Interview with Eric Jordan

Hello Eric. Just a short biography, please.
As president, founding partner and creative visionary behind the company, Eric Jordan utilizes his extensive background in motion graphics and cutting-edge new media technologies to give life to every engagement produced at 2Advanced Studios. Over the past four years, Eric has achieved significant acclaim for his studio's online presence and work portfolio which presently receives in excess of 40 million hits each month. Eric leads his team to build enriching solutions, both online and offline, using a wide range tools available: Macromedia Flash, Director, 3D Studio Max, After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator, Sound Forge and a host of other products.

What is the current status of 2advanced? What are the current projects and goals? How many people there are?
Actively we have about 20 different client projects and 3-4 internal projects that we are currently working on. We'd love to name names, but our confidentiality practices are pretty tight here at the studio. We always want to be on the edge of interactivity, as we believe the convergence of new media technology is only going to continue. As such, we are rigorously exploring the areas of Video and 3D. As broadband continues to proliferate and high-speed access becomes the standard, we want to be right there with it offering solutions that leverage a full range of technology. We will always be focused on Design and Functional Back-ends, but have so many ideas and visions surrounding the creation of virtual worlds, complex interfaces, interactive applications and media enriched experiences.

The 2Advanced team of today is comprised of experts in a wide range of endeavors, including: Internet design, broadcast quality motion graphics, 3D design and illustration, sophisticated backend solutions, e-commerce and complex content managed systems. We currently stand 22 employees strong: 2 creative directors, 2 art directors, 5 dedicated Flash designers with HTML capabilities, 2 dedicated HTML builders, one 3D designer, 4 developers, 3 in business development and 3 in marketing and sales.

I think a lot of people would love to be in the 2advanced crew. Are you still hiring for new people?
We constantly keep our eyes open for people who fit our vision, for people taking risks and doing new things. We very rarely hire someone based on their resume. If someone has the talent, we can see it. It doesn’t take a college degree to get into 2Advanced, it takes desire and passion for what you do, and a good personality that will fit the team we are building.
Our designers are typically skilled in multiple areas. We look for an understanding of design principles, along with a versatility of approaches that can satisfy the various clientele we service. Also, we tend to look for individuals who have mastered Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, and Dreamweaver, and who have specialized experience in either After Effects, Cinema 4D, 3D Studio Max, or Combustion.

Eric, what would you suggest to a newbie, who just start his career as a designer?
Do not rely entirely upon formal education to teach you ground breaking techniques, as that can only come from yourself. What is taught in schools has already been done a thousand times over, and it is regurgitated on a daily basis. In order to create something truly unique, you must look within yourself, as that is only where unique ideas can come from. None of us are the same, and so what you create can never be the same as anyone else’s.

How did you start to be an adult? What age did you quit your parents? Was it hard fo you?
I broke off on my own at the age of 16 and it was really hard working in a field where there were not many people my age working in at the time, so there was no one to look to for advice. I had several creative directions which I wanted to pursue, all of them being based somewhat on art. The problem was deciding on a focus. I felt that if I devoted myself to a particular craft, I would be abandoning many others which I had been passionate about. I needed to find a balance, the perfect blend of exhibition which would satisfy my desire to pursue so many varied mediums. There was no way of knowing how it would all come together, or if it would come together at all. It was tough because I was on my own and there was a jumping off point where I knew I wanted to start my own company to pursue my vision and I needed to figure out how. But I knew it was going to happen somehow.

What is the place on earth, where would you visit?
I love everything about Japan and I’ve been to the more industrial areas where I have found so much inspiration from the city, excitement and lights. But I really would like to explore the more traditional parts of Japan that aren’t flooded with technology and offer a glimpse into their culture. I think I could gain a lot from visiting these types of more traditional places like temples where I could find other means of inspiration.

What book do you suggest to buy if I want to learn flash?
I would recommend all of the Flash 5 Bibles. I have found that these are the most comprehensive Flash books that cover the functionality of Flash and also offer tutorials on design and optimization.

Flash or After Effects?
Being that Flash and After Effects are two completely different programs, it is hard to compare them. We use After Effects inside of Flash to animate the illustrations and for motion graphics. Flash is vector-based, and there is no way to get the type of effects that we want in vector, so we achieve more of the movie effects we hope to achieve with After Effects but it is always important to pay attention to optimization when using the both of them together.

How do you rest?
Lots of cocktails. (:

How many hours do you work, and what is stress for you?
How many hours do I not work?! I probably put in a good 14 hours of work a day, basically as many hours as it takes to get the job done. But I love what I do, so it’s not really work. My stress level varies…there are some projects that we work with that have “reasonable” deadlines, where we can sit down really think through what it will take to take the project to the next level. And of course there are other projects that we work on with completely unreasonable deadlines, with those you have to realistically look at the project and figure out what it will take to pull it off and still work to raise the bar and maintain sanity at the same time.
Hours of work for a passionate designer are very grey. It takes a dedication and passion for design that makes what you do not a “job.” Our employees are artists, and often spend long nights at their systems in “the zone” because they love what they do. They are constantly learning, and pushing themselves to see what they can accomplish.

Latest movie you liked?
My favorite movie will always be Blade Runner.

What’s your favorite sites? Why?
That is impossible to answer. I don’t think there’s one true website that captures me completely. I think there are a lot of great websites out there. But we always keep our eye on anything that comes out of Fantasy Interfaces because, like us, they consistently push the envelope and I really respect their work.

Thank you so much! And good luck with your business.