Dylan Mullins Senior Interactive Designer

My very first job I ever had was a major influence on what I do today for a living. When I was 14 years old I worked at the local cable TV company in my town as a volunteer production assistant, and when I turned 16 they offered me a full-time job. Of course I couldn't work full time because I was in high school, but I was shooting events, and editing video, and doing sound editing. We had a team of guys on staff who did all of our on-air graphics in-house, and I idolized them from the first time I stepped foot in their studio space, which was lined wall-to-wall with monitors, TV screens, computers, and shelves upon shelves of stock footage, graphics, and audio. I wanted to do what they did so badly, that I hung out around their area in almost all of my free time. Eventually, either through annoyance or kindness, one of them passed along a copy of Photoshop 5.0 for me to take home and tinker with, even though the rag-tag computer I had in my bedroom was barely stable enough to open an image or a website. Not long thereafter, the company was bought out and they passed along the generous bonuses to every employee on-board, including myself who had only been there for about a year. That one moment defined my career path for the rest of my life. There I was, a bonus check for $4,000 in-hand, and I knew exactly what I was going to do. I bought myself a phone line in my bedroom, phone service for a year (because it was all dial-up back then), and a brand new top-of-the-line computer, and that was that.

I grew up when interactive technologies were just starting to emerge. I've watched them evolve into what they are today, and I have many theories of where they are headed. I taught myself all of the standard design software suites, and even managed to learn some programming languages while I was at it. All of these innovations that are commonplace now, were practically in their infancy at that time, so I guess I can count myself lucky by being folded into the family at its ripest moments. At Virginia Commonwealth University, I studied English and Communication Design, where I learned that you can't build something out of nothing. That is to say that everything needs a focused concept, otherwise you're just decorating, not designing.

I've been an active participant in the experimental digital age, on the West Coast and the East Coast, and have watched it become accepted more and more over time. Like everyone at The Bloom Agency, I am stimulated by the creative freedom we have here, and the many opportunities to help our clients learn more about how all types of scalable interactive multimedia communications can help them achieve their business goals. These days it's not just young people who understand and use these technologies. Older people are getting involved with online communities and new media, and seeing how they offer more choice, more speed, more evocative experiences with information, and different perspectives.

My first project for Scan-Optics was a video to be used at a huge trade show. I recommended a technique that employs words in an interesting, dynamic, and kinetic way, accompanied with simple graphic images. No voices. No photographs. Nothing but concept, and content. We showed the client a snippet to get across the idea. They liked it, and we moved ahead. Both Janet and Randy worked on the script, boiling it down to something that could be shown and read in about three minutes. The idea was that it would be shown on a large widescreen television at the back of the client's booth, and that it would be so ingenious, interesting, and ground-breaking for their industry, that passers-by would stop and watch, and probably watch it a couple more times as it looped continuously.

The script was something of a work in progress, as sometimes I would suggest a change of wording to make it easier to illustrate. Along the way we developed the idea of printing a series of buttons as giveaways at the trade show, and as Linda designed the buttons I incorporated those words and images in the video. Like all our work here, it was a thoroughly collaborative process.

The video was way different from any marketing communication Scan-Optics had ever had. And more important, it set them apart from their competitors at the show, who went the route of standard, blown-up flowcharts and photographs of machinery in an attempt to attract people into their booths. With some surging music behind it, the video projected only the smart, energetic, up-to-the minute image Scan-Optics wanted. No frills — just clear, concise, and engaging brand communication through an interactive channel.