Origin of A Better Creative Director.
Embarking on a journey towards refining my capabilities as a creative director commenced with the first steps in my professional realm. Central to the role of a creative director is the task of articulating ideas to clients—a process that sets the stage for collaboration. Being a Quebec native, French is the language that resonates with my thoughts, making English presentations initially a rocky terrain.
I immersed myself in a learning curve, observing the art of conveying ideas among peers and jotting down phrases that encapsulated the essence of ideas. It wasn't long before a small arsenal of 30 to 40 potent words emerged (now over 100), serving as bridges to clearer, more resonant presentations. This newfound vocabulary began to dissolve the language barrier, enabling a smoother passage of ideas from inception to client comprehension.
Utilizing Evernote, I curated this collection of words, always at my fingertips whenever a presentation loomed on the horizon. The digital notes morphed into a source of inspiration, each word a stepping stone toward a more impactful presentation.
The French term "ABCDaire," symbolizing a collection of significant words, resonated with my endeavor. Adapting this, the initials A, B, C, and D converged to form "A Better Creative Director," encapsulating the essence of continuous improvement in this creative dominion. Thus, a simple quest for better articulation sowed the seeds for A Better Creative Director, a platform dedicated to elevating the craft through the power of documenting knowledge.
Vincent Ramsay-Lemelin.
Unicorns are that rarest of breeds, whether leaping over rainbows or breaking through a $1B market valuation. And as the landscape of modern creative agencies has become hyper-complex and interwoven, “Digital Unicorns" have become their biggest assets.
Vincent Ramsay-Lemelin embodies the latter variety: an uncommon digital talent that can transcend silos, lead through initiative, and establish a culture of creativity and entrepreneurship that moves business forward.
Vincent is both a master of his craft and a perpetual learner dedicated to growing his skillset. One look at his passion pursuits—Golf and Heavy Metal—and you fully appreciate his diverse worldview. Coder turned Designer, innovation is woven into his DNA, he is singularly unfazed by projects that look distinctly different at delivery than at onset.
Fragment is one such project, in which Vincent re-framed the finality of Death, transforming funeral rites for loving survivors, and creating a new pathways that better reflect our contemporary experience of living. Fragment uses the language of design to redefine the traditions associated with loss. Through its connected urn and mobile app, Fragmentoffers a three-dimensional commemorative experience that honours the life of the deceased, gathers their friends and family together and guides loved ones through the bereavement process. Fragment is a testament to Vincent’s approach that experience design should have a positive impact on people’s lives.
Vincent infuses his infectious creativity with keen scrutiny of human experience: a unique insight that fuels the digital-first culture of the agency, while distilling complexity to make it accessible to clients, partners, and team-members. He was instrumental in the development of Design LabTime, a Sid Lee initiative that propels the creative process while challenging established notions of service and product development. An articulate thought-leader, he regularly speaks at events such as FITC, and IC Summit, while championing technical collaborations with Adobe and Sitecore.
Working out of Sid Lee’s Montreal and Los Angeles offices, Vincent has been instrumental in growing global client relationships including Samsung, CN, Hyundai, and The North Face. This combined momentum has in turn doubled Sid Lee’s digital team, further strengthening its development, content creation, and experience design capacities.
