On My Radar: Evan Boehm

What’s the best ad campaign you’ve seen recently?

Trump 2016. Its ability to continually reshape itself and become the definition of America’s far-right’s identity is amazing, and scary, to behold.

What website(s) do you use most regularly and why?

Slack’s web app. Lots of interesting communities are carving out their own spaces away from the more traditional web and it’s becoming the IRC [Internet Relay Chat] of 20-30 somethings.

What’s the most recent piece of tech that you’ve bought and why?

Olympus OM-D EM10. The first Canon DSLRs were great for side projects but the quality of smaller, mirror-less cameras out now are better at capturing those quick, behind the scenes moments. And it fits in my jacket pocket.

Facebook, Instagram or Twitter?

Instagram is great for praising work but Twitter is still the best way of engaging with the amazing talent that is out there.

What’s your favourite app on your phone and why?

I have one of Google's wonderful 360 Spotlight Stories installed on my phone. This means I immediately have access to a great example of interactive storytelling in case I need to explain what I do to my relatives or in-laws.

What’s your favourite TV show and why?

Currently I'm watching Ways of Seeing from the BBC archive. Still a relevant series on how we decipher visual imagery with some important lessons for anyone experimenting with VR.

What film do you think everyone should have seen?

Bambi. There has never been a more beautiful work of animation. As much as I love ‘the new’, part of me yearns for the hand craft that comes with every frame.

Where were you when inspiration last struck?

Sublime Text, a programming editor. Most good interaction is based on role play and the understanding of your user. Creating prototypes always brings insights and I use Sublime Text for everything.

What’s the most significant change you’ve witnessed in the industry since you started working in it?

The big change is advertising embracing the open source creative technology movement. What started out as a drive to empower artists has been turned into a banal series of VR, AR, drone mapped, smart biscuits.

This trend was parodied brilliantly in Creative Fuel's ad for “The World's First Crowd Sourced 3D-Printed QR Code Live Streamed Via Go Pro To A Smart Phone Or Tablet Device Drone Delivery Ticket System Project”.

If there was one thing you could change about the advertising industry, what would it be?

A move away from the instant ad, ala Twitter or Instagram, and the embrace of long-form conceptual ideas. People want to be involved in experiences. They don’t want to retweet your ad.

What or who has most influenced your career and why?

The programming language Processing fundamentally changed the landscape of visual culture and opened up a whole new world to artists like myself.

Tell us one thing about yourself that most people won’t know…

A 16 year-old kid from the States, with the same name as me, asked to be friends on Facebook and it saddens me whenever he comes up in my feed as he is infinitely cooler than I ever was at that age. He even programs.