Hi,
You may know me as a graphic designer, an experiential designer, animator, or live-action video director, but guess what? I also write. In fact, every poster, brochure, promo campaign, main-title, or consumer experience I’ve helped to produce over the past thirty years began as an idea, expressed in words. It is when an idea is in this pure form that it is most malleable. It can be easily pruned or grafted onto a bigger idea. It can be stretched, twisted, or folded in on itself. It can be magnified or miniaturized. But most importantly, it can be freely discarded when a better idea comes along.
A lot has changed over the past thirty years. New media platforms and new production technologies have emerged, and media consumption habits have evolved. But one thing has not changed; a great idea expressed in words is still the starting point for all successful marketing and advertising campaigns, for the successful packaging and promotion of TV shows, movies and video games, and for the development of engaging consumer experiences.
So, as a new generation of designers, illustrators, animators, and directors join the fray, hungry to make their mark on the world, I yield the field of expressing ideas visually to them. Instead I will focus on generating better starting points in the form of great creative ideas, backed up by sound strategies and innovative tactics, and express them in words. In doing so, I will make their work better and their clients happier.
Jeff Boortz, writer
BIO
Jeff Boortz is a Writer and Creative Director with over thirty years of experience building brands in the entertainment and technology industries across the US and the globe.
In addition to his professional practice, Boortz is a Professor of Practice in the Graphic Design Department at Georgia State University’s College of the Arts, where he teaches Graphic Design, Print and Editorial Design, Motion Design, Pop-Culture, and Corporate Identity Design.
Since 2012, Boortz has been an independent contractor and creative director at ENVY, an experiential marketing firm with offices in Atlanta and the UK. He has developed concepts, scripts, print design, videos, and experiences for their clients including Microsoft, Xbox, Mixer, Minecraft, Facebook – Oculus, Google, Ericsson, Qualcomm, Square-Enix, Activision, Blizzard, and many others.
Since 2008, Boortz has been a freelance writer for LoyalKaspar, a NYC-based entertainment marketing and design agency. He has created campaign concepts and scripts for their clients including TNT, TBS, CBS, Lifetime, History Channel, and AMC.
Prior to arriving in Georgia, as the founder of 3 Ring Circus and Concrete Pictures, Jeff Boortz earned his companies international prominence and extraordinary kudos for successfully promoting content, television networks, and distributor brands in the U.S., Latin America, Europe and Asia including Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, MTV, ESPN, HBO, CBS, NBC, FOX, Showtime, A&E, Telemundo, BRAVO, Court TV, Comcast, Charter Communications, Adelphia, Cox and others. On the international front, his clients have included Pro Sieben, and Sat 1 in Germany, Sony’s AXN, Animax, and SET, Universal’s 13th Street in France, and Canal Fox in Latin America. Additionally, he expanded the scope of his agencies to include film effects, creating over a dozen futuristic advertisements for Steven Spielberg’s feature film Minority Report.
Jeff Boortz is the recipient of multiple international design awards, including two Emmys and “Best of Show” accolades from the Broadcast Designers Association (BDA). Boortz received an M.A. in Film Production from USC Film School and his B.F.A. in Graphic Design from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.