12 Teaches: Anna

Anna is wonderful. Oh, how we just adore Anna!  And Anna loves many things.  Some of the things Anna loves is sending bundles of letters to friends along collage art too.

And she brought the fun and the wisdom and the expertise and the glue and the pretty paper and the magazines to the 12 space last week.

She also brought CD jackets specially chosen for each of us.  For example, Eric got Prince’s “Purple Rain”:

For another two examples, Francesca got Fiona Apple’s “Tidal,” and Kate got The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Siamese Dream”

Goodie goodie gumdrops!

Back to Anna. 

She likes to use Etsy for inspiration, and she’s learned a few really cool tricks like how to image transfer with a xylene pen and also she can move images simply using packing tape and water.

Here is something beautiful Anna made using the packing tape and water method:

Very attractive and very cool!

Anna says she likes collage because “you don’t have to have an idea about what the finished product will look like.  In fact, it’s better not to.  There are no rules.”

After all, who doesn’t like to break rules?  And who doesn’t like to make a mess? Here we are making a mess at our table:

And a drum roll, please….

For we now present to you…

Our collages!  Ta da!

Photo Project

A few weeks back Byron asked us to write down possible photo essay subjects and put them in a hat. After a quick white elephant game we each had our assignment for a week long photo essay. We were instructed to take 7 photos over the course of a week based on our respective subjects. It was fun to see how everyone executed their projects. Todd dressed stop signs and fire hydrants with  for “street fashion,” Eric purchased a Prince costume for “Prince,” and Kate printed out tiny replications of famous art and hung them around WK for “unexpected.” A few of our projects are shown below. 

12 goes to the IPRC

On Tuesday we got to go on a Field Trip! To the IPRC!

In case you are wondering: IPRC stands for Independent Publishing Resource Center. 

And it is officially as cool as it sounds.

The IPRC is a whole, big place dedicated to really cool stuff like bookmaking and zine-thinking and literary workshops. 

There is an abundance of really special equipment and resources at the IPRC, including tabletop letterpresses, a BindFast machine, a guillotine cutter, a zine library and the ever so charming Yeti Research Station.

Check out the Yeti Research Station:

Thanks so much to Justin and the rest of the great folks at the IPRC for having us.  Don’t forget to mind your Ps and Qs!

12 Teaches: Michael

12 Teaches: Michael Nesmith

Legos. Who doesn’t love them? There are probably a handful of you out there, but for the most part Legos have been providing billions of people with the joy of creation and entertainment since 1934. Unfortunately, most of us leave Lego’s behind after our adolescent years. But there are a select few who are carrying on the tradition in the most spectacular of ways. 

One of those individuals is Michael Nesmith. Lucky for us, Michael is in the 12 class, and last week he brought in his knowledge and passion for Legos as part of a group workshop. 

The afternoon started with a download of Michael’s personal history with Legos. He was first introduced to Legos when he was 4 years old in 1989, via the hospital set. Together with his father an avid toy collector, who collected GI Joes, they saved the boxes/manuals that came with Michael’s Lego sets. Currently right now, Michael has over 70,000 pieces of Legos, including all original boxes/manuals. Amazing, no?

You may be thinking, where does he keep all those Legos? Well, back in Chicago, Michael lived in a two bedroom apartment, where one bedroom was for him and the other was for … wait for it … wait for it … his Legos. Now that is man who is passionate about Legos.

Today, Michael focuses his enthusiasm on creating modular buildings, trains, and a few other city vehicles (police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, etc). This is his city set now:

It has a shopping mall, townhouse, pet shop, green grocer and fire bridge. All of the floors are detachable and contain amazing detail. His goal to create a sprawling metropolis.

After Michael’s Lego lecture, he took us on a class trip. Every first Wednesday at the Cruz Room, in Portland, OR, they hold a BRICK OR BLOCK LEGO Tournament.

Essentially, registered teams get an equal-sized bucket filled with random, assorted Lego blocks. The host, Shannon, then provides a prompt that each of the teams need to keep in mind when imagining their ideas. The timer starts and each team is given 75 minutes to erect their masterpieces.

This week’s theme was: FUNNY.

Mind you, there are teams that come to this event EVERY week—comprised of architects, builders, and toy and pop culture aficionados. There was also a fair share of kids and assorted riff raff, including most of 12.

Judging is based on three criteria: Originality, Stability and Theme Strength.

We broke into two teams and confidently started.

The first team, Les Go Nads, built this:

The second team, The A-Team built this:

In the end, a squad that built an homage to Arrested Development took home the Grand Prize of $100 gift certificates to NE Alberta Businesses.

The A-Team got the popular vote and finished in 2nd place, taking home a $20 bar tab to the Cruz Room.

Les Go Nads finished in 4th place and took home nothing.

All in all, it was a fun night that brought us together over tacos, beers, and a rekindled appreciation for Legos.

Thanks, Michael, for an amazing time. 

12 Teaches: Brad

Before Brad Holdgrafer came to 12, he was out there doing what most of us only dream of doing: he was changing the world. Five years ago, Brad along with his college roommates, had a dream. That dream was to transform the world with some yarn and a crochet needle, and today that vision has altered the lives of hundreds of people across two continents with the success of their non-profit, Krochet Kids.

Their mission is simple: to empower people to rise above poverty. They do this by creating sustainable economic development programs (crocheting and knitting) that support the growth of communities within developing nations. Today, over 150 people in Uganda and Peru are working, receiving education, and being mentored toward a brighter future.

The simple act of weaving yarn has had more influence than most can imagine. Take for instance Akello, one of the women from their Northern Uganda program. Before our crochet lesson, Brad introduced us to her via this short film. I encourage you to watch it and hear her story of perseverance, courage and healing through empowerment. It just goes to show, that ideas do have power when produced by powerful people … and Brad Holdgrafer is a powerful person. All of us in 12 were left feeling very impressed and humbled by his work.

The beauty of 12 is the life experience that all of us uniquely bring to the table, and there is no doubt that the lessons Brad learned by starting his own company, helping people in poverty, teaching a culture how to be self-empowered will influence all of us here at 12. However today’s lesson was more hands-on. Brad taught us all the magic of crocheting.

Crocheting is hard. Really hard. Actually it’s probably pretty easy once you get the hang of it, but there were many sighs and moans in the beginning, as many of us struggled with our fat fingers and inability to understand the simplicity of hooking and weaving. However, by the end most of us (sans Finney) had caught on and were well on our way to making our own beanies.

A typical hat takes about 20 minutes to do, this is how far Stokes got in 2 hours.

This is Finney’s version of a beanie. 

It’s Monday.

It’s week #18 of 2013 and just another manic Monday here at W+K 12. We’re busy working as teams on our first official outside client and getting ready to present our ideas to Byron and Jim later this week. We’ll keep you posted on that front.

So, one of the most amazing things about being here at Wieden is that the company pays great homage to the creative process. One way they stand true to this philosophy is by inviting some amazing people to share their talents with the agency. Last week was epic.

The Local Natives an indie rock band based out of Los Angeles, came by on Wednesday and gave an amazing performance. The mood was super chill and the casual atmosphere led to a lovely afternoon concert. Take a listen to Ansel’s (12.9) favorite track: Wide Eyes

Then on Friday for our lunchtime concert series Kishi Bashi tore up the atrium with an incredible set from his most recent album. If you haven’t heard this guy’s music, download his album immediately, follow him on Twitter, do what you can to support this incredible artist.

Afterwards, all of Wieden + Kennedy was in awe as two cheetahs from the Cheetah Conservation Fund came for a visit. Founder Laurie Marker gave a wonderful speech about her incredible journey setting up the Cheetah Fund and the development of the permanent Conservation Research Centre for the wild cheetah in Africa. Check out their site to learn more about what they’re up to and help save this incredible species.

12 Teaches: Vince

This past Monday, Vince “Edwin” Largoza took the stage for the fifth installment of “12 Teaches.” His lesson? Beer!

(Pretty cool way to start the week if you ask me)

And while here at 12 we’re no strangers to beer, Vince is the only 12er who’s had the pleasure in spending substantial time in some of our great nation’s greatest microbrewery capitals.

During his presentation, Vince took us (and our taste buds) on an educational journey as he explained the brewing process behind our favorite fermented beverages as well as the differences between pilsners, lagers, ales, and the like.

And after sharing his expertise on the subject, Vince shared a few choice brews with the 12 class to bring everything full circle.

Awesome opossum!

Thanks Vince! 

The Love of our lives

We’d like to take a moment to give a love shout-out to a very important our favorite person.

Her name is Jinnina, and she is the best thing to happen to W+K12 and Jim Riswold since ever.

She:

Gives us hugs when we need them most, fixes us when we breakdown, reminds us to leave the office when we’ve been working too long, makes sure we get home safely whenever alcohol is involved, introduces us to tons and tons of cool people, helps us navigate the pitfalls of entering timesheets and insurance rebates, makes sure that we eat lunch, invites us to cool parties that we didn’t know about, made us leave school early to go to an Alt-J concert, makes sure that we don’t let our space get too messy, helps us pull pranks on Riswold, got us all really nifty lockers, asks us to take her on coffee and ice cream dates (even though she doesn’t eat ice cream), keeps a jar full of candy on her desk, gives us super legit life advice, gives us tips on how to score free food, makes sure 12 actually has its act together, AND she puts up with Jim Riswold.

On a daily basis!

She is a gift and we love her so!

And while we celebrate the greatness of the one and only Jinnina Chiles on a daily basis, we’d like to invite you to celebrate her greatness on this great Administrative Professionals Day of April 24, 2013.

Did you know that there are over 4.1 million Administrative Assistants in the United States?

(now you know)

Did you know that out of all of the Administrative Assistants in the world  we have the best one?

(it’s true)

Thanks for everything Jinnina! We love you!

<3 12

12 Teaches: Eric

Last week we had the honor of learning animation from fellow 12er, Eric Swanson. During his “12 teaches” class, Eric shared his history with animation as well as examples of some of his favorite animations. One of these examples included Geroges Schwizgelbel’s Jeu, a project that took three years to complete and was comprised of hundreds of individual paintings. 

After his demonstration. Each of us created two different animations. The first, a thaumatrope (pictured below) and the second, a traditional animation consisting of 24 frames a second (which will be posted at a later time). 

Thanks so much to Eric, the class was a blast!

New frames for Todd

Todd’s current glasses are bad. They are military issued glasses he got for free, often referred to as BCG’s, or Birth Control Glasses. You can see why:

Todd can do better. Anna picked out 5 frames she thought would look nice and had Warby Parker send us a trial pack. We need your help deciding on a pair. Check out the pictures below and vote by emailing your favorite frames to wk12@wk.com. Any of them should help Todd get laid more often, but there can be only 1 winning pair.