adam wagler | design – technology – advertising

January 22, 2012
by adam
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6 Technology Developments to Track

Over the last few months there have been some cool technologies I have had my eye on. Here is a quick list of interesting developments pointing to a cool future for sharing content, communicating with audiences, and automating tasks. As these technologies combine to build new user experiences we’ll get to see some cool new turns and opportunities to creatively mix them together to develop new ways to interact with content.

Lenovo Eye Tracking Laptop

Kinect Finger Tracking

Nice prototype application for interactive displays:

Quantum Levitation

Obvious applications to transportation, but brings up interesting thoughts on how people could work and interact with the world around them when you combine it with the eye/finger tracking and voice commands. Read more about it on Wired.

Siri on iPhone 4S

Siri goes without saying, but the further voice command and interaction develops we’ll see some interesting ways we interact with each other and our devices.

Twine Sensors

Interesting technology that makes connecting, automating, and tracking thing easier for a wider audience. As hardware and software become more accessible and incorporate DIY methods it will be awesome to see how workplaces, storefronts, and homes will incorporate these technologies. Read more about Twine.

Computer Contact Lenses

Super sci-fi, but it is just a matter of time before augmented reality and screens become more flexible and integrated into our experiences. Again you start combine the cool ways to interact with content makes it an exciting time. Who wants to have to dig out their phone! Read more about Washington University’s reaserch.

All these have huge implications for education, communications, media, advertising and everywhere we access information. You can easily image going by a store front and controlling the display by tracking your hand and eyes. When you want to compare prices, access you contact lenses using a voice command and scan the items. Sound a little far fetched? Maybe, I am still waiting for flying cars like Doc Brown had in “Back to the Future.” Seeing these technologies developing is one thing, but will be awesome to be apart of how they are used and function in everyday life.

October 19, 2011
by adam
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Why bring in the tech side?

Yesterday a student of mine asked a simple, but great question. “Why should we care about the tech side of things in advertising?”

A little background here… our advertising class is working with computer science students on a mobile web app project. It has been a goal of mine for a few years to start to incorporate the development side more into the strategy side of communications. This happens in the “real world,” but more often then not things are handed off for development. Magic occurs. A website/software/app appears. Two separate worlds exist, similar to the old model of account and creative departments. A more integrated approach both in higher education as well as the industry has the opportunity to see some amazing products be developed.

Advertising agencies are integrating more disciplines into the creative process. This pushes communication ideas further, but must also include creative uses of media. This can only happen with developers in the mix. With numerous vehicles to communicate with audiences this may come in the form of a print ad or a mobile app or a Facebook game or interactive display or something that is yet to be created. Having tech professionals at the table earlier can benefit a project and the resulting interactions will educate the entire group. Ultimately, this would raise the level of future ideas and technologies used in campaigns.

So my answer to the student: If a tech professional can be integrated into the process early their ideas can contribute to the development of tools that could better communicate a client’s message. The variety of new technologies out there require new perspectives in the process. This may end up being a new “breed” of art/creative director, but in the meantime the more the account side, designers and developers interact with each other the better the ideas.

A colleague of mine, Matt Waite, is also addressing similar issues on the journalism side of the college where we both work. We are both actively pursuing projects that bring, what he calls, a “tech swagger” to the students.

Along this same discuss is a great video discussing what this process might look like.

This direction and line of thinking will help students prepare for future jobs as well as shape how the industry addresses new challenges with technology.

October 13, 2011
by adam
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Apple Distinguished Educator Experience

Last summer I attended the 2011 Apple Distinguished Educator Workshop in Phoenix, Arizona. It has been a few months, but the networking, collaborating, workshops, access to materials, and resources have been amazing and is continuing to be an great experience.

Earlier in the year on a whim I applied to the program not knowing much about it. The website makes it sound great and it was Apple, so why not. The application is made up of written pieces about your teaching philosophy and use of technology as a learning tool. This alone was great to spend time thinking through and gathering my thoughts into one cohesive narrative. Here was my response to one question: How are you an early adopter of promising emerging technologies, pedagogical models, and digital content?

“In advertising and journalism it is now required to stay up-to-date with emerging technologies. Not only
do my courses revolve around teaching the planning, production, and development of creative digital
applications, but I consistently experiment with new technologies to improve learning. Every semester I
attempt to incorporate new ways of interacting with course materials whether it be sharing video
tutorials, creating twitter hashtags, or using mobile apps. This accomplishes two things. The first is the
most obvious in that students interact with course content in novel, interesting ways. Second, it also
promotes a curiosity in students to try new technologies and attempt to capitalize on their strengths.
Both are vital to students’ education for jobs that may not currently exist in the industry.”

The other part of the application was a two-minute video summarizing similar issues. Technically, this was a challenge I enjoyed working on. I decided to produce my video as an animation. Additionally, I wanted to try my hand at writing a script and doing a voice over.

During the workshop in Phoenix, we worked in teams on projects that worked to develop content for iTunesU. I was fortunate enough to find a group interested in blended learning. This is a very relevant topic that is required for educators to think through as technology integrates more into the learning process.

Working with ADEs from Florida and Texas we developed an inventory of materials we needed to collect and produce. Since there was a mix of K-12 and higher education we created a nice collection discussing how to get started with blended learning at any level. Being in higher education, I developed a video of a few examples that take advantage of online tools and mix them into class time.

Overall, the workshop was amazing. The ADEs are amazing. The entire program is amazing. I am looking forward to continuing to work with other ADEs and future ADE projects.

Thinking a little broader I see these types of experiences spilling into other opportunities. As I work on more applications and grants it helps me practice my writing to develop a strong position and clearly state what and why you do things. Additionally, applications like the ADE program that require a video is a great opportunity to learn some new technology, set some new challenges for yourself, and creatively tell a story. I have found all of these to we a wonderful exercise well worth the time.

October 4, 2011
by adam
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Developing Mood Boards using Pintrest

Yesterday, on a bit of a whim I mentioned to my graphics course that students could develop mood boards for their next assignment using Pintrest. Their assignment is to develop a 3 ad print campaign, but to get started they need to develop a creative brief and three mood boards for a little bit of design research. For the uninitiated mood boards are a collage that develops a particular tone/style/feel/look/etc without actually designing anything. These elements work together for a small team to develop a design direction. If you interested here’s more about mood boards.

If you are familiar with Pintrest, this is pretty much the digital incarnation of mood board. So why not? The next week should be interesting. The students will be pinning items as they scour the internet for inspiration. We’ll all learn a little bit about the technology along the way. One thing that has come up already is that students can collaborate on boards so the teams can contribute things to a shared board. Nice.

To take this a bit further is when I do something like this, using technology as part of the class, it always seems a little chaotic. In all my courses I attempt to provide a variety of ways students can approach course materials. My philosophy is if students are given a chance to experience the content then they have the opportunity find their own unique interest in the topic. This is easier said then done.

Incorporating technologies can extend the classroom beyond the scheduled meeting time (technically called “blended learning“) so students are engaging with course topics throughout the semester. Since the topics discussed in classes that I teach involve mass communications and media it is easy for students to find examples they find interesting. This spills into the classroom discussions and antidotal evidence seems to motivate students because they are contributing to their own learning. Using their examples in class keeps them interested, but also creates an opportunity for them to apply course topics to their experiences.

A subtle, but extremely valuable byproduct is the peer-to-peer mentoring that emerges from these types of activities. The power users now all of the sudden are experts and can further their understanding of the medium by demonstrating to others their usage. Everyone involved begins to ask questions about the new way of sharing content and communicating a message. In-turn this allows them to creatively think of new ways of using the medium to reach audiences or collaborate. For advertising students this is extremely important becuase they must actively experimenting with social media and staying current with online trends.

We’ll see how Pintrest works out, but it is always exciting to see students try out this tools. It creates a great learning experience for everyone. And while we’re on the topic feel free to check out my emerging Pintrest boards:

August 19, 2010
by adam
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Analytics Everywhere

During the last two weeks at Colle+McVoy I anticipated seeing analytics, but have really been inspired and enlightened on how they are being used to connect with audiences from website strategies to social media insights to keyword research for SEO. The most obvious tool is Google Analytics which give some great stats on your website beyond visits. This isn’t new, but I have learned some great additions like custom segmentation and reporting that allow for a comparison of where visitors are coming from. Using this to get an idea of amount of traffic coming from each social media site gives a great basis on what to build on for social media strategies.

Tons of tools, techniques and resources have come out of the last two weeks which will be great to bring back into the classroom. A great example of an amazing analytics resource is the source of the graphic above, Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik. The chart shows how to think about analytics beyond just how many visits you have and extends it to include analyzing and interpreting the data to get to user insights.

Some of the tools that are out there to “listen” to social media trends are Radian6, SM2, TweetStats, and Collective Intellect. These have all been really cool to poke around in and see the data you can pull based on conversations that are happening on the web. Many of these tools go well beyond just providing analytics, but track trends and attempts to organize similar comments and sentiments into insights of conversations taking place on social media sites.

August 17, 2010
by adam
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Wireframing Fun is Necessary for Production

Wireframing is a very basic idea, but a foundation for the production process that has always been very interesting to me. Something that I have really enjoyed during my time thus far at Colle+McVoy for very nerdy reasons is the use and discussion around wireframes for projects. The concept of wireframes is not new or unheard of, but they are a great way to start to visualize what a digital project will look like as well as the different features it will include.

For those unfamiliar with wireframes they are the first step before the design and development of any digital project begins. It gives the structure of the idea in the form of boxes with few visual details to begin discussion about layout, features, and organization of content for the application. Good wireframes will also include references that highlight areas and elements of interested.

Seeing these over the past week solidifies the idea that a great deal of preplanning must be worked through in an effort to produce projects as efficiently as possible. If everyone has a clear idea of the direction things can move smoothly through design and production.

August 14, 2010
by adam
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Social Media Strategy

Social media strategy gives good insight into how marketers and advertisers can reach and engage audiences. Liz Wawrzonek talks about how she is using her past work experience in community building and grassroots organizing in social media spaces. Her position is interesting because it blends account planning with interactive strategy, which is telling about how advertising agencies are adjusting traditional organizational structures to address emerging communication channels.

This conversation led to a discussion about how the social media space doesn’t allow for companies to just jump into the conversation and start promoting ideas in a traditional advertising approach. In the digital space a presence must be established before companies can beginning building a community and start developing relationships with individuals. This creates new challenges for companies who are looking at using social media as part of a campaign.

August 12, 2010
by adam
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The art of storytelling and publishing

If I were to talk with you about how storytelling is important at a journalism and mass communications college most folks would gravitate towards how journalists write their articles in creative and interesting ways to keep readers engaged. With that said convergence is a huge buzzword where all facets of journalism and mass comm working together to most effectively communicate and connect with audiences.

The first few days at Colle+McVoy, not surprisingly, has seen a ton of research and ideas being put together to present to clients. What is interesting is the focus on the story that is being told to effectively get their point across while building up to the ideas that will go into the strategic plan for a project. I cannot begin to count the amount of times I have heard, “so what is our story” or “how are we going to tell the story.” I like this approach to presentations and strategic thinking a lot, because it is very similar to a journalistic process of searching for answers and solutions. This exploration is not only telling clients what great ideas you have, but how to engage an audience and craft an effective reasoning behind why these ideas will work for the clients needs. All that said this is not a new concept, it is strategy, but students sometimes get hung up on generating ideas without a solid foundation for why and how the ideas address objectives.

Further down this road of convergence social media is another huge media channel that is being tapped. No surprises there, but further thinking about them as media channels is very interesting. Publishing schedules are produced to keep content fresh and keep audiences involved. Thinking about social media as a publishing tool is an easy way to approach the media in a sense that content needs to be relevant to the “publication” as well as interesting and informative. Taking these ideas further is social media and interactive in general opens up opportunities to connect and communicate with audiences and not at them.

One very fun example that C+M has produced is Caribou Coffee’s “Make the Cup” where visitor’s are asked what they stay awake for? The is a wall of submissions with comments, photos, and video all in the style of Caribou’s iconic coffee cup with the best being selected to be featured on the next set of cups.

August 10, 2010
by adam
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Day two at C+M

Day two was just as informative. I sat down with Interactive Strategist, Dan Mandle, to discuss what he does at C+M and to get his thoughts on digital communication and social media. Dan has been very gracious with his time and is very passionate about his work.

August 9, 2010
by adam
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Visiting Professorship at Colle+McVoy

Today I started a visiting professorship at Colle+McVoy in Minneapolis, MN. The next two weeks I will be working with digital strategists, account people, and creatives on their current interactive projects with a goal to explore how the UNL College of Journalism and Mass Communications can incorporate what the industry is doing into the classroom.

Colle+McVoy has been very welcoming and I have already had some great conversations about how the academy and the industry can work together to create great ideas that can benefit both parties.

I am primarily spending my time with digital people. It is interesting to note that for students basics skills such as strategy, writing and business sense are still very important. With that said, today I sat in a couple of great meetings about how social media is being used in campaigns and the creative development of a microsite.

Today was filled with introductions to many people who think creatively about digital media and I am looking forward to conversing with them throughout the next two weeks. I will continue posting updates on this blog about my experiences with the advertising agency, but also how digital is being used in the advertising industry and how it can translate to college courses.