Full disclosure - I’m pretty geeky.
I blame it on starting out at unfashionable agencies.
They did bad ads.
So my colleagues, those doing the bad ads, could offer little advice on how to do good ones.
Like those I used to see in awards annuals.
Or the ones my civilian friends talked affectionately about.
The only way forward was to buy books and magazines.
Every last one that I could find.
Then cut out the ads and articles that I admired, then cellotape them into scrap books.
This is how we lived before Google.
It was bleak.
The upside of all this is that I can now fill a page titled ‘education’ with the stuff I do.
Sometimes I do these things for the love of it, sometimes for hard cash of it.
I blame it on starting out at unfashionable agencies.
They did bad ads.
So my colleagues, those doing the bad ads, could offer little advice on how to do good ones.
Like those I used to see in awards annuals.
Or the ones my civilian friends talked affectionately about.
The only way forward was to buy books and magazines.
Every last one that I could find.
Then cut out the ads and articles that I admired, then cellotape them into scrap books.
This is how we lived before Google.
It was bleak.
The upside of all this is that I can now fill a page titled ‘education’ with the stuff I do.
Sometimes I do these things for the love of it, sometimes for hard cash of it.
BLOG:
PODCAST:
YOUTUBE:
TALKS:
MENTORING:
It started as an accident, now it's a bit more formal.
‘Mentoring’ sounds a bit self-aggrandising, a little pretentious.
Although ‘Helping People Look At Situations From Different Perspectives Having Been In Those Kind Of Situations’ is more accurate; it's a bit of a mouthful.
(And not a recognised category.)
WORKSHOPS:
Often they’re part of a bigger project.
Occasionally not.
The most useful role is removing blockages, like a plumber.
From ‘I’m not very creative’ to ‘I can’t do it that quickly’.
TEACHING:
I’ve taught at ArtCentre in L.A. and SCA London.
It recharges my batteries.