John Green’s Thought Bubble: Health Care Overhaul (Summarized Via Massive Pig)

John Green’s Thought Bubble with Sound Design

Sound design and music composition by the talented Allan Levy.

To get the background scoop on this Thought Bubble, check out the blog post.

Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s Thought Bubble: Kindness

Winner of Best Animation at the Peace On Earth Film Festival 2011.
Sound design and mixing by the talented Allan Levy.
Music composition by the talented Nick Gage.

Simply put, Joelle Woodruff is a long-time super nerd. You know the type, one of those kids that actually prefers doing a few math problems over watching TV. Fortunately (for her and all of us that know her) this “lust-for-knowledge”, as some may call it, never compromised her social abilities, as she is also an incredibly loving and compassionate super-nerd. It is these aspects of her personality that would eventually come together and drive her to use her nerdy-ness in order to try and make the world a happier place for all of us to live.

Growing up, Joelle was always involved in something cerebral or charitable, from founding her high school’s physics club, to volunteering at the local food bank. In University, after bouncing between six different majors, Joelle began to find a way to satisfy her thirst for unique knowledge and compassionate living, and wound up studying History and Political Science at York University in Toronto, Canada. It didn’t take long before the essays on Che Guevara or readings on worker uprisings in Argentina had Joelle abandoning her childhood dream of going on to become a Lawyer, and settling for something a little more…grassroots. Joelle began studying to become a teacher, strongly believing that social transformation and the development of a truly compassionate society begins with critical pedagogy. In teacher’s college Joelle quickly developed an avid interest in Urban Education and working with at-risk-youth. It was in taking the opportunity to work both at the Catholic Children’s Aid Society and in at-risk urban schools that Joelle found her calling, and again made yet another big change in her life. She left teaching to pursue a career in the non-profit sector, realizing that community, and particularly youth engagement was where she belonged. Interestingly, it was also during this time that Joelle began to experiment with social media marketing, digital communications, and e-learning. The loving-super-nerd continued to thrive.

In November 2008 Joelle began working for UNICEF Canada. Here all of Joelle’s worlds quickly started to come together. Working as the Regional Coordinator for Ontario, Joelle was not only able to fundraise and organize for a good cause, and engage some incredible youth and adults as volunteers, but she also had enough flexibility in her role to experiment with applying her second love, digital communication and social media marketing.She soon came to realize how incredibly important these marketing platforms could be in the non-profit world and has been a strong advocate for their value ever since, writing strategy guidelines for non-profits and applying various strategies where possible at UNICEF.

It is through this work that Joelle has become the ultimate loving super-nerd, and as a result she was a natural choice to help manage Smart Bubble Society’s communications and marketing strategy. Today Joelle also works in Account Services at the Toronto agency John St.

Suzanna got her Honours Bachelor of Design degree from the Sheridan College and York University joint program in Toronto, Ontario in 2007, during which she completed an independent study on the revitalization of feminism among current day youth and pop culture, and wrote and designed a children’s book called A Bubbly Theory (which her father, Andrej Krystoforski illustrated) to explain environmental and social issues through the use of bubbles as a metaphor (are you surprised then, by the organization’s names: Thought Bubble, Smart Bubble Society? Yes, Suzanna had a role in the naming of those.)

Upon graduating, Suzanna went on to work at a gaming studio called Nexon Publishing North America in downtown Vancouver. There she started as a receptionist and cultural administrator, learning the ropes of human resources, administration, and cultural development, while working to convince both her HR department and art department that their studio desperately needed a Graphic Designer. Some months later, they opened the position for her, and she got to revel in it for a while before the company shut down in 2009, leaving her a little bit rattled by the sobering real world.

Finding herself unemployed for reasons beyond her control, Suzanna realized she had learned a ton from the creative, imaginative and inspiring place that NPNA was, and decided it was time to look no further, and put her fury and passion into co-creating Smart Bubble Society with Jonathon Corbiere, a creative studio of their own, only dedicated to social change. Together they’d long dreamed of a medium through which they could communicate important messages, and motion graphics was just that medium, having the ability to carry messages online in both an engaging and enlightening way.

Outside of work, Suzanna enjoys reaching out to the community and engaging burgeoning designers in considering creative career paths alternative to the ‘norm’, and enjoys cooking up storms in the kitchen like nothing else. Suzanna’s an avid reader of Adbusters Magazine, and non-fiction works like Michael Pollan’s An Eater’s Manifesto, and Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson’s When Elephants Weep. She’s also a secret sci-fi nerd, with books like 1984, We, and Brave New World sitting close to her heart and nightstand. She also loves watching documentaries, thought-provoking dramas, and ridiculing modern day music videos.

(Suzanna is CCO and Creative Director at Smart Bubble Society)

At a young age Jon developed an obsession with filmmaking, spending hours on end re-shooting his favorite movie scenes as actor, director—and to the anxiety of his parents—special effects artist. In high school he was approached to help launch a trial inter-school television station, where he further experimented with, and refined his skills in filmmaking and production.

Through this series of early experiences, Jonathon grew determined to advance his career in special effects, and enrolled in one of the best traditional design training programs in the country. While completing his Bachelor of Design degree at the York University/Sheridan College Institute of Technology in Toronto, Ontario, he experimented with a new medium; a fascinating hybrid of film, graphics, and special effects, known as motion graphics. Outside of school, Jonathon directed his first music video; a full-length motion graphic production for the Tea Party. During his final year of study he was granted an independent study, which he used to create a short social justice centered motion graphic piece, for which he received an Adobe Achievement award and other nominations in 2007.

Upon graduating in 2006, Jon remained fascinated by the functional design principles and exciting visual potential of motion graphics, and decided that his skills of composition and design would need to be paired with a solid foundation in cinematography. He ventured to the Film Production program at the Vancouver Film School. Leaving Toronto behind, he set out to push the boundaries of film and design, and directed a hybrid film/typographic experiment as one of his classes’ final projects. Shortly after graduation, Jonathon was offered a position instructing motion graphics and visual effects at the school. Taking this position head on, he continued to explore his social justice commitments outside of work and took on a branding design initiative for the Elevator foundation, and a camera operating gig in Ethiopia where he spent 10 days traveling the country, documenting the food and health crisis. As a long-time Rugby player, he also nurtured both leadership and social qualities by serving on the Board of Directors for the Vancouver Rogues RFC. There, he helped build a young team of men into a more competitive squad. Having played Rugby at the premiership level, he is always looking for new opportunities to give back to the Rugby community.

In his spare time, Jon still obsesses over film and visual effects, plays video games, and reads important books, like John Perkin’s Confessions of an Economic Hitman, and Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs and Steel.

(Jon is CEO and Lead Animator at Smart Bubble Society)