The Advertising Diaries

I was left with a couple hours of downtime this afternoon in 12, and I decided to work on furthering this style I have been working on. I am working on combining hand drawn elements with photography. I am also trying to find more ways of laying type out in a way that holds together better than my previous efforts. I want the text to exist as a strong element on its own, and then also fit naturally into the rest of the composition. Not quite there yet, but this was a fun exercise that I have now killed by talking about it!

Susan keeps telling me to 'keep it simple.' I have such an urge to overwork things, which invariably ends up leaving them looking muddled and mediocre. I am trying to figure out how much to pull back, and how simple I can keep things. There is a part of me that feels like if there isn't a lot of lines or business that I wasn't doing my job. As you can see in the progression today, I took out a lot of the needless lines from the first to the second version.

I want to do a series of these basketball illustrations. You know at some point I will tackle one for my main man 'Sheed!

Just Do It, Greg.

Today the world's largest 'get well' card made its way back into the Wieden lobby after its tour of high school football games, the Nike campus, Pioneer Square and an elementary school.

Portlanders have left many well wishes on the 8 foot high card (with a few 'you sucks' lamely sprinkled in. Talk about kicking a man while he's down) I added my name in one of the remaining white spaces.

It looks like a couple of new panels arrived today to be hinged onto the card. I wonder how far we can stretch this thing out? It is already starting to take on the appearance of some kind of war memorial.

OK, so Greg Oden, out for the season... My reaction was obviously one of sadness, but not of total loss. I think the kid has the right attitude and work ethic to get himself back into the swing of things. He already made a few lighthearted remarks on his video blog, so I know his head is on straight and he is gonna make this happen.

As for the fate of the Blazers for this season, I think they are going to be competitive. Maybe not a playoff team at this point, but I think they will be in the hunt. LaMarcus Aldridge is going to have a great season, and add that to what we can expect from B-Roy in his sophomore campaign... I like it a lot. There are plenty of compelling storylines to pull us Blazermaniacs into the Rose Garden.

Can't wait for camp to open!

Advertising Graffiti

As 12 was attempting to present ideas to the Career Builder team, there was an incredible commotion filling up the building from the atrium. We shouted our ideas while the drums banged, and then they would suddenly stop, leaving us shouting into the silent space for two or three words.

It was a great moment to kind of capture the beauty and chaos of the W+K building and culture. A place where meetings never start on time, tangents are valued and a thrashing drum/spray paint duet could manifest itself at any time.

The graffiti action art was created by visiting artists David Choe and Saber.

Harrell Fletcher and W+K 12 Collaboration

12 met with Harrell Fletcher this week to discuss a possible collaboration for a gallery show at the Portland Art Center this March.

When we had internal meetings about doing an art show, there had been mention of ignoring the advertising context which has brought the twelve of us together. But as we met with Harrell it was interesting to hear him explain how that is an essential part of our context as a group, and that he would find it interesting if we incorporated advertising methodology into our eventual show.

It is fun to think about creating ads for super unfeatured things and people. Take a random person and give them the type of spokeperson treatment as LeBron James. Pump up their individual attributes in a multimedia campaign. It is a funny and intriguing idea. I'll keep you posted on the show's direction as our talks continue.

I am super excited to get a chance to work with Harrell. I have really enjoyed our meetings with him thus far and getting some insight into his personal artistic philosophy.

Juliette + The Licks

The actress Juliette Lewis stopped by Wieden on Monday to play a lunchtime concert in the Atrium with her band Juliette and the Licks. There was dancing, clapping and even a special moment shared between Juliette and world renowned author David Neevel.

It's hard to get any work done when there are 10 amps set up in your office. Thanks WK Lunchbox series!!

Bruce Davidson Visit

Bruce Davidson stopped by Wieden + Kennedy today and talked us through five decades of his photography. He talked about how easily he would get distracted on assignments, and how he could never follow the imposed guidelines for extracting meaning from his subject matter. He needed time to immerse himself, to investigate and find the most interesting storyline or meaning to him. He talked about needing to find a point of view in your photography, and that in this day and age of the digital image, point of view and intimacy with your subject matter cannot be shortcutted. You cannot point and click an inspired photo that fits into a greater thematic context. It made sense, and I think the same argument translates into video and film, as it does any creative endeavor. The work that will truly resonate will always come from sources that attack their subjects with depth and perspective.

What a great talk.

He also quickly flipped by a picture that the Beastie Boys commandeered for the cover art to 'Ill Communication.'