Decoder Ring Design Concern
It took a leap of faith for Portfolio Center alum Christian Helms to venture out on his own a mere three years out of school, but Christian says it would have been scarier NOT to try. He believes that it’s a designer’s job to keep growing, and that when you reach a point where you’re no longer building creative muscle, it’s time to move on.
This particular leap of faith resulted in The Decoder Ring Design Concern, a company whose work has already been featured in Graphis, ID, and the Print & Communication Arts 2005 Design Annuals, as well as the STEP Field Guide to Emerging Talent 2006.
The Decoder Ring’s impressive and diverse client list includes MTV, the American Red Cross, Levis Jeans, Capitol records, Urban Outfitters, and renowned musical talents such as Modest Mouse, Dave Matthews, Erikah Badu, and Wilco.
Helms and partners Geoff Peveto and Paul Fucik founded the firm on the mission statement, “Do work we love for clients we respect.” The three entrepreneurs insist on working only with clients they believe in, those “companies or individual who have something to say and deserve to be heard.” Volunteering answers to an imaginary list of FAQs about the transition to being his own boss, Helms offers:
Yes, I still get sleep.
No, I don't miss working for someone else.
Yes, we do more than posters.
No, I won't make your cigarette company look cool.
Yes, I will make your beer company look awesome (and smart).
No, I don't need an intern at the moment.
Yes, you can send me bribes anyway.
The Decoder Ring’s principals are all music lovers, who also share a passion for getting their hands dirty via screen printing. This zeal partly explains how they recently garnered Best in Show for print advertising and design at the Austin Advertising Federation Awards, largely due to posters from their Modest Mouse concert series. The posters, unique silk screened pieces based on the band’s lyrics, are a perfect marriage of beautiful art and smart communication (what the firm calls “SMart”) that appeals equally to the industry and to the band’s fans. Their work also collected a gold, silver, and two bronze Addys, these selected from 730 entries from among 90 agencies.
While Christian feels that we all have to find within ourselves the validation for the work we do, he concedes, “The best-in-show at the Addys meant a lot to us, though, and a lot to other small shops. To have a young group of upstarts win Best in Show over giant agencies with tons of money to throw at competitions—well, you can imagine how nice that feels. When they announced the winner, the room was a mixture of small shops cheering and big-agency folks murmuring, ‘Who the hell is decoder ring?’”
Next year they'll know.
