Troika Design Group – Creative Culture for Thriving Success

I picked at random one of the Documentaries for this week on Motion graphics, and it was kismet that I found Troika Design Group, which specializes in branding for television. My two biggest passions both in the interactive industry and in my own free time are sports and TV. I pretty much love any sporting event and can become emotionally invested in a team or outcome in a matter of minutes. With TV, I have a wide interest range from Survivor and Parenthood to Vampire Diaries and Mad Men. My love for these two things has led me to various jobs in both industries, and I have been fascinated to learn about and be part of the behind-the-scenes in both.

I think what Troika Design Group does is stunning. They create things (like ESPN’s SportsCenter intro and Oxygen’s “O” graphics) that have become so iconic you don’t even question their existence. They just are. I can’t imagine either network’s graphics any other way. This is the true test of great branding. How can some simple animation and design fully capture and define a brand or message. These things are often taken for granted, but they are really what make you identify the product.

The amount of work that goes into creating this identity is astounding. Process is the most important aspect of Troika Design Group, according to its creators, that is what they are paid for. The best advice I took from the documentary was to stretch creativity for the fringes of your imagination. The edges of possibility might be too extreme, but you have to cast the net of ideas that far to reach the right one.

The way Troika structured their company in a creative culture was refreshing and I agree that all businesses could benefit from allowing their employees to express and feed off each others’ creativity. I’ve found in our program that the best group projects have come out of groups that embraced this similar idea. Even on individual projects I get my best work out by sitting next to a reliable friend who I can bounce ideas off of and brainstorm together. Working outside of the box, refreshes your mind.

In broadcast design, I liked that it requires a wide set of skills: sound/music, editorial, great graphic design, typography, color, lay out, live photography, animation.

The other great advice I took from the documentary was that even if  you’re not an expert in a technique, working with experts in other fields, will create great designs. This is where both in school and in the work place working with others can make you better. By tapping into other people with those skills, you can learn, grow and accomplish things that alone you wouldn’t have even been able to imagine. Don’t design towards your skills, design toward the possibilities.

However, while you don’t need to be an expert in all of it, you do need to understand the language and be open minded. Thank goodness we are here at Elon to learn all of these languages and try on the different paths. It’s important to be strong in a single area, but it’s mostly about being flexible, able to learn and adapt to whatever project comes your way. You need to wear many hats!