Liza Behles:

Challenge: Design a 10-card series for Hallmark's (red) series that benefits AIDS work in Africa.

Solution: We created a series of cards around the philosophy/tagline "Sometimes a little something can mean a lot." Each card is a celebration of some seemingly small aspect of life that holds a special, if often overlooked, significance in its own right. The cards are also physically small--3-1/4" by 3-1/4"--to mirror the smallness and ease of the sender's gesture. Their copy reflects the humor of the target market—smart, fun, a bit silly and certainly not sappy. By incorporating the word "red" into each line the brand is also linked to this idea that a little something can mean a lot; a portion of the revenue goes to fight AIDS in Africa.

Homeless Vets Posters

As part of the first ever One Show student design brief, I worked on two posters for the National Coalition of Homeless Veterans. (Additional credits go to writer Trey Tyler, art director Billy Simkiss and photographer Bobby Prokenpeck.) Click to enlarge.

"Today, 26% of all homeless in America served in the armed forces before being deserted in our streets."



"'The flag should never be embroidered on anything designed for temporary use and discard.' - United States Code, Title 4, Chapter 10, Section 8.

After they risk their lives protecting our nation abroad, many soldiers are left for dead in our streets. Today, veterans make up 26% of all homeless in America, and each day more and more join the ranks. We owe them better. Learn how you can give back to those who have already given so much by visiting the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans at www.nchv.org."

Crest Glide Floss

And thus begins the tetra-annual glut of ads and miscellania from this quarter's panel.

This campaign for Crest Glide Floss is based on the insight that everyone knows they should floss and don't. Yet, they also know that whenever they go to the dentist they know that he's going to yell at them for not flossing. The cutline is: "Floss. Because he knows when you don't."


Ironically (or perhaps appropriately), I have a dentist appointment tomorrow.

I have been flossing.

Shed Rain Umbrellas

A one-off, for your pleasure

Pardon the expression, but this one just popped into my head today while I was working on a totally unrelated product.

Elementary? Clearly. But still, I find it oddly amusing.


Also, amazing copywriting and art direction skills, huh?

The Great Guac-Off

Here's a little poster I designed for a guacamole competition that some friends and I are putting on. An homage to the vibrant culture that brought us that wonderfully delectable, green dish that we all cherish so dearly.


Also, if you're serious about your guac, you should check the party out.

Payless Kids

Here's a very simple campaign for Payless Kids. The tagline is "Shoes for your little monster." The parents that we showed this responded very well. It goes to show that an idea doesn't have been be big and flashy; it all depends on the target market.

Os Mutantes

This is a project from my Design Concepts class. (Yes, I'm a writer, but I want to learn as much as I can about art direction/design/photography/life as I can.) We were to design a special event and then invitations to go along with it.

My event was a reunion concert of the famous Brazilian rock band from the late '60s and '70s, Os Mutantes (The Mutants). Their music combined contemporary psychedelic rock with their bossa nova and samba root. They even mixed languages, usually singing in Portuguese but also sometimes including English and Spanish. The entire aural experience was a youthful, eclectic explosion of energy, noise and revolution. Clearly this did not sit well with the oppressive military dictatorship in control of the country at the time, and the band often had to dodge being censored or exiled. Despite becoming inactive many years ago, Os Mutantes received much recent attention due to praise from such art rockers as Kurt Cobain, David Byrne, Beck, Of Montreal, Stereolab and Devendra Banhart.

For their supposed reunion, I designed a two-night event: The first night, Os Mutantes host an intimate performance for 300 or so influential indie musicians at the Allen Room of the Lincoln Center in New York City. The following evening they play a free concert in Central Park for the general public. The series is entitled "Revolução Now!" The name alludes to their perchance for mixing languages while also addressing the theme of the event: revolution. Obviously revolution was a very real thing to the band and the Brazilian people 35 years ago, but what can revolution mean to us today? Do we still revolt against anything? Should we? The event's tagline is "Our weapon is our voices."

Influential musicians in New York City receive what appears to be a miniature gun crate. Inside the crate they find a tape recorder. When the message is played, they are prompted to think about what revolution means to them and record a representation of it on the tape. The tape is sent back in a return envelope provided as a form of RSVP. During the concert, some of these responses are spliced into the band's performance to create a collective art piece.



For the general public, painted and aged gasoline tanks are left on street corners in the city. The teaser phrase "Revolução Now!" and the date are the only visible information. Hundreds of matchbooks lie around the base of gas tanks, and when a passerby picks one up they are provided with information about the free concert as well as a nice take-away.

Goya Black Beans and Rice

Another project from my Design Concepts class:

I chose to rebrand the latino foods giant Goya to give it a look that is less intimidating to non-Hispanic shoppers who may not be sure what the products are or can be used for.

The new logo is now handwritten, resembling the Spanish painter Fransisco Goya's signature. The color palette is taken from the colors used on the façade of a small church in Mexico.


The boxes are cubic, a very stable geometric form, representing the role that beans and rice play as the most basic food staples in the world. Additionally, it allows measuring cups to be scooped in or poured into in an easier fashion compared to the ubiquitous plastic bags currently used. Still, clear viewing windows on the corners and top allow consumers to get a good look at what is inside.


When placed next to each other on the shelf, the two packages complement one another. They can also be turned to have equally complementary sides facing out for the shelves of Hispanic groceries.


Copy on the boxes offers preparation tips and recipes.

Usinger's Sausages

Here's a campaign another writer and I did for Usinger's Sausages, a family-owned and operated company out of Milwaukee that's been making sausages the same way since 1880 when Fred Usinger stepped off the boat from German. Simply put, it's the "The best sausages ever since 1880."