Corryn Boyes – 29th June 2011
“When I grow up I want to work in advertising”
Why is it we never hear any kids saying that? Or school children for that matter. Advertising is a dream job in my opinion.
As Rory Sutherland said when he visited us a couple of weeks ago: ‘what other job in the world lets you sit in a cafe watching people and call it work?’
It seems that advertising is a career most people fall into by accident, a very lucky accident if you ask me. I was one of the lucky ones, not that I have the career yet, but I’m working towards it and I am grateful to have at least found what it is that I’m aiming for.
Here’s how I found it…
The problem I have with the curriculum and creativity is that they are polar opposites. The curriculum is designed to give every student the same learning, ticking off each ‘achievement’ one by one to end up with the same certificate as every other student in the country. Creativity on the other hand, from what I know, is about rebelling, an open mind and thinking differently. Combining both the curriculum and creativity is a disastrous combination, often resulting in the failure of one.
As i approached my A level art exam I spend most of my lessons sulking in the back of the classroom because I wasn’t allowed to do what I wanted. Each week i would have the same conversation with my tutor, where he would suggest that for my final piece, like everyone else I should choose an object from the cuboard to paint. The choice varied from various skulls to dusty brown teapots and shells, the item you ended up with much depended on how fast you could get to the cuboard before your fellow classmates, needless to say, the fat kids usually ended up with the skulls.
I was never very good at still life and always found it surprising how others mustered up any enthusiasm for it. The day my self portrait got strategically ‘showcased’ behind the fire exit was the day I concluded I wasn’t much good at art.
When I finished A levels with a D in art and plans to go to art college my parents were pissed off. Rightly so, I hadn’t showed much potential. They were sceptical of my claim to artistic talent and to be honest, so was I, but English and sociology sounded too much like hard work.
Despite doubts I went ahead and started at art school the following September. I think it was the most valuable year of my education because for the first time I was introduced to a world of creativity. Not just ‘art’ as i knew it but creativity. And i loved it.
We learnt all sorts in art college, fashion, graphics, product design, photography and fine art. We were untaught everything we had been taught at school and I didn’t once draw a teapot. We were encouraged to experiment, nothing was right or wrong, the weirder the idea the cooler you were.
I got accepted into uni that year. I chose southampton over Bath because i heard the pints were cheaper and the boy/girl ratio was more favourable. I lasted 2 weeks before I knew fashion wasn’t for me. I didn’t like my pretentious classmates and they didn’t see my decaying fashion collections selling too well.
In a bid to get out quick, and start a new course I went to see the university careers adviser who begrudgingly asked me what sort of thing I thought i’d be suited to doing. I told her what
I was interested in and after a brief flick though the prospectus we agreed on animation, illustration or advertising. I chose advertising because a guy in my halls was doing it and he said it was alright.
Four years on and I have graduated with a First in Advertising, and had the privilege of being one of the first intake of students at SCA. To say I have come along way since school is a huge understatement. I feel incredibly lucky to have stumbled upon a subject that I not only seem to be alright at, but that I get excited about every day.
I know now that I want a career in advertising, because since I first stumbled upon it I haven’t once been bored of it.
