However, just as Doug Pray conveyed in his documentary film, Art & Copy (which premiered in the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and was funded by the non-profit advertising organization, One Club) – “Hate advertising? Make better ads”.  Pray bases his documentary on the idea that advertising may actually be a unique and rebellious accomplishment, similar to what most of us know as “art”, rather than the manipulative “Devil’s workshop” with which the industry is typically associated.

“Sure, [advertising agencies] were just selling us stuff, but along the way, their ads actually inspired us, entertained us, or might have even been socially redeeming,” wrote Pray in his film synopsis.

Art & Copy details some of the greatest advertising since the 1960s and unearths the creative mavericks behind these ad campaigns and innovations that have literally defined mainstream culture.  The cast includes the real “Mad Men” of today’s industry, including: Dan Wieden and David Kennedy of Wieden+Kennedy, who helped turn a then little-known athletic shoe company into a trend for decades with the slogan, “Just Do It”; Lee Clow, the man behind Apple’s  “Think Different” ads; Mary Wells, with the help of Creative Director Charlie Moss, who fashioned the “I (Heart) New York” campaign; and George Lois, whose “I Want My MTV” campaign elevated the booming channel into the mainstream (and into a song by Dire Straits).

These are examples of the commercials and campaigns we can never seem to get out of our heads.  We may not appreciate advertising that treats us as needy, unintelligent or easily manipulated, but we do appreciate when advertising is clever, brilliant, funny, or emotionally charged, as these creative and innovative campaigns have been.  Advertising is the daily language of our entire system of commerce, and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

As one of the top creative minds in advertising says in this inspiring film about creativity, art and innovation, “That’s advertising, baby!” –George Lois.  Art & Copy was released on DVD in May 2010, so I suggest you buy a copy in order to be introduced to the real “Mad Men” of advertising.

PDFs are the standard these days for invites, flyers, guides, instructions, and a plethora of other business documents. Why not spice them up a bit? Now this universal file-type can be enhanced with numerous new features. Here are just a few ideas:

• Navigation menu: Add a navigation menu to lengthy PDFs for easy navigation between sections. You can design a home page listing all sections, and even create a menu bar at the bottom of each page of the document with “forward” and “back” buttons.
• Email integration: Do you want your audience to be able to share the PDF easily? Add the email feature and with a click of the mouse, readers will be able to email the PDF as an attachment through their preferred email client. Another handy email feature allows you to create a form and have the results emailed directly to you – just like any web form. Check out the “Request Brochure” page on our sample.
• Embed videos: There are two ways to embed videos into PDFs. One requires an internet connection, but keeps the actual file size down to an easily emailable size. The second method actually saves the full video file in the PDF. This method doesn’t require an internet connection, but the file size can get rather large, depending on how big the video is. Check out our sample for the internet connection-required version.
• Page-turning animation: Make your PDF look like a magazine or book with the page turning animation feature. This feature will change the end format to a SWF file, but you can design and create the entire document in Adobe.

Check out our sample: History of the Phone