Takeaways from Dave Cook, Jack Grupe, and Eleeza Palmer, employees at Karsh Hagan

Dave Cook is the executive creative director at Karsh Hagan which is a local design agency in Denver. They have a team of multi-talented creatives, so they offer a larger range of collateral. Jack Grupe is their art director and an MSU Denver alumni, along with Eleeza Palmer, their motion designer and they both graduated from MSU Denver.

Dave Cook worked in London and New York before getting the executive creative director position at Karsh Hagan here in Colorado. He emphasized the importance of networking. The design world in Denver is pretty small, so if you frequent events, or even just reach out to people who inspire you, it could really help your career in the long run. He said that networking, combined with a genuine passion for design is like the golden combo. Cook pointed out that Palmer and Grupe both fit that golden combo. He also said to find your own mentor. They can offer you advice about what to put on your resume, what to talk about in an interview, software tips, file organization, etc. I’ve been fortunate to have my older sister as my mentor. She has had over a decade of work experience in the design field and I can go to her with questions I have, no matter what time of day it is.

The DIA is one of Karsh Hagan’s clients, and they showed a couple of projects that they did. The first one was playing off of the conspiracy theories about DIA, and they made an animatronic, interactive gargoyle and put it in the airport. Along with this project, they created a room where they offered yoga classes, petting zoos, and other activities. Grupe made a funny project about DIA hiring llamas to smell drugs. He photoshopped a series of images of llamas as the new K-9 units. Palmer made a series of videos for the Colorado government encouraging us to wear masks and follow safety guidelines during the pandemic. The series was called “Do Colorado Right.” She digitally cut out full-length images of people to look like cardboard cutouts. Each video features a Coloradan with the cutouts showing the difference between the correct way to wear masks and social distance and the incorrect way. Grupe worked on changing the image of our “Welcome Home Colorado” sign to say “Stay Home Colorado.” Cook talked about how a lot of their clients wanted to change their messaging during the pandemic to raise awareness about the importance of social distancing, wearing masks, and staying inside as much as you can.

Karsh Hagan has a team of about 30 people each specializing in their own skillset. Their team seems to get along well together. They have maintained an important presence in the design scene for a while now. I think Cook’s advice about the golden combo will be useful when it comes to applying. Networking has changed since the pandemic since there aren’t as many in-person events, but it’s still important to participate in digital ones, or follow and reach out to studios you admire.