mayjunepreview2013

COMMUNICATION ARTS ILLUSTRATION ANNUAL 54

Underline Studio Jamie Kripke Stinkdigital Mad Men Exhibit

May/June 2013 Twenty-Four Dollars www.commarts.com

By Rebecca Bedrossian

JAMIE KRIPKE

LIVING with INTENTION

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arge black-and-white prints dominate the walls in photographer Jamie Kripke’s Boulder, Colorado, studio; the Alps, framed in white, are at once crisp, serene, majestic. The pictures ask viewers to pause, to absorb. They resonate with a quiet reverence. Through the stillness, they hint at risk and reward, yet they couldn’t be further from the frozen action shots in Powder magazine that first drew Kripke to photography.

The oldest of three, Kripke grew up in Toledo, Ohio, surrounded by art supplies. His mother, a versatile artist, always had a studio full of cabinets that opened to markers, pencils, color and more. A painter/sculptor/ photographer, she embodied creativity, whereas Kripke’s father, a businessman, worked long hours in the steel industry to provide for his family. These two disparate influences, a bit yin and yang, right brain, left brain, mingled throughout Kripke’s childhood, took root and surfaced in different ways.

At sixteen, when his bedroom walls were covered in pages cut from Powder and Sports Illustrated, Kripke’s mother gave him a Minolta SLR camera with a macramé strap. It was a visceral connection and soon he became the photographer of his high school newspaper. It seemed only natural that the next step, college, would be to study photography. Not so.

“When you grow up in the Midwest, a conservative place, you’re not encouraged or expected to pursue art as a career,” Kripke says. Which explains why he entered his freshman year at the University of Colorado as a business major. It wasn’t until he showed up for a statistics course and saw students wearing suits that he realized he didn’t belong there. The avid skier who never left his camera behind asked himself, “What now?” He answered with, “Maybe I’ll be a doctor,” and spent the next two biology- and chemistry-filled years miserable. (“Got a D in Organic Chemistry. That

Right: Personal work, Key West, Florida.

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hurt.”) Right before his senior year, Kripke, without a major, told his parents he didn’t want to be in school.

That was fine, though his dad countered with a caveat: “He said, ‘Sure you can take time off, but you might want to write us a proposal on how you intend to use that time,’” Kripke remembers. “They wanted to know I was thinking clearly and not just quitting something I didn’t like.

“I didn’t feel like writing the stupid plan,” admits Kripke.

It hit much too close to the five-year plans his parents made him do when he was young, which, he acknowledges, now make perfect sense. But at 21 it didn’t, so he went back to school, found the quickest route out—as a philosophy major—and took it.

Today, sitting in his studio, housed in a historic corner storefront built in 1923, the 41-year-old photographer is married to Kate, a licensed clinical social worker, father of two girls, Kinley, age 6 and Bridger, age 3, and sees the wisdom of his father’s five-year plans. Though, while growing up, Kripke dreaded taking a piece of paper, writing down all he wanted to do and then putting it away—to be read five years later.

“The exercise is partly about having goals,” he explains, “but what I’ve come to learn is that it is more about the power of your subconscious. Just the act of writing something down is so different than just thinking it. It goes to another part of your brain and lives there.

You don’t think about it much, but it manifests itself in a different way.

“I took out my five-year plan from 2006,” Kripke says, admitting that he and Kate are a year late in making their next ones (yes, this family tradition continues).

“I was reading down the list and it was amazing how much I’d done.

“You have to be honest with yourself when you write it,” he continues. “What is it that you really want,

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ADVERTISING 1 John Solimine, illustrator Spike Press, design firm Bandmerch, My Morning Jacket, client This poster was used to promote the August 19th, 2012 My Morning Jacket show at Williamsburg Park in Brooklyn, New York. 18 × 24, 3-color screenprint.

2 Gérard DuBois, illustrator Patrick Hanlon, art director Thinktopia, client Limited-edition poster around the theme “Better thoughts through thinking,” which is Thinktopia’s tagline. 10 × 14, acrylic on paper.

3 Brian Danaher, illustrator/art director/designer Sea Wolf, client “The inspiration for this piece came from an interview with Alex from Sea Wolf, who described the new album as having a ‘sense of rediscovering where you’re from after being away for awhile.’ The house-shaped key holder and old dusty keys represent relationships and issues that have been left behind and not attended to in years. It’s the idea of returning home, not only to find things as you left them, but being ready to finally confront and address them.” 18 × 24, 3-color screenprint.

4 Elizabeth Lada, illustrator/designer Aurora Theatre Company, client Poster for The Arsonists, a play by Max Frisch. 24 × 30, acrylic on board.

6 5 Jody Hewgill, illustrator Nicky Lindeman, art director SpotCo, ad agency Molly Smith, Arena Stage, artistic director Arena Stage, client Poster for the March 2013 production of Mary T. & Lizzie K.,

by Tazewell Thompson, about the unlikely friendship between Mary Todd Lincoln and her seamstress Elizabeth Keckley. 16 × 20, acrylic on gessoed ragboard.

6 Olaf Hajek, illustrator Gregory DiBisceglie, art director Macy’s Inc., client “A perennial favorite, Macy’s Flower Show attracts millions of guests. These awe-inspiring spectacles of nature herald the beginning of spring as five stores are transformed into a breathtaking flower extravaganza. The artwork was used for a variety of mediums including magazine, outdoor and online advertising as well as in-store and window visuals in marquee stores in five cities: New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis and San Francisco.” 22 × 28, acrylic on board.

Communication Arts | www.commarts.com

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BOOKS 1 Victo Ngai, illustrator Irene Gallo, art director Tor Books, client Cover of Jacks and Queens at the Green Mill by Marie Rutkoski. “Few know that the Great Chicago Fire was started deliberately, as a genocide of deadly creatures called Shades. Fewer still know that they didn’t die, not quite…but one human will confront the truth when an ominous beauty makes him gamble for his life.” 10 × 15, mixed media.

2 Morgan Schweitzer, illustrator Jeanine Henderson, art director Penguin Group, client Cover illustration for P.K. Pinkerton and the Deadly Desperados, by Caroline Lawrence, about a young detective hunted by a gang of three murderous villains. Digital.

3 Sarah Watts, illustrator/designer Lee Motley, art director Penguin Books uk, publisher Cover illustration and handlettering for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

by Muriel Sparks. “Passionate, free-thinking and unconventional, Miss Brodie is a teacher who exerts a powerful influence over her group of ‘special girls’ at Marcia Blaine School. They are the Brodie set, the crème de la crème, who are initiated into a world of adult games and extracurricular activities they will never forget. But the price they pay is their undivided loyalty.” 4⁄ × 7⅛, pen, ink, digital.

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2012–2013 Salary Survey Comparison Below is the national median (i.e., the 50th percentile) of total compensation for design professionals surveyed in 2012 and 2013. More detailed results are available at aiga.org.

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When considering applicants for creative roles, 39% of marketing and advertising executives said teamwork and collaboration skills are crucial.

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—The Creative Group national study

Total Cash Compensation 2013 Change 2012

Freelance Rates Change 2012 2013

$60,000

$65,000

+8.3%

Owner/Partner/Principal

$100,000

$100,000

0%

Creative/Design Director

$100,000

$104,000

+4%

Chief Design Officer

$106,000

$120,000

+13.2%

-

Design Strategist

$127,500

$105,000

-17.6%

Senior Designer

$61,000

$64,500

+5.7%

Designer

$45,500

$48,000

Junior Designer

$38,500

$40,000

Solo Designer

$70 $100

+42.9%

$90

-

- $100

-

$55

$65

+18.2%

+5.5%

$45

$50

+11.1%

+3.9%

$28

$30

+7.1%

Production Manager

$65,000

$65,000

0%

$50

$55

+10%

Writer/Copywriter

$60,000

$60,000

0%

$60

$70

+16.7%

Information Architect

$90,000

$80,000

-11.1%

$80

$85

+6.3%

User Experience Designer

$85,000

$85,000

0%

$75

$85

+13.3%

Web Designer

$55,000

$55,000

0%

$50

$50

0%

Web Developer (frontend)

$60,000

$65,000

+8.3%

$50

$75

+50%

Web Programmer (backend)

$68,700

$65,000

-3.2%

$65

$75

+15.4%

Web Producer

$70,000

$60,000

-14.3%

$50

$50

0% +18.6%

Mobile Interface Designer

$70,000

$80,000

+14.3%

$70

$83

Mobile App Developer

$80,000

$80,000

0%

$83

$85

+2.4%

Motion Graphics Designer/Animator

$65,000

$63,000

-3.1%

$55

$70

+27.3%

Methodology: 73,132 unduplicated individuals from AIGA’s current and past membership and recent contacts, individuals from lists of clients and talent supplied by Aquent and domestic Communication Arts subscribers, invited to participate via e-mail.

The data represented is based on 10,435 individuals who responded to the survey online.

CA QUERIES RECRUITERS

What are the hottest positions within the creative industry right now?

Carol Vick, Carol Vick LLC Creative Recruitment, Atlanta, GA. “Who are agencies hiring these days? Unicorns, according to R/GA recruiter Lionel Carreon. I agree.

The answer may surprise you, but the idea is simple.

Creatives need to be innovators, developers, crafts persons and problem solvers ready for any opportunity, in any form. Challenge yourself to learn new skills. Be more than an art director or a writer or a designer.

Become a unicorn. If you’re a little uncomfortable, keep going. Isn’t that what creativity is all about?”

Sultan Moore, Creative:Talent, Beverly Hills, CA. “Creatives touch almost every industry, spreading the word about products, services or events for major businesses, brands, celebrities, etc. For the past several years, the shift has been in digital, mobile, gaming and social marketing.

Some of the hottest roles today are social media managers, digital marketing managers, UI/UX designers, web designers, interactive AD/CD, e-mail/ CRM and the like. To survive in this industry today, you must have digital and/or social marketing experience.”

Michelle Pairitz, smartdept. inc., Chicago, IL. “Designers, writers and developers in the digital space are the hottest jobs right now as marketers find more ways to connect with consumers through the use of online media. Smartphones and tablets have become part of our everyday lives, increasing the demand for talent with e-commerce experience. We’ve seen a tremendous need for talent that can design and develop mobile applications. Creating a great experience for the end user is what it’s all about!”