Today we’d like to introduce you to Garrett Owen.
Hi Garrett, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I grew up in Augusta, a rural town in Kansas near Wichita. Besides Kansas City, which was 3 hours away, it was considered to be the “big city” in Southeast Kansas. I was born in Houston, but my parents moved to Kansas in my first year. Multiple members of my family have lived in Texas at some point, so that is where our family gets our love/hate for the Cowboys. Life is hard when you grow up in small-town Kansas as a Dallas Cowboys fan. Maybe that is where my resilience comes from (possibly bitterness and anger too)? Chiefs fans are brutal.
Growing up, like most young kids, I was very interested in art and drawing. But my interest didn’t go away as easily as it seems to when sports and other teenage interests enter a kid’s world. So early in high school, I continued my artistic path but honestly didn’t see any future in being a starving artist. Yes, I know, sage wisdom from a rebellious 16-year-old. Around the same time in high school, I’d say around 1997, I become really interested in computers…how they worked…how to fix them…how to chat with girls on AOL Messenger. So that led me into letting go of my art classes in favor of computer classes.
When I went to junior college at Cloud County, I met my amazing wife and support system, Rita. Which looking back, was the best thing that came out of junior college. We have been married for 19 years and have two awesome kids. My son Braxon wants to be a movie director/boxer/basketball player, and my daughter Seriphina wants to be a fashion designer/school teacher/pastry chef.
Academically, I majored in computer programming because I was drawn to the creative side of making something from nothing – like software programs or a video game (I wanted to make a video game as cool as DOOM). But after realizing that you had to be really good at math and take a lot more math beyond the current math classes that I was already reluctantly taking, I quickly pivoted to computer networking, which I think is now commonly known as “Information Technology.” I also quickly realized that IT wasn’t right for me either. Too many rules, and not creative enough. One day, after acting like I was paying attention in one of my computer classes that I hadn’t dropped yet, I was taking a shortcut, walking through the gym, and saw a lot of people walking around and stopping at various tables set up on the basketball court. People were walking from table to table, looking at large books with artwork in them. I saw one of my friends and asked him what was going on, and he replied, “It’s a graphic design portfolio show.” So, after he explained more, I realized that graphic design is a combination of computers AND art. What are the chances! After that, I was on fire for design – teaching myself the programs and making really ugly posters and t-shirts. It was awesome, and I was horrible! Against the wishes of my guidance counselor, I decided to complete all of my general education classes before I began the Visual Communication program at The University of Kansas. I wanted to focus 100% on learning everything possible about graphic design without having to worry about studying for a biology test. I was a complete design nerd.
At KU, I learned about logos, branding, storytelling, branded environments, and consumer packaging from the greatly inspiring Andrea Herstowski, Patrick Dooley, Barry Fitzgerald, and Andi Witczak. During my junior year, I attended the first DSVC National Student Show in 2004 and landed a summer internship with a Dallas design firm led by Brandon Murphy. I learned a lot from him and owe my start in Dallas to him. He’s an epic designer and great person! The design community created by DSVC was amazing, inclusive, friendly, and I wanted to be a part of it. After graduating in December 2005, I started my first design job at a small studio in Deep Ellum. I made life-long friends and learned many valuable lessons (mostly the hard way).
Over the next 17 years, I learned from multiple design firms across Dallas on how to use branding and design to solve business problems, with my final agency stop being at RBMM, which was the design firm attached to The Richards Group. It’s where I met my good friend, Philip Smith, one of our Principals/Creative Directors, whom I often collaborated with in my capacity as Design Director, and which ultimately led to us striking out on our own and opening our Dallas-based branding agency, Grand Effect, in 2021.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Remember when I said that I learned valuable lessons the hard way at my first job? Well, since you asked, I’m not ashamed to admit that I was fired from that first studio a year or so later. Yes, ouch. It was a great learning experience in my career from a design standpoint and allowed me to step back and take a personal audit of myself, my flaws, my unfiltered opinions, my approach, and figure out how to smooth things out while still keeping my edge and passion for doing things the right way (still a work in progress :-). Even though getting fired a year into my first job felt horrible, it taught me that talent is not the only thing that matters in a small design studio. It’s a team game, and the various personalities must gel and balance out in order for everyone to move in the same direction and help clients achieve their business goals. (See: 2011 NBA Finals when the “super team” Miami Heat got whooped by the much less talented Dallas Mavericks… Let’s Go Mavs!) Also, I’m happy to say that the owners that canned me are good people, and we are friends to this day.
Although the first pothole I hit was my fault, the most recent one wasn’t. After 8 successful years at RBMM, it all suddenly ended in 2020 when an insensitive remark made in a meeting by Stan Richards (founder and now former owner of The Richards Group) led to a swift client exodus at the agency. RBMM became collateral damage from the fallout, as our association with the agency resulted in us also losing most of our clients. So, after 60+ years as one of the top design firms in the nation, RBMM shut its doors for good. It was unprecedented and a tough time for hundreds of people, but I truly believe everything happens for a reason. Grand Effect might not exist without the “Standemic.”
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Grand Effect is a streamlined branding and design agency that offers an alternative to large staffing structures by fostering direct dialogue between clients and the creatives producing the work. While my previous experience leaned more into the food and beverage category, over the years at TRG/RBMM, Philip and I carved out a niche for ourselves through some extensive experience working with healthcare and nonprofit brands. So, we decided to focus primarily on helping health, wellness, and nonprofit companies, as well as select food and beverage brands, to produce work of consequence by magnifying their good messages to disrupt the norm and make a positive impact on the world.
While a bit outside of our main focus areas, one of the projects that I’m most proud of is actually one that Philip and I created for Motel 6. It was for an offering that you wouldn’t typically expect from the brand, as it was a singular concept built around capturing the positive experience that the original Motel 6 brought to travelers in 1962 that changed the industry for good – fond memories of family trips, affordable pricing that allowed everyone to enjoy a clean room after a long day of travel, and a pool that provided a California experience, regardless of your location. Out of that idea came Motel 6 Classic – a mid-century modern inspired refresh of the first Motel 6 location that opened in 1962 in Santa Barbara, California. We loved the name “classic,” as it signifies something that has stood the test of time and has been deemed to have lasting worth and value, so those are the qualities that we paid reverence and homage to as we redesigned the brand and the property into a vintage, yet fresh, experience for a new generation of travelers. If you’re ever in Santa Barbara, it’s worth checking out!
Any big plans?
Currently, our goal for Grand Effect is to continue to create connections with brands in our areas of focus. Through the relationships we’ve fostered over the years, we have a great roster of current clients and agency partners, but we are working extra hard to build new connections with other like-minded people that we can work alongside of to identify their brand’s essential good and present it to the world in a way that demands attention and, most importantly, action.
Contact Info:
- Website: GrandEffect.com
- Instagram: @grand__effect and @garrettowen
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/grand-effect-branding-design AND https://www.linkedin.com/in/grandeffectgarrettowen/
- Other: https://www.thehubgarage.org/donate
Image Credits
Grand Effect, Branding & Design
