Changing Perspectives

For years, I have been viewing commercials from the consumer side of marketing and advertising. Whether I was listening to the radio in my car, watching television, or scrolling the Internet, I was subjected to advertisements. At the time, I ever really noticed or paid to much attention to them. I use to see commercials as annoying breaks of time in-between the activities that were important to me at the moment.

Now after a few years of studying this industry and the influence it has on purchasing behaviours, my attention level for commercials has greatly increased. I evolved from the channel changer and commercial muter, into a seasoned critic. I find myself analyzing commercials, subconsciously judging their message and overall impact. Deciding if they were what I believe to be a successful campaign, or an advertising fail.

I strongly feel that my intuitive change from blind consumer into an investigating critic is just one stage in my industry professional makeover. It’s small changes in the way I’m thinking that prove to me that I am growing closer to the industry expert I hope to be. It just makes me wonder that when I reach that status, if commercials will hold any consumer appeal to me at all.

Finger Painting ..

My earliest memory of artistic creativity dates back to my first year of kindergarten. Back then I had no idea what artistic creativity was, or what it was going to mean for my future. Back then, I was just a kid, with a plastic plate full of primary paint colours and a blank piece of chart paper.

I’m sure the final product of that first art piece was no Picasso, but the importance of that smeared mess of paint wasn’t the look, it was the feel. The grit of the paint, the swirl of colours and most of all, the freedom. For the first time, there were no rules, no boundaries, and no right or wrong answer. From that moment on, I was hooked.

Artistic creativity defines who I am. Whether it’s the clothes I wear, the music I listen to, or the words I write. It makes me who I am, and it gives me a voice to express myself to the world. Now, I know I may not change the world with my views, or become famous with my words, but I can amuse the minds of my peers.

Today, I find myself still perusing that feeling of freedom. Fortunately, with maturity and education my tools now involve editing software, photography and IMac computers. But this blog isn’t my personal life; it’s about my views of the one industry that I feel allows me to continue finger painting, marketing and advertising.

It has allowed me to capture my creativity and turn my work into something useful and influential. My blog will discuss the things that impact my daily life as a designer, and experimenting student. I encourage you to follow along, and comment on my findings, after all, seeing things from different views is the very essence of creativity.