PageCrush brings forth another fantastic designer, Doug Burnett and his passion for design and multimedia. Doug is a self proclaimed wild creative design beast put in a designer’s body! Skilled with many possibilities and interactive knowledge, Doug has landed opportunities with big name clients; one of being Sony Playstation. Doug is a rock star at interactive Flash games and motion graphics. PageCrush is starting to wonder if there’s anything Doug can’t do! With this said, we’d like to encourage you to read on as PageCrush would like to learn more about Doug Burnett and his creative enthusiasm.
Q. Where are you located?
Rochester, New York
Q. What brought you where you are today?
I do interactive design that uses human conventions and exploration as its main materials of expression.
Q. In the beginning of your career, how did you build your portfolio and what gave your portfolio strengths for clients to admire your work?
I did plenty of free/cheap work early on to get things going. I have always been more excited to create than to watch TV or play video games so I’ve had so much time to just tinker and play with design. I’ve also done contract freelance work for several design companies and that has opened lot of doors too. Right now I am about to finish my MFA in computer graphics design. l have been able to grow a lot in my conceptual and execution and I feel like my portfolio has reflected that. I would probably also say that my background in advertising has helped my design to be more purposeful and thoughtful.
Q. You mentioned you’ve been using Flash since 1999. What got you interested in Flash and what do you see happening with its technology down the road?
I first got into Flash because drawing on a canvas was so much more exciting then punching in code into notepad. I don’t see Flash ever dying any time soon. The whole Flash/HTML5 thing is a pretty mute argument because they by no means replace each other. Flash is not only video or kitchy games. And besides, it will take HTML5 10 years to really be functional for everyone. But even beyond the future of either of these, what I really care about is being able to express creativity. If that means using a different technology that makes that more possible, awesome.
Q. You mentioned that doing motion graphics for Playstation Singstar was a lot of fun. Is the majority of your work catered to local clients or are you recognized on a national or international level?
I just got hired full-time at Leo Burnett as an art director so I’ll be doing just big stuff full-time, but I would like to can keep up with local client work on the side because they often just let me go at it with a lot of creativity and there aren’t a lot of signatures and limits. And often, they haven’t put in a lot of time into design before so it’s really fun to create the wow factor.
Q. How did you go about getting clients worthy of such big names?
The easiest way to start to get that kind of access is to freelance through or work for big ad/design agencies. Over time, you can start doing work for some really awesome agencies that have really awesome clients and work.
Q. Have you ever traveled for your work?
I’ve flown to a few places for awards and flown to a few places for meetings with clients or interviews here and there. Doesn’t seem as necessary anymore with stuff like ConnectNow.
Q. How do you think digital multimedia in general aside from Flash will be in the future?
I’ve really been into the theories behind Post-Digital. Digital as we know it is becoming too cold and clean. The real world is human. I feel like we will see more of the human in digital—more of the ability to do something on the digital and make something happen in the real world, or visa versa. Real materials or real ways of doing things will taking a stronger and stronger presence in the digital.
Technically, I feel like it’s safe to say that video is dominating multimedia’s future, even as a tool for interactivity.
Besides that, I think the artificial borders between all the industries and fields will crumble a little bit more. Design is design. The only thing that changes between the different fields is the buttons that are pushed.
Q. What do you dream of accomplishing in your career of interactive design?
I’m a designer because I want to use something I have talent in to try to make actual good happen in the world. In some humble small or big way, I hope that in the end I can look back at my work and know that I have helped change people to live more charitable and happy lives.
Q. Any advice you’d like to leave inspired artists and designers with?
If you’re not waking up with a throbbing passion about whatever design or art you are doing, then you are doing something wrong.
Q. What gives you the most inspiration?
Just walking around nature is a fantastic source of inspiration for me. Besides pagecrush.com, I also am a frequenter of thefwa.com, abduzeedo.com and dopeawards.com.
Q. What are your toughest challenges?
Saying it without saying it.
PageCrush would like to say:
Doug, your work is completely based on talent and inspiration. Keep the creative rolling! It has been a pleasure to have you aboard for this review. PageCrush thanks you for your time and dedication.
To view more of Doug Burnett’s work, please visit: http://dougburnett.com or view his featured site right within the PageCrush archives.
Additional links to Doug’s work can be found at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZp49A5YEa4
http://dougburnett.com/cgd/