AdYack

Jason Tselentis is one of those people you only have to know for about 5 seconds before you realize that, one, he’s a very chill, down-to-earth, easy-going guy, and two, he loves his pugs, Alien & Predator. Spend a little more time with him, and you’ll realize he is also very talented, and I am thrilled to have him on the podcast.

Jason is a visual communication design and typography professor at Winthrop University’s Department of Design in Rock Hill, South Carolina. He’s written about design and visual culture for Arcade, Eye, Mental Floss, Open Manifesto, and HOW magazines, as well as Print, where he served as a contributing editor. Jason has four books on design and typography principles and design history to his credit. He contributed to The Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design and co-authored Typography Referenced, named to the 2013 Outstanding Reference Sources List by the American Library Association’s Reference & User Services Association.

His book Type, Form & Function explores type design and typography fundamentals, and The Graphic Designer’s Electronic-Media Manual covers web design principles. I met Jason for the first time when we were both judges for the American Advertising Federation’s ADDY awards in Albany, New York, and I immediately liked him. When he’s not engulfed in brand, graphic, type, and web design, he stays up late wondering what three wishes he would ask for if a genie visited him.

And let’s be honest, who doesn’t? He loves comic books, literature, film, humor, horror, sci-fi, and pugs, although not necessarily in that order. In his free time, Jason enjoys hanging out with his family while wearing comfortable and sporty clothing, which some call sweatpants. He loves comic books, literature, film, humor, horror, sci-fi, and pugs, although not necessarily in that order. We yack it up about his love of typography, graphic design, the need for kerning, and our mutual love for character actor Charles Grodin. Here is our Ad Yack with Jason Tselentis.

Welcome back to ad yack. Season 3.

It’s nice to be back because I wanted to amp things up a little with the first episode of season three, and I’m happy to say, that my first guest of the hits all the right notes.

Crystal Durant is a very talented NYC based Graphic Designer, DJ, Singer, Rock Show Producer, Sound Designer for Broadway, Podcaster, Metalsmith, Printmaker, Art Educator, Pop Culture Demolition Specialist, Storyteller, Photographer, and Activist.

As her mom used to say, she’s a “very multifaceted Crystal”!

She earned an Associates Degree in Specialized Technology/Visual Communication/Photography at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, and a BFA in Metal smithing along with her Art Ed Degree/Certification (K-12 & College) from The University of The Arts.

She taught Visual Art in the NYC Department of Education for over 20 years.

For the last 6 years, she was a featured singer in NYC’s longest running Rock and Roll tribute show called “F*BOMB”, and has her own Who tribute band called “These Kids Are Alright” and a very popular Prince tribute band called “Pills, Thrills, and Daffodils”

She has also performed in a Soundgarden tribute, and with a host of NYC legends.

For the last 7 years she’s been a Professional Muse at The Art Students League of New York where she is one of their featured models. Her face and figure have been sketched, drawn, painted, and sculpted thousands of times. There are a few portraits of her in their permanent collection! She’s currently writing an autobiography about her life as a Muse, and wants to turn it into a tv show!

Trust me; this lady’s talents know no bounds.

Crystal and I were classmates in a Commercial Art class in the early eighties at Lehigh County Vocational Technical school - and even back then, I knew she was destined for bigger things.

She’s made her life a work of art.

I was fortunate enough to be able to get her to sit down with me and talk about her early design career in Los Angeles - where she was in the Art Department at the world famous Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard (where she had crazy experiences with Prince, David Lee Roth, Tom Jones, Michael Jackson, Christopher Lee and other stars),

and what she learned about teaching art to kids in underserved schools in NYC.

Crystal also shares an embarrassingly funny story about what happened on my first visit to New York City during a high school class trip, where I had a “Larry David”/George Costanza/Seinfeld meltdown inside a restaurant over the price of orange juice. This was a fun conversation to have and one that I know you will find entertaining and inspiring.

So here’s my Ad Yak with Crystal Durant!

Tony is a marketing and innovation veteran with over 25 years of experience driving innovation at two of New York City's global ad agencies, Grey Advertising and Saatchi & Saatchi.

Tony experienced daily exactly how creativity gets used to drive everything from client pitches, brand strategies, messaging, design, and media placement. But on the other hand, he also witnessed how easy it was for anyone to kill a transformative idea, which led him to do a thought provoking TED Talk titled, 'Give Ideas a Chance.'

During his agency years, he’s worked with some incredible brands, like Pepperidge Farms, Ultra Slim Fast, and "Tough Actin'" Tinactin, along with Litchfield Distillery and Create-a-Castle, a 2020 ‘Toy Of The Year’ award winner that allows anyone to build amazing sand castles in minutes.

Continuing his creative journey, he formed Miles Finch Innovation, a marketing and innovation consultancy, where he is a sought-after advisor for marketing and strategy advice for businesses and non-profits across multiple industries.

Our conversation with Tony revealed a deep working knowledge and zen-like comprehension of how creativity works and why it matters. Tony and I yak it up on topics ranging from how business leaders must better manage their creative teams to his keen understanding of how to set up a creative culture inside a business. Tony’s a deep thinker, an explorer, and a dreamer and as you'll learn after listening to our conversation. So here is our Ad Yack with Tony Vengrove.

Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyvengrove/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tony.vengrove

Twitter: @Tony_Vengrove

milesfinchinnovation.com

Jen Borror is the owner/operator of Hoot Design Studio in York, Pennsylvania and is an award-winning illustrator and graphic designer.

She’s worked in the design and marketing industry since 2004. Before her father’s passing in 2019, she felt inspired when he told her, “Life is short, Jenny, do what you love now while you have the time.” She took her father’s advice to heart and opened Hoot Design Studio to focus on her passion and love of pen and ink illustration and graphic design.

In this episode of Ad Yack, You’ll learn why’s she’s glad she didn’t listen to the naysayers who told her to pick another line of work, and she shares her story on how she was able to make the leap from employee to entrepreneur and why if you’re going to fail at something, it better be at doing something you love.

Her beautiful illustrations can be found on stationery & cards at PAPYRUS and American Greetings, Beer can labels at Monument City Brewing, Brewing Company, moonshine labels for Bald Hills Distillery, MudHen Brewing Company, and her illustrations have been used in children’s books, fabric, wallpaper, pillows, stickers & more!

Jen is an eternal ‘hoptimist’ and I’m grateful to her for taking the time to share her insights with me. So, Here’s my AdYack…with Jen Borror.

Links: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/hootdesignstudio/

Website: https://www.hootdesignstudio.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOeV7r4TO1xzsP8HjEe8Spw

Behance: https://www.behance.net/hootdesignstudio

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hoot_Design

This episode's guest is David Hoffeld. David is the CEO and chief sales trainer of Hoffeld group and is the author of the groundbreaking book the science of selling, and has a brand new book coming out in March. Sell More with Science, David and I yack it up on a bunch of interesting topics that include knowing the difference between persuasion and manipulation, how to get out of a sales slump, how to use social proof and your presentations, and why salespeople need to focus on the buying process, not the selling process. We also talk about why he believes your personal life and your business life are linked.

Because of the results David's insights generate, he's lectured at Harvard Business School, has been featured in Fast Company fortune, US News and World Report. The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, CBS Radio, Fox News, radio and more. This guy really knows his stuff. And he was gracious enough to take the time to share his insights and knowledge with me on ad Yak.

Thank YOU to our sponsors, ASR media, and Lehigh Valley with Love.

If the Lehigh Valley had a Hall of Fame for creatives, my next guest would absolutely be in it. We're talking about Peter Stevenson. Peter is a fine artist, Creative Director, and illustrator. His illustrations have been featured in The Washington Post The Washington book review, the Wall Street Journal, and his work has been commissioned by clients that included at&t communications Crayola, Earl Palmer-Brown, Citibank, and J. Walter Thompson. Stephenson spent decades working in advertising first as an art director than a creative director for leading agencies and corporations, such as at&t, Aramark, corporation, Mehra, advertising, and Stigler, Wells and Brunswick eventually found the Stevenson group in Easton. His work is smart, unconventional, and possesses raw, creative energy that allows it to stand out, which would explain why he's won so many awards over the years. Peter is not only an exceptional artist and marketer but also approachable and humble. His belief is that great work happens when you refuse to be mediocre. His early involvement in the Greater Lehigh Valley ad club and having a bunch of kids on a school bus inspired an award-winning campaign for Crayola.