What It ’ s Like To Be...
A CREATIVE DIRECTOR?
Sometimes I like to lie in the grass and look up at the sky, watching the clouds. I imagine that I see things like rabbits, airplanes and dragons! Your imagination is a great gift! This month I met a person who gets to use his imagination every day. And, he’s a grown up! Louis Pecci is the president of RES, a design agency, and the creator of Toots and Tootsville.com. Keep reading to learn more about his creative career! TRUMAN: What does it take to become a creative director? TRUMAN: And, you are a theme park designer, too? What parks have you LOUIS: The easy answer is a lot of hard work. I have been in the design industry designed? for a long time, 25 years to be exact. For 23 of those years, I have run my own company, Design Factory, which is my design firm. DF handles everything from advertising and design to Theme Park Development and Entertainment. Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to work with some of the most incredible people and companies around the world, including Disney, Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey Circus, Ripley’s Believe it or Not, Universal Studios and a host of international accounts. Each assignment brought on new challenges and allowed me to develop my skills. TRUMAN: When and why did you first become interested in this profession? LOUIS: The truth is my parents were very instrumental in my career path. As a child, I was constantly drawing. Creating magical characters and imaginary worlds was a way for me to keep my overactive imagination busy. My parents always supported me, buying me drawing tablets, markers, paint sets and even books (Thank You, John Nagy,my first art book). I knew, from a very early age, that I wanted a career where I could utilize my creative talents. All through high school, I took as many art classes as I could. Upon graduation, I went to the University of Buffalo where I was accepted into a special program for design studies and graduated from the School of Architecture. I thought that with my art and creative abilities, coupled with architecture, I would have a better chance of attaining my lifelong goal of becoming an Imagineer at Walt Disney World. The summer after I graduated from college, I went from the cold of Buffalo to the warmth of Florida on vacation. While I was there, I visited an ad agency where my uncle was the creative director. They were in need of a “wrist,” that is, someone that could draw up the ideas of the art directors. My uncle offered me the job, and I said, “So you are going to pay me to draw all day?” He said yes, and so did I. It was a pretty quick rise in the profession from there — starting my own agency, after just one year in the industry. Over the years, my team and I have traveled the world creating groundbreaking work along the way.
LOUIS: Yes, I am. As I mentioned earlier, I have been fortunate enough to work with many of the world’s biggest and brightest. The last park I developed was in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, called AlShallal, which means “waterfall.” It is a beautiful place overlooking the Red Sea. The people of Saudi Arabia are great to work with, and it was very rewarding to bring some good ole American creativity to the that corner of the world. TRUMAN: What is that process like? LOUIS: It takes time. Designing a park isn’t like designing a character or a logo. There is a lot of planning that goes into the development before my pencil ever hits the drawing pad. Typically, a feasibility study is done first to see if it is a good idea to put a park in the particular area. Second, we develop a concept for the park. I call it my GOC or Grand Organizing Concept. This is used as our guide through every phase of development. After that, the work begins. Teams are hired to perform specific tasks, meetings are organized and plans are put into motion. To give you an example, AlShallal, which is about the size of a Six Flags, took us five years to build. TRUMAN: What is the hardest part of your job? LOUIS: Prioritizing! I am one of those people that wants it all — now. I have all these ideas that I want to put out, but it is just impossible to do them all at the same time. So with the help of my team, we schedule the ideas out and get them into development. Patience was never one of my strong suits. TRUMAN:What is the best part of your job?
TRUMAN:What do you do each day? What’s a typical day like?
LOUIS: MY JOB! It really is LOUIS: I actually have double duties with RES. As Louis Pecci loves to use his imagination on his latest project, awesome to wake up every day President of the company, I am responsible for every the Toots of Tootsville! and know that it will not be the aspect of the overall operation, including the business same as yesterday. Each day side and the creative side. Each has its challenges, but I really do enjoy wearing brings exciting challenges and opportunities that motivate and excite me. Of both hats. A typical day consists of morning meetings with the division heads. I am course, the time spent at my desk drawing and creating is what I love the best. very fortunate to be surrounded by some of the most talented people in the world. TRUMAN: What advice would you give to kids who are interested in this When the meetings are finished the work begins, if you can call it that. I get to do profession? what I love — CREATE! RES’s latest project is the design and development of an amazing new brand called Toots. Toots are a herd of elephants that were magically LOUIS: Study. Study. Study. Ok, that may sound boring, but I don’t mean just transformed when they discovered the very first wishing well. After literally creating books (although books are good, too). What I mean is study the world around you. thousands of characters for other people, this was the one property that I knew I My wife always jokes that I have a head full of worthless knowledge, but I will tell could never give away. Each day, I get to create new characters, adventures and you, no knowledge is worthless. Every time I read a magazine ad or pass a sign or even merchandise. Toots live in Tootsville.com a Tootastic place where kids from see a bird flying, I wonder, HOW WOULD I DO THAT? I am constantly studying around the world come to explore, make friends and even learn. My day never everything around me, and I use that in my work every day. There is an old saying really ends. It’s kind of hard to turn your brain off when you are so excited about in design, “Think outside the box,” which means let your imagination explore all what you are doing. possibilities. To be a designer, you have to be able to look at things from different perspectives. TRUMAN: How did you get the initial idea for your Web site, Tootsville.com? LOUIS: I actually came up with the idea while I was on an airplane. I really don’t like to fly, so I keep myself busy drawing. I sketched out the very first Toot, and as soon as I saw it, I knew there was something special about it. From there, it just grew and grew, and that first Toot lead to 150 Toot characters and an entire virtual world called Tootsville.
MAY 2010
TRUMAN:It sounds as though you have an amazing job that you really love. Thanks for sharing with Kidsville News!
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