BRACAU 27 BLOG'S

The Hyper Island Recruitment Tour has covered New York, Stockholm, Sao Paulo, London Barcelona and Olso.
On 24 April we return to London in pursuit of the future talent, the rising stars of the digital and interactive media industry. For more information visit the Tour site!

Together with our students, Hyper Island staff has toured cities all over the world in order to meet up with creative, curious and business-minded people that are interested in becoming Hyper Island Diploma Program students for the fall 2010.

The Experience Technology exhibition is coming to London. Digital Media students
Nina Amjadi and Andreas Kleiner were asked three questions about the event:

What was the experience technology module all about?

Experience Technology (ET) is a five week module during the two year Digital Media programme at Hyper Island.ET introduces all students to digital technology and the principles of digital development. It is one of the first modules of the programme and the students are establishing their common skill set. It is a playful type of project with a strong focus on exploration and creativity within a team environment.

and now you are going to London..

Our idea was to combine Experience Technology with an event where students can meet the industry and network. The core idea is to inspire and be inspired, but also to have fun!

What are you expectations on the LDN event?

Andreas: My expectations is to have a great event where us students and the industry will have a good time, exchance ideas and inspire eachother.
Nina: I think as a Project Manager you always aim very high and get your expectations up, but I too as Andreas also mainly see to it as a great chance for us students to meet the industry to talk, network and get to know each other. I hope that our installations will be to the guests in London just as exciting as it was for the visitors we had in Stockholm in October.
Come to London if you are there!

Check out the island 2 island website here

On Friday the 22nd January, Hyper Island Students bring the Experience Technology to London!

A few moths ago the Hyper Island students were given an assignment; to create and build interactive solutions for a huge exhibition in Stockholm. The project was called Experience Technology.

The winning groups, chosen by an independent jury, from the successful exhibition are now hosting a fun and inspirational event at the Platform of Wieden + Kennedy in the UK - from island to island. People are invited to see and experience the winning installations, mingle with future talents from Hyper Island, get inspired by a secret guest speaker and enjoy a nice "After Work" and relaxed Friday night.

Read more here

Exhibition movie EAT09 from eat 09 on Vimeo.

For the third year in a row Hyper Island will go on a unique World Recruitment Tour during the end of 2009 and early 2010.

Apply here:
http://tour.hyperisland.se

Together with current Hyper Island students, parts of our staff will tour the world visiting the cities cited below. In doing so we're hoping to meet up with creative people who are interested in becoming Hyper Island Diploma Program students in the fall of 2010.

November
Amsterdam: 7
Oslo: 7
Sao Paolo: 14
Barcelona: 14
New York: 21
London: 28

December
Stockholm: 5

January
Stockholm: 16
London: 23
Amsterdam: 30

February
Barcelona: 8
Oslo: 13
New York: 20
Stockholm: 27

March
Berlin: 6
Stockholm: 20

April
Stockholm: 17

To visit the Recruitment Tour in a city near you, apply now!
http://tour.hyperisland.se

Applying to the Recruitment Tour is your one and only chance to get accepted to the Diploma Programs at Hyper Island; considered to be one of the best digital media schools in the world! We have exactly 100 seats for the 2010 Diploma Programs, which means there will be competition.

A recruitment day takes approximately 10 hours and consists of:
· A personal interview.
· Meetings Hyper Island students and staff.
· An individual creative task.
· A team assignment.

You can apply to the following Hyper Island Diploma Programs:
· Interactive Art Director, Stockholm (1 year)
· Digital Media, Stockholm (2 years)
· Digital Media, Karlskrona (2 years)

In conclusion, Hyper Island is all about:
· Active participation and learning by experiencing, doing and reflecting.
· Trial and error. Mistakes are often the strongest learning experience.
· Working and progressing as an individual, and as part of a team.
· Using interactive media as a tool for implementing change and improvement.
· Guidance in self-perception and the power of group dynamics.
· Real clients, real needs - real learning.

For more detailed information, regarding Hyper Island, the Recruitment Tour and how to apply, please visit:
http://tour.hyperisland.se


"This is miles away from boring interviews, or competitive sessions where you have to beat others. The recruitment day was a small slice of what Hyper Island really is; an unexpected and pleasant surprise, every day"
--Xavier Feliu, Spain, Digital Media student at Hyper Island

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/

Graduated Hyper Island students Juho Parviainen (Crew 9) and Robert Lenne (Crew 7) work at innovation and design firm IDEO in London. Having lectured at Hyper Island previously, the two came back and held a workshop at the end of last year with Hyper Island's Interactive Art Director students.

Why did you decide to come back to lecture at Hyper Island again?
Hyper Island courses always have an interesting group of students with mix of different backgrounds and goals. This makes for an interesting and inspiring trip for us as well.

What do you see in the current students that inspires you?
We were especially impressed by the way students tackled one of the exercises (maximize profits selling mulled wine) in a mere day with the help of YouTube and social networking tools. This shows you can come up with a concept and prototype it in a real and tangible way very rapidly. We were also impressed by the presentations on Friday, which really showed the how students embraced the power of rapid prototyping through role playing and storytelling.

Juho Parviainen
Photo: Linda Gavin
What kind of competences is IDEO looking for right now?
We're always looking for talented people who share a passion for creating human centric products and services. IDEO often hires people rather than skills. What we mean by that is that we care at least as much about the cultural fit and personality as we do about the skills around a specific discipline. Projects at IDEO are heavy on collaboration and team work, so we naturally look for people who are good collaborators and good at sharing their skills with the rest of the community. We look for people who are passionate about something and have drive to get things done. For specific list of skill sets and disciplines that we're hiring it's best to look at IDEO website where we always post our openings.

What type of courses do you think will be needed to fulfill the competence needs of the future?
With technologies becoming easier to use and deploy they are losing the edge as a competitive advantage. It's not enough to have the most features anymore, it's about having the right features. Consumers are moving beyond spec sheets especially when it comes to consumer technology products. As products and brands are moving beyond just individual products to delivering broader user experiences a new kind of designers are needed: Designers with skills to understand people, learn fast, imagine, visualize and prototype variety of different touch points, ranging from in store experience to mobile applications. This requires a lot of collaboration between different disciplines. So the future needs versatile, empathic and collaborative designers who are not only great at what they do best, but also have understanding and empathy to go beyond their own comfort zone.

In terms of technology, are there any kinds of currently used languages you think we'll move away from? Or, are languages no longer part of it, but rather the thinking?
We don't often look for people who know a specific programming language or not. We look for good thinkers and tinkerers. What is important is to know about variety of technologies and to be able to understand their benefits and possibilities when it comes to design. Skill that is most useful is being able to adapt and learn new things alongside normal project work.

The part where actual programming languages such as Ajax or Action Scripting come to play is when we do prototyping. We often try to prototype products and services as early as possible and this is where skills in programming languages become useful. So even if we don't specifically hire based on those skills the more you can build the more versatile you can be. Good interaction prototypers at IDEO generally know many different prototyping tools (programming, producing video, storytelling, storyboarding etc), but are also quick at learning new ones. However, it is good to remember that programming something is often not to best way to prototype an experience. Often times it is more valuable to do a video, act it out, or even do paper prototype.

What recommendations do you have for the students?
Learn and experiment as much as you can. Don't try to do things the same way all the time. Put yourself in situations where you don't necessarily feel comfortable and try things you've never tried before, this is a great way to grow. Then, once you enter work life, don't forget to keep doing all this all the time.


Thank you, Juho and Robert!

On December 5th 2008, Hyper Island was featured in a press release article on Market Watch, part of The Wall Street Journal's digital network.
Read the article here!



News about Hyper Island's Recruitment Tour's stop in NYC has also been seen in the Consulate General of Sweden's newsletter e-mail "Fresh from Sweden":
"Swedish Digital Media School Hyper Island Comes to New York On Global Student Recruitment Tour

December 19-21
The world-renowned Swedish digital media school Hyper Island has launched a global recruitment tour to meet potential new students from around the world. Together with students, Hyper Island staff will tour world cities to meet up with creative people that are interested in becoming Hyper Island students for the fall 2009. The tour reaches New York on December 19-21, 2008.

Hyper Island runs long term programs for Digital Media, Interactive Art Director and Business Management, with more than over 260 full-time students per year. The methodology is all about real cases, by real people. Hyper Island's extraordinary mixture of lecturers from around the world, together with the opportunity to acquire an international
internship placement, prepares students for work around the
globe. Most importantly, graduates learn how to learn; they leave Hyper Island with knowledge on how to continue to evolve, which is a tool they will use throughout their careers."

On the Consulate's site, you can also read about Hyper Island's participation in a seminar on cutting-edge creative earlier this fall. Read more!



Hyper Island has also been seen in the newsletter of Swedish Chamber of Commerce for the UK regarding our upcoming UGL Leadership Seminar taking place in London on the 16th of February 2009.

"A seminar together with Hyper Island on UGL. UGL originates from the Swedish armed forces with the purpose of supporting companies and organisations in the creating, managing and increasing of well-being, quality and profitability.
Time: 18.00 - 20.00
Venue: To be confirmed
Price: There is no charge for this event
Read more: www.scc.org.uk
For further information and to sign up, please email:
eventsmanager@scc.org.uk"

Read more about UGL!

In October 2008, Group Creative Director Nick Turner from AKQA London came to Hyper Island Stockholm and held a lectured for our Interactive Art Director students. We wanted to catch up with Nick and ask him about what's going on in the industry:


What’s AKQA all about?
AKQA is a recognised pioneer and innovator, that provides ideas, insights, marketing, technology and e-commerce solutions to the world's leading brands. We are an independent agency with offices in London, Amsterdam, New York, Washington DC, San Francisco and Shanghai. You can see some examples of our work here: akqa.com

What skills does AKQA see a need for in the industry right now?
The industry needs more people who can create world-class ideas that fuse great communication, innovative technology and incredible execution. We are always looking for world-class talent across every creative discipline – people who understand the role of digital and can create award-winning solutions that make AKQA’s clients more successful.

What qualities does AKQA appreciate in a team member?
Talent, honesty and dedication, with an extraordinary ambition to be successful.

Why did you want to come and speak at Hyper Island?
AKQA is looking for the next generation of global creative directors, and believes the way Hyper Island educates its students creates the type of person we see filling this role in the future. We want to inspire as many graduates as possible to aspire to work at AKQA.

Your lecture included an elaborate Q&A session, why?
We wanted to make sure everyone had a chance to ask a question. I always find the most interesting part of any talk is the Q&A session, because the questions (and hopefully the answers) are more relevant to the audience.

Tell us more about how in the industry and with clients, it's all about discussions between people to reach an agreement?
AKQA tries to take its clients’ businesses to places they never thought possible. Innovative work comes from great relationships with clients. Many of the projects AKQA works on are complex and involve lots of different people with many different skills. It’s critical everyone understands each element of what is being created, especially when you’re trying to do something that has never been done before.

Did you discover something about how Hyper Island educates that you found unique?
I was amazed at the enthusiasm and self-motivation shown by the students. They were there because they wanted to be and not just because it was something to do. They are well organised and very professional; it felt like an actual company.

Any words of advice for our students who are going out to do their internships?
Work hard and behave as if you already work there. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Learn something every day. Always ask for feedback on how to improve. Make yourself indispensable. Buy the Creative Director lots of expensive gifts.


Thank you, Nick!

We first wrote about Hyper Island students' final project for WESC in May last year. Crew 11 students Hanna Lundgren, Svetlana Bogatcheva, Hampus Hansson, Martin Klausen, Jonas Svensson and Alexander Svensson collaborated with Starcom in creating the successful campaign "Let's get physical" & "The Fashionably Loud Headphone Launch", which resulted in WESC selling over 200.000 headphones.

The work was awarded at the M&M Awards in London on September 11th where it was commended in category "Best Consumer Goods Campaign", and highly commended in "Best Use of the Web". The campaign was also nominated in "Best Use of Branded Content" and "Best Youth Campaign".

Part of the Hyper Island team and now WESC employee, Hanna Lundgren, accepted the award together with Konrad Bergström, WESC, Fredrik Svensson and Johan Falk, both from Starcom.

Congratulations!


Photo courtesy of Dagens Media.

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!

We got in touch with Maria Lübeck from Hyper Island's Crew 2, back in Sweden after a few years of working in the UK.

What have you been doing since graduating from Hyper Island?
Well, quite a few things… I have been working as an interactive designer, a web designer, designer for mobile phones, with online advertising, as a design manager and as a creative ops manager. Now I’m working as a brand consultant.
 
Being back in Stockholm after 9 years in the UK, what learning experiences from London are most important to you?
Probably that you shouldn’t be afraid to tell people what you’re good at, as well as telling them in which areas you can improve (ideally also tell them how you plan to do it). Also that getting yourself a mentor in whatever area you’re interested in can be a great help.

In what way have you utilized what you learned at Hyper Island in your work life?
Practice makes perfect... Seriously though, I think one of the main things learnt was not to be afraid to try something out, even if it might fail. All you have to do is try again or try something else.

When you think back on your time at Hyper Island, what do you remember most?
The way you learnt by actually doing. It was so much more practical than anything I’d tried before. This made it less of a shock when you started working ‘for real’.

What would you tell a potential student who's not sure if she/he want to apply to Hyper Island?
You’d miss out if you don’t. It was hectic, but oh so much fun! You will also get yourself an amazing new network of people.

What recommendations on how to keep up to date would you give to someone who wants to work with brand consulting/branding?
Look at everything, read everything, listen to everything and question everything. Talk to different people in different businesses. Find your favourite brand(s), look at how they got to where they are and how they work their brand.

What are you looking forward to in the future?
Continuing to have fun with what I do. And learning lots of new things.




Thank you Maria!

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: