jim rivett

Jim Rivett simply wanted to be a serious painter. Arketype’s creative director and principal partner pursued graduate study at New York’s School of Visual Arts, which fueled his interest in design. After ten years of sweatshop agency work, he quit. The Celestine Prophecy and a cross-country trip led to a year’s sabbatical and volunteer work in Costa Rica. He learned Spanish, experienced his first earthquake and tutored homeless children living under bridges. Fresh from that soul-stirring year, nine years ago he joined longtime friend and present business partner, Paul Meinke. Arketype’s award-winning graphic design work has expanded beyond branding and advertising into projects that include a growing line of textile design, multimedia, digital video and documentary production. Rivett’s credo, “Get off the computer and onto paper,” serves clients well, and Arketype designers explore solutions through drawing and sketching before hitting the software. He says, “Technology is merely a tool and can never replace the subtle nuance of a brush stroke or gesture expressed by human hand; this aspect of imagemaking has never gone out of fashion at Arketype.”

How has graphic design changed since you started?
Design has attained an exciting level of credibility and influence in all aspects of society. Our culture is design-driven like never before. This demands that designers play a critical role in the beginning stages of strategic marketing, as opposed to design coming into play only after the plan has been handed down to us, as in the past. Designers are now integral partners with marketing teams, bringing perspective, depth and a new dimension of rationale to business strategies.

How and where do you find inspiration?
Everywhere. Thrift shops, flea markets, antique stores, curbside finds, eBay, attics, pop culture, fine arts, music, cinema –– all lend themselves to divine inspiration. A recent influence for me sprung from urban street graphics I discovered on a summer excursion through Prague and Krakow, but also on railroad boxcars sprayed with graffiti and the language of contractors sprayed on asphalt roads and sidewalks marked for excavation. The beautiful, secret code of urban hieroglyphics inspired our new agency website, collateral and outdoor campaign.

What are you currently listening to, watching or reading?
Reads include No Logo by Naomi Klein, My Life by Bill Clinton, Dry by Augustine Burroughs, The Lonely Doll by Jean Nathan, Artists in Time of War by Howard Zinn, But is it Art by Cynthia Freeland, Designers in Handcuffs by Pat Matson Knapp, Less is More by Jason Jennings, Camp by Mark Booth, The Substance of Style by Virginia Postrel. Also keep my eyes on Ready Made Magazine, Rolling Stone and Harvard Business Review. I have a frightening range of musical taste that makes people wonder what goes on upstairs: Santagustin, Tom Zé, Gilberto Assis, Grupo Corpo, Nina Simone’s greatest hits, U2’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, Tom Waits’ Real Gone; Bjork (I’m always fascinated by her explorative musical curiosity); soundtrack to Amelie; Toni Child's and Joan Armatrading's greatest hits. Always listening to Bowie and Tori Amos. Hip hop is right up there too. Love it. Cinema: DVD collection of Green Acres TV episodes. Lisa Douglas and Mr. Haney are a hoot. I’m also a film festival buff and love art house and documentary films, like What the Bleep Do We Know.

Who would have been your ideal presidential candidate?
Although I struggle with the concept of celebrity candidates, I see presidential qualities like compassion, power, intelligence and the ability to bring people together inherent in Oprah Winfrey. Not only do I find it exciting to think of a woman as president, but an African American woman president would be especially affirming to our country and to what we can become. It will be a reality one day.

scott millen

Once upon a time, there was a lad named Scott Millen who graduated from Calvin College in the mythical land of Grand Rapids MI in 1995, having obtained a B.F.A. in drawing and printmaking. A year-long side trip to Portland State University taught him design fundamentals before the computer age usurped classrooms across the nation. (He can draw Avant Garde type by hand, by golly!). Meanwhile, back at Calvin, a wise professor suggested he focus on the fine arts. “You’ll be a better designer if you develop your artist’s eye,” he said. Some considered the professor nosy. Millen considered him a visionary, and now Millen, too, preaches the gospel of a liberal arts education with a heaping helping of fine arts as the true path to great design. Millen got his start in the advertising production department of Meijer, Inc., and then joined The Image Group, where he learned from the sage Peter Van Regenmorter, a one-man ad agency. He also worked at Square One Design, where he learned “the art of perseverance” from Mike Gorman. Millen’s wanderlust was at last quenched by yet another wise man. Millen has been with Cull Group since the spring of 2001, where principal Steve Cull has been far more generous with the length of Millen’s leash than reason would dictate. Says Millen, “He was the first guy to tell me that I should be writing. I thought he’d lost his mind, but he was pretty determined.” Cull Group’s name implies the method: working closely as a team to get to the heart of the client’s story. Says Millen, "We make sure that they’re telling their stories to just the right audience — making it fun, memorable and engaging. We’ve not done our job unless someone is gagging on their corn nuts.”

Do you feel hopeful about 2005?
Work is out there, if that’s what you’re asking. And we have a secret weapon to find it, which is based on proprietary technology, of course, so I cannot say anything more. I know it has been a soft three years for many, but we’ve done well in part because of our size. Small is good, clients! It affords you the ability to run roughshod over your agency! You get a better bang for your buck! You can actually communicate with the person who does your work and not worry about 30 or 40 account managers getting in the way!

How has graphic design changed since you started?
There is a cycle to the "art" of design that is timeless, classical and clean for a time, then rough and natural for a time. Currently “retro” anything will sell anything. We try hard to stay focused on the story and less on the “feel” of the work. The story will always dictate the direction. As for the business of design, as technology has gotten stronger and faster and better and sexier, the expectations from clients have increased as well. Marker comps are not good enough these days. Clients expect near-production quality comps. Stock photos became a stand-in for concepting for a while, and now we often use our digital camera to comp what we want. Timelines for projects have shrunk in three years alone. It is not unusual to do a 48-hour turnaround on an ad for national publication.

What are you listening to, watching or reading?
I’ve been reading a lot of comic books lately. A healthy mix of indy stuff and mainstream super-heroics. I am generally impressed and mindboggled by the combinations of art and word. Apparently the world at large is as well, since superhero movies are hot. So pick up Books of Magick: Life During Wartime and Y: The Last Man from Vertigo; find yourself a copy of Blankets from Top Shelf; and you should be reading Identity Crisis and Green Lantern: Rebirth from DC. Brian Bendis’ final Avengers story was a disaster, but I have high hopes for The New Avengers (both from Marvel). And am looking forward to Pigtale from Image. I also listen to music. I tend to listen to stuff with more beats and mood than lyrics during the day, along the lines of Air and Cut Copy or Killowatts & Vanek, but I really love a wide variety of stuff, like Death Cab for Cutie and Sufjan Stevens or Vienna Teng and Red House Painters. I’m a Depeche Mode fan from waaay back. I also have a soft spot for ancient fluffy Brit pop like Erasure and Soft Cell. Have you ever known a graphic designer who doesn’t love music?

paul wharton

Research tells us color is the single most critical factor in communications. Paul Wharton knows color — but his valuable sensibilities extend far beyond that. He has more than 18 years of experience in design, and his wide range of expertise includes brand management and product development, color theory and positioning. He has led both print and interactive projects for clients such as Wausau Paper, 3M, GMAC-RFC, Banta, Media Loft and Medtronic Incorporated. He is a past president of the Minnesota chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), and lectures frequently on brand development, color theory, and other design-related topics. Wharton is vice president, creative, at Larsen Design + Interactive, an award-winning communication design and strategic marketing firm providing quality visual communication in both traditional and interactive media. The company was founded in 1975 by Tim Larsen, and areas of expertise include branding, corporate and product identity, print communications and environmental design. From its inception, the company’s philosophy has been based on client satisfaction. Says Wharton, “Larsen’s visual communications are effective because we meet the strategic needs of our clients and their audiences. We provide exceptional design solutions combined with high quality service.”

Do you feel hopeful about 2005?
Absolutely. I am a real optimist when it comes to the future. (It’s the present that I’m not always so sure about.)

How has graphic design changed since you started?
I entered the field believing that design was an artform or craft that could positively change the world. Often as not, it was perceived as little more than window dressing. Today, successful companies realize it is not just an indispensable marketing tool, it’s a process — a way of thinking. I’ve been fortunate to work with and for a number of very smart business communicators who realize the power of great design.

What is your workday like?
It feels a bit like hopping onto a speeding freight train — then jumping from car to car all day long. It can be both exhilarating and exhausting. All the while, we are trying to anticipate the curves ahead and make sure we have a plan and a map for the next stretch. I try to spend as much time as possible with clients and reading to educate myself about their issues, so I can help them think broadly. But, in the end, the valuable time I spend each day is with the design team, brainstorming, critiquing and mentoring.

What are you currently listening to, watching or reading?
I Iike fashion and culture mags: Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, etc. I read a lot of historical nonfiction (Adams, Lincoln, etc.), but I intersperse it with light fiction for relief (The Dante Club). I love television like Sex and the City and Six Feet Under. I mainly listen to news radio — MPR (Minnesota Public Radio) and NPR.

What do you like to do in your time away from work?
Home repair. Gardening. I’m becoming interested in furniture — not really shopping for it or buying it, but fixing it, changing it. Woodworking. I set up an easel about a year ago and haven’t touched it. Actually, I think gardening is the most hopeful thing you can do outside of work. You plant these seeds, and you never know what will happen, but you know something will grow. It’s especially hopeful when you live in a cold state.