Last night I went to UCLA for a lecture, “Confessions of an Art Director,” presented by Samantha Hoey, Ad Sales Art Director for Disney Online.
Samantha was not the best public speaker. I think she would agree with that statement. She read from notecards the entire lecture. It was not a lack of preparation, this was easy to tell. Samantha carefully worded her speech to be sure they made the impact she was looking to achieve. Her words were filled with advice, honesty, and, well, confessions. Confessions of her own lack of experience in the position she was offered at Disney Online and her struggles to live up to the expectations of the Disney brand, discovering what she needed to do so and learning it along the way. She showed the ability to analyze her skills, her shortfalls, and the motivation to overcome and grow as a designer and businesswoman.
She told an inspirational story on the meaning of a brand. Great brands create connections and lasting memories with their audience. They create an experience. Samantha’s parents never took her to Disneyland. She did not have the connection with Disney that many children do. When she accepted the position she would drive home each night trying to understand the connection Disney makes with children, how and why it was so important. She didn’t get it, until she finally remembered her own childhood. She humorously talked about her Donny and Marie Osmond dolls and Holly Hobby. She had Holly Hobby everything–the lunchbox, dolls, Holly Hobby’s friends, the toy mansion. Then, she got it. She remembered all the memories of playing with the toys by herself, with friends, and it gave her a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Those toys, their experience, resonated with her decades later. And she realized how important Hannah Montana, The Jonas Brothers, and High School Musical are. Someday these kids too will be 20, 30, 40 years old looking back on their childhood, reminiscing about the good times that came about from these silly little toys. It’s the work of remarkable branding.
Samantha also drove home one of the most important elements of design to me: strategy. The necessity to design something that has meaning, not something that just looks good. To design in a certain manner because you know it will sell, or you know it will create a connection with your audience. Not to make it purple because you like purple and think it looks cool.
Another story I really valued was regarding the importance of design in business. I feel I am going to run into this problem: when businesses don’t understand the importance of design. To prove the importance of design, she showed a plain white reusable water bottle. She described the company’s goal: they wanted to market this safe, eco-friendly bottle to reduce kids’ consumption of soda and juices and increase the consumption of water. But how can you do that with a plain white, boring bottle? Kids don’t want to carry that! But slap a coat of paint on it and some “Camp Rock” logos with Joe Jonas of The Jonas Brothers on it, and you’ve instantly created a best seller. That is the power of design. That is why businesses need design.
She spoke of her father, a traditional businessman. Every Sunday they talk to each other about the previous work week. The ongoing joke is that design isn’t a “real” job, Samantha just doodles all day. So every week he asks her “so what kind of doodles did you make this week?” and Samantha responds with “Well Dad, I made some doodles for Target this week,” referencing a multi-million dollar campaign partnership between Disney’s Camp Rock and Target Corporation.
These are the most important topics that resonated with me. She also talked a lot about storytelling and the connection between design and business. Although Samantha did not seem to be a comfortable, experienced speaker, she had a lot of knowledge and advice to offer and captivated the audience. She was personable and funny as well, throwing in lines here and there to poke fun at herself and her experiences.
This is going to be a productive weekend. I can feel it.
I’m leaving work early today to attend the AIGA/HOW Promotional Show and Expo. Hopefully I will meet some interesting people who can either help me in planning my department or potential talent to become part of my staff! Afterwards I will hopefully have enough time to go to the House of Blues in Anaheim to see my friend Sarah perform in her band.
This weekend I’m hoping to let me interior design aspirations take a back seat and instead, update my online portfolio. I’m about to make a purchase of 5 or so books on Business and Graphic Design on Amazon and I hope to go to Borders this weekend to do some more research.
So another “boring” weekend for any other typical 22 year old female. I can’t help that I don’t like talking to sleazy weirdo boys with only one thing on their mind!
Speaking of boys…I miss Mike…Come back to California! Maggie and I are starved for your attention.
One last note–Can I just say how amazingly blessed I am to work for the company that I work for? Thank you.
