In an announcement on Thursday, 25 August, the company explained that a major problem for young creatives is getting their work in front of creative directors and other prospective employers. 

“We know that creative work can’t happen without creative people, and we want to help young, diverse creative talent flourish,” it stated in the announcement. “We’ve developed a brand new way for creatives to showcase and share their ideas, based on Canvas, one of our most exciting new products. We’re calling it Canvas Portfolio.”

Canvas is an immersive, quick-to-watch mobile ad format that brings together video, text, static images, and image carousels. With a Canvas Portfolio, creatives can harness these capabilities to share their work in a dynamic and impactful way. Canvas Portfolios live on an individual creative’s Facebook page, and can be shared with creative directors using a unique URL or via a targeted ad campaign.

The tool was launched at Loeries Creative Week, where the Young Loeries students had the opportunity to build their Canvas Portfolios and present their work to an assembled crowd of top African ad industry professionals. Feedback from both students and industry people alike was extremely positive.

Young Loerie, Jason Geyer, from the Design School South Africa noted that the functionality makes showcasing work simpler and provides a totally unique platform to showcase it on. 

“I think it’s a phenomenal platform because your portfolio is always in your pocket,” added Helen Aadnesgaard from Vega School in Johannesburg. “You never know when you'll meet someone who can offer you an opportunity, and being able to whip out your smart device and show them your work is invaluable.”

Tian van den Heever, creative director of FCB Johannesburg commented that Canvas was a great way to view the Young Loeries portfolios. “It’s engaging, intuitive and allowed all of the impressive work to shine. The future’s not just bright, it’s backlit.”

See some of the students’ work here.

*Please note that Canvas Portfolio is a mobile-only format, so you’ll need to access this link via a mobile device.