101 things I have learned before starting the last term. By @dennis_engel87
By Dennis Engel
101 things I have learned before starting the last term.
- Never ever be late.
- Time is the most precious thing you have. Plan your days, weeks, month!
- Be interesting. Surround yourself with interesting stuff.
- Ask your classmates for feedback. You will learn more from them than from Marc.
- Start early enough to learn After Effects. It will be rewarded at D&AD time.
- There is always a better idea. Never stop exploring.
- You don’t own ideas. So share them constantly.
- Kill your babies. Don’t get attached to your ideas.
- “Made to stick” is one of the best books on the reading list.
- 6-hat your ideas to push them further.
- Say thank you! Write thank you cards to your mentors.
- Skype more often with your friends and families. It’s easy to forget your social life.
- Meditate. It helps you to keep balanced.
- Go to bed before midnight.
- Eat healthy! Fuck meal deals! They just make you tired.
- Don’t trust Marc. Ever!
- There is only one god in the studio. That’s Marc.
- Don’t ask Pete for feedback hours before deadline.
- Respect your working environment.
- Be friendly.
- Start early to boost your twitter account.
- Think of topical ads.
- Don’t judge ideas during brainstorm sessions.
- Get out of the studio as much as you could.
- Don’t trust Western Union.
- Keep your Mac clean.
- If you don’t have time. Make yourself time.
- Money is not as important as you think.
- You can asked Honor and Claire everything.
- There is no such thing as a bad brief. Always challenge the brief.
- Plan weekly feedback session with your partner to improve yourself
- Listen to interesting podcasts while working.
- Do more sports.
- Travel to get new inspirations.
- There is a whole creative world outside from advertising.
- Constantly try to push your own boundaries.
- Always ask why?
- Ask Ian for feedback to improve your skills.
- Burn your book at least three times to win cream.
- Remember yourself why you entered the school!
- Make a list of advertising, agencies, directors, CDs, ECDs you like.
- Know your industry. Know your competitors.
- Have fun with your ideas.
- Go shop lifting to get some good SMPs.
- Don’t waste your energy on airline brands.
- Don’t put market leaders into your book (Nike, Heinz, Redbull etc.)
- Put every week a new campaign into your book.
- Winsor & Newton brush markers are awesome for scamping.
- Use news feeds like RSS or feedly.
- Follow Vicent Dignan for growth hacking techniques.
- Steal good ideas.
- Go out more often.
- Visit the Brixton market for inspiration.
- Don’t use headphones while exploring the world outdoors.
- Always start with a problem and an interesting inside.
- Start a kitchen plan or buy a dish washer.
- Get some extra work from Marc or start your own portfolio briefs.
- You will fail more often than you will succeed.
- Don’t follow money. Follow interesting creatives and agencies and the money will come with it.
- Enjoy a lentil soup in the Moroccan cafe for lunch.
- Set yourself goals outside of the advertising industry.
- Surround yourself with mentors who like your work. They’ll push you further.
- A poster campaign doesn’t mean you have the same layout with different content.
- Read more books. Use the time on your journey to school and back.
- Start a beginner course to learn the basics of Adobe programs.
- It’s good to have great ideas. It’s better to make them happen.
- Get famous. Tell the world that you exist.
- Always act professional.
- Everything is a process.
- Take every brief as a new chance.
- If you work for assholes… it means you are an asshole.
- Awards are a nice excuse to get wasted and to be famous for 2 minutes.
- Bring your own booze to Friday reflections.
- Always have an opinion. It’s better to be wrong than having no opinion at all.
- If you want to be the best you fucking have to take the stairs – not the elevator. Again and again.
- Try to make new habits.
- Use Trello with your partner to manage your projects.
- Nobody likes Marc’s ranking system. But it’s worth it.
- Cream is the most important award for SCA students.
- Irrationality beats rationality.
- Always investigate rational and irrational roots.
- Write scripts! It will make your case study crafting process so much easier.
- Take breaks. You will work much faster after taking a proper break.
- Work smart not hard.
- Always take notes. Always have a note pad in your pocket.
- Get fresh air. The air in the studio sucks.
- Plan your hours and try to stick to the plan. You will work so much more efficiently.
- Join the masterclass of Alexandra Taylor. It’s awesome.
- Ask questions. Mentors love when you ask a lot of interesting questions. You are more likely to get remembered.
- Brand yourself. It helps you with thank you cards, book crits and networking.
- Only use tech to support and idea and not the other way around.
- D&AD is the time when good work starts. Don’t stop after D&AD.
- Don’t ask to many mentors for a feedback. It will confuse you.
- Rory Sutherland is pretty smart. He is too smart for our industry. He could run countries. Probably pretty well…
- Don’t throw away your ideas. They might be useful later on.
- Learn more about typography. It’s really useful.
- Get enough sleep.
- Watch the documentary about John Webster.
- Give the most to your audience and expect the least back.
- Nobody likes to engage with branded content.
- Try to do the opposite.
