Kyle Snarr is the Director of New Business at StruckAxiom. For me, he was impossible to not meet; we share a business coach and, quite simply, what she says goes. I am continuously surprised by the interesting people around the corner...literally around the corner [I love this city]. theCOLLECTIVE is a couple blocks away from StruckAxiom and admittedly, I'm happy to know my neighbors. Thanks for accepting the interview Kyle. Let us know if you need to borrow a cup of sugar.
Do you have a design philosophy? Please tell. Sounds silly, but I actually came up with a title for my personal design philosophy. I call it "mid century modest". I've been inspired by mid century design for years, but it wasn't until I came across the artwork of Leah Giberson that I realized a modest, simple home is all anyone really needs. Now I try to view everything with that mentality. It's pretty liberating.
Describe your work space? My work space - both at home and at the agency - more or less fall into the clean, modern, industrial, surrounded-by-Apple-gadgets category. No clutter. Mandatory Star Wars action figures are present and accounted for.
Talk about "creative energy". Where do you get yours? What does it look/feel like? I love to think and write. The energy it takes to get the ideas stems from an urgency to not forget them. I'm amazed how many moments of inspiration come during an early morning run. More often than not, you'll catch me rushing to write or type my ideas as soon as I get in the door from a run.
What's your dream design job? Ha. My childhood dream was to design cars. I'm still constantly doodling MINI Coopers and Land Rovers, and pouring over auto design blogs.
What do you love about your life? I have a super cool wife and happy, healthy kids. What more can a guy ask for?
Where will you be 5 years from now? I hope that I can continue to help the design and creative community of SLC grow. We've got clients all over the nation and beyond, but SLC is an amazing home base to travel from and return to, so five years from now, I see myself right here.
How do you view success, and how do you strive to reach it? I gauge success by how cool my kids think I am. Sometimes that means Eggos with whipped cream for breakfast, and sometimes it means buying my own Nerf dart gun.
Who or what inspires you? I get inspired by simple, smart design.
Share your personal process when faced with challenges in the design process: Whenever I'm in a pitch or conceptualizing with designers or developers, I try to establish some guiding principles for each project. I like to define three to five overarching strategic standards that our ideas need to fit within. If something seems really cool, but doesn't seem to work with the guiding principles we've established, as hard as it may be, we leave it and keep pushing.
What's the worst kind of client to work with? I always try to educate clients on the value of good design. Sometimes, you just have to admit that not every client is going to grasp that concept.
So...why Salt Lake? I grew up just outside of NYC and my wife is from the Bay Area. Neither of us envisioned raising our family in Utah but we've grown to love it. We have two rules as long as we live here: 1) Go to the Sundance Film Festival every year, and 2) Hit at least three National Parks each summer. People from around the world come to Utah just for one of those two reasons. If we're here, we best be doing both.
How do you nest? When it's time to unwind, I like to hunker down with my laptop and get my blog on.
What's your favorite room in your house? We've chosen to outfit our living room with a comfy, clean-lined couch and a pair of Eames plywood lounge chairs, walnut. Turns out the Eames chairs are more inspirational to look at than they are comfortable to sit in. Still, love to chill in there.
Share a pivotal moment of your life: The most impactful decision I've made was to trust a college buddy when he said he wanted me to join a two-man design start-up called Struck.
If you owned Salt Lake City you would...? If I owned Salt Lake City, I'd build something awesome on the southeast corner of Broadway and West Temple. Maybe a Trader Joe's.
What could you not live without? It'd be pretty rough if I didn't have a pair of Converse All Stars available to me at any given moment.
Do you follow any blogs? Tell us your 3 favorites: Beautiful automotive photography: motoringconbrio. Â Daily interior-design inspiration: analogdialog. Men's fashion-on-a-budget: themidwestyle.
When you close your eyes, you travel to... I'm laying on the grass under the massive tree in front of the lodge at Zion National Park.
Describe the people in your life: I like to surround myself with down-to-earth people who get it. Quick and easy litmus test, not only loves, but gets Seinfeld.
Crowds or solitude? I need both. Though I love escaping to the quiet of the great outdoors I also make it appoint to ride the subway when I'm in NYC on business.
