Today we’d like to introduce you to Allen Parkinson.
Hi Allen, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I knew I’d found my career on the first day of my first job as a graphic artist in a small print shop in 1990. This was right at the cusp of digital design coming into the print world and I was, quite literally, a teenager who had learned publication and layout on school computers.
I was ravenously interested in learning new technologies, new techniques, and the innovations of graphic arts, so much so that I was outpacing employers who were reluctant to move away from Exacto knives, paste-up boards, and old school galleys.
Over the next eight years, and with a possibly outsized sense of ambition, I helped multiple companies make the transition into digital design and print production. In my drive to innovate, I may have ruffled the occasional feather. From the vantage of today, it is remarkable to reflect on how quickly that ambition moved me from a junior artist to an art director in less than a decade. I think I had some lucky breaks.
Marketing and design can be a world of big egos and fashionable facades. At its core, however, is innovation. The best designers never lose sight of that. Knowing the tools, understanding the processes, and delivering what clients actually need has led to a surprising career and, ultimately, to a company that I am proud to call my own.
Think Tank Creative Consortium is an integrated team of time-tested artists and veterans of the graphic design and print industries. We’ve spent 20 years working together with our clientele to deliver branding, packaging, and commercial design with exceptional originality and real impact. We remain as passionate as ever about staying ahead of accepted norms in the industry.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The two most obvious trials that come to mind, and that so many industries had to face, were the recession of 2009 and the economic and cultural impacts of Covid-19 in the last two years. For a small studio, both of these major challenges forced us to make difficult decisions that felt genuinely painful at the time but have led to a much stronger company in the long run.
The truth is, the very nature of the design industry is coming up with unexpected solutions to everyday challenges. We were lucky to have years of experience in both thinking on our feet, as well as digging in deep to find the best solutions to problems perceived as impossible. We chose to approach these bigger, more global challenges through that lens. I have been so impressed by the resilience of the colleagues and clients who gracefully and generously weathered these storms with me.
It might sound a bit cheesy to say I’m grateful for the difficult times, but I’ve often come away both surprised and pleased with the final outcome. I won’t pretend that it’s always been easy, but I have found working with professionals committed to perseverance and original thinking to be deeply rewarding –much more gratifying than any paycheck.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Think Tank Creative Consortium is a boutique marketing and design agency that provides a full range of services including brand development, print design, web design, product development and packaging, commercial space and environmental design, photography, and motion graphics. And we do so without the egos and expense of larger agencies.
Because we approach each project with a passion for ingenuity, we can promise thought-provoking and eye-catching projects that set our clients free from the confines of trends and tropes that can become cliché. It’s our experience that sets us apart. We have spent decades developing the relationships and resources necessary to take any creative project from concept to completion –on time, within budget, and with measurable success.
We are honored by our reputation for innovative thinking, real-world solutions, and achieving the impossible.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
I wish I’d had a more mature sense of humility when I got started. I’ve met too many young artists, fresh out of university, convinced that they should be celebrity art directors. In a competitive and creative industry, watching and learning can be your best teachers. A thirst for knowledge is so much more valuable to your clients than awards and prestige.
What I love about going into the studio every day is that I know I will be asked to deliver, and I look forward to doing so. I don’t want to coast. I work hand in hand with my clients to find their marketing solutions because I know that THEY are the experts in their field. I respect input from my skilled vendors because they know the ins and outs of production that can yield quality results. I listen to my entire team because each one has been hired for their specific skills and talents, plus it’s inspiring to watch them complement each other. And at the end of the day, it’s never about me.
The consortium is a collection of knowledge and skills and hard work, for everyone involved in the project. The true nature of a think tank is everyone bringing their best to the table. That is our namesake and that is our way. There is no room for egos in an integrated team. It took me some time to learn that. I wish I could teach that lesson to every design student I meet.
Contact Info:
- Email: allen@thinktankcc.com
- Website: thinktankcc.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinktankcreativeconsortium/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thinktankcc/
