Today we’d like to introduce you to Jim Harper

Hi Jim, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?

It’s all my mom’s fault.

As a youngster, one of five poor Croatians living in a 3-room house, my mother still managed to take me exploring. Whether it be art classes at the St. Louis Art Museum, standing in awe at the giant concrete dinosaurs at the History Museum, or gnashing on astronaut ice cream at the St. Louis Science Center, all of my earliest memories are of my mother taking me to be creative and learn. Sure, I had plenty of days taking off on my BMX bike after school and not coming home until I could hear my family screaming for me in the dark, but I was fortunate to be taken to a lot of places that made me feel creative. Like most kids who go into art, I drew a lot. I also made my poor babysitter watch me lip sync to all of my favorite records, and I still have overwhelming guilt about that. But these performances often included costume changes, revised album cover art, and other creative touches.

But I was always putting pencil to paper. It’s why I take my child somewhere new every week, or somewhere that feels creative. We take sketchbooks to the art museum and to restaurants so we can both draw. Somehow my kiddo can draw in a moving car without getting carsick. I couldn’t do it, but somehow they manage. In high school I was lucky enough to have a few super supportive art teachers. One of them sending me to Washington University early in my junior and senior years on weekends to do college prep classes. I drove with an older classmate who had their driver’s license, and we got to Wash U’s campus on Saturdays to learn from grad students and Professor Tasker, who taught design with physical mediums. We cut paper, colored shapes, and designed typography, not touching any kind of computer. Um… not just because it was a cool way to teach design, but computers didn’t do that yet. At this time in my life, we were living across the river from St. Louis, so this was a commute, and doing most of the things in the “big city” was a voyage across the river.

St. Louis was also where I was taken to my first punk rock show by friends who blew my mind and opened my eyes to a culture I was not expecting, and I for sure wasn’t going to get in the small steel town in IL I grew up in. I was taken to see a band called Black Flag at a club called Turner’s, and I soon after started a band and went to see music at least five nights a week. Couldn’t miss a show. Wouldn’t miss a show. Every Tuesday we diligently picked up The Riverfront Times (a place I later worked laying out the paper when they were independently owned) to get the music calendar so we could plot out our week. So many St. Louis clubs then, a very healthy local scene, as well as us being a regular on every tour’s stop. I didn’t get a lot of sleep those days. But this also jump-started my design career. I made flyers for bands, including my own, created artwork for DIY cassette tapes and later CDs, and designed posters, usually collage style, mixing cutouts, photocopied with hand-drawn type. Although I could draw, hand-drawn type was a challenge, and it wasn’t until decades later that I could even do anything passable with it. I even bought used dress shirts at thrift stores and used smelly black Sharpies to decorate them. The Suicidal Tendencies. Boy, did I get a lot of crap at school for wearing those.

Having met friends, including some of my favorite local writers, I landed my first graphic design job, as previously mentioned at the RFT (Thanks Thomas Crone), our local political and cultural weekly. I became part of a design team, and at night I worked at Vintage Vinyl, a record store that sits now in the building we used to go see the Rocky Horror Picture Show at (The Varsity Theater), and I was a sponge for music and design. After learning how to work fast, cram 5,000 words into a 3×5 inch, black and white ad, and layout a multi-columned magazine week after week, I got a call from a friend who was at a new promotions agency. I was beyond intrigued because this company had a bar, a stocked kitchen, and lots of f-ing business, having just landed Miller Brewing out of Milwaukee and Bacardi out of Puerto Rico. According to my friend, they were hurling bodies at computers, and they couldn’t hire fast enough. I interviewed luckily with him and another college friend who were already there and had to put my notice in at a place I truly loved. But I was about to have 5 years of my most explosive learning and growth I’ve ever had. I was going to a company that had resources beyond any school or college, and they empowered people to live up to all of their potential.

This company was called Zipatoni, and I learned how to do literally everything I know now (that was invented up to that time) at this company with 350 other people. I met people from all over the world. The UK, India, South America, and every major city in the US. We were all sponges. Under that one roof in downtown St. Louis, I learned digital design, photo editing, layout, typography, video, sound design, content creation (even though it wasn’t called that yet), and more. And it was all luck that I had learned how to use a Mac at the RFT, sound design from being in bands, and creativity early in my life. It was an experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything, and anyone who worked there just tried to recreate that experience at other places when they left.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

`Life is never a smooth road when you’re working from the bottom. It’s still not smooth. This type of business is always a struggle. I’ve been fortunate to keep work and stay relevant at my age. But here’s the only negative thing I’ll say about what I do.

Tech moves very fast. And you can take a client from 0-120 MPH, have a successful launch, or brand, the company makes money. The brand you gave them does well, gets accepted and sales climb. Then you work on the assets, change the entire company’s output from content, collateral, forms, outreach, marketing pieces, POS, ads everything and make it into a cohesive business and everything is working. Then some new company comes along and creates a new pain point for them, they get stuck on the word or jargon this new company that comes along says, and you are instantly not relevant. You are the company that got them there, you made their business work, and all of a sudden the shiny new object is the leadership’s main focus and you are no longer relevant. Now I have some long-time clients who have been completely loyal to me. But I’ve lost business and the ability to grow because after I put the work in at a fair and reasonable rate, someone comes along and takes that money away and gives them less. That’s painful. And it never feels good, and you can struggle and have to replace that because somehow you are no longer part of the team.

The really sad part about that is that you became part of their culture. You know everything about them. They can call or send you less than a sentence and you know exactly what to do. And the reason is for years you lived their business life. The new agency or consultant that comes in is going to take years to catch up to what you know and how to use their assets, but none of that matters when that new company finds a new pain point. Now sometimes they’re right. But you know in your heart you can do that same work they want to do. And in many cases it will be something you’ve already offered to do.

Business affects lives. That’s the struggle. When I lose a client, I have to make that up to keep my living, keep my employees and keep all of my expenses covered. It is always a set back, and while you have to pay yourself first in business, it’s not that simple.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?

People who come to me who want the “Harper’s Bizarre” vibe come to me for maximalism. Design with lots of storytelling cues. I believe it’s why I’ve done so much design in spirits. It’s impossible to differentiate one brown liquid from another. It’s the same looking thing in a bottle. So you have to develop a story for it to make it attractive. The truth is, there is a difference in them. A story, a homeplace or origin or something that differentiates it or they wouldn’t have made it. My job is to use symbolism, typography, design elements with meaning, colors with meaning, hierarchy of messaging and more to tell that story.

Maximalism allows you to have enough design elements in a space to tell that story. Simplicity can do it, so can language, but people who seek out the story, come to me because they know I’m going to use a laborious process to deliver that message. I’m going to allow the viewer or the person who picks it up to look closely, touch it, feel it, examine it, which makes them want it. It’s why some of us love records so much. There is art to back up the music. Or you get a glimpse of the artist who you won’t see until you seek them out life.

This type of design is fun to explore, fun to scrutinize, and you see something new every time you look at it, which I really enjoy.

The other positive about maximalism is it’s timeless. Minimal designs are also super fun and challenging to create, but a real detailed design shows craftsmanship and you can see all the work someone put into it to make it deep. It challenges you from a layout standpoint, a balance standpoint and especially a patience standpoint.

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?

Yes, embrace change. Life has a way of keeping you in check. You need to be nimble and ready to pivot. If your business is nimble, you can survive in times of insane change.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.harpersbizarre.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harpersbizarreagency/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/harpersbizarreagency
• Other: https://plaidcoffeeroasters.com

Image Credits

Photos by Chris Ryan