Fall Tour Interactive 2011

Fall Tour Interactive 2011

About the Tour

The Fall Tour Interactive is powered by Oddly studios, a company that specializes in digital content. Oddly imagined the tour as a "way to give back to the interactive community", and it's a great way to bring the industry together and expose students and those aspiring for a related career to useful contacts and a variety of work environments. There are also informative and inspiring panel discussions in addition to the studio tours that take place.

My Take on the Studios

My Tour group had the great opportunity to visit Taxi, John st., Derooted, GripLimited, and Oddly Studios.

Taxi

Taxi truly owned up to its reputation of excellence in our whirlwind tour. We were guided through an immaculate and luxurious mod studio and shown a variety of projects, all of the highest caliber of workmanship. I found Taxi to be slightly intimidating because of both the reputation and the environment, but the presenters seemed friendly. Everyone at Taxi was dressed to the hilt in the industry standard style (fashion-forward hipster chick). I felt a bit like you needed to "walk the walk" and "talk the talk" to be considered for a place at Taxi. I was happy to hear that there are YSDN graduates working in the studio. I'm also sure that because of the size of the studio and the amount of great quality work for big clients, there would be a lot of late nights and long hours working for this studio to prove your metal and stay in the game.

Ultimately I'm not sure whether I would want to work at a location like Taxi right out of school. I might want to ease into an environment that fast-paced after I had learned the ropes at a location with less pressure and fewer responsibilities.

Grip Limited

When we first arrived at Grip, I was impressed with the spacious, naturally lit open concept space in of their studio. It seemed like a space well-designed for collaboration, socialization and integration, and over the course of our tour of Grip it seemed as though integration is key in the way this company operates and designs.

I appreciated the openness and directness of both speakers at Grip and felt like I came away having learned much more about the different roles within a company like Grip and their associated responsibilities and opportunities. It was here at Grip that the idea first arose that I would enjoy being a project manager. This Idea was further promoted after visiting Oddly and derooted later in the Tour.

I was glad that our speaker offered to hold an "informational interview" if we were interested in one, and I'm still considering asking him for one.

Derooted

It was at Derooted that I decided I would prefer to debut at a smaller 'boutique' agency where I would be given the opportunity to assume a larger number of roles and have more power to come up with ideas or manage my own projects.

At derooted I really liked how they were very forward thinking, always thinking about how they could utilize new technologies or create an innovative solution for a client, no matter the size or budget of the project. I could see in their work that they were always challenging themselves to be fresh and innovative, and I want that same kind of creative freedom in my own work.

Derooted is a location where I would consider interning, however because of the size of the studio i worry that they may not have a payed place for me there.


John St.

I actually felt the least drawn to the environment at John st. I found the studio to be much too large, and I think I would feel lost in the crowd if I worked there. I also started doubting whether I really would feel fulfilled working in ad advertising agency, being the mouthpiece of whatever corporation payed the bills.

I found their presentation to be a bit of a snoozefest. I wanted to know more about what it was like working at that studio instead of all about their one project for Tetley Tea. It seemed as though our visit was an afterthought, a minor annoyance lost in the shuffle of other daily chores.


Oddly

At Oddly I felt a comeraderie that was very appealing, however I felt as though their presentation could have been more professional. Their business model can't possibly be so easy! Nothing I make for fun is very profitable. I certainly couldn'y run a business on doodles.

Don't dumb things down for me Oddly, I'm an adult.

At Oddly I was happy to hear more about project management because of my interest having been sparked at Grip Limited already.


Discussions Panels: Collected Insights

- "Fail your way to success. Put the energy behind it and the energy will be recognized"

- "Don't apologize for your growth as a creator"

- "You've got 10,000 shitty drawings inside of you? Get them out now!"

-"Don't let fear and self doubt stop you from getting your stuff out there".

Website

http://www.oddlystudios.com/falltourinteractive/