On the 23rd of January, the Head of Creative Technology at Publicis Groupe, Laurent Thevenet had hosted a Virtual Masterclass session and it was an absolute success! Publicis Groupe is one of the oldest and largest marketing and communications companies in the world and Laurent leads its creative tech division in Asia-Pacific, Middle-East & Africa.
The session was part of The One Academy’s Virtual International Design and Creative Masterclass which ran across three consecutive weekends and served to create a platform on which we can learn from creative experts from all over the world. Throughout the month of January, experts from Pixar Animation Studio, ILM, Netflix, Blu Water Studio and more conducted Masterclasses aimed at educating and inspiring the next generation of creatives.
Laurent’s session kicked off with him touching on his background. An engineer by education, he found an interest in generative design and creative technology which led him down the path he is on today. He has worked with numerous brands including Nike, Google, Netflix, UOB, YouTube and Uber on various creative projects.
The Masterclass focused on three aspects, namely being a creative in the 2020s, the creative disruption and staying relevant.
Focusing on advertising and graphic design, Laurent spoke about the debate on whether the former is losing out to a rising interest in the product design industry. Do people pay more importance to aspects of product design which includes packaging, user experience, branding and such?
aurent Thevenet during his session in The One Academy’s Virtual Masterclass.
“To be honest, it doesn’t matter. The industry needs to be versatile”, said Laurent. Giving examples of scenarios that would need both advertising and product design, he explained that creative solutions nowadays need to be tailored accordingly to the problem faced by the brand, and as such, both aspects are equally important. To keep up with times, the best creatives must learn to wear multiple hats.
“As creatives you have to be able to do both. So even if you are a graphic, motion designer or an artist, you understand what it takes to make good experience. Similarly, engineers, UX people, they also have the need to understand what makes good craft and good art.”
Viewers were given in-depth information about the creative industry, digital trends, opportunities and future outlook of the field. Speaking on AI-driven creativity, Generative Design, Blockchain, NFTs and the Metaverse, Laurent believes that it “may be the most brutal transition ever for various creative industries”. His advice in dealing with these disruptive innovations? Don’t stress and adapt to these changing times by being curious about everything.
“We live in an era in which we see an explosion of research, experiments and ventures around creativity and technology”, he elaborated. He went on to emphasise the importance of taking advantage and being knowledgeable on all these opportunities to forge creative careers.
Speaking on disruptive technology, he gave various examples of software that are changing the face of the creative technology industry which included Open AI, Magenta, Runway, AIVA and Hugging Face.
As parting advice to the attendees, Laurent encouraged them to follow the right people on social media and experiment on all types of creative media to constantly better oneself as well as adopting a different outlook to the notion that machines are taking over humans’ roles in the world.
“Creativity is more important than pure engineering, so it is never about humans versus machines. Think of machines as a friend, it is really about humans working with machines. That is how the future will look like”.
Viewers left the Masterclass with a fresh perspective on the creative era and all its unlimited possibilities.
Some of Laurent’s work in the creative technology field.
The One Academy is committed to providing the best art education programmes and continues to nurture its students passionately through its ‘Masters Train Masters’ coaching philosophy, which has been practised for over 30 years, by providing diploma and degree courses namely Advertising & Graphic Design, Digital Animation, Digital Media Design, Film Visual Effects, Interior Architecture & Design, Illustration, Fine Arts, Paris Fashion Design & Pattern Making, Computer Science, Game Design and Computer Science in Real-Time Interactive Simulation. For more information on The One Academy, visit www.toa.edu.my or call (+603) 7875 5510 or e-mail your enquiries to [email protected].
Online Education Fair 线上教育展
The One Academy of Communication Design
https://edufair.fsi.com.my/theone
