Latest EDUCATION articles

Academia: The All-New Interactive Development Program @ The Creative Circus

The most hectic time in any agency is during a big client pitch. As the presentation creeps closer, soiled pizza boxes are stacked almost as high as discarded print outs. Empty take-out containers double as pillows for sleep-deprived agency folk. During the last few weeks in particular, empty coffee mugs are about as ubiquitous as unshaven faces. It’s under these unique circumstances that you to see individuals’ true colours.

Some thrive, while others crack. It seems only once we’re pushed beyond our limits that we really see how far we can go. In an ad school setting, the closest thing to a pitch process is portfolio review time. For Creative Circus students, this isn’t just a graduate concern, every quarter their portfolios are reviewed by a panel of judges.

School Profile: Chicago Portfolio School

Student work shouldn’t look like student work.

It’s a sentiment that everyone enrolled at the Chicago Portfolio School (CPS) can’t help but be reminded of on a daily basis. The letters that make up the motto, at least a foot in height, are reversed out of a bright blue wall that sits just opposite the elevator doors of the bustling ad school.

A Day At The Circus

A little while back, a friend of mine at The Creative Circus sent out an email about a bake sale four students were hosting. How cute, I thought, but the four-hour plane ride from Toronto to Atlanta would make it just a tad prohibitive for me to contribute. Reading further however, I discovered the students [...]

Ad School Profile: Complot

In an artsy corner of Barcelona, which is one of Europe’s most beautiful and in my opinion its most creative city, lies Complot, the ad school “for creatives by creatives”.
You can’t talk about the school without first talking about Barcelona. I personally lived there for a year, and it’s without a doubt one of those [...]

Ad School Profile: Creative Circus

A circus can best be described as a bunch of distinct loonies and animals that travel like gypsies around the world, performing and dazzling us with their incredible talents and feats. Whilst they unfortunately do not have any dancing elephants, bearded ladies, or tigers jumping through fire hoops at the Creative Circus in Atlanta, their tagline is appropriately: “A school where weird kids become employable”.

The Top Ten Mistakes In Portfolio Development.

The late film critic Pauline Kael once wrote that she never lost her childlike enthusiasm for movies, even though watching them was her job. Each time the house lights dimmed, she still felt a rush of anticipation over what the next two hours might bring.

SO YOU WANT TO BE A STAR?

Cannes calls. The Clios are old hat. Marketing Awards passé. And as for the One Show, well you’ve been there, done that. And are definitely on your way to something better. You’ve got your passport. Portfolio. Reel. Collection of clichés, along with this year’s designer names. The salon tan. And just the right kind of [...]

Reality Check

In a recent issue of Marketing Magazine Joanne Lehmann, who heads up the excellent Copywriting program at Humber College, took our industry to task for the way in which we treat our graduating students. Specifically, not bothering to attend portfolio nights. Speaking as a Copywriting Instructor, I can testify to the endless days and nights [...]

To Study Or Not To To Study Or Not To Study Advertising Advertising

Ask any Creative Director what they did before they got in advertising and they will tell you, “plumber”, “engineer”, and “wandering the world”. Sadly, for those trying to break into the glamorous world of advertising, the golden path to the agencies is full of incongruities and questions, and on it, lie the bones and remains [...]