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Melbourne Metro

The Visual

Deciding on which of the (many) online resume builders I was going to make use of this weekend, I realized something about my pecking process: the visual really matters to me.

It's not that most of the websites don't offer the same basic thing--they do. (LinkedIn stills seems to be the most useful in making connections with other colleagues and professionals.) But what I was looking for when I scrolled through the sample resumes on each site was which of them looked the most professional.

Now, I know flash doesn't ever compensate for substance, but with little professional experience to my name (unless you count those years at university and college) I feel the need to supplement the content of my resume with my design skills.

I found a website whose design comes close to what I do if I had the skills necessary to create one.

It's called, Do You Buzz.

I guess the answer is: now I do =) The link to my resume is just to the right.

The display of Do You Buzz online resume builder.

Telus' Animal Farm

My Christmas Anthem

Nice play on the tortoise and the hare story

Let's talk about Telus. What I love about Telus' current branding scheme (animals, white background, light music, sense of humour) is the consistency. Now that may sound a little bit boring coming from an advertising major (generally, we're supposed to be creative types). But I like that when a Telus commercial comes on in between my shows that I know what I'm in for.

Yup, this feels like a Telus commercial.

I'm convinced this is what makes a great brand and by great brand, I mean a strong brand. A simple idea (can animals set to music and floating text be considered an idea??) and the follow-through.

My person favourites are the hippos. Though I hear the little guys are actually quite aggressive in real life. The top commercial is my Christmas anthem.

The Marshmallow Challenge

Proud to announce that Mike Cuma, Alex Kyle, and myself are the winners of the Advertising Major's 2012 Marshmallow Challenge with a 20 inch structure of dry spaghetti and masking tape ... with a marshmallow on top.

Check out our tower.

P.S. I have to admit we won by default. Ours was the only structure that could stand by itself.

Stressed about Social Media?

:) (:

My dad told me about an article he read in the paper this week that said the anxiety people my age (in their 20s) feel in relation to maintaining their social media accounts is the same kind of stress our bodies feel when facing a moving train head on. Our bodies, the article said, can't tell the difference.

That got me wondering about my own social media behaviour. I pin, I don't Facebook, I tweet, I don't Facebook. I also Instagram, but it didn't fit into the little rhythm I had going there. The main point I'm going to make it that, yes, I do get stressed about my social media. The trick is to manage your intake to combat that frenetic energy.

When I'm in the midst of a busy homework weekend--let's face it, that's most of them lately--I don't want to hear about how far behind my classmates are on their own projects. I've got enough of my plate right now without heaping some of yours onto it, thank you. So, I leave my Instagram feed unchecked until Monday morning. Then it's a nice little catch up with friends by the virtual water cooler. The second I see a photo of one of my friends chilling out with a glass of wine mid-Saturday--or worse, two of them--I feel like a complete dud because I stayed in with my laptop and sweats.

But the other side of it, because there's always another side, is when I need a ten minute break from the proposal I'm working on or the copy I'm trying to write and I log into Pinterest to browse for ideas for my ad design. It's still productive, but it's fun.

So, I'm left with the conclusion (wow, I haven't used that word in a while) that social media is what you make of it. And how much you buy into the instantaneousness of it all. It may be instant, but your response doesn't have to be.

Next time you feel like you're starting down a speeding train, turn your phone onto vibrate. Half the time the thing doesn't work and you won't hear the alerts for hours.

Later,

       (and try to de-stress)

"There's a Story"

Well, I passed the halfway mark on my Independent Professional Project (IPP) a couple of weeks ago and decided it was looking at little blank without a cover. I'm writing a book, by the way. About my lovely family and a funeral. It's really a funny story.

Through the process of editing my chapters I'm finding I like the voice of the first five or so chapters and the rest, well, they could use a little work.

First a break, to get some distance. In the meantime, here's the interm cover and the chapter names.






Chapters:

Chapter One: A Bunch of Blonde Indians
Chapter Two: Car No. Two says, "Are we there yet?"
Chapter Three: The Dog Won't Leave
Chapter Four: Nobody Move--My Pie is Missing
Chapter Five: As the Crow Flies
Chapter Six: Same guy, Different Telephone
Chapter Seven: Clean sheets and Good scotch
Chapter Eight: On the Road ... Again
Chapter Nine: Oh, We're Not Even Close
Chapter Ten: Sun up, Sun down
Chapter Eleven: There's a Story