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Espi Updates
A story we heard recently from a friend who attends Art Center in Pasadena gave us great clarity on Denver. In one of his classes, the professor took a random selection of advertising work from various cities, bunched it together by city and hung it up on the wall.
Denver was in the mix, although no one knew what cities were represented at the time. The discussion following centered around the similarities and differences of the work within each city. Quickly, the discussion moved toward one city’s work in particular – Denver’s – and the fact that every, single piece of creative on the wall looked nearly identical. It was as if the entire community held the same rubber stamp in its hand, smashing it down in stomach-turning synchronicity onto stock layouts.
We tell you that story because it proves why the work of those who transcend this Colorado aesthetic are so important to attracting greater outside attention for what’s going on here. Motion designer Adam Espinoza is one of those rare talents. He’s been busy with Factory, Spillt, TDA, Fueld Films and others on some truly inspiring work. Check out the spots below along with his freshly updated site. And realize the bar has been set.
304 days ago / / Link
Well, its good to hear that people outside of Denver know how to address our issues. It’s really sad to hear that it’s so apparent everyone in Denver shares their underwear.
Good stuff Espi! Knock em down..
— Lifter Baron · Feb 5, 12:27 AM · #
Agreed that a bulk of work share a similar design. Coming from Factory.. sure.. there’s an urban look they’ve developed. But I wouldn’t go as far to say the vox populi is really that cut and dry. Easy to take a few piece and draw comparisons. But look at the entire state, the work, the concepts and you’ll find there are plenty of differences.
— Randall Erkelens · Feb 5, 07:57 AM · #
There is a certain style to a lot of the art direction here that says “regional shops.” I’ve noticed that for years and it’s even more apparent coming back to town. Certain shops defy it but the vast majority don’t. You notice it primarily in ads with stock photos where people seem to be at a real loss as to what to do with the rest of the page. There is definitely a Denver style of art direction——Minneapolis once had a style, too——but they finally managed to get away from it.
— David Stone · Feb 5, 09:30 AM · #
Congrats Adam on the nice new work and site!
— heather Crank · Feb 5, 11:07 AM · #
Randall—
I would argue the case is the opposite of your point. Look at the body of work as a whole coming from here, and it is pretty homogenized. Yes, there are a few who do push the limits, but, as the saying goes, the exceptions prove the case.
It would be interesting to poll the local photographers and see how many of them have actually shot for a local agency in the past few months. The ones I know are getting fat shooting great shit elsewhere. Shame on Denver.
— hack boy · Feb 5, 11:19 AM · #
nice work on your site.
— Kevin Kerndt · Feb 5, 12:18 PM · #
Great work ESPI AS USUAL BRO! Go team motion design! GOLD STAR!
— bwell · Feb 5, 12:56 PM · #
Adam is the real deal. His work really is exceptional. I have been on his tracks for a while now.
— Christopher Cox · Feb 5, 02:03 PM · #
I would love this to be a post and debate all in its own.. It would give me a place to go on and on about some things i think a few people here are doing and what a lot of people fail to…
I think it would be really interesting, for everyone who reads this, to express their opinions about Denver and the level of originality that it (denver) produces..
— Lifter Baron · Feb 5, 02:28 PM · #
Seems like some of the best creative people are freelancing in this market and so a portion of the ads are actually being created by the same people across many agencies.
— Dennis Wakabayashi · Feb 8, 10:20 AM · #
YAY! Good work mister espinoza. I like the splash page.
— adam singer · Feb 10, 10:30 PM · #