BRACAU 27 BLOG'S

A postcard from Ronja Gustavsson who won #3 place in 48h, the biggest advertising contest for students in Sweden, on March 28th, 2009.


Yeah! 48 hours of frustration and thoughts.

- What do we do?
- Ahh, a tree?
Ohh the clock is ticking... 32 hours left.
- A shovel!
- Shovel? what are we talking about?
20 hours left...
- Yes, we like shovel. It reminds me of a hobbyhorse.
18 hours left...
- Hmm image? Maybe. No.Yes.No.Yes.Maybe.NO!

Three hours before the deadline the printer did not work and the paper was stuck. When our copy finally came out and was to be cut, the cutter angled.
After an attempt to cut to print on a TREMBLING hung-over hand, we were finally finished!


Lovely! It was a very good experience and I want to thank my two group members:
Petter Nylind, Forsbergs and Ines Cuvelier, Berghs. You Rock!

/Ronja Gustavsson, Business Management 10

Hyper Island staff member Christian Olsson and graduated student Anna Gullstrand, now CEO of Deasign, were interviewed in yesterday's Metro. Click the image to read the article (in Swedish):


- or click here to read the article in a PDF format.
More Hyper Island in the Media!

Myke Gerstein, Executive Interactive Producer at Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam, held a lecture at Hyper Island Stockholm last week. We wanted to find out more.

What was your lecture at Hyper Island about?
I talked about the production process as it lives in an agency. Some of the differences that exist between digital and traditional agencies and also a bit about the way things work at a development shop.

What new ideas/points of view do you hope the Digital Media students brought with them from the lecture?
I think that the explanation of the basic agency structure was new. It certainly was to me before I got involved in it. I hope that getting into these specifics will help the students both decide if the agency way interests them and also gives them a leg up once they’re there.

Photo: Lea Kovac, Interactive Art Director 2009
What do you think the future holds for digital marketing?
I think there is great potential for digital marketing to not just innovate within its own field, but within the web as a whole. I think we’ll start to see ideas come out of marketers that don’t just use existing technology but trail blaze their own. Public APIs and open source I think is changing interactive the same way that cheap cameras and editing software changed film production. You don’t need a lot of money to make something that a lot of people will see. It puts even greater importance on the creative idea.

What do you think will happen to traditional ad agencies?
I think they’re going in a few directions. Some are trying to build out their interactive capabilities. Compete for their clients’ interactive business. I think a lot of them have a strong shot at doing that but of course it takes time and isn’t always successful. Some will keep doing what they do best and there will always be a need for it. Film production isn’t going anywhere. People are watching less of it on a tv but they are still watching. Same with print to a lesser extent. The publishing industry is getting smaller and the production of print materials doesn’t have the same type of analog as video on the web or another broadcast source.

How does Wieden+Kennedy stay up-to-date with what's happening in the digital world?
We have a lot of people here that are really interested in what’s happening both on an interactive marketing front and in the web as a whole. There is a lot of knowledge that people share with everyone else. I scan all the tech news several times a day and pass on things I think are relevant.

Are there any people / innovators / technologies / other sources of inspirations that have had strong impacts on the way you work?
Probably too many to mention. Every place I’ve worked has been filled with truly inspired and inspiring people. The people at CP+B, W+K, Campfire, Chelsea Pictures. All of them. The sophistication and capabilities of flash are of course influential both because of its predominance in the field and the many things it can do. Every RIA impacts our work. Also great jazz. I listen to Oscar Peterson on repeat.

Any final words of advice to Hyper Island's students?
Find a place whose work you think is great and that you want to contribute to. Do it with great gusto and fortitude. If it doesn’t make you happy find something else.

Thank you, Myke!

Read an interview with Hyper Island CEO Mattias Hansson from the latest issue of Fast Company.

Today is the last Wednesday we'll get to spend with our Interactive Art Director students in a while - they're leaving us to spend the next 13 weeks at their internship placements all over the world.

Hyper Island's students arrange their internships placements themselves, which makes us even more proud to announce where our Interactive Art Director 2009 students are going;

AD&D, Stockholm, Sweden
Birth, Stockholm, Sweden
DDB Stockholm, Sweden
Doberman, Stockholm, Sweden
Droga 5, New York, USA
Fallon Tokyo, Japan
Garbergs, Stockholm, Sweden
Good Old, Malmö, Sweden
Great Works Barcelona, Spain
Great Works New York, USA
Great Works Stockholm, Sweden
King Stockholm, Sweden
Locomotiv, Stockholm, Sweden
Lowe Brindfors, Stockholm, Sweden
North Kingdom Skellefteå, Sweden
Perfect Fools New York, USA
POKE, London, UK
Storåkers, Stockholm, Sweden
Syrup New York, USA
Syrup Stockholm, Sweden
Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam, Netherlands
Wieden + Kennedy London, UK
Wieden + Kennedy Portland, USA

We wish you great learning experiences and can't wait to hear all about it! We'll keep following updates to your site, Space is the Limit, until we meet again!

Blekinge Läns Tidning wrote about Hyper Island's Digital Media 2010 Karlskrona site yesterday, check it out!
• In Swedish
• in English (through Google translate)
• Photo Slideshow of the prison and prisoners

More Hyper Island in the Media!

Check this out, www.releaseusnow.com !

"Four students. Five days.
We have incarcerated four of our classmates in the cells at Kronohäktet in Karlskrona. The best thing about it... YOU can interact with them. We will post assignments for the prisoners at www.releaseusnow.com and if they are successful we will increase their standards of living. You can follow the live webcam feed from the website."
So says the class of Digital Media 2010 Karlskrona. They have imprisoned four of their classmates and you can follow the whole experiment at www.releaseusnow.com!


If you want to support Jenny & Josefin you go to: Cell 1's Facebook page
- and sign up for their group and befriend Kelly Nedson the group creator.

If you want to support Pelle & Tommi you go to: Cell 2's Facebook page
- and join their group and befriend Charles Abagnale who is the group founder there.

COME ON, SHOW YOUR SUPPORT AND MAKE THE CELL YOU ARE VOTING FOR WIN!

Hyper Island's Recruitment Tour made a stop in Berlin last week. Hyper Island staff member Christian Olsson tells us more:

What was the purpose of going to Berlin?
We went down to Berlin mainly to do the recruitment days and meet potential students as part of our recruitment tour. Also we met exciting agencies and people who are all interesting to be connected to Hyper Island in the future.


The recruitment day consist of several different acitivities to get a broad and as correct picture of each applicant as possible. Each year, we don't look for one type of person when we assess applicants. Instead we try to find a dynamic group of students with different backgrounds and skills. A recruitment day consist of a personal interview, an individual creative test, a group test and an English test. Also, you have the chance to meet previous students talk to Hyper Island co-workers to clarify questions.
 
We had the great opportunity to spend our recruitment day at Neue Digital's very nice offices in the centre of Berlin. Read more about Neue Digital here.


What's your impression of the digital industry in Berlin?
Berlin is one of the creative centers in Europe for art, music, design and other creative industries. As a natural part of the city, the digital industry has really happened. A lot of global agencies have a creative office in Berlin and there are many smaller design studios like URBN.de and Less Rain. I think more Hyper Island students should go to Berlin for their internship or after graduating.

What can Hyper Island offer international students that they could not find in their home countries?
According to the industry, there are not a lot of schools that are similar to Hyper Island in the world. We get contacted daily from top agencies around the globe who want to employ our students. We believe that it's because a unique mix of the Hyper Island learning method, which is based on active participating, problem-based learning and learning-by-doing in combination with cutting edge technology used for implementing change together over 400 external industry lecturers each year. Since the start in 1996, Hyper Island has had an international perspective. A big part of the Hyper Island students get employed and do their internship abroad and a lot of the lectures are in English. To put it short, I believe it's the combination of the above.


We look forward to the upcoming Recruitment Tour stops in:
· Austin, Texas - 15th of March
· Helsinki - 21st of March
· Oslo - 25th of April
· Lisbon - 10th of May
Apply for the upcoming Recruitment Tour stops here!

Thanks Christian!

Last month, Hyper Island held a Master Class for She Creatives. Participants from Portugal, United Kingdom, USA and Sweden gathered in Karlskrona for the 5-day intensive course.
The She Creatives course is a collaboration between Hyper Island, highly acclaimed Scandinavian network of professional female creatives She Creatives of Sweden and U.K. based network She Says.

Karin Ernerot, Creative Director at Tewonder and Jessica Olander, Art Director at Söderhavet, initiated She Creatives of Sweden in the fall of 2007, aiming to strengthen the network relationships between female creatives in the advertising, web and film industries.
More information about She Creatives of Sweden in Swedish / Google Translate.

We caught up with Karin, who also participated in the course, to find out more about the history of the course and why she recommends female creatives to sign up for future Master Classes for She Creatives:

What made you decide to set up the course with Hyper Island?
It started as a suggestion from Hyper Island CEO Mattias Hansson, to arrange a Master Class for She Creatives. We had to think about it for a while, if it was a good idea or not. When She Says from London joined, we decided to say Go.

Photo by Jessica Olander
The She Creatives course attendees came from Portugal, New York, London and Stockholm - what knowledge did you gain from learning more about each others' different cultural and professional experiences?
Since we all work with global media, we have a lot of experiences and references that are the same. We are all senior creatives and powerful women☺. But we could spot some differences, for example in salary. In Portugal women earn half as much as men in the same positions.

Was there anything that surprised you during the course?
When we were planning the course, both Jessica Olander and I were a bit stressed because we didn’t get any schedule or plan for the Master Class. A week before we attended we started to get the picture. Every day in Karlskrona the structure evolved. When the course was over, we found it very structured and well planed. Personally, I was glad that I couldn’t foresee every next step on the way, it’s was part of the process.

On the She Creatives blog, you write that the attendees grew together as a group, what aspects helped make that happen?
During the first day we had some workshops that made us open up, work as a team and get closer.

What's your response to those who have criticized the course, saying it's discriminates?
When we started She Creatives some people got provoked and threw all kinds of crappy comments at us. But that kind of reactions just makes us more convinced that networks like ours are extremely important.

Why do you recommend other creatives to apply to future She Creative courses?
To explore group dynamics, network with other creatives from all over the world, get a boost of energy and take time to reflect over your situation and interactive media. For me as a Creative Director, it was great to bring a new set of creative tools back to Tewonder.

Thank you, Karin!


As there is a lack of female creatives within the mentioned industries, Hyper Island decided to subsidize the She Creatives course fee to support the female creatives in our network in every way possible.
Find out more about the Hyper Island Master Class for She Creatives.

Participants from Wieden + Kennedy London underwent Hyper Island's Tailor Made Master Class last month.

Says Laura Quinn, Account Director at Wieden + Kennedy London;
"... a huge new space opened up in our heads to start thinking digital in a totally new way."

Read more at Wieden + Kennedy's blog!

Digital Media 2009 Karlskrona students Patrik Nerséus and Rikard Ekberg just finished their internships at Gringo in São Paulo, Brazil, having spent the last 7 months at the company.

Patrik and Rikard interviewed Gringo CEO, Andre Matarazzo, discussing the development of Hyper Island interns.
See a video of the interview below:

Earlier this year, we told you that on February 14th, ten Hyper Island students were going to Berlin to paint a 15 meters wide wall at Tempelhofer Ufer 36.


We caught up with Digital Media 2010 Stockholm student Maja Bergstrand, who told us more about how they ended up with the final design;

About three weeks before traveling to Berlin, we met with Georg Herliz of Kollektivlivet, who had helped us with information regarding Berlin and Graffiti-painting in general. Kollektivlivet had shown a great deal of interest in the project and asked if they could be part of the actual painting. We thought that a collaboration was a fun idea and decided it'd give us a chance to experience partnering with an external workgroup.


We briefed George about our class promotion plans for module Marketing & Promotion and gave Kollektivlivet a few guiding words; fellowship and passion among others. We asked for a motif that didn't only appeal to our class, but also to other passer-bys. Our group then put together a mood board and were excited to see Kollektivlivet's proposal. After collaborating on details, we came to a result with a simple graphic message mixed with subtle detailed elements.
We aimed for simplicity as the wall can be seen from the Berlin subway trains, and we love the explosion of colors!

Thanks Maja!


To find out more about the project, check out the group's Berlin blog or join their Facebook Group.

The students would like to thank their sponsors:

Grab the chance to attend a Hyper Island Master Class, by bidding on a spot in the upcoming Master Class for Project Managers & Strategists at Tradera (an Ebay-owned company).


- Do you want to know the advantages and possibilities with interactive media better?
- Do you yearn to have more know-how in how to manage and run an interactive media project on time and budget?
- Do you wish you had more experience in how interactive media should be used within ad campaigns and marketing?
- Do you want to be able to measure success properly when using interactive media as a tool?
- Want to become more up-to-date with the trends within interactive media?

Then the Hyper Island Master Class for Project Managers and Strategists is the solution you need - Bid now!

Master Class for Project Managers and Strategists suits well for:
- Business strategists
- Project Managers
- Production Managers
- Planners 
- Similar work positions

To find out more about Hyper Island's Master Class for Project Managers & Strategists - click here!

The course takes place in Karlskrona, starting May 6th, 2009.
Food and lodging is included in the price, but not your travels to and from Karlskrona.

Start bidding now!