On the visit to the advertising agency

What did I learn from the visit to the advertising agency? hmmmmmm, I learned that what they do is not a whole lot different then what I am doing here in college. You get an assignment and you have to complete it. The better job you do, the more creative you are and the better you understand your teacher the more likely you are to be successful. But in this case success is not a letter grade it is food on the table and a roof over ones head.
I learned that these people are very good at what they do. The posters of the ad campaigns that were hanging in the meeting room were very clean. They were art in the sense that anything done well can be considered art. They were fine art in the sense that attention to detail is what puts the "fine" in fine art. They may not have been art if one considers art as something that comes about from a pure random vision with no time constraints, but it certainly is art.
I found it interesting that they had a small weight room or work out room in the building. I often need to do something physical to clear my head and put things in perspective. It seems to help to get the blood flowing to the brain and with it new ideas. I wanted to ask them if they had a pirate flag up on the roof, Apple joke, they seemed very progressive.
I learned that there is a lot of collaboration involved in each project, A lot of interaction between writers, graphic artists and the client. With any collaboration new things are created and learned even though it may be frustrating at times. One of my favorite things about this course is the interaction between somewhat kindred spirits and seeing the things they create, it feeds my idea factory and fosters my creativity.