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Themilkfarm is a virtual design company: virtual because its three partners work independently, all communication happening on-line. Stone works from his home office in Oakland, CA, David Lowe from Portland and Michael Reginelli from Los Angeles. Themilkfarm's philosophy is simple: look at what the competition is doing and do the opposite. "Not an opposite that would alienate clients from their industry segment," says Stone, "but give them the eyes they are needing to make their creative investments profitable." The success of this philosophy is evidenced in an impressive list of clients that includes Bank of America, E+J Cognac, Turner Duckworth, Levi's Music.com, TiVo, Providian, Seagate, and Visa. After graduating from Academy of Art in San Francisco, Stone began his career in the high tech service and illustration design side of Apple Computer. He then went to work in more traditional design shops as a graphic designer, eventually landing at an ad agency working as a senior designer and art director. While there he repositioned that company's brand and began doing more environmental projects, signage, retail and tradeshows, with more high profile clients. Stone spoke to Altpick.com from his Oakland studio about going out on his own with Themilkfarm. What made you decide to step out on your own? Frankly, I got fed up with my bosses assuming that clients would like a particular idea for their projects again, and again and again. So it was out of that initial frustration that I stepped out on my own. Being able to look into a client's eyes and see that we are in agreement on a project is critical, and that was a huge component that was missing in the traditional agency-client relationship.
It's mostly perception. Many people think: oh, you are not a big agency, so you can't do all that? In an agency, after the initial collaboration-once a job has been awarded-it is usually the creative director, art director, production person, and a copywriter at best, working on a project. Now, agencies are crucial, and their knowledge is endless, but the smaller shops can get it done too. The only downside to not having the agency supporting you is you have to wear more hats. On a project how do you and your partners distribute the work? For example The Academy of Art web site- I designed everything for the site and David did all the flash development and scripting. We both collaborated together to content manage, photograph and re-architect the site. We just play it by ear and utilize each others strenghts. And you also have a partner based in L.A.? Yes, Michael Reginelli lives in L.A. and we decided t step up efforts to penetrate the entertainment industry there. There hasn't been enough happening in L.A. to consider it a viable client-base, but we are still hopeful that that will change. As I said, it is a virtual studio; so we all work independently, whether it's L.A., S.F., or Portland, our communication happens on line. How would you define your style? Simple, smart, clean, with a huge portion of attitude. Whether it is a rock star attitude, fun, confidence, sexy, or emotional, there is always one common element that seems to be apparent: attitude. How has your work evolved? Over the last two years I really wanted to take the work to a more "credible" place. Being highly creative can sometimes be a hindrance in that people may not always get it. I teamed up with a fantastic photographer, Jean-Marc Lubrano, to begin to develop a more mature aesthetic when appropriate. I have also made a huge attempt to quiet things down a bit. There is so much chaos in design and everyone is clamoring to be the next cool thing. I decided to go with witty concepts and cleanliness that says something. How do you keep up with the trends? That is a hard thing. The technology curve is a tough one to keep up with. I personally have stopped trying. The curve is so fast that I'd rather collaborate with the people that know it. Out of all the projects I've done, I sit down with David and say, 'let's do this. . . can we do this?' When I was trying to keep up with the technology curve I stopped thinking about the creative. I thought, well, I could only use these colors and that is all it can be. I felt like a caged animal with borders. I decided I'm not even going to worry about the borders. I am going to utilize someone who gets off on trying to eliminate these barriers and break these rule. That allowed me to let go of the tech constraints, and allowed me to get back to the thinking. Do you have a specific process you go through when starting a project? Typically, I like to sit on it. Some things initially spark an idea almost one hundred percent of the time. Immediately my mind starts running. For me it is always the excitement of a new project, learning something new, solving a new problem. The one thing I do not do is look at other design stuff! It is hard not to, but I found it affecting me subconsciously and I would sometimes regurgitate what I saw.
I really try not to, especially if I am brainstorming for something. I will go to publication only for the principles: Do I have the headlines? The feature image? The copyright information? Am I working that right? Conceptually and structurally I want to make sure I have the components in place. Even with web sites: I have never liked to build a site that have the navigation down the left, header across the top. I like to do things that are more engaging. There are a million and one web sites that have the same convention and they work very well, but usually I position Themilkfarm as: If you want something different then let's talk. You have to make an investment if you want to be seen. What do you do to keep inspired? Not look at anything else as a designer. I find the less I look at the world around me from a design standpoint, the more I tend to rely on my own creativity and experiences. If I am constantly sizing everything up, I may begin to mimic another style or trend and ultimately do work that is not mine. Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years I have worked out all the kinks of running a small studio and have an environment where creative pros can work together in harmony. I hope to grow a five to six person studio that is an idealistic world where you work when you need to in order to create the work that is inside your heart.
- Contributed by Mary-Beth Holland >> See more work from The MilkFarm >> See other member spotlights on the member spotlight index >> Find out more on how to become an altpick.com member |
