Andy Ray Wong, Publicis & Hal Riney San Francisco

New York resident Andy Ray Wong moved all the way to California to do his internship for the Miami Ad School. He used to work as a designer for Mongoose Media, Carl Fisher Music and even american football-club The New York Jets. His internship at Publicis is his first experience with working in an advertising agency.

I have finally been invited by my former housemate Robin to write on his blog. It is an honor sir. I am currently interning at Publicis & Hal Riney as an Interactive Designer in San Francisco and so far its been a rewarding experience. I've previously worked in design studios and as a designer in a marketing department but, this is my first Ad Agency experience. It has given a better idea of a designers role in advertising and its been pretty awesome. I think the environment fits me and the work is just right.

I've been working on a few clients in telecommunications, a fitness chain and an alcoholic beverage (I don't think I can name names for now). The alcohol brief was done last week and was definitely the most fun because I was able to drink and work at the same time. Although I feel the work in my agency is relatively safe, they are slowly re-establishing themselves with clever work. With the guidance of Creative Director Roger Camp and some young talent I think the agency is poised to go back to its golden era when Hal Riney was still alive. My experience here has turned me on to more interactive work as I come from a print background. The biggest challenge that I like about interactive work is to take something electronic and make it tangible. Not physically but emotionally (sorry for sounding cheesy).

This past week has relatively been a bit slow considering that it's a small agency but from the start of my internship until last week it's been pretty busy. The agency has allowed me to be more than just a "comp bitch" and I am proud of the work I have done here. The highlight of my internship came this week as we were shooting a short film for G4 TV. How often does a person get to smash a beer bottle on somebody's head while on the job?

It seems on every Quarter Away at Miami Ad School I always find the most interesting places to live. Being that I am a minimalist by circumstance (because I'm broke), I found prime real estate in the Haight-Ashbury area of San Francisco. I share a basement apartment with a hippie and 2 acrobats that train at the Clown Conservatory a few blocks away. I agreed to live there under the condition that the landlord doesn't know of my residence because the apartment is illegal. Since my schedule works out I have never crossed paths with him. The space use to be a sex bed factory for making custom bondage beds and is considered industrial space therefore making it illegal. That means I am illegally living in an illegal place.