BRACAU 27 BLOG'S

Interactive Art Director 2009 students are currently doing their internships all over the globe. A few of the students checked in with us to tell us how they're doing:

"I'm doing my internship at Fallon in Tokyo. If you don't mind cutting down on sleep, eating great food, sit in parks under cherry trees, getting stared at or being able to buy birthday cakes at 4 in the morning; then this is the place for you.

The Fallon office is located in a nice area of town called Omotesando. The people here have been very friendly and helpful. I get to work with big clients such as Heineken and Lancôme. I'm also trying to learn Japanese, but it's kind of hard.
All in all, I'm having a great time over here!

Arigatougozaimasu! (A very polite form of  'thank you')"
--Adrian Tomic, at Fallon Tokyo, Japan


"The first thing I noticed when I arrived at Great Works was the great big wall with drawings and messages on it. Everyone who visits or works at Great Works Barcelona leave their mark here, literally!


Another thing I noticed was the attitude here, everyone is really friendly and very relaxed, deadlines are met but without stress!"
--Lina Wahlgren, at Great Works Barcelona, Spain


"Droga5 is a great place filled with friendly people who do some amazing work. I think that Droga5 have redefined what advertising is and can be. Their work just blows me away, so of course I'm very excited to be a part of the team here. The most inspiring experience so far is to be surrounded by all these talented people and have the privilege to work with them. I hope to learn more about the strategy behind a succesful concept and hopefully I can also contribute with some of the experience I have gained from my time at Hyper Island.

Studying at Hyper Island has really helped me increase my knowledge and skills in digital media and without this experience I wouldn't be where I am today."
--Filip Kleremark, at Droga5, New York, USA


"It’s 23:13 in Amsterdam and I’m still at work. But don’t get me wrong, I’m still here because it’s fun, and also because we got a deadline tomorrow morning...
I like the place and the people who are very friendly, something I noticed the first day. Wieden + Kennedy have offices all over the world but I can only speak for Amsterdam, and this office is great.
Got to get back to work."
--Johan Schönfeldt, at Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam, Netherlands


"Arriving at Wieden + Kennedy in London, the first thing I noticed was that they had grown quite a bit since my last visit a couple of years ago. From around 50 employees to almost 160 – in the same office! That means that people are working in the kitchen, in the conference rooms, in the toilets (joking). Fortunately, Wieden + Kennedy is renovating a new building across the street to fill with people.

After almost four weeks, I can say for sure that the most inspiring experience so far has been the people that I have had the pleasure of working with. Everyone knows exactly what they are doing and why. With my former experience of sometimes having to work with less ambitious people, it’s a true relief that I don’t have to go on about stuff that needs to be fixed – it’s already been taken care of!

London has so far been a city seen from the tube, the office and our apartment, i.e. I haven’t had much of a chance exploring it yet. I have bought a bicycle though, so at least I now get to know the crazy left-hand traffic of the East end.

It’s only one week left to our pitch presentation so I better go get some sleep now. I’m beginning to feel a bit nervous but we (me and Hemant who is a copywriter from India) have some good stuff so I think it will be great. Welcome to optimisim, as we say at Wieden + Kennedy."
--Dennis Rosenqvist, at Wieden + Kennedy London, UK


Follow the class' internship experiences at their Internship Blog:
http://spaceisthelimit.com/blog/

Hyper Island has been around for almost 11 years now. Mattias Nyström from Crew 1, co-founder of Great Works is an example of an old school Hyper Island student still going strong:

As yours was the first ever Hyper Island Crew, how did you find out about school?
I was studying at the University at the time when a friend of mine saw an article in 'Ölands bladet'. Since I didn't really like studying at a University I jumped at the opportunity of trying out a new experimental education. 

What have you been doing since your graduation?
After Hyperisland I moved to London. I was there for 6 years working with a couple of agencies but unfortunately only one still exist - the OTHER media. The others either crashed during the .com years or have merged into larger networks.
Once back in Stockholm I met the guys I founded Great Works with. At the time I joined their production company - Speedway Digital Army. 

How many people co-founded Great Works?
We were 5 people that started Great Works in its current form. A sixth person joined as a partner and recently we joined a japanese network called TYO Group.

How many people currently work at Great Works - including your offices in Stockholm, Barcelona and NYC?
Around 50 people are employed. We are also always having a bunch of freelancers involved in every office. 

What knowledge from Hyper Island have you brought with you in your work life?
There is always a solution to a problem - Hyper Island fueled my curiosity to find that solution. 

In the "Why Hyper Island" film, your Barcelona based co-worker Kristian Lundquist says the following about Hyper Island students:
"I think they have a very interesting background in the network they come from. ... It seems all the crews still are in contact somehow" - what value is that to the students and you as an employer?
Hyper Island students seem to help each other when they have a problem to solve - be it finding a production team, solving a technical problem or recruiting someone for a job. It's a huge value.

Why does Great Works hire graduated Hyper Island students?
We try to hire the best talents wherever they are from and believe in a mix of backgrounds. However, some really good people are coming out of Hyper Island so having studied there is an excellent first filter in a hiring process. 

Any final words of advice to up and coming digital media industry talents?
Keep experimenting. Do what you can to push the world forward!


Thank you Mattias!

Hyper Island met with top agencies in London, Barcelona and Stockholm and asked why they appreciate their Hyper Island interns and why they think Hyper Island is an extraordinary school: