Here’s student feedback from the Spring 2012 School of Visual Arts session of Killer Work. Student’s have graciously agreed to answer any questions you may have:
M Feitel
Killer Work helped lay the groundwork for me to create ads on my own. Even though creativity isn’t necessarily something you can teach, Mark gave us a framework that enabled each of us to discover the process through which great ads are made.
Taking this class taught me a lot about what process works best for me, how to simplify, refine and ultimately hone in on the book-worthy ideas. The critiques each week helped me learn why certain ideas are successful, and provided me with a ‘toolbox’ for developing better ads in the future.
As for suggestions, I would have liked to spend some class time working on an assignment in small teams.
Killer Work was a 9 out of 10
Y Bartholo
Killer Work was a 10 out of 10! It opened my mind to finding new ways to get to the ‘insight’ that is at the core of great advertising.
yan_bartholo@hotmail.com
S Crowley
I work at an in-house advertising department but I’ve had very limited formal training. The most helpful thing for me was learning how to approach an ad as a process and to be willing to trust in that process. I used to sit around waiting for inspiration to strike–which sometimes happens, but more often than not leads to increasing frustration and eventually a terrible pun that gets killed anyway. Killer Work showed me a better way.
The most helpful addition to my process was gaining the ability to distinguish between an idea, an execution, and a good execution, and where each fits into the process. You can get from half-baked concept to an inspired, seemingly effortless execution through hard work, and you should not be afraid of the bad ideas that come along the way.
The other advertising course I’ve taken was for copywriting and was much more focused on pure execution. Killer Work is a concept course that will instruct your approach to an idea and your follow-through in broad strokes, but never gets down to a level of detail where you start tweaking fonts, or layouts, or the word count in your body copy.
A Mijares
On a 1-10 scale my ‘Killer Work’ experience was a 9! This course really helped me develop some true advertising skills, I didn’t give it a 10 because it ended too soon L I would have loved it to last longer!
I found the class really helpful because I didn’t know at all what makes an ad a truly compelling one. This course gave me the elements to not just make an ad but to tell a story.
alemijares4@hotmail.com
J Corey
On a scale of 1-10, Killer Work was a 10!
I’d only recently become interested in advertising and I found the course to be crucial in gaining a feel for what great ads are all about.
The greatest takeaway for me was the notion that advertising is not just about being witty or clever — it’s about effectiveness, ie. does the ad make you want to buy the product? This class gave me the impetus to put much more thought into my work.
A bit more info on breaking into the industry would have been great, though I realize that’s not the main point of the class.
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