Advice for students from the Art & Copy panel discussion

Last Friday night Art & Copy was screened in a giant, white tent in the middle of the Art Institute of California, Orange County parking lot. After the film and loads of pizza, Jimmy Greenway, film maker for Art & Copy, Dan Wayland of Broadcom, Joseph Banuelos, Creative Director Extraordinaire, Jon Gothold, Creative Partner/Principal of DGWB, Ron Leland of RealLife Branding, and Kathleen Kaiser from PencilBox Studios participated in a panel discussion for graphic design and advertising students. The event was hosted by the Ai-OC student chapter of AIGA. Bridget Soden, our AIGA Orange County chapter President, swiftly led the panelists with questions prepared by the students. In case you missed the live event, I shot a few videos with my Flip camera for you to watch below.

Q. What advice can you give for students who just graduated (from art, advertising or design programs)?

Q. What is your creative process? Do you rely on historical design references or do you look at current trends?

The panelists shared observations about young creatives and offered advice for students interested in starting their careers. I repeated my favorite question for the panelists: What was (one of) your biggest mistake(s)? These were a few answers:

Dan talked about staying in a job for too long that he knew wasn’t right for him. This is an important life lesson, so he also talked about other ways that this lesson manifested itself in his practice. He said that when he is hiring new creatives, he can tell the difference between someone who has that glossed-over look in his eye that reads, “I just need ANY job. Please hire me” and the candidate who best fits the open position. In case you didn’t know this already, “I want this particular job…for these reasons…” is how you should present yourself at an interview.

Kathleen admitted to a typo on a Toyota presentation (we didn’t ask, but I’d bet money that it was Toyoda). I can also admit to typos. Woops!

Joseph talked about giving a colleague’s presentation to a client. The way he told the story, I assumed  this happened years ago. Still, it was with great intensity and passion that he said, “I will never do that again.”

Jimmy used the theme of his film to answer the question when he said that “he can’t make a mistake if he’s trying to fail harder.” I don’t think making mistakes is equivalent to failing, but I digress. I remember that Jon and Ron also had great answers, but I’ve already forgotten what they were. My biggest mistake: not bringing a pen and paper along with my camera! (Though I don’t consider this a failure.)