We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jeff Lenger a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jeff, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

My most meaningful projects/partnership is without a doubt my relationship with the local music venue, The Raccoon Motel in Davenport, Iowa. They reopened at a new location about 2 1/2 years ago or so from a previously location that unfortunately went under. Their bread and butter is getting some top new rising talent on their way to the next big city and also some well established artists as well. I have always had a deep passion for finding new music with an even greater passion for going to live music. Something about seeing all kinds of acts, from all different music backgrounds, helps feed not only my creativity for my work but also helps nurture my soul. Since they reopened, the Raccoon Motel Team and I have collaborated on clothing, show announcements, social posts, poster projects and more. We’ve really built a good foundation for a fruitful relationship that helps them market their shows and me get out all these designs and fun things I have in my head floating around.

Jeff, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Every since I was in my Computer Arts class in high school when I was 16 making local metal band artwork and typical high school grungy art….I knew being a graphic designer is all I wanted to be in life. It was easy. That’s just what I wanted to be. The eureka moment had arrived. From then I did some t shirt designs and EP covers for some buddies bands across the area. I was so certain I invested in myself and applied for the Illinois Institute Of Art – Chicago and I cut my teeth in the design world with their 2 year program.

It was that system that I went away from making band materials and learned layout, composition, history and just overall good practice. I was so thankful to be able to spread my wings out of my area and go get some “real world” design experience. I completed the 2 year programing after immersing myself into Chicago for 2 years and really networking with some peers that I still call friends today.

After that stint, I moved back to the Quad Cities in search of work in my field. At that time around 2011 there wasn’t a whole heck of a lot to work with in my area so I landed at the local digital marketing company building websites for small to medium sized businesses across the country via the company Amplified Digital. The skills that I learned to build website with my passion and knowledge of graphic design led me in the right direction to start looking for other opportunities in design.

I landed at Heart Of America Group a handful of years later. The work was all in-house restaurant and hotel branding which I actually grew to love. I was responsible for all the websites across the brands which was more than a handful and I dug in and redesigned as well as came up with new branding concepts from logos, menu design and websites along with all the marketing materials that have everything to do with each property. I really learned so much from my tenor at that company. During that time I was really building a lot of skills to start marketing myself for side work as well with a full branding angle.

I wanted to keep growing my skill set and keep gaining as much knowledge as I could. So I sat down and started adding a bunch of creative brief profiles on instagram that give you a made up business every week and you have to come up with full branding, collateral and beyond. I loved these projects. Learning new skills via youtube and just by trial and error was so crucial for where I am now. I have a plethora of those projects under my belt and I was growing confidence in not only myself by my style and direction. I like REALLY bold stuff and it was starting to show in my work. I finally started making some really interesting branding as well as still keeping up with my music side I started making some made up band materials for some fun creative outlet.

Those fun music projects such as reimagining the 80/35 Des Moines Music Festival branding, some Paramore stuff here and there led me to work Sean Moeller of Raccoon Motel. This is a very important part of the music culture in our area and beyond. He has has relentlessly throughout his time always been on the forefront of bringing new bands and sounds to people wether it be Daytrotter in his early days to the Raccoon Motel now which is just as important as any of his endeavors. We just clicked and have been working ever since creating new design elements and marketing to keep the place chugging along. I absolutely love music through and through. I spend most my time working on music related things and figuring out the next show I’m going to. I’m blessed to have such a vibrant venue in the area to go see amazing shows all time.

These partnerships led me to spread my wings a bit and dig even further into my brain to create some of the coolest work i’ve ever done for my favorite artists such as Billy Strings, Emily Nenni, Hinterland Music Festival, Silverada (formerly Mike & The Moonpies) and more. I’m extremely happy the paths that got me to where i’m at now.

I currently work for Nehlsen Creative which is a small, six person team, out of Davenport, Iowa with really big clients across the country. We currently serve as the marketing team for some of the biggest Local Unions across the country. I assist with marketing collateral and branding for everything these folks needs from event branding, recruitment branding and beyond.

I absolutely love the path thats gotten me to here and I can’t wait to see where my skills grow and where that takes me. I pride myself in having a really great work ethic and solving my customers issues. Seeing the look on their faces when presenting a branding deck and seeing what their baby could be with just a little elbow grease and a facelift is really rewarding. The music clients I have is the real treat. Trying to figure out how to convey a mood/sound visually is a hell of a challenge but a fun one.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I believe the most rewarding thing about being in a creative in the marketing field is simply just seeing the work cast a net to whatever the potential audience may be and come alive whether it be a full restaurant rebranding that rejuvenates the overall mood and perception of the company to bring new and old customers a like in to enjoy the most communal thing we have, food.

Building creative marketing materials for a particular band or music event is even a deeper reward. Wrangling people up and getting buzz going by with visuals and seeing how many people respond to it that wouldn’t normally is inspiring. Two things food and music can’t be heard or smelt with digital or print materials but making them come alive in peoples imagination is a challenge and the ultimate reward.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I grew my presence on social media by doing a couple of things. I used to love figuring out weekly branding project competitions via design pages across instagram. Weekly creative briefs across different kinds of markets such as restaurants, car rental businesses, magazines and more. I would get obsessed trying to figure out the right direction to take it to not only portray the message the brief wanted but growing my skills as well. I also made it a point each week or so to create 2-3 things for me. Something that I had my heart attached to wether it be my favorite album at the time by reimagining it or just a post of some lyrics with some imagery or a movie i had recently watched. I think in order to get your name out there showing your branding work, array of skills, diversity of projects and fun, personal projects really paints a picture for someone taking a look at your work and bringing into the fold as a designer.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jefflengerdesign/