Blackout Poem

My desire, passion, ambition make the figures into poetry.

Fitting because, while creativity is a unique and wonderful thing about us, it takes the desire to be creative to really bring out great ideas.

Freshman Housing at MSU – SWOT

Coca-Cola/J3Concepts EuroCup 2012 Campaign

The imagery created by freelance designer Jared Nickerson (Jthree Concepts) for Coca-Cola’s 2012 Eurocup campaign first caught my eye in a grocery store in Paris. He has been one of my favorite artists for years, and I recognized his illustration style almost instantly. When I had a chance to check out his blog and view the full campaign, I was thrilled.
Jared Nickerson does an exceptional job at illustrating within a specific style. He has several iconic forms and characters that fill his artwork, including gloved hands inspired by those of Mickey Mouse. I respect him and his work for their consistency, vibrancy, and clarity.
When Nickerson was hired by Coca-Cola to create this campaign, he was challenged to appeal to every country playing in the Eurocup across multiple forms of media. Beginning with special designs for cans and bottles, Nickerson created a design that could be printed with interchangeable colors representing each country. He had to showcase the stadiums used for the Eurocup and use multiple languages in all his designs. He designed creative pieces for shelves and vending machines, enhancing point-of-sale advertising. Nickerson then designed merchandise for Coca-Cola’s giveaways and sweepstakes as well as artwork for the websites. He truly contributed to a multimedia campaign.
Each illustration is loud and energetic, consistent with the anticipation and enjoyment of each football (“soccer”) game. Red and white are the most frequently used colors in the artwork, aligning with Coca-Cola’s pre-existing branding. Perhaps most importantly, the flexibility of each design allows media buyers to personalize the campaign for each country. During the summer of 2012, each country in Europe experienced the same campaign; at the same time, each country in Europe had the chance to be a little bit patriotic with a bottle or can of Coca-Cola.
While I didn’t have the best opportunity to experience the campaign, I think that Nickerson and Coca-Cola could have done a better job promoting the limited edition cans and bottles. I asked three of my friends in Germany whether they remembered it, and they didn’t recognize the campaign until I showed them pictures. During my time in Europe, I never came across a Coca-Cola commercial on the radio or television – even while watching the soccer games. While I think the artwork and images are wonderful, they failed to generate the buzz of other Coca-Cola campaigns. I suppose that the most recent “unforgettable” campaigns have had a much stronger interactive component, so that may be where this campaign fell short.

All other components of the campaign can be found by clicking on the image.

Ten ideas from divergent thinking

Goal: minimize the amount of conflicts that occur due to MSU’s randomized housing assignments.

1. “Fluid Floors” in which students are assigned to one floor but never given a specific room. Students can change rooms at any point during the school year without having to communicate with housing.
2. Students paired in housing based on their basic information – employment within the school, sports teams, major.
3. Students assigned to four rooms throughout the school year. Switch at each quarter unless RA signs off on more permanent housing.
4. Increase in mandatory activities as a floor to promote sense of community. Greater responsibility on RAs to create a good environment.
5. Improvements to the study lounges/community areas on each floor. Higher quality surroundings leading to students spending more time in their dorm but less time in their room.
6. Update and increase the cleaning materials that can be checked out at the front desk. Cleaner rooms as a result.
7. Increase security on weeknights as students return to dorms. Minimize the conflicts between roommates due to “partying.”
8. Implement a fee-based system for certain violations of roommate and housing contract. Some colleges have fees for failing to attend “mandatory” floor meetings, etc.
9. Roommates meet with RA for evaluation and review of contract every quarter.
10. Create more living-learning communities such as Lyman Briggs or honors floors.

Create Something New

I’m horrible at using chopsticks, and my friends often over-use them. Here’s my idea of how to creatively put them to use in a bathroom (or anywhere else that could use a hand)!

Forced Association

As sending snail-mail continues to decline due to newer technologies, the US Postal Service could benefit from creative campaigns that push people to get back to pens and pencils. Scorpions are definitely terrifying creatures – much like my mom in a bad mood – while receiving letters definitely picks up spirits. Inspired by the concert of smoothing a rough relationship, I thought of the concept of having a postman “battle” negativity with letters. I definitely feel that this would be better represented as a video.

My Creativity through 5 Quotes

Research five quotes on the topic of creativity and write 100 words above each one that explains how it specifically applies to your life.

 

“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious…and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

– The Walt Disney Company

With its own ad agency, Yellow Shoes, all costumed characters referred to as “cast members,” and all the creatives in the company named “Imagineers,” Disney does its best to foster creativity on every level of the corporation. Disney was an inspiration to me as a child and truly does exemplify this concept of constantly moving forward. On a more personal level, I was constantly asking questions as a child. I remember myself as being very shy, but my parents tell me that I refused to stop talking to strangers and hogged most of the car rides with stories and puzzles. There were times in my life when I never got answers – “when will Katie be able to walk? She’s almost 2!” – and they drove me to insanity. With a little bit of sadness in the past, moving forward was something that I needed to learn to do quickly, just to get to a better place in life. Challenging myself every day as a designer and as a global citizen, I consider new ideas and create new solutions to problems. It’s this “moving forward” that makes me feel so rewarded and confident.

 

“Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.”

– Brené Brown

I sat in one of the first meetings of MSU’s American Advertising Federation, shaking, and constantly daring myself to open my mouth. Surrounded by – except for two other students – juniors and seniors who were the cream of the crop in MSU’s Advertising program, simply finding the confidence to share an idea was a challenge. However, while my classmates complained about a minuscule budget of only 10 million dollars, I was dealing with my first budget ever, of 10 million dollars! Yes, my inexperience made me feel vulnerable, but entering the project with a different attitude than my classmates left me in a better situation to generate unique and valuable ideas. Sharing an original idea will always get my heart pumping a little bit, but those nerves only verify that my idea is something new.

 

“I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.”

– Ernest Hemingway

While this quote isn’t directly related to creativity, I feel that we have to have a deep understanding of a problem before we can take positive steps toward fixing it. I believe this is why my process creative problem solving takes so much initial investigation toward the problem as well as failures to fix it in the past. In knowing and understanding everything to the best of my ability, I’m better equipped to pinpoint things that could change for the better. A client could tell me, “we need to sell more cars!” and I would be immediately filled with questions. It’s not until you understand their current attempts to sell, their failings in the eye of the public, and the strengths of their competitors that you can actually make improvements. That requires listening to the entire marketplace to gain a solid understanding of the company, product, and problem.

 

“People who do a job that claims to be creative have to be alone to recharge their batteries. You can’t live 24 hours a day in the spotlight and remain creative. For people like me, solitude is a victory.”

– Karl Lagerfeld

 

I was definitely more introverted before entering college than I am now. Without enough time to sit by myself, meditate, or write, my anxiety would pick up. Now, I definitely have learned to handle more constant interactions with people, but I still need time to sort things out before I can get back to stirring up creative ideas. I still meditate every day, which leaves me feeling balanced and organized. I’m definitely more of a left-brain creative, which means I need to feel like I have all my ducks in a row before I can make any progress. On a similar note, I feel that I need to do creative projects for myself from time to time rather than just doing assigned projects or client working. Giving myself the chance to work through my original ideas seems to free up a lot of space for the work I have to be doing.

 

“Keeping busy” is the remedy for all the ills in America. It’s also the means by which the creative impulse is destroyed.”

– Joyce Carol Oates

 It’s sad, but I believe it to be very true. Adults have to play to stay creative. We have to stare out a window and daydream, make lists, get up and move around, talk to people, wander off topic, and somehow find our way back again. It’s a slow process and it’s not always visibly productive. I do feel better about myself when I stay busy, but I understand that “keeping busy” has to include scheduling downtime for myself. In the wrong type of environment, a manager or boss won’t allow individuals to work through the creative process because it doesn’t look much like work. We’re taught to grind through a project rather than stepping back to evaluate the direction we’re headed in. The American workplace feels rushed, which I’m certain contributes to the fact Professor Gude shared in this week’s lecture: only 2% of adults test as being highly creative individuals.

 

Challenging Assumptions – Mind Map

Mind map explaining my reasoning for why we are “too connected” to social media as well as challenges to this belief.