RSJ News
Big words create big inspiration
09-18-2009
Assistant professor Bob Felten shows off the Big Words bulletin board in an RSJ classroom.
Assistant Professor Bob Felten spent part of his summer in San Francisco talking with top level professionals at major advertising and public relations agencies. The “Big Words” installation in an RSJ classroom was inspired by one of those conversations.
“Jeff Goodby (co-founder and co-chairman of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners) was incredibly generous in sharing his time to talk with me about teaching advertising students and working with them to develop their creativity," Felten said. "He said to encourage students to do art that isn’t advertising, isn’t commercial. As an example, he told me about his plan to put words in big letters on the outside of a house and sent me a preliminary layout with a picture of what he envisioned."
Felten said the idea included placing actual big words in an unexpected context.
"It got me thinking about how words are big in the power they have to communicate," Felten said. "That led to asking students what words are “big” for them. We collected such words early this semester and will continue to do so.”
The “Big Words” installation is just one element in the RSJ 216 re-decorating that Felten and Assistant Professor Todd Felts collaborated on prior to the beginning of the semester.
“Chris Ford, one of our alums and a creative director with Goodby Silverstein, talked about developing an environment to encourage creativity," Felten said. "We’ve tried to do some of that in 216."
Modern art, hanging fabric, a photo of Miles Davis and a grass skirt for the students’ tables now adorn the rooom. A stick sculpture rabbit and a multicolored fish await names. Bins of Legos and Tinker Toys have already been used in creative assignments. Four clocks at the front of the room display the time in London, San Francisco, New York City and Tokyo and there’s writing on the windows. A palm tree stood in the corner for a while.
“We’re constantly asking our students to stretch,” Felten said. “We wanted to take a common place, the classroom, and at least is a small way stretch the perception of what it could be.”
*Jeff Goodby realized his vision. You can see the house with its words at poemhouse.org.
