Atom Groom - Web Designer, Graphic Designer, Front End Developer from Northwest Indiana
The 41Year Partnership
It was October 7, 2008 when I received a random email from Joseph Gonzalez:
“My name is Joseph Gonzalez and I am a graphic designer/creative director living and working in Northwest Indiana. I’ve been a long time fan of yours and have followed your work for sometime.”
What? Fan? Wow. Unbelievably flattering to say the least! I’ve never heard of Joseph Gonzalez, let alone did I know I had a fan(s)!
It wasn’t about three seconds later that I scrolled all the way to the bottom of his email (without even reading any further) and clicked the link to his website. My immediate opinion was literally “wow”. I was shocked at the quality of his work, his ideas, and his talent. My next thought was, holy cow, how do I “not” know this guy?! (I figured I knew most of everyone in the design industry in Northwest Indiana, at least knew “of” them)
Now, back to the email… Joseph asked if I would be willing to take part in the conference as speaker or portfolio reviewer. Again not only was I flattered at his kind word but also that he was asking me to take part in a design conference. My answer was of course “yes”. I was not only interested in the conference, but in how I could help it grow.
I thought it was amazing that Joseph was stepping up to the challenge of building this conference locally. Mostly because I previously had conversations about how to grow and build our industry locally. It just required so much work that the conversations end as quickly as they started. That said, hearing and being invited to take part in INSight Design Conference was the opportunity of a lifetime for me. It was finally my way to collaborate, to give back and help our industry locally in Northwest Indiana. Little did I realize that this email would eventually lead to big accomplishments, new friendships, new projects, a new sense of community, and a partnership that I was actively seeking, for quite some time.
After getting to know Joseph little by little through our interactions with the conference and later with collaborations on freelance projects, he truly began to show me the creative powerhouse that he is. As stated above, for at least three years I was seeking a partner to start a company, collaborative, etc. After meeting Joseph, then working with him, and talking business with him, it was just a matter of time before things fell into place.
Finding all these qualities in another designer was what I was challenged with for so many years. I literally could not find anyone (locally) that was as passionate, detailed and creative as myself. I found many that had bits an pieces, but never anyone with a combination of all. When you realize that, you realize you’ve met and collaborated with an incredible designer, individual, and friend.
Not too much later a year ago or so, I approached Joseph Gonzalez and Chase Dunlop (who is equally talented and brilliant as Joseph) to start a design collaborative. We started conversation and started the process picking out a company name. Later, Chase unfortunately was forced to opt-out of our partnership, we all still talk all the time and Chase is still as talented as they come, working over at Group7even in Valparaiso.
Joseph and I continued on and pushed for new names that would describe “us”, our partnership, brand, etc. We eventually agreed that 41year would be the final name. 41 Year being the combined number of years that we became “obsessed” with art, design, etc. Thus, 41 Year Obsession. Later, after many hours of work and revisions, the logo was created. The 41 part of the logo is also (and very smartly might I ad) a “A” and a “J” for the first initials of our names. Pretty cool eh? We think so! We’re still actively pushing along to create our website, and more (you’ll see soon!), we just have to get a break from all of the client work that we are blessed with every day.
As you can see 41year is so much more than a company, a partnership or a design studio. It’s also friendship, a trust, and a combination of what we believe to be the best in Northwest Indiana (yup, we said it). Our passion and creative thinking as well as our (41) years of experience is what we bring to the table.
We “know”, without a doubt, idea of combining our talents into a nimble, fresh and competitive studio is at our core. We believe that we can make a measurable difference in the companies we serve both locally and nationally with superior quality and service. We are deeply rooted in a philosophy that, amazing creative along with a strong vision can achieve earth moving results.
It’s been a long journey to get to this point, but it’s only the start. It’s all open roads ahead of us; we have a full tank, ready or not – here we come!
Continue the conversation and follow us on twitter @41year. Also bookmark www.41year.com (updates to come). For inquires and comments, info@41year.com.
Learn more about Joseph Gonzalez and Miracle21 on his portfolio site: http://miracletwentyone.org/
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