Here are a few student reviews from this Fall’s Killer Work class at SVA. They’ve graciously agreed to respond if you have any questions. Email addresses follow their comments:
Cristina Twigg, Marianne Merritt, Ilse Garcia at the wall
Cristina (Gradilone) Twigg
On a 1-10 scale, the ‘Killer Work’ experience was a complete 10!
Killer work helped me concentrate on concepting, which I haven’t had much of a chance to do at my current advertising job. It also helped me find my own “process”. I’m still polishing it up, coming up with other ways to make my process smoother, but it’s definitely gotten a lot better than when I first began ‘Killer Work’.
The greatest takeaway was learning to write everything down without judgement and to edit later. For the longest time, I would sit and think and only jot down ideas I thought were good, which didn’t allow for a fluid process. I was constantly interrupting myself and stopping the flow. This has been extremely helpful to me.
Killer Work was my first class, and it was a great experience. I plan on taking more!
As for improvements: I think it might be valuable to work on one of the assignments in pairs. It would be a great way to have a more “real” agency experience, and it would teach us how to work together and to provide efficient feedback when the quality of your work depends on it.
ctwigg@thebloc.com
Ryan Engelbert
Killer work starts with a killer idea. Learn to forget the clichés and craft relevant, compelling and authentic ads. This course will help you identify the ideas that will carry a campaign to glory.
Over the course of 10 weeks, you’ll create some of your best stuff, struggle, absolutely nail an assignment and fail miserably… and you’ll love every second.
Mark is brutally honest and an excellent creative analyst, and your classmates are sure to inspire you every week with their work and constructive criticism. Take this course, then get out there and kill it.
ryanengelbert@gmail.com
C Twigg/Clorox/Killer Work
Ilse Garcia
On a scale of 1-10 ‘Killer Work’ was a 10! The class taught me many different ways to approach an advertising challenge, and how the same concept can be expressed in unimaginably different ways. I will never forget to “keep digging for the bone” — there is always a better idea down there.
Compared to the other courses I’ve taken where we spent weeks polishing the same idea, here I was always working on new ideas and fresh thinking, even for the same product. The only thing I would add is a chance to work in a team.
gabbynette@gmail.com
Stacy Crisostomo-Flores
On a scale of 1-10 ‘Killer Work’ was an 8 (but only because I wasn’t able to participate full-on due to work schedule and working late.)
Killer Work taught me how to churn out more ideas and faster, keeping persistent with things that work, and letting ideas go that aren’t great. The presentation aspect of getting in front of class also helps develop that skill, which isn’t my favorite part of the job, but has helped me present ideas to people outside the creative team.
Mark focuses on ‘authenticity’ and why that is key to distinguishing great work. This course was a great break from doing the sometimes mundane work I have to do at my job. It keeps the inspiration going, so it’s great for people who don’t want to leave their comfy job just yet 🙂
As part of every class, Mark shows ads and talking about why they are “good” or why they “fail”.
As for suggestions, I felt that sometimes the student feedback was ‘too nice’. Maybe we should hand in anonymous feedback so that people won’t be embarrassed to say what’s on their minds.
girloftheworld@gmail.com
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