Hi. I’m Johnny. Wanna know why I say hi? Here’s an interview of me interviewing myself.
Hi, Johnny.
Hi! Thanks for doing this. Happy to be here.
For sure. Ok, you keep saying Hi on instagram. Why? What is it for?
Well my website is HiJohnny.com. So I have business cards that say Hi and they have the site on the back. And if you go to the front page of my website (only on a desktop) you’ll see a looping series of videos where I walk into frame, wave Hi and exit. It’s a visual art project, I guess.
So you’re marketing yourself. When did you start this?
I started it in spring of 2017. The first one I took is the last clip on my site, it’s actually in front of my home. And basically yes, I’m marketing myself. I currently work in creative advertising so this is my social media/digital campaign to bring attention to the work that I do. And in a way I’m constantly introducing myself to new places and people. Plus it’s fun to go shoot and make.
What’s the goal here? What do you plan to do with this in the future?
So I was thinking if I did this for a really, really long time — you could watch me age and it would be a cool way to document places I’ve traveled and such. And eventually you could cut together a video of me aging as I walk across the screen.
That’s a great idea!
I know right! You’re a great interviewer too.
Thanks. You’re too nice. What other ideas do you have for making this into a visual art project?
Yeah, so it would be really cool to use the design style from the Hi cards and use them to create big signage around cities: billboards, big Hi’s painted on walls… stuff like that out in the wild would be really super cool and I bet people would have loads of fun taking Instagram pictures and sharing them. The world is friendlier when more people say Hi. Also maybe I could travel to different countries and change up the language on the cards, that would be pretty neat and clever. I also really want to partner with local film makers. It probably gets a little mundane just seeing me walk around and say hi. It could use a little pizazz here and there. Maybe I should dance more?
Yeah! And maybe you could also do like an art installation where they all play on a wall at the same time with a bunch of different screens!
Wow! Yeah, that would be sweet! That’s a really good idea. Thanks, man.
That’s all yours, buddy... What kind of response are you ideally trying to get from people?
That’s an interesting question! I think I’m trying to say, “Hey this is me and I’m friendly.” A lot of times I see photos or things of people online and I think, “They know there’s a camera there, why are they staring at that yellow fence and sticking their butt out at me?” I figure it’s a tiny way of creating a human connection through these digital mediums. But I don’t want to get too profound about it, I’m just friggin saying hi, if your entire instagram feed was of people waving at you, that would be really strange and annoying. But I hope people feel a little happier and walk through their day a little friendlier.
Did you come up with this idea by yourself?
The idea to buy HiJohnny.com was actually not my own, that was a suggestion from a guy I used to work with. His name is Victor Saad. I’m thankful for that idea, it’s funny to see how much the name has shaped and guided the creativity for my site. But yeah, I got the name and as the years evolved I’ve come up with new ways to run with the creative theme. I started building the site in 2012.
Well it’s been great talking with you. Thanks for your time.
Yeah this has been nice. I’m glad we took the time to do this. Hopefully this helps explain things for people. What are you doing the rest of the day?
Well I’m at work right now, so I probably should be working.
Oh yeah, you should get on that.