Today we speak with Laura Colored, a former student of our school who graduated less than a year ago and participated last week in the Young Lions competition, which takes place every year during the Cannes International Festival of Creativity.
Our former student decided to study at one of the best Art Schools in Madrid. Now, a few years later, he tells us how having taught our art direction classes at Miami ad School, a leading school in Madrid in advertising, art direction and creativity, has influenced his career.
Tell us a little about yourself…
I am Laura and I am art director at 72andSunny. I've been working here since November and my duo and I are the only junior team they have in the creative department at the moment. Normally we provide support to all the teams that need us, but mainly we are always thinking of ideas for Uber or new clients.
How did you become interested in advertising?
Well the truth is that it was a discovery. I was studying journalism and audiovisual communication, and it is a much less creative sector than I expected. The truth is that I was a little lost and I didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life, but I had a course in “Advertising Creativity” and my teacher opened my eyes to a new world. He told me that basically you could work having ideas and carrying them out, and that's how I ended up at Miami Ad School. And it was the best decision of my life.
What did Miami mean to you and how has it influenced where you are today?
All. The first day of Miami they told us that they were going to be the two best years of our lives, and I thought: of course, what are they going to tell us. But when I finished I realized that they have been. Much more than I could imagine that first day.
I always insist that Miami Ad School doesn't give you anything, but it does put the world at your feet. It gives you the contacts, the knowledge and the tools. It's up to you how you're going to use them and how much you're going to squeeze them. Not only have I learned everything I didn't know about advertising and art direction, but I have had mentors who have influenced me at all levels and have become friends. But perhaps the best thing for me was the possibility of doing internships all over the world, learn how to work in other industries and make friends who become your family wherever you go.
How did you end up in Cannes?
Well, everything was through JongeHonden, which is the Young Lions delegation in Holland. Their goal is to ensure the presence of juniors during the festival, and every year they organize several briefs, some that last a couple of weeks and one that lasts 24 hours. The winners go to Cannes, and the winners of the 24h compete in one of the categories of Young Lions. My duo and I (a Brazilian and a Spanish woman) came first in the 24h and they took us to present Holland in the Film competition.
What was your first experience in Cannes like?
Incredible. Really. We were a group of about 32 people, all under 30 years old, and we immediately became a family. But there are two sides to Cannes, the professional and the personal.
In the professional field, the film competition lasts 48 hours. On Tuesday afternoon they gave us the brief, for WWF, and they gave us the equipment with which we had to record. That night we barely slept searching for THE IDEA, which finally appeared at the end of Wednesday. It is a very intense process because you spend a lot of time with your partner, and you learn to respect that person much more. We were already trained 24 hours a day, but you never get used to the pressure. In the end we decided to go for something a little crazy, and we chose to talk about beer to talk about climate change. On the last day they give you 12 hours to edit, and then you deliver. On Friday they announced the winners who were Ukraine, Italy and Canada. The bad thing is that Italy had the same idea as us, and that made us very angry. But we also learned that If you go with a risky idea, the execution has to be simple.
At the same time, we try to combine being part of the competition with going to see the conferences, the exhibitions of professional work and doing a little networking. My main goal in this was to meet Hegarty, who I knew was going to give a lecture, and I did! He signed his book for me! And on the other hand, we had a dinner with the agency, which brought together the five offices. That was great too, because we were the only juniors and they immediately made us feel like part of the family.
On a personal level, there are a lot of parties. We arrived two days before the festival started and JongeHonden organized a dinner with ShutterStock and a karaoke night for us. And when the festival started, I rocked from 11 in the morning. Frozen rosé. Free food. Beaches of Facebook, Google, Spotify… All the brands were there. They all had parties. Because we had to compete, we missed two parties, but we managed to go to all the others. I think my favorites were the MediaMonks one and the closing one. And then, to the plane without sleeping. Crazy.
What did you like the most and what surprised you?
What I liked most is all the people I had the opportunity to meet and the good vibes that were in the air. And that surprised me too. I expected Cannes to be full of people with a lot of ego, but in the end they are people who really want to do cool things. I'm not saying that the typical people aren't happy to meet each other, but it's not the general trend.
Also I was very excited to meet Miami Ad School alumni who now live in other cities, like New York or Hamburg, and even people who were my teachers or are now.
Next year I hope to return!!
Laura Colores' testimony is a source of pride for our Art School in Madrid, which always offers excellent quality to its students with innovative techniques and highly trained teachers. On our page, you can consult everything related to our School of Design and Art in Madrid, for your personal development. Miami Ad School adapts in a personalized way to the type of study you wish to pursue.
Our art school has courses such as master of art direction or copywriting in which everything necessary to achieve continuous learning in the future is taught and taught. There are master's degrees in which the areas of creativity, design and art direction are developed to be a professional and stand out in the selected field. Finally, we have a university degree in marketing and advertising to learn everything necessary in our school.
Miami Ad School, the Art School in Madrid specialized in developing your creativity.