FWAs help get you more FWAs. Every one you get makes clients trust your crazy creatives idea more.

Please give us a brief bio of yourself.

I'm one of the "three" partners at Jam3 and also Co-Creative Director slash Head of Business Development and Strategy. We all wear many hats as you can see. 

I was born in raised in Toronto, Canada and I started off in design by playing around in Photoshop.  Someone finally brought it to my attention and said "you know people do that for a living right?" That led me to schooling in Advertising and as well as Interactive Multimedia. Essentially a blend of design, marketing and yes, even code. While I certainly don't code anymore, I'd like to think I can still talk a bit of geek with our devs. 

What do you do for inspiration?

Honestly, I start every morning with a coffee and the FWA. The first time I had my portfolio reviewed as a student a creative director told me what someone told him when he was a student. Go buy a bunch of design mags and look at your work, look back at the mags and analyze the difference between the two.  Figure out what exactly makes award winning work award winning.

Please list 3 of your favourite sites.

- ted.com

- ninjavideo.net

- Facebook.com (yeah, i'm that guy).

What do you regard as being your biggest achievement?

Having started Jam3 at a relatively young age and being where we're at in such a short time. I'm truly thankful for my 2 partners.

How many hours do you work each week?

No idea. hah. Some days its 8 hours some its 12 and unfortunately sometimes its more.  

How do you relax or unwind?

Getting out and laughing over a beer with friends. Some people prefer quiet time at home with a book, but I'd rather be somewhere busy or noisy. It reminds me that life isn't all about work and that you have to fun too.

If you weren't working on the internet what would you be doing?

I've always loved photography and wish I did it more.

What's your favourite part of your job? What's the hardest part of your job? What do you do when you get stuck?

Definitely the conception stage of any project. People come to us when they want something kick ass made so the best part of my job is when we sit around trying to figure out how we are going to wow them this time. 

and ditto goes for the hardest part. 

As for getting stuck, that's the beauty of being co-creative director and having someone there to bounce ideas back and forth with. We both amplify each others ideas.

What's the longest you've ever stayed up working on a project?

The ever fun all nighter creeps its ugly head every once in a while. Last week I was at the office till 4am working on a pitch.

How many projects does your company juggle at any one time?

A shitload for a studio. I'd say 10 on average in production and then 5 in pitch, concept or design phases. With 7 Flash developers in house there's a lot that passes through these doors.

Who do you rate as being the top 3 design companies?

Firstborn, North Kingdom and Goodby have been the companies/agencies that have produced some of my personal faves over the past few years.

Who is your target audience?

Anyone with a computer that's willing to spend more than 30 seconds on site. We've done site for 10 year olds and sites for 60 year olds.  We're not pigeon holed to one style or theme... Jam3 works on all kinds of sites and are best known for the end result no matter what the audience. 

Has winning FWA awards helped you in any way?

FWAs help get you more FWAs. Every one you get makes clients trust your crazy creatives idea more. 

What did your very first site look like? Is it still online?

Man, I wish could find that. I did my first Flash thing  in 1999 and it was an intro animation for my fictitious company "Firestarter Productions". It was awesome. It was bright orange, had a 5 sec techno loop and was hosted on a Geocities page. Remember those? 

Of all the websites you/your company have produced, which one are you most proud of?

Probably Waterlife and Autotopsy. 

Waterlife was an amazing project and probably the one Jam3 is best known for in the past year. Seeing how people reacted to it is incredible. 10 months later nad it's still being tweeted about today by people coming across it. We even had someone email us saying the site made them cry.  That's some powerful shit right there. ha ha

Autotopsy because it was essentially like producing a movie. It was a huge effort producing that site from a content, idea and story standpoint. The day we came up with the idea I was so pumped because I knew it was going to be big. Its not every day you get to plan a site thats going to let you to smash up some cars!

Do you think Flash is here to stay?

Interactive is here to stay that's the key point. Flash/HTML5 -- they're just tools to create content. Flash isn't going anywhere for a long time. HTML5 needs to get their shit together and be consistent first and I'm sure Adobe isn't going to be sitting idly by waiting for them to do so. They'll advance Flash further even further.

What are your views on design/graphic school. Do you think someone can get into the field without educational experience in a school environment?

It's possible, some people just have it. Without school though where are you going to learn the basics? Although once you're out you'll find that you learn more in 3 months in the real world then you did in 2 years at school. 

If you were a student entering this industry or an aspiring FWA award submitter, what advice would you give them?

see above about doing your due diligence online and also working late. You don't win awards by working 9-5. You have to LOVE what you do and constantly push what you're doing. Build, look back at it and revise. You have to be your own harshest critic.

How difficult do you find employing the right people in a world where everyone calls themselves a web designer?

Ha. I stopped calling myself a web designer a long time ago just for that same reason. Everyone has some nephew that does "web design". What Jam3 does is interactive experiences. We want to create content that engages the user. 

As for finding people, It takes us a very long time to find a suitable Flash Developer or Designer. Just because you have a "Sr" in your title doesn't necessarily make your code any better. If you've haven't been working on experimental sites that challenge you how can you advance your skills?

How do you keep up with the latest capabilities of Flash or do you rely on other members of you team to do this?

We have 7 extremely hardcore Flash developers in house and there's no way I'd find something out before them. We're always passing links to each other. 

What would be your ultimate vehicle to travel in?

- Luxury: Aston Martin DB9

- Antique: 1955 Mercedes Benz 300 SL Gullwing

... and if I knew anything about fixing cars an oldschool Charger or Camaro.

When your company was just getting started, what did you find was most effective for getting new clients?

We were all word of mouth. You're only as good as your last job and that still holds true for us today to a certain extent. Good work gets good work. When we started off we went above and beyond on even the simplest of jobs so that our portfolio always looked spicy hot.

How do you keep your finger on the pulse of the latest web trends?

By being online. I'm on the web far too much. I think following the right people on Twitter is probably the best avenue.

What country excites you the most in terms of innovation?

Damn Swedes. It seems like they get all the fun don't they? :)

There must be a project that you have always dreamed of doing, what is it?

Something that involves me meeting a Victoria Secret model. If someone can make that happen, please apply within.

What does the future hold for your company, or you as a person?

We'd love to stay lean and mean, but its not so easy to do so when the work keeps coming in. We're definitely moving more into content creation and less service work and trying to make it a balance of the two.

What is the most expensive thing you have bought in the last week?

A flight to Italy for a wedding off an island in Venice. Crazy excited about that.

Any parting shots or pearls of wisdom?

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Words to live by. 

It has been a privilege, thanks very much

No, believe me. The privilege is all mine.

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