Jake, who are you?

Film-lover, spoon-carver, Midwesterner, designer.

Born and raised in Oakland County, Michigan, I was fascinated with art and design from a young age. Growing up in the heart of the American automotive industry, I quickly started noticing car and automotive branding out in the wild. I was consistently drawing, filling up notebooks with little doodles, extruded bubble letters, and nonsensical scribbles. At one point during the Pokémon craze of the early 00’s, I drew my own set of wild creatures that I dubbed “Scootermon”. Yes, I also loved scooters. I digress.

These days, I find myself drawn to smart, clean, and clear design. I’m a firm believer that design can and should make you think, but not make you work for the information. Clear communication is key, and if we can add a little surprise and delight along the way, that’s a job well-done.

I’m a stickler for systems and design-thinking. I feel that it’s important to know what the rules are, how firmly established a brand’s DNA is, before we can broach the subject of changing or breaking the system in order to turn heads. I believe creative choices should be rooted by data, or at the very least a deep understanding of the rules and which can be bent vs broken.

I also find it very difficult to talk about myself.