Ambiguously Skilled

Hands down, Radical Media was my favorite visit of the week. I had a great appreciation for their structure: a production house with a hand in the creative decision-making process, whose content is limited by… pretty much nothing. Although it was a cool studio in itself, a conversation with a resident “Creative Technologist” really got me thinking about myself as a creative in the industry and where I might fit in.

Kelly Vigil explained how he ended up at Radical Media, after he and a partner submitted a video to the studio that they had created. He described himself as a person with “ambiguous skills,” which weren’t able to fit into a single category of expertise. At Radical Media, this allows Kelly to conceptualize an idea using the variety of skills he has, and later be able to “talk shop” to the professionals who can reproduce the work at a final, refined quality. After hearing him talk about his experience, I found myself relating to being “ambiguously skilled,” as a result of my personal enjoyment in trying my hand at a variety of tools rather than honing in on a single one.

Although having a focus in a particular area of expertise is definitely one way that many creatives have found success in the advertising industry, it was exciting to hear from someone who has found their way despite being “ambiguously skilled” as well.

Haley Koch // From 5/11/2018