Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Geis.
Hi Joe, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My earliest memory of wanting to be an artist is digging through my father’s record collection, and picking out all of my favorite albums covers. For whatever reason, the lettering, the illustration, and the photography for some albums spoke to me more than others. A few years later I started a punk band with some friends, and I jumped at the opportunity to learn Photoshop when we needed a website, merchandise, and an EP cover.
Since then, I’ve never looked back – graphic design and art is all I’ve ever been interested in. After college, I moved to NYC and started my career as a graphic designer in the music industry, and began designing album covers for a living. I bounced around a few different large corporations over the next 10 years, and finally made the decision to bet on myself and go out on my own in 2020.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Absolutely not haha. I’ve experienced everything possible – studio ceilings leaking during storms and ruining paintings, dropping paint from 20’ up in the air, clients ghosting you when it comes time for payment, etc. But I’ve never wanted to do anything else, so you just have to charge it to the game and keep things moving.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
By day, I am Co-Founder and Creative Director at Also Dept. – an independent creative studio based in Nashville and Detroit. By night, I am an artist with a focus on murals, illustrations, installations, and patterns. I explore the movement and balance that lines, shapes, and negative space can create within different environments and spaces. Since launching Joe Geis Studio, I have collaborated with clients such as Adobe, PepsiCo, CAVA, Hilton Hotels, Tinder, and Heineken.
I am most proud of my versatility, which is a result of my constant curiosity. Being able to bounce from painting a mural in Miami to designing a hotel’s new logo at my desk in Nashville in the same week isn’t for everyone, but but it’s how I prefer to work in order to give my mind and body both time to recoup.
I think what sets me apart from other artists/muralists is my ability to navigate the business end of running your own small creative business. Having 10+ years experience working in-house at large corporations and firms gave me the skillsets and experience needed to communicate with clients and collaborate with brands.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Create for the sake of creating. Don’t let the ever-changing algorithms, hashtags, and social media platforms dictate what you create and why.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.joegeis.studio/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joe_geis/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joegeis/
