Ji Lee: The Transformative Power of Personal Projects

Bored with his ad agency gig and the uninspiring work he was producing, Ji Lee – now Creative Director of Google Creative Lab – decided to take matters into his own hands in 2002. The result was the ad-spoofing Bubble Project, in which Lee placed blank speech bubbles on ads around New York City. The masses responded and the project went viral, gaining Lee recognition and ultimately forwarding his professional career. Here, Lee talks about how he created, financed, and marketed the project single-handedly.

If ever you have the chance to see Ji Lee present in person, please do. He is truly inspiring and I couldn’t agree with him more about the The Transformative Power of Personal Projects.

5 Comments leave a comment below

  1. Very inspirational. I think we need to be careful though. Open Source and sharing are all very wonderful things, but as he said, on order to make something happen, you’ve gotta do it yourself.

    I see a lot of people that have an idea, share it and hope that “open source” will just take care of it. Most of the time, projects take hard work and sweat and do not blow up by themselves. I think the key is: have a vision, work hard and plan ahead, but stay open for new ideas that people input into your project (it might mean that you might have to change your biz plan every 3 months and will drive your lenders crazy :-) )

    Hans
    Jan 11th, 2010 / 10:48 am

  2. Great video, I love what this man says ! Would it be possible to share it on my website with, of course, a link to this page ?

    Bastien
    Jan 11th, 2010 / 11:14 am

  3. Sorry, i got it ;-) Thanks for sharing !

    Bastien
    Jan 11th, 2010 / 11:16 am

  4. It’s great that he reminds everyone the importance of sharing openly. I think whenever you hold on too tightly you lose. I remember seeing these bubbles everywhere while I was in college. They totally made those long waits on the platform better for everyone. I love his message and his approach. Thanks for the inspiration!

    amber
    Jan 11th, 2010 / 4:36 pm

  5. Ji,

    Fantastic brother. The project rocked and I’m thrilled with your presentation. keep going and growing.

    Lee St. James

    Lee St. James
    Jan 13th, 2010 / 10:18 pm