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Changes and New Beginnings

Dumped in the Personal pile on August 4, 2010.

Dear amigos,
It is with mixed emotions that I [finally] officially announce my departure as a Managing Partner at SUM Agency (a company that started in my and Rebekah’s apartment in early 2004). The start of the new year brought with it renewed ambitions, desire for a new challenge, and a change of scenery. So a few months ago I began looking for career opportunities in Denver, Colorado. SUM will continue to deliver excellent design, marketing, and creative services through a team of highly talented designers and programmers (Rebekah included) under the leadership of agency Principal, Celia Garcia.

Rebekah and I made numerous trips to Denver since the start of the year to network, do a bit of job research, and to look at areas of town we’d like to live in. I’m happy to report that the extra time and effort paid off handsomely.

THE NEW JOB
I developed a self promo piece (more on that later) that was sent to a few select shops in the area. It awarded interviews at four different agencies. All were very great of course but I ultimately took the one that I felt was the most challenging, that I believe offered the best long term experience, and of course had a stinkin’ awesome group of people to work along side of.

So, on July 26, 2010, I started my new position as an Art Director at Motive, a “hybrid” ad agency, right in downtown Denver.

www.thinkmotive.com

Only one week on the job and I’ve already chimed in on some work for Cartoon Network and Mountain Dew, just to name a few. Other clients on the Motive roster that I’ll be collaborating on include: Van’s Natural Foods, Boingo, Qdoba, Good Times Burgers, and Native Eyewear—again, just to name a few.

The work is top notch, the clients are awesome, the studio is dope, but I gotta say, like anywhere, it’s the people that make “work” a joy to go to everyday. I’m stoked to collaborate with such a close group of awesome professionals who’s aim is to create some of the most recognized and talked about creative content out there.

CRAZY DAYS
I accepted the offer just two weeks before my start date. And within the week prior to that, I made two trips up to Denver for 6 initial and followup interviews (mucho traveling). Our house wasn’t even close to being packed yet and to top it all off, right at that time, we had the bright idea to remodel our kitchen. So between the kitchen being in shambles (and unusable) bouncing back and forth between ABQ and DEN, and tying up loose ends with current client work, we somehow managed to pack up our house and [comfortably] fit it all in a giant 26′ Penske diesel truck. Then on July 24th, 2010—which incidentally was my 30th bday (I can’t think of a better way to celebrate a momentous occasion then with a momentous occasion)—we said goodbye to New Mexico, and with our entire life in tow, headed toward our new adventure in the Mile High City.

SAYING GOODBYE TO SUM
The decision to step away from SUM was far from an easy one. I’ve been there since the very beginning and watched (and helped) it grow from an after hours freelance gig with friends, to a highly recognizable boutique creative agency, developing award winning materials for companies around the world.

I was there when we huddled in my apartment, thinking up names for the company and how we would get targeted businesses to hire us. I was there when, out of the gates, our rag tag team of “kids” showed up out of nowhere and represented at the 2004 Addy Awards, walking away with a few golds and Judge’s Choice, leaving the long established agencies shocked, perplexed, and in awe. And I was even there to pull out old, glued down, carpet and scrape up decrepit linoleum in that 600 sq ft cinder block room on Constitution (our first commercial space) so we could paint the concrete floor to make the place more “cool.”

The list and memories go on and the friendships with the team and clients will be lifelong. There have been many successes, challenges, priceless memories, and lessons learned and I consider myself very fortunate to have gone through it all—it’s awarded invaluable experience. I also can’t express how honored I am to have been in the trenches along side of some of this industry’s (and world’s) most amazing people. I love and will miss all those guys—my team, my friends. We’ve accomplished many great things and have experienced so much together. This is certainly not goodbye as I know we’ll have opportunities to see hang and even work together in the future.

PURSUING PURPOSE
So here we go. A new beginning; a new chapter. I’ve set some goals and am determined to make it happen and pursue purpose, calling, and destiny. One bit of parting advice: Know that frustration can be a good thing. Leverage it to help you push the boundaries to do things you’ve never done before. Create challenges for yourself. You’ll be surprised what you can overcome and accomplish. And if nothing else, you’ll come out in the end having gained valuable experience, i.e. wisdom. And that, my friends, is more valuable than anything.

I’ll continue to stay connected to everyone via this blog and all the usual outlets (twitter, facebook, flickr, dribbble). I also have plans to create a different, all inclusive, online home for myself at www.KennyBarela.com (currently just my portfolio). Keep an eye out for that.

With gratitude and humility,
-Kenny

Scoot’n

Dumped in the New Mexico and Personal pile on May 14, 2010.

Picked up the Stella from the shop yesterday. Ahhh, springime.

30th B-day Invite (concept)

Dumped in the Design and Personal pile on May 13, 2010.

The big 3-0 approacheth this summer. Anticipating some type of gathering, I thought I’d explore some invitation ideas. This idea uses photos of me as a kid with headlines highlighting the year I was born.

I’m thinking of an accordion fold with different photos and messages on each panel. We’ll see how it goes.

Sharp Cheddar

Dumped in the Personal and Random pile on February 2, 2010.

view larger

A Merry Cultural Christmas

Dumped in the Design and New Mexico and Personal pile on December 25, 2009.

Nothing says Merry Christmas in New Mexico like a candle inside a bag of dirt. A fun illustration for our holiday cards, sent to our clients local and afar.

It’s all [Real] good

Dumped in the Personal and Random pile on November 23, 2009.

I’m not exactly sure when or how I became a fan of Blu Dot. It kind of just seems like I always have been. Their simple yet creative modern design style just suits a lot of my tastes when it comes to home and office furniture. I love their color combinations, clean lines, and unique forms. I was thrilled when a local shop (The A Store, here in Albuquerque) started carrying their stuff so I could finally get a first-hand look at the goods. There was no disappointment.

Anywho, Blu Dot recently executed what they call “A Real Good Experiment” where they outfitted some of their “Real Good Chairs” with GPS units and left them on curbs and alleys around NYC - free for the taking. The general idea isn’t uncommon and is what’s culturally known as “curb-mining”: the act of finding abandoned furniture and art on the street and claiming it. The experiment was simply to see who would grab the chairs, where would they go, how would they get there, and what would their new homes look like? It’s such a fun and simple idea that they document pretty well. You can check out more info about the Experiment on Blu Dot’s website, their Real Good Experiment flickr page, or even follow @realgoodchair on twitter. They also appear to have created a film documentary on the Experiment that is due to release (I’m guessing on their site) in December. Can’t wait!
Here are some images from the website and their flickr page:

You also may be interested in watching this little promo vid they made for A Real Good Chair titled, “Mr. Squirrel Assembles a Real Good Chair.” Awesome.

As an exciting side note, John Christakos, Blu Dot Co-Founder, paid a visit to the Land of Enchantment (aka, New Mexico) and gave an informal talk about Blu Dot’s philosophy and collaborative approach to design - aptly titled “There is No I in DESGN.” The talk was at Design Warehouse in Santa Fe last Saturday (11/21/09). Design Warehouse is a frequent stop of mine whenever I travel north to the City Different. They carry a lot of great contemporary brands (Alessi, Herman Miller, etc.). It reminds me of the MoMA sore in NY. A great event indeed. And I even got to chat with John for a few.

Happy B-Day Barcode

Dumped in the Personal and Random pile on October 7, 2009.

Today’s new doodle from Google marks the 57th anniversary of the day the first patent was made on the bar code.

Read this article by Telegraph.co.uk for more info and history of the Universal Product Code.

Design by yours truly.

If the iPod was released in the ’70s:

Dumped in the Ads and Personal pile on September 18, 2009.

A little obvious, but lets just say the iPod was released in the ’70s, the new nano came out in ‘79, and Jobs was big on celebrity spokespeople. The ad might perhaps look a little something like:

SUM FLOWER

Dumped in the Design and Personal pile on July 9, 2009.

I created this fun little illustration a couple days ago. I think we’ll be developing it into some kind of promotional piece in the coming days. I’m looking at hand screening it on this French, Lemon Drop Pop-Tone paper. Hope you like.

SHAKE IT SAN DIEGO

Dumped in the Personal pile on July 2, 2009.

I took a little mini vacation out to San Diego last weekend to visit some of my good friends. It was quite an eventful, shenanigan-filled adventure. I would have to note the Beatnuts concert, playing in the Vavi Grass Volleyball Tournament (got destroyed btw), pool party at the Hard Rock, and just kicking it on the beach as some of the main highlights.

I decided not to haul along the Nikon to save the hassle of weight, lenses and storage space. And I just didn’t want the pressure of photographing anything and everything which is inevitable when I’m sporting the DSLR. So instead I just downloaded ShakeIt for my iPhone. ShakeIt mimics those classic Polaroid pics from the good ol’ days. There’s obviously no comparison on image quality but it ranks pretty dang high on the fun and creativity scale if you ask me.

You can check my flickr for more ShakeIt photos from the trip. If you look around you may even be able to find a little vid of me trying to convince myself I can still breakdance. *ahem*