November 19, 2016

Meet Midtown Brand Strategist, Manager, and Designer: Cody Robertson

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cody Robertson.

Cody, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
When I tell my story to people, I always start back and work my way forward. I start at the point in my life that really catalyzed my interests in Graphic Design and Branding, this moment was my first gig as a designer in 8th grade, I went on a “design freelancing” site called 99designs.com; There I participated and eventually won a contest for a company called STNLY SUPPLY CO (https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/581945868351307776/G0Q6C_oD.jpg).

After winning the contest, I continued communication with the founder and eventually saw myself as being the designer of the site, social media assets, t-shirts, and branding. After a few months of working with the founder I became enamored with Branding and Design, the thrill I received from seeing my works actually in production, being worn, and knowing that I helped shape a company through design got me hooked.

For the next 2 years, my goal was to get my name out there and be the best I could possibly be. I dedicated numerous hours in learning about branding, from reading case studies, to visiting and talking to people at agencies, and even doing it in the wild. Along with this, I sought to develop as many soft-skills as possible so I could be what I call—DESIGN INDEPENDENT; meaning I do not have to rely on another designer to do my job. Until, summer in 10th grade, I had some relative success with design and I was getting noticed, I worked with companies all around the world and worked with a Fortune 500 company, and started and maintained a relatively successful clothing brand called INDEGO.

Eventually, I was invited to an exclusive entrepreneurial forum called House of Genius (the PHOENIX chapter), where local entrepreneurs; go and pitch their ideas to industry veterans and fellow entrepreneurs in hope of money, ideas, talent.

Here, I caught my first really big break, I was invited by a mutual connection to serve as someone with design knowledge on the dias, at the event I was particularly drawn to a startup presenting called FEEL FREE.

After, talking to the founder after the event we hit it off and I got my first really good paying and in my mind very significant job, I was a branding consultant, this lasted for a few months and by the time I was done, I knew I had stumbled onto an untapped market, branding for early stage startups, from my experiences, working with over 20 startups there is always a constant theme, they are lacking in branding due to the inherent stresses of running a startup. I go to the founders, and level with them that I get it that it is hard running a startup and having good design/branding, then I propose them a solution—ME. Since, I can do a wide variety of design related jobs (web, ui, ux, motion, graphic, marketing, illustration, identity, apparel, product) I would say that I will manage their brand and handle the design while they go out and kick ass. This approach was and still is widely successful and really cemented my name in my local community as well as I did a lot of portfolio work for a venture capital firm called Tomorrow Ventures.

By, Junior year I was regularly working with local startup’s helping them with their branding and design I landed a few jobs with some notable ones, thus I decided to take my knowledge and develop my own startup Honydo (honydo.com); Honydo was going to save you time and money at the store by being on of the first *smart* shopping list apps. After designing, developing, and creating a basic prototype for Honydo, I went out to seek some investors, however, I eventually decided to scrap the idea, since I became disillusioned with being at the helm of a startup and I would rather be behind the scenes running the brand and pushing out designs.

Flash forward, to Senior Year in HS, I was working part time at a local startup named Lli (https://myli.li/ ), running the design and branding, I worked regularly with startup investors providing them decks, and doing consulting and helping them with their portfolio companies. However, nothing at this time was that big it was all small to medium work, paid okay, but I wanted more. This Summer was the time I got my thirst quenched, I was reached out by a local entrepreneur who is the chairman of a large Corporate Governance and Ethics company called OCEG (http://www.oceg.org/ ), here the chairman asked me to head the development of a sub-brand they were going to develop called Characterwise (http://www.characterwise.org/) ; here I had 100% full creative freedom to design and brand a company from infancy to adulthood. I applied my processes and did exactly what a full blown agency would do but by myself, I developed the brand, created all the marking assets and strategy, I crafted the identity and visual language, and developed and designed the site. After, my work with OCEG, and continuing into the present, I am doing in house; brand management for a startup called Sourcely (https://www.sourcely.com/client ), where I am doing a similar but monumentally more in depth and larger scale project with them. That’s my story and as of now, I am currently enrolled at SCAD in ATLANTA majoring in Graphic Design and minoring in Branded Entertainment.

Has it been a smooth ride?
It’s been rougher than sandpaper, but at the same time smoother than silk, I have been burned, scammed, and ripped off dozens of times, and had my designs flat out stolen. Since, I was young, scrappy and hungry, I would get constantly underestimated by my clients, they would say things like “ Why should I pay a 15 y.o $XXXX you.” I had to work for scraps, even though I had worked with tons of companies and I was established, very few liked the idea of a 15 y.o handling their “precious” brand.

Often when I would do in-house work I would get belittled by the other designers, they would get jealous and just be sh*tty. The worst was at my first big break with a startup, I was doing design consulting they stole all my work, didn’t pay me, and tried to force me to sign this bogus contract saying everything they stole was okay and they are to be indemnifiable. Yeah, Right!

And on top of all of this I was in high school, getting A’s and B’s, on varsity basketball ,and had a girlfriend and I had to keep up my active social life. I learned early on that there are 24 hours in a day, make em all count. This would mean waking up 3 hours before school working, them working out, then school, sports, homework, then work, I would typically stay up from 4:30 am to 1am most days.

In addition to this, relationships have been hard, I am very type A, and work really hard so I’ve lost a few girlfriends do to this. My school, HATED that I did this and the fact that I chose to go to art school, (sidenote I actually failed art in HS), they would constantly tell me because I was not doing something “traditional” or whatever that I would fail, I had even had a teacher tell me that I would fail, and my coach almost kicked me off the team because I had to drive a few cities down to meet with the investors for a company I was working with. Personal relationships were hard too, I only had a few really good friends those who understood me and what I do everyone else couldn’t relate or comprehend what I did or do. It was stressful, I had so much responsibility because the companies needed what I was doing to go forth so I couldn’t take off a sick day or someone is losing money.

To everyone that burned me, stole my work, paid me less than was agreed, told me I would never succeed, and laughed at my decisions. I say thank you, and f*** you. Without the hardships, heartache, and financial insecurity, and long days. I would not be who I am today, I now know when clients are a**holes, I learned first hand the shadiness that happens to freelancers, I learned how to be confident in my abilities and I know my worth and I stick to my guns. Also, I learned to become a time management guru, taken up healthy activities to learn how to better cope with stress and I actually made a name for myself something that I am proud of.

My line of work is always challenging, I often work with CEO’s, Creative Directors, Founders, who knew nothing about their brand even though they are running it. I have to go in and assume all the responsibilities of the design related tasks and make wine out of the water, Often they have no design culture so I have to educate the team about good design practices and so on. Also, the timing was terrible often tests and finals would coincide with deadlines thus I grew an affinity towards coffee. In hindsight, Yeah I would love to go to all the parties, hang out more with my friends, have a few more girlfriends, maybe travel on the summers, but I would never give up all the personal growth and hard work I have achieved over the years for a fleeting moment of whatever.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
My proudest moment was when I realized that I was doing what I have always dreamed of doing. I have always wanted to work at Moving Brands; they are my personal inspirations for getting into branding and I have based my process off of theirs (with some additions and modifications of course), However, while I have not worked for them (I want to) I have always wanted to handle a project like them, really go into a company and shape a brand and identity from the nothing into greatness. Until, this year, I have been working towards that goal, reading case studies, practicing branding, talking to designers and brand strategists to see that they do, and observing the works of others. Then one day over the summer; the moment arrived when I got my job at OCEG. After, the work I did there, I recognized that this is what I have always dreamt of doing and It has finally happened, It was an enlightening and cathartic to realize that I am doing what I love and have always dreamt of.

Tell us more about the struggles you’ve faced along the way.
Besides the ones I listed in the previous survey; Workload, I am a one man branding machine; however I am human and 19 not a machine; Going in and building a brand the way I do at a large scale and usually with few resources is hard. It is hard emotionally, mentally, and physically, There are so many times where I wish that I had a team full of designers, researchers, illustrators, web designers, and copywriters. But nope! Just me, myself, and I. Sometimes, the company I work with in-house has some designers but usually, they don’t or can’t help.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Hell yes!!!! That is why I chose to attend SCAD ATL because the city is booming. You have Sharecare and Yikyak and many huge tech startups. It is a city with huge creative outlets, MODA, High Art Museum, SCAD, even at Atlantic station there are what like 3-4 agencies in that area alone and there are tons in Midtown. But, the city is expensive, so starting out you are going to have to be wise with your money until you start making some serious dough. But I want to reiterate—Atlanta is a hub for creativity, innovation, and ingenuity. I think of it as a southern analogy to SF. The cost of living is not as high as NYC or SF, it is a great city, beautiful, temperate weather, and lots of opportunities.

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