IBM: “Clouds”

Client: IBM Corporation
Writer: John Schmidt
Art Director: Jean Marcellino
Agency: Lord Geller Federico Einstein
Illustration:  Students from The Children’s All Day School

IBM had developed a computer program designed to help very young children learn to read. In hopes of creating an ad on the subject, they gave the agency some research they’d done to determine the program’s efficacy. John and I found among the volumes this charming poem written by a five-year-old, a perfect way into the story. In order to illustrate it, we realized that no adult could ever do it convincingly, so we arranged to spend a day at a nearby nursery school. We brought pads and magic markers. It was soon evident that the kids, though surprisingly cooperative, just couldn’t manage to stay focused long enough to produce the entire illustration, so we assigned a “clouds table,” a “grass table,”  a “sun table,” and a “lettering table.” The rest was cut-and-paste back at the agency.
