If you haven’t already stumbled upon the work of Patrick Carter, bets are someday you will. Patrick is an extremely active creative living and working in the Jacksonville, Florida area. He specializes in brand development, but has a personal interest in collage work and experimental concepts.

Patrick currently works as a creative at Greenhouse Studio. As well as being an accomplished commercial designer, Patrick has remained an active professional member of the AIGA, helps young designers at annual portfolio reviews, and volunteers in a youth mentor-ship program. He has earned several professional level awards including a FPRA Image Award for his work with the AACE, a Silver Addy for Package Design, and a Silver Addy for Illustration.

I was lucky enough to catch up with Patrick and have him enlighten us with life experiences, work processes, and sources of inspiration.

Rock it!

100%: What spurred you to begin your career in design? Friends, family, or an undying childhood passion?

PC: Early on, I knew I wanted to be a graphic designer even though essentially I really didn’t even know what that meant. I knew I wanted to create. Armed with the advantage of a tangible goal, I always emphasized nearly all of my working efforts towards a career in design. However, the passion and desire to be a successful designer needs to be undying, because without the ambition to move forward a designer can quickly find their creative fervor to be stagnant. That being said, my current goal of being a “Design Thinker” are a far cry from my 4 year old aspirations to be simply an artist.

I found it difficult to find influence many places other than intrinsically early on. I didn’t know any designers growing up, so it was an outbound effort to see what it meant to be a creative professional. I found less than motivational feedback when explaining to teachers my dreams and ambitions. All too often it was followed up by “You know that is a really competitive industry” or something like, “So you’re saying you want to just draw pictures?” which I tried not to find too discouraging. Without the internet at the time it was much more difficult to get abstract info about any given field. Luckily family was always supportive and an honest voice in motivating me to pursue the long seeded goal.

100%: Looking at your portfolio, one cannot help but notice your affinity towards vibrant color and the usage of collage. Do you find that your design prowess is leaning towards a particular style?

PC: Anyone will adhere to a certain style when they enter the field. My first exposure to design in the sense that I regard it, was Surfing Magazine publication layout and advertisements, surfing/skating videos and tattoo art from Jason Harms. Naturally, in executing initial designs and layouts I would tend to lean toward techniques and style I had seen and become enamored with before. In trying to emulate something I had seen and knew well, I was able to perfect my technical capabilities. Having these styles and inspirations to adhere to gave me a way to practice using software, concept development and becoming familiar with what compositions worked and did not.

I emphasize trying to have a diversified skill set. I think in many ways this can be noted as a disadvantage (Lack of focus on a particular strength) but I have so much love for the whole design process including photography, web development, copywriting, and any production or direction type scenarios otherwise. Out of a desire to learn something new, I try and change the work on my desktop up pretty often. I do love a bright colored, tastefully designed look with an emphasis on illustration and typography. That would be my ideal “Design on Steroids” look so to speak. With consideration to all of those elements: color, composition, type and image, you’re bound to get a great result.

100%: What is your workspace like (environment, inspirational decor, etc.)?

I love to have inspirational surroundings. I like hanging pictures and prints, displaying art toys, skatedecks, books and other 3D items of interest. Some of my best influential surrounding are local poster heros Halftone Def Studios, Dog and Pony Showprints, and legendary fine artist Dave Kinsey.

At work, I keep a Jeremy Fish Turtle Camper and some Motorbot custom toys. Since we have a full photography studio, it is nice to be surrounded by professional equipment and the ability to capture great images at your disposal. We recently made a trip to IKEA and spruced the joint up just recently as well, so I included some pics of the office workspace:

100%: What are some of your research resources?

PC: Inspiration comes from all over. It really depends on the medium you are planning to design in. If I am researching or seeking inspiration for great web design, I may visit Design Meltdown, Smashing Mag or a search on Google will turn up many more specific options, like design for forms, footers, about pages, etc. I have subscriptions to several stock photography sites, and this can be used for reference if I am going to illustrate a project. Stock photography also helps at times to develop concepts if I am in a crunch on time. For all around creative awe, inspiration and networking I find Behance to be the best one-stop site for inspiration because all of the content is user generated and top designers can share their favorite projects. Books are a fantastic way to get away from the computer and build some creativity. One of my favorite books right now is “Logo, Font and Lettering Bible” by Leslie Cabarga. It shows a ton of diverse layout and typographical techniques. To see some great designer bookshelves check out Emprnt. Being a designer is truly a state of mind and a way of life, so you should always search for inspiration whenever and wherever you are. Anyway in which the designer is successful in inspiring themselves is truly the best for them.

100%: How do you (generally) approach a project? For some it is difficult to begin, and other’s creativity flows easily. How do you cope with the need for on–demand creativity in such a fast paced career?

PC: I find that I work quickly in most situations. I believe this is a direct result of working full-time and freelancing at home. After working 40-60 hours a week and having to come home and work more is not always the most desirable situation, not to mention the strain on your creativity. I found myself busting out quite a bit of work in between the hours of 8 and 2am in the evening. I would work as quickly and efficiently as I could because I really didn’t want it to turn into 4am I would have to be up for work again in the morning, so the motivation to work quickly was certainly there. I also have been in an agency setting for the last 6 years or so and things seem to stay pretty fast paced and deadline oriented.
In regards to my creative process, it tends to vary from project to project, which isn’t necessarily a good thing. It usually begins with a creating a creative brief in conjunction with meeting with the client. After I gather the info, I will often use thumbnails to organize my thoughts. A good concept is essential to any successful project, because without it you may just be making something look pretty without having a message. Once I have a solid concept and game plan, I can move about the computer with much more ease.

Another very important part of the process is a bit of downtime on a project. Many times I will spend 3-5 hours working on something and then just spend about 24 hours with it bouncing around my head. It’s nearly impossible for me to create something I’m proud of in one sitting. The time in between is essential, whether it be driving in my car, surfing or skateboarding, or simply the minutes before I fall asleep. The absolute best work comes out after I lay the ground work, spend a day thinking about it, then comeback in for an intensive session of design.

100%: You are avidly involved with AIGA Jacksonville. How has your involvement there provided connections, opportunities, and experiences that you could not have received otherwise?

PC: My relationship with AIGA Jacksonville has been a huge factor in the designer I am today. Design is such an abstract notion; you need to have outside influences to have a well rounded approach. Some of my first experiences with AIGA Jacksonville were getting reviewed at the annual student portfolio review, watching speakers or directly interacting with designers at Cocktails & Creatives. Since these first experiences, my understanding of what design is has developed an incredible amount; with AIGA Jacksonville there to facilitate this information I would be unknowingly ignorant to these outside design influences.

I mentioned earlier about how I found it to be a bit of a struggle early on finding influences for my design career so when AIGA Jacksonville offered the high school mentorship program, headed up by Karen Kurycki I was excited to participate. Being able to share what I knew about the industry with an interested and motivated young design prospect was such a rare opportunity and it truly was a blast doing it. I was fortunate enough to have a very dedicated and motivated mentee and through his hard work and dedication, he won first place in the mentorship program earning tickets to RE:Charge 08, Jacksonville’s nation design conference. Again, without AIGA to facilitate this program I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to share some of my knowledge and try my hand at something similar to teaching, what I have always really been interested in doing.

Shortly after my mentorship experience, I was privileged enough to become Membership Chair for AIGA Jacksonville at the request of Ron Hubbard, Varick Rosete and Karen Kurycki. Varick, Karen and I ventured to AIGA Leadership Retreat ’09 in Portland, OR. I had the most enlightening and inspiring design experience of my life. This truly was an excellent time to be had, and I was able to share ideas with like-minded designers from every corner of the country. It really changed my perspective and enhanced my understanding of the industry. Before going to this retreat I was finding myself uninspired and lethargic in the design industry but after being energized and fueled with knowledge. I feel like a whole new designer! You can read in more detail about my experience on my blog.

100%: Personally, how has design shaped your life and what have been some of the defining moments in your young career?

PC: I think design has caused me to be more observant of the world around me, given me consciousness of problems/solutions and had a positive effect on my work ethic and career as a whole. I find myself walking or driving around and I notice all of the little details concerning fonts, colors or concepts and this is entertaining to me. It keeps me from having an idle mind, and the fact that I have a field in which I can apply these observations (somewhat) immediately is advantageous to my way of life. I find myself thinking critically about concerns for the greater good and how design can change the unfortunate situations in our modern world, whether it be product design, improvements to existing systems or simply to market a product I believe can help others. And finally, I really don’t see how I could have made it through a different type of career without the enjoyment that I gain from design. Even moving through college, I feel that I may have lost interest and dropped out if I were to be enrolled in something like finance. From a career standpoint, I may have changed focus many times over by now, just searching for something that I truly enjoy. I feel very fortunate to have found design and embraced it as a part of my life.

100%: For fun, what do you enjoy doing when not getting a pixel sunburn? Life has many facets and surely design is a small fraction of yours.

PC: To say it is a small fraction may not be very accurate, because I spend most of my waking hours designing in some way shape or form. But other than design, I really enjoy surfing. Surfing is a way to just get into nature and literally have your whole mind wiped clean for a moment and you can just focus on peace of mind. It’s incredible how much you can get out of one surf session – sitting on your board staring at the flat horizon. And when you’re riding the wave your mind is so clear and focused on that one wave, there really is no other room for the troubles of life to barge its way in. I like taking long distance skateboarding trips. I love to make art, drawing and painting. I’m restoring a small motorcycle right now. Spending time with my family. All sorts of stuff; I try and get the most out of life that I can. I find when you get enjoyment from other areas of interest, it leaves you fresh to design at your best ability when you return to it.

100%: Among our audience will surely be student designers. What is the single biggest piece of advice you can offer to those wishing to make a career and lifestyle around design and visual communication?

PC: I would say always refer back to the basics. Things like good use of positive and negative space, margins, good color, image and illustration choices. Make sure your resolution is always crisp, and that you are proud of the product you are putting out. Think of a designer that you admire and consider what they would say about what you have done with the space on the page. Never stop learning. Never stop pushing yourself to go further, and never be scared to experiment. So long as you experiment doesn’t turn into an eye sore because there wasn’t enough thought put into it. The best advice I can give is never give up. Exceptional designers didn’t become great by settling for mediocrity.

100%: Thanks Patrick. Thetime you took to articulate each of these questions is greatly appreciated and looking forward to seeing more of your work!

This is the first of many design interviews here on 100%. I am looking to highlight designer’s that I have personally been influenced by and had the chance to communicate and discuss with. It is my hope to share some unique stories and design insight by approaching these designer’s in this way.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 1:37 PM and is filed under Inspiration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.