Interview with a Founder of the Aharmon Design Group 1. Would you, please, introduce yourself telling us a bit about your background and when you got started as a designer? First of all, thanks for the the opportunity to chat with you and your viewers, it means a lot! My name is Anthony Harmon, Im currently 28 years old and living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I am the principal at Aharmon Design Group, a co-founder of DNSTY.co and am the creative director at Slashthree. It sounds like a mouthful, and it is, but when you love your job as much as I do, the ridiculous hours necessary to juggle everything arent so bad. I got my first taste of design playing with Photoshop when I was about 15. I was instantly hooked - havent looked back since. 2. What is a good design to you? To me a good design does three things well. It clearly communicates and idea. It makes the complex, (seem) simple. It evokes some kind of emotional response from the viewer. Doing all three in a single mark, design or illustration is extremely difficult. Ive specifically struggled with #2. I have a real tendency to make things overly complex, detailing every nook and cranny. Its taken years to critically look at my work and determine what can be removed, what has been overworked. My girlfriend has a fashion rule that I find both hilarious, but relevant. She always says the key to the perfect outfit is to get fully dressed and then take off one piece of jewelry. IE the ability to edit oneself. 3. Whats the key to it? For me, two things seem to work best. First, when I feel a design is finished I go through the design fundamentals checklist. Composition, color, value, proportion, etc. If Im comfortable with the design in all of those areas it might be finished. The real tell tale sign is having the patience to let it sit for a day or two and returning with a fresh set of eyes. Its easy to stare at an image for so long you become numb to the flaws. 4. Youre a creative person - describe your creative process and how you stimulate yourself? Im not a naturally organized person. I dont know many creative people that are. Its a blessing and a curse. Like most artists, my process is pretty non existent and varies greatly from project to project. Sometimes Ill start with a thumb nail sketch or wireframe, sometimes I jump straight into the design. 5. Do you remember your first customer? Was he hard on you? My very first paying client was a hip hop artist by the name of Grieves. He went on to have quite a bit of success and is still making music. We had our differences and parted ways after a year or two, but it was an awesome learning experience and it got my foot into the professional design world. Granted, I was designing and coding myspace profiles for $200 a pop at the time, not very lucrative, but it was something - and I loved it. Speaking of myspace, I just saw a video for their new site and I have to say, it looked pretty good.
Posted on: Wed, 27 Nov 2013 18:53:17 +0000
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