Clean Creative : Hybrid Synergy Design : About Clean Creative


	Why did you choose the name Clean Creative? Well, over the years I've gone through many revisions of names, from Bang Interactive, Oxygen, Method, GFORM Design and I finally decided to rest upon one name which clearly describes what I consider to be effective design and marketing... clean & creative, hence the name Clean Creative. Why do you think that great design is so hard to come by these days? Today, so much design is gaudy, dirty and ineffective, it's permeating the industry at an intense rate. Graphic Design had become somewhat of a sweat-shop industry rather than the artistic visual depiction of the medium which it was representing. Back in the day there were but a few top agencies putting out "ace" quality work and those agencies did it right every time, the first time. The web caught on and every kid on the street built websites for anything and everything, they called themselves Graphic Designers when in acutality they didn't have any formal education in design, it's history, it's proper applications and the theories of color & negative space (all of the basic fundamentals to a successful design). The market then became saturated with "web-shops" and so-called "botiques" hiring that type of aforementioned "kid" to work on print and website medium. Thereafter much print design had the flavor of bad web design, but they were cheap, and companies wanted to save a buck rather than get things done properly and effectively at a worthy price. BEGIN THE ERA OF THE DOT BOMB... most of the smaller "web-shops" went out of business, big companies "took it on the chin" too, and all that remained were the few top shops and a few lucky stragglers who happened to pull through the hard times. The market was flooded with out-of-work "designers" who then started charging cut-rate prices for the bad design work because they had to take on so many jobs or they couldn't support themselves. The "quantity before quality" mentality flourished and there you have it. Name one thing that is your best and at the same time your worst quality? My best and worst quality would have to be that I am a perfectionist. Now, you'd think that this would not be a bad quality, and in most cases it isn't. Where it does become a distraction sometimes is that I may spend more time on something than I should. To me it has to be just perfect, even though an employer or client may absolutely love it the way that it is, I will sometimes say to myself, "Yeah, but it can be better". Where this becomes a great quality is that I often come up with new ways to do things, new design styles, and I learn new skills that I might not have otherwise known had I not gone the extra mile and spent more time than necessary. Fortunately, I learn very quickly and I work highly efficiently, therefore I make up for the perfectionism on the front-end. What's the hardest thing that you have to deal with in your profession? There are a few things. One in particular is when a client chooses the comps which you know deep inside are the least effective and marketable for them in the long-run. Sometimes (and it's a rare occurrence) a client has a pre-conceived notion of what they want and any deviation, no matter how bold it may be, is not within the range of reason. That's difficult to work around, though I do realize and accept the fact that at the end of the day, the client get's what the client wants and that's the way it'll always be. When working for a company, what do you value the most from your employer? RESPECT! I refuse to work for someone who doesn't respect me or what I do, and it has to go both ways. For one to be successful at what one does, no matter what it is, one must be respected and in-turn they must respect who they work for. On that same level, trust. I've seen many people working where they either do not trust or are not trusted with or by the people with whome they work. I can't understand that mentality. Do you love what you do for a living? One word... ABSOLUTELY! I love what I do, I live it and I breathe it! Being creative always been a passion of mine whether it was drawing, painting, writing poetry and stories or building things. Being able to be creative on a daily basis for a living is definitely one of the vital elements in my life which keeps me happy. Boy, what in the hell's the matter with you? Well, nothing really, I just love to laugh and enjoy life. Have a question you'd like answered? Go to the Contact Page by clicking the link above.