We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jon Ritt a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Jon, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I can’t change the world. But I can make parts of it more interesting and more beautiful. That’s what great design does for me. It’s art for the everyday experience. And my life feels enriched every time I experience great design.
I started training as a visual artist as a child when my parents enrolled me in special art classes. At 14 they hired a private art tutor and let me switch high schools for a better art department. At 18 I got admitted to the College of Creative Studies at UCSB as one of a dozen or so selected students per year to study painting and sculpture. It was at CCS that a famous painter called me a “designer”. He didn’t actually mean it as a compliment, but it excited me, so I drove south to Pasadena and discovered Art Center College of Design. Once I was admitted there, it was like joining the art Marines and I exploded with effort and enthusiasm.
I was entirely naive when I first entered design school and didn’t realize there were different disciplines. Industrial Design, Digital Design, Graphic Design, Environmental Design, Experiential Design, Film, Motion, UX/UI, Illustration, Photography and Advertising – are all considered areas of focus.
I wanted to explore them all.
Maybe that’s why when people ask me what I do I say I build brands. Because the best brands handle it all with care. The best brands consider all the the ways their audience might interact with them and make it all count. And the most iconic brands manage to harmonize every single element with meaning and craft.
Cars to Cupcakes…
I’ve worked on some beautiful brands. At Deutsch LA I was privileged to lead one of the most talented design groups ever assembled within a big Ad agency to redesign nearly every component of the Volkswagen brand. The team at VW was so receptive and collaborative that to this day they represent my gold standard for working with big companies. And together we lifted VW to #1 in auto sales in North America.
I’ve also worked small brands with equally satisfying results…
A young married couple named Kara and Michael Lind started a cupcake business out of their kitchen, and with the support of great design, great architecture, great service and really great cupcakes, grew a wonderful business called Kara’s Cupcakes that opened ten locations, employed 150 people, maintained a fleet of delivery vehicles and created millions of smiles in San Francisco and the Bay Area. It probably helped that Kara and Michael trusted me some since I taught Mike to drive when we were kids and had a hand in introducing him to Kara.
I have to work a little harder earn the trust of all my other clients but approach business with the same sense of kinship. Rob Bertolina (the former Global Brand leader for Oracle) and I just launched a new agency centered around collaboration. It’s called Us.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
Contact Info:
- Website: weareus.agency
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonritt/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-ritt-25078829/