I spoke with Creative Director and Illustrator Matt Orser. He is the Sr. Creative Director at Dollar Shave Club and he is awesome!
Image: Matt Orser
Where did you go to school? “I went to SAIC, the School of Art Institute of Chicago”
How many years did you go to school? My major was a “5-year program and I did it 4 ½ ″. Yeah, it was pretty intense schooling. I decided to take summer courses. Graduated with a BA in painting.
Did you go on to Grad School? “Yea, I went to the University of West Minster in London”
What did you study? I was in the college of printing for typography.” I was really good at type and this was during that time when graffiti was a big thing. I had a graffiti style, but instead of spray painting on trains, I had other canvases. My art professors were really into my work. I didn’t grow up with money like a lot of the rich kids around, so instead of buying actual canvases, I’d find things like cardboard or wood pieces” to paint on. I use “painting loosely” it was like experimental collages. It was all good work. I was just showing my wife my stuff from back then.
Oh cool, do you have an example? “Yeah, check it out”
Image: Artwork by Matt Orser
Professors were blown away from these and my type work. but eventually, I realized that “I don’t really want to do typography anymore”. So I left after 4 ½ months there.
So you leave grad school, do you head back home? “I actually stayed in London. I got a work permit through the BUNAC program” I was now legally able to work. From some of the artwork I made in school I made connections and I ended up working for this design company. They were an EDM music agency. The owner did branding for Aphex Twins. This pace was really great, “I learned a lot, I was doing multi-page design”. This is before digital artwork was widespread, CD’s had booklets with for the artwork. I was there for 3 years.
Image: Illustration by Matt Orser
From graffiti work to music agency, that’s a cool transition, but how do you end up in advertising? “Haha that’s a good one, so before I actually went to London, I had an internship at this advertising agency. I got the job from a guy I met at a rock concert”. He was a friend of a friend, and he was an art director, he liked the work that I had from undergrad.
Ok, a quick backtrack, what is an Art Director anyway? At the time I felt the same way, I had no idea what an Art/Creative director even did. When I started working there, I saw that these guys really just created ideas. They were cracking jokes, brainstorming and just having fun. And they didn’t just use design/designers they worked with photographers and even television work. It was really inspiring. So when I was done working at the music agency in London, this is where I wanted to get back to.
What happened next? Well, I got back, and they said “No.” “This was honestly my low point, I moved back home and there were about 6months of no one really wanting to hire me.” I had to figure out how to get back into advertising. I had to get a “book together”.
A book? What’s that? It’s like a portfolio, filled with ad work. “I started working on one.” After a while of small-time freelance work, I got the opportunity to work at Leo Burnett. I was there for 6 years. It was a great experience. I would say it was one of the best agencies I worked with coming up. I got raises, had a corner office in downtown Chicago. And I eventually became the senior at this place. What could be better?
On your Linkedin, it says you were a freelance Creative Director for a good portion of your career. How did that work exactly, was it difficult to not exactly be apart of a company you’re creating for? So in the advertising world, there are 2 ways to be a creative director. There’s “working at an agency and then there’s working in house at a brand, and building the “agency internally”. I started out in agencies, so my agency was essentially contracted by other companies to help with their branding.
Okay, I get it. So not exactly freelance just working with many brands and companies. Now you’re at Dollar Shave, what prompted the decision to be apart of one brand? Working at an agency was a great experience but in the end being apart of a brand, especially the one I’m at, was phenomenally better. In the agency route, it’s almost like “creators seem to care less”. You don’t get the chance to truly develop a brand. “Working in house, if a campaign sucks, you find out right away, it’s more motivating and rewarding that way”. I’m also finding that more brands are developing in-house agencies. They’re growing exponentially, it’s great. And working with a company like Dollar Shave is that much greater. “I love being apart of a company with attitude”. “I was once at an advertising festival in the south of France and the agency people who knew me from when I worked in agencies are coming to me with questions!” Brands are moving away from agencies, it honestly saves money.
Wow, so you’re a pretty big deal. Nice. On your Instagram, you show a lot of illustration work. How do you juggle being a full-time creative director and having an illustrator hustle? Actually, “illustration is not my thing, it’s like when I was in college, I’m pretty good at typography but I’m not looking to make a career out of that.” More power to those folks who are able to make it as an illustrator, “ you’d have to be a machine to do that.” I just like to have fun, the illustration on Instagram really started with a friend asking me to make something for them, I don’t take it too seriously.
Image: Illustration by Matt Orser
I think I can speak for a lot of young artist/designers who have to juggle creativity and paying the bills; How do you feel about designers wearing so many hats? I say “put your creativity into a lot of places, you can do your passion on your own. I’m not saying just go for the money. As creative people, you never know what you could be doing and what you’d enjoy.” There’s always a creative element to a job. I had to do the same and honestly, I have to keep learning, to stay abreast. Look, I get plenty of young designers with diverse resumes and I find that to be really important, it lets me know that someone isn’t boxed in. And at the same time, “ I continue to teach myself so I can know just as much as them if not more” so as to not stay out of touch.
So you’re doing more than just “cracking jokes and brainstorming” like those first art directors you met? Yeah, most definitely, but it’s still just as fun. My reach is so diverse in one day. So today:
“ I worked on commercials that interrupt your IG feed and sports tv. I spoke to someone about typography for packaging. I talked about why people should want to work with us. I made 3 Instagram posts just cause they were funny. I drew something. Me and a buddy experimented with some audio ideas for the website”
This is just today. There’s just so much, and I love it all.
Image: Advertisement by Dollar Shave Club in Times Square NYC
That’s really cool Matt, are there any last gems you liked to drop for creators/designers/artist? I “encourage everyone to just learn what they can” and not to beat themselves up because honestly in life “You’ll never figure it out”.