“bullshit
artists”
Have you ever heard of a “bullshit artist?” At House Industries, they openly admit that they are such. House Industries is a widely known font design company that is highly appreciated for their contributions to the design world within the past two decades. Originally begun as purely a design firm under the name Brand Design, Rich Roat and Andy Cruz stepped into the design business in 1993 in the state of Delaware. One day Andy called Rich stating they had been asked to design a promo for a CD packaging and the immediately came up with the sporadic game plan to “quit their jobs so they don’t have to encumbrance of going to work everyday and move into the back room of an apartment… all because they had one project from one client.” They then began designing in a space where the back bedroom became corporate headquarters, the bathtub became the storage space and they shoehorned two dinged up surplus desks in a 10 x 10 room. What more could they have asked for? They were about to be making the big bucks designing for hundreds of clients all over the world, right? Not quite.
“ultimate
After a rocky start with Brand Design, the team decided to begin a font company under a new name, House Industries, where they would acquire a diverse team of artists that would create a plethora of exciting fonts. Of course, they had to start the new font company under a new name so as not to put their up and coming big shot design company in danger. Many of their fonts are ornamental and quirky, and can be found anywhere from a billboard in the sky to a basic consumer product logo, reaching out to broad audiences. Thus said, House Industries hates their work being labeled as ‘retro.’ They have more appreciation than to just say they are recreating the good times of the 60’s and 70’s. Their fonts have found many uses in today’s world with their typography molding together cultural, musical and graphic elements. They often use metallic colors and interesting overlapping techniques that are immediately eye catching and intrigue even some highly prestigious designers to contact them.
bull shitters”
“hoping
Their media relations’ machine quickly began pumping out a title for House Industries in the design realm as they began making up stories [yes, writing absolute fabrications] of how their corporation was ‘obviously huge with a Typography Department that took up the entire 36th floor of its world headquarters.” Who would have thought… people actually believed them! Well, aside from the postman that was delivering in a town with no structures over 20 stories… Apparently all ones needs is an announcement printed on stationary with the header ‘Press Release/ For Immediate Release’ and people automatically assume what they are reading is pure truth. House Industries are the ultimate bull shitters. They have gotten lucky on many occasions as they’re business plans and approaches were extremely unprofessional and often times strategically dangerous. All it could have taken was one journalist wanting to take an “in house” interview on the House Industries team and their whole cover would have been blown.
the client had patience and a sense of humor.
”
House Industries team constantly underestimated that people would actually buy their work. After sending out House cards, and later catalogues, to mass mailing lists their phones would be ringing off the hook with interested buyers, and the team was never be prepared. Many times their fonts only consisted of the letters that made up the name of the font, which would obviously present a large problem when a client calls up willing to purchase the font. They would have to then go back and actually create the full font family; all the while hoping the client had patience and a sense of humor. House Industries struggled financially for many years as they barely scraped by from one client to the next. They would often times go over budget making work at low pay rates for clients. That was okay with the designers in House Industries, though, because they were proud to be working with such creative freedom doing what they love and making really cool stuff!
“
proud
to be working with such
c r e a t i v e
freedom
love� doing what they
a
ficticious
character
House Industries even went as far once as to create a fictitious character, with a full blown back story and all, to promote a new font named Chalet created by ‘a Swiss fashion/type designer by the name of Rene Albert Chalet.’ Well, this strategy worked. I can honestly say while browsing through online articles and blogs that referenced House Industries I came across a blogger that went on to note that Rene Albert Chalet was her favorite designer, as the man was a genius. She then went on to informed us of this imaginary designer’s birthdate and a short life history.
“genuine for their lovesubject
matter�
Although their tactics were ridiculous at times, they have worked graciously in favor of the business on so many accounts. House Industries has gone on to design a number of fonts, illustrations, periodicals and so forth. They have built the design empire they dreamt of, and much more. As an aspiring designer, House Industries is a great inspiration. They have truly built an enterprise from the ground up, out of absolutely nothing. Their work is terrific; fun and carefree, it exemplifies their freedom. What has fueled House Industries to come this far and have distributed so much work, is a characteristic that will always conquer mediocrity: a genuine love for their subject matter.
This book was printed and designed by Deveraux Harrington with the USF SP Graphic Design Program. Inspired by the work of the House team. All images used were taken from the House Industries 10 Year Book.