Employee Spotlight: David Welker
The Vimarc team is filled with everyone from agency vets to young fresh minds ready to leave their mark on the industry. One of those budding brains belongs to David Welker, our Junior Art Director who began life at the agency as an intern.
Within a month, he was hired on as a full-time member of our creative department. If that doesn’t tell you all you need to know about his talent and work ethic, we set up a video conference with him to share more. At one point during the video interview, he expressed his disappointment that the application didn’t offer any face filters, which could also say a lot.
Q: What was your first job? What did you learn?
A: I was a dining room host at a restaurant called Happy Daz. It was a ’60s-themed restaurant. It was awesome. I don’t think it was based off the show. I think it was just based around that era, but I did have a funny uniform. It might even still be in my closet.
What I learned from it was how to deal with the public. That was just my first job, so it was also mainly just learning how to be a good employee. I feel like everyone needs to work in the service industry just to learn, you know, how to be under pressure and how to be good with people.
Q: What project are you most proud to have worked on at Vimarc?
A: I really love the Kentucky Bourbon Festival poster; it’s one of my favorite projects I’ve worked on. It was a huge Photoshop project. I can spend hours on those without it bothering me. I hadn’t done a major manipulation like that in a while, so the fact that I got to take on that challenge was exciting.
Q: When working on a creative project, what is your greatest source of inspiration?
A: Most of the time, with concepting, inspiration comes from my feeling or vibe about it. Previous brand work they have as well—obviously that will inspire it. But, if it’s a logo creation or something, I do word maps or even just browse through Getty Images. Sometimes I have to leave the office to get inspired.
A lot of my inspiration comes from retro and aged design styles mixed with my more modern approach to it. I love the ’70s, ’80s, & ’90s, but I also love thinking in the future as well. So, design and photography is a way I can happily fuse these two concepts together.
Q: What inspired you to pursue a career in graphic design? When did you first realize that it was what you wanted to do?
A: When I was in high school, I really didn’t have any idea what I wanted to do. I just knew I wanted to do something with the arts. Then, the School of Advertising Art came to my school to brag about themselves to us, and I guess they must have made an impression because I went on to attend there.
They actually just rebranded and now it’s called The Modern College of Design. It’s kind of cool because that led me to my internship at Vimarc, and from what I’ve heard, I was one of the few people from my school that was hired on after the internship. So I guess that was a rarity in some cases.
Q: Are you doing any creative work outside of Vimarc?
I also work for a company called Custom LogoWare. We create custom apparel and promotional items for brands or individuals. I create design work for almost any type of client, mainly consisting of t-shirt designs and stickers! Which is really fun. I do design and photography work for Queer KY, a local LGBTQ+ publication that shares the stories of the queer community.
Q: You also handle a lot of photography projects for Vimarc. How do you approach that?
A: When it comes to photography and shooting people, I’d definitely prefer for it to be fashion photography. It’s just learning how to work with people again. I have learned a lot about how to direct people. Not just the timing of it but also understanding the different types of people you have to direct. Some are just natural, while others can be stiff. For those people, I just pose or act it out for them. I’m very humanistic, so knowing how awkward it is being in front of and behind the camera makes it easier.
Q: What is your best piece of advice for those looking to break into or just starting out in the graphic design/art production industry?
A: I would tell them to probably speak their mind more. I’m pretty bad about opening my mouth sometimes, but ideas can get weird. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be good
Q: You’re not originally from Louisville. What do you like most about the city so far?
A: The people are great. The city is cool itself, but the people really are what I enjoy about it. I’ve lived in so many places, and Louisville is just full of weirdos and I love it.
Q: You may have the best wardrobe in the office. What do you look for when shopping for clothes? Where do you like to shop?
A: Unfortunately, I have an Express credit card that I use the hell out of. It’s gotten to the point where almost everything I wear is from there. Other than that, what I look for in clothes is just comfort and quality. I thrift at the Vintage Banana or Vintage Vibe Lou to find my really cool and unique stuff as well.
Q: What’s your favorite animal? Why?
A: The capybara, oh yeah. I have a weird affection for rodents and it’s the world’s largest rodent and it is so cute. Plus, the fact that it can hang out with literally any animal is pretty cool. There are pictures of it hanging out with crocodiles. There are so humble and relaxed. They can sleep while in water. They are awesome.
Do you want to put David, our creative team, and all of Vimarc to work for you? Start by getting in touch using the form below, and we’ll see how we can help!
