Awake.David

Snoopy. He's fun-loving but also pretty serious about the dance (or in my case, the design).

Such a hard question since I'm so proud of the work that's gone into all my projects. But I'll say "Arcanium" since it's one of my most recent.

Part of Arcanium’s self-proclaimed “nerd” status includes a strong connection to Dungeon and Dragons gaming. The very lengthy nature of a D&D game led to the creation of the debut table which allows the players to continue to use the dining tabletop without disrupting the play that is stored intact within. As non-gaming-savvy individuals a lot of time was spent upfront familiarizing ourselves with the world of gaming and investigating the competitive set.

There are already gaming tables on the market that allow for continuous play, created by brands that have tapped into the gaming community. However, these brands leverage visual languages that employ tropes from the gaming world. The intent with Arcanium’s brand identity was to elevate the idea of play and not sink into gaming stereotypes. With this in mind it was of the upmost importance to create a brand that felt like it could be embraced not only by the gaming community but by design-focused buyers as well. The trick was to straddle a line between not alienating a gaming world but also appealing to a mass market, one that prioritizes design, utility, and sustainability.

The idea of flexibility itself needs to be flexible based on the project at hand. The flexibility of a system for a start-up, one-location company is potentially vastly different than a national corporation. But flexibility itself comes from stress-testing the system and realizing that a system will likely never be locked as it needs to evolve with the needs and expectations of the brand.

Very early in my studio's inception, I worked on a cold-pressed juice company in Toronto called Belmonte Raw. This was at a time when there wasn't a plethora of juice options like there are now. Working with the client, we decided to distinguish the brand by telling a more premium story and consciously not going down the leaf/cute route that others were doing in spades. This project ended up ranking #19 in the Dieline's "Top 50 Package Designs of the Decade". I'm hoping this inspired a designer's work at some point as they were scrolling through the Dieline for references.

Can you discuss a time when you had to manage multiple projects simultaneously? How did you ensure each project received the attention it needed without compromising on quality?

...the messiest artboards you'll ever see. Then edit, edit, refine, edit.

The first part of my career was spent in design firms and advertising agencies where (especially in the latter case) collaboration was both expected and necessary. As a designer in an ad world for many years, establishing a voice for design was always front of mind. The easiest collaborations seemed to happen when everyone at the table was coming in with no fixed ideas and was respectful of each other's roles and talents. And everyone was willing to listen.

This year marks 28 years in the industry. The biggest piece of wisdom is to trust your instinct. Clichéd, yes. but it's often easier said than done – especially when you're just starting out.