I’ve been thinking a lot lately.

I’ve been thinking about design. What it means to truly be ‘creative’. I’ve been thinking about how it feels to ride bikes in the mountains. How it feels to soak up the sunshine or ride fresh powder.

I’ve been thinking how fortunate I’ve been to work with amazing people over the years. Currently I'm the Interactive Design Director at the StruckAxiom Portland studio, which I helped start over three years ago. Before that, I worked as an Art Director at Summit Projects in beautiful Hood River (my home). I’ve had a long career over a few different agencies both big and small that started more than 13 years ago.

While at those places I’ve worked with great partner agencies like Goodby, Wieden+Kennedy, Mullen Group, BBDO, Fallon, The Martin Agency, GSD&M, Saatchi & Saatchi

I’ve been thinking too how doing strong work for a wide variety of clients has defined my career. Nike, CLIF Bar, CamelBak, Keen Footwear, Dr Martens, Quaker Oats, Pepsi, Heineken, Norwegian Cruise Line, Intel and British Airways are just a few of them.

But maybe most of all, I’ve been thinking about how to find balance between all these things.

I'd like to think I’m finding it. I know I'm enjoying every moment of it.

gary@modifiedinstance.com