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Intro

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Hi, my name is Walt Viviers. I’m the creative director at Menzies Media, as well as a dedicated family man. I’ve worked as a fine artist, graphic designer, creative writer, animator, illustrator, video editor and art director. My current obsession is focussed around Google’s advertising tools; especially the relationship between Adwords and landing-page driven-lead funnels. I’m also currently writing a cosmic horror novel in my free time.

Walt Viviers
Creative Director at
Menzies Media

Walt Viviers

Creative Director — Menzies Media

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Skills

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Throughout my career I have acquired the management and creative skills required to get the job done. I possess the ambition to keep those skills sharp, along with the drive to acquire new skills as needed to keep getting the job done in the future, and to do it even better.

Creative Direction

I motivate and guide my team with skills and experience related to advertising, marketing, graphic design, writing, and motion graphics.

Strategising

Graphics and engaging prose is one thing, but they are not effective on their own and need strategising to focus everything around a measurable goal.

Research

I prefer data over guesswork. The more you know the more problems you can solve: seeing what others have done, look at the evidence, follow the facts.

Graphic Design

I started freelancing during high-school and was officially employed in a serious graphic design position in 2006.

Photography

My eye for design, art, and the ability to use Adobe Photoshop gives me all the tools I need to create a beautiful photo.

Creative Writing

I studied creative writing at AFDA and have been writing ever since, including all the copy you're reading right now.

Art Direction

My first love: bringing out the best in everyone to complete a collaborative artwork.

Illustration

I've been drawing since I was able to hold a crayon. These days I prefer to do my illustrations in Adobe.

Fine Art

My grandparents were art school lectures, my parents are booth artists. Art runs in my blood.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.” — Albert Einstein

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Experience

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I’ve been an artist and a fan of technology my whole life. With over fifteen years of experience in the media, advertising and entertainment industries and more than five years working as a creative director; I’m confident that I have the experience required to find creative solutions to everyday business problems.

Adobe Photoshop

To say that I love Photoshop would NOT be an over-exaggeration. It is been my primary design tool for one and a half decades, and I would feel very lost without it.

Adobe Illustrator

The best vector-based design and illustration tool on the market. I use it every day of my adult life; for work and for fun. I love how it integrates with other Adobe apps.

Adobe Premiere

When you need some serious video editing at your fingertips it's difficult to beat something as powerful as Adobe's incredibly comprehensive movie-making tool.

Creative Cloud

I have my own Adobe account. It is my toolbox and my sandbox: it pays the bills and brings me joy. I'm a fan of all Adobe's powerful creative apps.

Google AdWords

The power of Google is universally felt. AdWords can provide a significant ROI if properly utlized. I am a huge fan of their online advertising and business tools.

Facebook Business Manager

I've done over a Million Rands worth of advertising on Facebook's powerful business platform since 2015.

WordPress

I was introduced to this Content Management System in 2011, and I've been a fan ever since. It's a powerful tool with many benefits.

Shopify

A robust platform for online shops as well as physical ones. Everything you would ever need to sell your goods on the world wide web. Shopify, in my opinion, is the king of its domain.

MailChimp

A highly popular mass email service, MailChimp's customisation options and company ethics makes it one of the most respectable ways to acquire and distribute emails to your subscribers.

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand, And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand, And Eternity in an hour.” — William Blake

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Interests

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Skills and experience are without a doubt important qualities in any worker, but what about their passions and interests? If skills and experience are part of the recipe for making a cake then interests make up the quality of that cake’s ingredients:

Science Fiction

Visions of the future. Imagination. Dreams. Robots. Spaceships, from space-operas to hardcore sci-fi, I am infatuated. H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, Michael Crichton, Frank Herbert and more, they are visionaries, the kings of imagination.

Philosophy

Philosophy is the birthplace of logical thinking and the quest for discovery. As an artist and a scientist I have a natural attraction to questions that involve the meaning of life, what it is to be human, and how to live to my full potential.

History of Art

Essentially, it's the 'history of capturing events in a visual format' - thoughts, fantasies, visions, history. It is a glimpse into the human psyche: looking through the eyes of imagination in times gone by, helping us to see where things are going.

Psychology

What are people thinking. And why? What am I thinking, and why? What makes us, us? I don't think there's a person in this world that couldn't benefit from a bit of Psychological understanding.

Biology

Atoms to genes, creatures to memes. If psychology asks: who are we? Then biology asks: what are we? Biology is a way for us to figure out what we are, where we came from, and where we might be going.

Technology

Toys, tools and robots... the next phase in human evolution? Technology is modern magic. I find it difficult to fathom my existence without cars, electricity, computers and running water.

“The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognise that we ought to control our thoughts.” — Charles Darwin

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Think Tank

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I constantly work diligently and loyally to find solutions for my employers and clients, utilising media and strategy, proactively directing my team, creating high-end graphics, and providing creative input.

Creative Thinking

How much is eleven divided by green? How far down the rabbit hole would you like me to go? Most of the time it's the less fantastical problems that require creative solutions.

Motor Mouth

Brainstorming, starting conversations, bouncing ideas around, these are things that I thrive on. That said, I do practice the art of listening more than I talk, so that what I say has value.

Conversation Starter

It's easy with a world brimming to the edge with content, and the internet constantly delivering it us. Conversations lead to ideas and clarity of vision.

Fresh Ideas

An idea is not stale because it is bad, like a pie at your local grocer, the longer an idea sits on the shelf, the mouldier it becomes. You don't always need to change the recipe of the pie, but you do need to keep baking fresh ones.

Out of the Box Thinking

Vibrations and photons constantly intercepting us. The world is one way, and we experience it another way. Thinking out of the box is just a matter of looking past pre-defined labels.

Scientific Method

1 + 1 = 2 and Blue + Red = Purple. Facts. Some things are based on opinions, and some things are based on facts. I prefer to work with the facts so that I can operate from a place of understanding.

“We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.” — Carl Sagan

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Upskilling

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There are so many incredible and interesting things in this world. More things than is possible to know in a single lifetime. Thanks to the power of the internet there is now no excuse not to learn something new every day. Along with CS50’s Introduction to Computer Science, I am also actively pursuing these certifications:

HTML, CSS, Javascript

SoloLearn Certification

Facebook Blueprint Courses

Facebook Certification

Fund. of Digital Marketing

Google Certification

“He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.” — Marcus Aurelius

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Personality

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Ethics & Philosophical Naturalism are the basis of my morality and decision making. I’m friendly, good-natured and love a good laugh. I embrace human reason, I’m a serious person and a survivor. My personal creed I live by is: “You can prepare, but you cannot control. So always be prepared.”

Leader

Leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal; directing workers and colleagues with a strategy to meet the company and clients needs.

Humanist

I am informed by science, inspired by art, motivated by compassion, and choose to affirm the dignity of each human being. Supporting individual liberty and planetary responsibility.

Sceptic

I prefer to vet claims through systematic investigation via scientific understanding and empirical evidence. I'm not afraid to have an opinion, but my opinions will change with the facts.

Artist

What is an artist? Someone who draws and paints? For then, I am an artist. But for me, art is more. It is a way of looking at the world. An appreciation for the details. A connection to things on an atomic and cosmic level.

Loyal

Loyalty is the ability to put others before yourself and stick with them in good times and bad. All for one, one for all. I give people the benefit of the doubt, and they will only lose my loyalty if it is not reciprocated.

Family Man

I adore my wife, our daughter, and my three stepchildren. Playing games, telling stories, hanging out. Every minute is a gift. I live for my family. Looking after them is my greatest motivation.

“Education is something you can’t finish.” — Isaac Asimov

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Outro

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The quotes on my site are all from inspirational people; my guides; my mentors. These are ideas I meditate on. I believe in the wisdom of those who have come before me. I believe in people. I‘m a person, I believe in myself. I make things for people. Real people, everyday people. From the caveman to the astronaut, for me, life is art.

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