Apple/MAL
Head of Digital Creative
BandPage
Director of Design
Emerson
Creative technologist
Public Code
Design + Comms
Field States
Design + Technology
Crushroom
Head of Design
Music
Design + Animation
Apple\Media Arts Lab
I led digital design and animation for Apple’s stealth ad agency. My teams in Los Angeles and London animated and built Apple’s digital brand campaigns.
Head of Digital Creative
2005–12
Team leadership
Visual design
Animation
Video editing + effects
Art direction
Disruptors in hiding
The Media Arts Lab team was responsible for Apple’s TV, digital, print, and outdoor ad campaigns, domestic and global—1984 and Think Different, iTunes Silhouettes and There’s an App for That, Get a Mac and Shot on iPhone.
When I joined in 2005, the thirty of us were cloistered in the corner of a stadium-sized agency. With Apple growing ever faster and a big reveal coming up (*cough* iPhone), the days of building foam core forts to keep secrets came to an end—we split off and formed TBWA\Media Arts Lab, scaling to 350 people in six countries over the next seven years. In between Apple campaigns, we were proud to work with orgs like Pixar and Conservation International.
My Challenges
1
Invent ways for an exceptional client to stand out online
2
Push a traditional agency to do great digital work
3
Survive leadership vacuums + evolve into a team builder
4
Nurture creativity + sanity in an always-on environment
Leading Digital Creative
Operating first as designer, animator, and developer on a team of three, I grew to lead digital creative, helping build and manage our international team of sixteen artists, engineers and producers. Seven intense years at an exciting, difficult place—high-stakes deadlines, organizational turbulence, to finally finding balance alongside incredibly talented collaborators.
We evolved a digital strategy to reflect our client's exceptional products, ditching industry conventions and clutter for site-bespoke executions that engaged audiences at 5-10x the normal rate. We built an in-house animation engine and ad framework, collaborating with publishers and customizing the world’s biggest websites to ensure seamless and inventive experiences.
I partnered with creative leads and film directors, editing and fx studios to craft award-winning campaigns for the Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and iTunes. Now and then, I got to create a digital experience for WALL•E, or that billboard behind Steve above.
I grew up at Media Arts Lab. As a communicator, as a mistake maker and repairer, as a builder of diverse and talented teams. I realized effective leadership is more about support than command—that great culture results from serving both the work and the people creating it.
Danny
Joannah
Sean
Bob
Anastasija
Rhodney
Martijn
James
Dean
Anthony
Tali
Tony
Nyaze
Kathryn
Andrew
Wonhee
iPod Touch “Share the Fun”
TV spots on the web are boring. Televisions show one thing at a time, but a website coexists with the ads on it. Here, we kept things fresh by trading cuts and tracking shots for a continuous scene, and playing with negative space to imply depth and form.
Digital concept
Choreography
Technical direction
Compositing
iPod + iTunes: Silhouettes
We only ran campaigns online if we could one-up the TV spots. For Silhouettes, I recut video and audio, hand-vectorized dancers so they could break the frame (and save bandwidth), and built it to play nice with site functionality. We loved these even more than the originals.
Technical concept
Animation
Editing
Technical development
iPod Touch “All Kinds of Fun”
To surprise viewers, we tailored our ads for every website. We conspired with site design teams to incorporate their on-the-day layout changes into our animation. After working out the prototype sequence, I orchestrated a pipeline of animators to meet ridiculously tight deadlines.
Technical direction
Animation
Art direction
Editing
Compositing
Get a Mac “Booby trap”
We aimed to delivery our message and entertain without needing sound or interaction. Characters’ contextual awareness enabled them to share the space with site visitors, and feel less interruptive. Before building final creative, I collaborated with creative leads, film directors and editors on concept, framing, and effects.
Concept collaboration
On-set technical direction
Editing
Development
iTunes Music
In the slivers of time between big brand campaigns, my team and I built thousands of ads for weekly new music, film and book releases on iTunes. (key co-conspirator: Rhodney)
Concept
Art direction
Technical direction
Lessons learned...
1
Stay connected. It’s easy to lose track of the outside world when the heat is always on. Your network helps you grow and thrive.
2
When faced with difficulty, focus on the goal. With tough people or circumstances, channel your energy toward constructive collaboration.
3
Love your team. Support people so they can do great work, don’t demand accomplishments at their expense. Ground up, not top down.
4
Ego just gets in the way. When in over your head, ask for advice and talk it through in advance. Don’t wait for the breakdown.
Nothing could have prepared me for this place—the trials by fire, the hard-won lessons, the creativity and camaraderie.
Apple\MAL
Building the international digital creative team
BandPage
Directing product design, getting acquired
Emerson Collective
Building solutions forprogressive change
Coming soon
Public Code
International collaboration on digital infrastructure
Field States
Co-creating strategic design for better public outcomes
Crushroom
Designing a social-first music experience
Music
Art + animation for album releases
Apple\Media Arts Lab
I led digital design and animation for Apple’s stealth ad agency. My teams in Los Angeles and London animated and built Apple’s digital brand campaigns.
Head of Digital Creative
2005–12
Team leadership
Visual design
Animation
Video editing + effects
Art direction
Disruptors in hiding
The Media Arts Lab team was responsible for Apple’s TV, digital, print, and outdoor ad campaigns, domestic and global—1984 and Think Different, iTunes Silhouettes and There’s an App for That, Get a Mac and Shot on iPhone.
When I joined in 2005, the thirty of us were cloistered in the corner of a stadium-sized agency. With Apple growing ever faster and a big reveal coming up (*cough* iPhone), the days of building foam core forts to keep secrets came to an end—we split off and formed TBWA\Media Arts Lab, scaling to 350 people in six countries over the next seven years. In between Apple campaigns, we were proud to work with orgs like Pixar and Conservation International.
My Challenges
1
Invent ways for an exceptional client to stand out online
2
Push a traditional agency to do great digital work
3
Survive leadership vacuums + evolve into a team builder
4
Nurture creativity + sanity in an always-on environment
Leading Digital Creative
Operating first as designer, animator, and developer on a team of three, I grew to lead digital creative, helping build and manage our international team of sixteen artists, engineers and producers. Seven intense years at an exciting, difficult place—high-stakes deadlines, organizational turbulence, to finally finding balance alongside incredibly talented collaborators.
We evolved a digital strategy to reflect our client's exceptional products, ditching industry conventions and clutter for site-bespoke executions that engaged audiences at 5-10x the normal rate. We built an in-house animation engine and ad framework, collaborating with publishers and customizing the world’s biggest websites to ensure seamless and inventive experiences.
I partnered with creative leads and film directors, editing and fx studios to craft award-winning campaigns for the Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and iTunes. Now and then, I got to create a digital experience for WALL•E, or that billboard behind Steve above.
I grew up at Media Arts Lab. As a communicator, as a mistake maker and repairer, as a builder of diverse and talented teams. I realized effective leadership is more about support than command—that great culture results from serving both the work and the people creating it.
Danny
Joannah
Sean
Bob
Anastasija
Rhodney
Martijn
James
Dean
Anthony
Tali
Tony
Nyaze
Kathryn
Andrew
Wonhee
iPod Touch “Share the Fun”
TV spots on the web are boring. Televisions show one thing at a time, but a website coexists with the ads on it. Here, we kept things fresh by trading cuts and tracking shots for a continuous scene, and playing with negative space to imply depth and form.
Digital concept
Choreography
Technical direction
Compositing
iPod + iTunes: Silhouettes
We only ran campaigns online if we could one-up the TV spots. For Silhouettes, I recut video and audio, hand-vectorized dancers so they could break the frame (and save bandwidth), and built it to play nice with site functionality. We loved these even more than the originals.
Technical concept
Animation
Editing
Technical development
iPod Touch “All Kinds of Fun”
To surprise viewers, we tailored our ads for every website. We conspired with site design teams to incorporate their on-the-day layout changes into our animation. After working out the prototype sequence, I orchestrated a pipeline of animators to meet ridiculously tight deadlines.
Technical direction
Animation
Art direction
Editing
Compositing
Get a Mac “Booby trap”
We aimed to delivery our message and entertain without needing sound or interaction. Characters’ contextual awareness enabled them to share the space with site visitors, and feel less interruptive. Before building final creative, I collaborated with creative leads, film directors and editors on concept, framing, and effects.
Concept collaboration
On-set technical direction
Editing
Development
iTunes Music
In the slivers of time between big brand campaigns, my team and I built thousands of ads for weekly new music, film and book releases on iTunes. (key co-conspirator: Rhodney)
Concept
Art direction
Technical direction
Lessons learned...
1
Stay connected. It’s easy to lose track of the outside world when the heat is always on. Your network helps you grow and thrive.
2
When things get difficult, rally around shared goals. Hear out concerns, channel energy toward constructive collaboration.
3
Love your team. Support people so they can do great work, don’t demand accomplishments at their expense. Ground up, not top down.
4
Ego just gets in the way. When in over your head, ask for advice and talk it through in advance. Don’t wait for the breakdown.
Nothing could have prepared me for this place—the trials by fire, the hard-won lessons, the creativity and camaraderie.
Apple\MAL
Building the international digital creative team
BandPage
Directing product design, getting acquired
Emerson Collective
Building solutions forprogressive change
Coming soon
Public Code
International collaboration on digital infrastructure
Field States
Co-creating strategic design for better public outcomes
Crushroom
Designing a social-first music experience
Music
Art + animation for album releases
Apple\Media Arts Lab
I led digital design and animation for Apple’s stealth ad agency. My teams in Los Angeles and London animated and built Apple’s digital brand campaigns.
Head of Digital Creative
2005–12
Team leadership
Visual design
Animation
Video editing + effects
Art direction
Disruptors in hiding
The Media Arts Lab team was responsible for Apple’s TV, digital, print, and outdoor ad campaigns, domestic and global—1984 and Think Different, iTunes Silhouettes and There’s an App for That, Get a Mac and Shot on iPhone.
When I joined in 2005, the thirty of us were cloistered in the corner of a stadium-sized agency. With Apple growing ever faster and a big reveal coming up (*cough* iPhone), the days of building foam core forts to keep secrets came to an end—we split off and formed TBWA\Media Arts Lab, scaling to 350 people in six countries over the next seven years. In between Apple campaigns, we were proud to work with orgs like Pixar and Conservation International.
My Challenges
1
Invent ways for an exceptional client to stand out online
2
Push a traditional agency to do great digital work
3
Survive leadership vacuums + evolve into a team builder
4
Nurture creativity + sanity in an always-on environment
Leading Digital Creative
Operating first as designer, animator, and developer on a team of three, I grew to lead digital creative, helping build and manage our international team of sixteen artists, engineers and producers. Seven intense years at an exciting, difficult place—high-stakes deadlines, organizational turbulence, to finally finding balance alongside incredibly talented collaborators.
We evolved a digital strategy to reflect our client's exceptional products, ditching industry conventions and clutter for site-bespoke executions that engaged audiences at 5-10x the normal rate. We built an in-house animation engine and ad framework, collaborating with publishers and customizing the world’s biggest websites to ensure seamless and inventive experiences.
I partnered with creative leads and film directors, editing and fx studios to craft award-winning campaigns for the Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and iTunes. Now and then, I got to create a digital experience for WALL•E, or that billboard behind Steve above.
I grew up at Media Arts Lab. As a communicator, as a mistake maker and repairer, as a builder of diverse and talented teams. I realized effective leadership is more about support than command—that great culture results from serving both the work and the people creating it.
Danny
Joannah
Sean
Bob
Anastasija
Rhodney
Martijn
James
Dean
Anthony
Tali
Tony
Nyaze
Kathryn
Andrew
Wonhee
iPod Touch “Share the Fun”
TV spots on the web are boring. Televisions show one thing at a time, but a website coexists with the ads on it. Here, we kept things fresh by trading cuts and tracking shots for a continuous scene, and playing with negative space to imply depth and form.
Digital concept
Choreography
Technical direction
Compositing
iPod + iTunes: Silhouettes
We only ran campaigns online if we could one-up the TV spots. For Silhouettes, I recut video and audio, hand-vectorized dancers so they could break the frame (and save bandwidth), and built it to play nice with site functionality. We loved these even more than the originals.
Technical concept
Animation
Editing
Technical development
iPod Touch “All Kinds of Fun”
To surprise viewers, we tailored our ads for every website. We conspired with site design teams to incorporate their on-the-day layout changes into our animation. After working out the prototype sequence, I orchestrated a pipeline of animators to meet ridiculously tight deadlines.
Technical direction
Animation
Art direction
Editing
Compositing
Get a Mac “Booby trap”
We aimed to delivery our message and entertain without needing sound or interaction. Characters’ contextual awareness enabled them to share the space with site visitors, and feel less interruptive. Before building final creative, I collaborated with creative leads, film directors and editors on concept, framing, and effects.
Concept collaboration
On-set technical direction
Editing
Development
iTunes Music
In the slivers of time between big brand campaigns, my team and I built thousands of ads for weekly new music, film and book releases on iTunes. (key co-conspirator: Rhodney)
Concept
Art direction
Technical direction
Lessons learned...
1
Stay connected. It’s easy to lose track of the outside world when the heat is always on. Your network helps you grow and thrive.
2
When things get difficult, rally around shared goals. Hear out concerns, channel energy toward constructive collaboration.
3
Love your team. Support people so they can do great work, don’t demand accomplishments at their expense. Ground up, not top down.
4
Ego just gets in the way. When in over your head, ask for advice and talk it through in advance. Don’t wait for the breakdown.
Nothing could have prepared me for this place—the trials by fire, the hard-won lessons, the creativity and camaraderie.
