A few months ago when I came across Robert McGuire’s profile on Twitter [yes, it is an amazing world where I meet most of my extremely creative friends], I got the impression that he was a doctor. Whatever gave me that impression, you ask? Well, for one it said so on his website. "Trust Me, I’m A Doctor". But in the split second that followed, it became evidently clear that he was indeed a doctor and fixed bad and broken designs.

Robert helms the beautifully designed McGuire Design and the fresh and unique Flicks And Food blog. In my dealings with him, his intelligence, wit and hands-on approach to everything he does shines through. He has an impressive portfolio and a great many accolades and recognitions for his amazing work. He has worked at several award winning design studios during the course of his career, amassed an impressive clientele and is bringing a renewed energy to the creative operations at Brandstack in his newest role as Chief Creative Officer. "There is a new Sheriff in town!", he said when he took over that responsibility. So without further ado, I present to you a man of many talents, a doctor, a sheriff, a designer, a creative .. Robert McGuire of McGuire Designs.

Thank You Robert for taking the time to do this interview for us. It is a great pleasure to have you on the blog today.

1. Tell us something about Robert McGuire’s personal side. Who is he? What makes him tick?
I grew up pretty rough and tough, at least that’s what others said. I’ve always felt I was missing out on something in life, but that’s what also drives me. I was born in Singapore and when I was about 6 yrs old my dad kidnapped me from my mom and hid me; for a while in Jakarta, Indonesia – then in Longview, TX left me with my aunt & uncle. Never seen him since. Growing up there was tough but made me who I am today. My mom finally found me when I was 18, graduating high school and then I moved down to San Antonio, TX to live with my sister whom I met for the first time. What makes me tick is proving all the people that said I couldn’t do something or I wasn’t worth it, … proving those people WRONG! I am very particular about things such as organized, neat, and doing things that just make sense.
 

Klein Bicycles Ad Designed By McGuire Design

2. Share with us your professional journey. Where and how did you start out? What did you do over the years? Where you are at, on this very day?
Well, I’ve always been doodling ever since I can remember. All throughout school, I would doodle on the sides of my notes, in my sketch book, practicing drawing cartoon characters and such. Although, I’ve always been better at math, solving problems, puzzles, when I first came to college in 1997, the counselor put me in to computer science with the goal of doing animations and programming. However on the first day of class seeing what I would be doing, I felt that wasn’t the place for me. As I create I like to see it while I’m doing it. Thus, Graphic Design was the next path she put me on. I created my first logo for my brother-in-law’s environmental company at the end of 1997. I’ve been designing ever since then. The conceptual light bulb went off during college in a graphic design course working on Klein Bicycles Ad with Tom Berno, my instructor. Ever since that day I’ve tried to keep all my work at that high level. Places I’ve traveled in my career are Toolbox Studios, The Clockwork Group, Blue Clover, Ideagin, and now Brandstack. I’ve always been freelancing while or in between these places and continue to this very day. Well today, right this moment… I’m in our new office with Wes. We’re thinking of ways and making changes to make Brandstack a better place for both designers and our buyers.

3. What makes you gravitate towards brand design amongst all the disciplines of design that are out there?
Doodling, every part of a strong brand starts out with a great logo. The logo is a great start of a brand but its executing it on print, web, and broadcasting that will help sell to the public what you are and want to do. However, in the end its your mass public that will determine your brand.

Flying Medranos Logo Designed By McGuire Design

4. What was the very first logo you designed? Share with us that story?
TEAM (Texas Environmental Action & Management) was my brother-in-law’s company and I did their first logo. I look back at it now and can’t believe I did that, but we all have our starting points right?

5. What is your process for designing a logo? Is that carried over in part when you do interface design?
The process… I first start with the client, find out who they are, who are their competitors, what they are looking for, and then what they need. I am a huge fan of doing a wordlist & keywords, along with spending the time to research. Then, its the fun part… doodling, sketching, and figuring out the problem to their puzzle. Once, I have some great solutions drawn out, I can either show them to the client to choose the direction or render several to show them, all are done in black & white. Doing the logos in black & white shows the client the logo and concept, so they don’t get distracted with colors at this point. Once the chosen one is made, then its the color options, and final logo is chosen for their company. User-Interface design has a head start when the final logo has been chosen because it will help you in direction for UI design.

Pear Analytics User Interface Designed & Developed By McGuire Design
 

6. You are an entrepreneur which is very evident from the plethora of websites and projects that you undertake. Where do you get the inspiration and energy to take on these tasks?
I think that everyone has a chance to be an entrepreneur given the right environment and people around them that believes in them. I was given this great opportunity for the first time when I joined the team at Ideagin. It was great to be surrounded and finding a circle of entrepreneurs that were willing to think outside of the box not only with whatever product or service they offered, but with also giving their employees a chance to have a voice. Now, working with Wes at Brandstack, I am inspired by surrounding myself with positive people, seeing what other great designers are doing out in the world by books, magazines, annuals, etc. I gain my energy by having a place and environment that is fun, upbeat, and puts as much focus into the people that build the place as it does its customers. As most of us designers know, not all places are like that. You have to care for your employees as much as your customers. That’s what makes working at certain places feel less like a job, but a fun creative place.

7. You must’ve seen a lot of brand designs in your career that were designed by other individuals. Is there any that stands out to this day? What made it so special?
Wow… that’s a tough one. I can remember following David Carson’s work for a long time. Watching how he would take typography and deconstruct it to make design. He seemed to have such freedom with design that I really liked. Others have been Paul Rand, Margo Chase, Michael Schwab and many many more. I am a huge fan of research and having an extensive collection of resources at your fingertips. Books, magazines, & subscriptions are must haves: Logo Lounge Annuals, Graphis Annuals, Typography Annuals, Print Magazine, Communication Arts Magazine, Step Inside Design Magazine, these are to name a few.

8. Flicks And Foods, very catchy, very unique. How did that come into being? What stroke of inspiration prompted the power packed punch line “Where Customer Content Is King”?
Ah… Flicks and Food! Well I’ve wanted to have my own blog for a long time and with the economy being the way it was people needed an honest review site that they could trust, after seeing the reports about Yelp having bias reviews because businesses could pay to have bad reviews taken off or putting best reviews on top. That to me doesn’t seem right to the people. So I would say over 95% of people every week go out to eat, get take out, go to the movies, rent a movie, buy a movie, etc. Thus Flicks and Food was born, to provide honest reviews about things you do or get the info you need before date night. The tagline "Where Customer Content Is King!" came from John Giannuzzi of Branding Iron Marketing, a copywriter/marketing firm who replied to a Tweet of mine. Awesome, story there.

McGuire Wedding Invitations Designed By McGuire Design

9. What was the last movie you watched? Yay or nay?
I just watched Step Brothers last night again… for about the 5^th time. That movie is awesome and rolling on the floor hilarious! Its a must own in your DVD collection.

10. The most unusual place you have ever dined, for your review on Flicks and Food? What is the one thing that you would absolutely not eat?
I would have to say for a review would be the supermarket, but to my surprise they had great pizza there. I  will not eat Rocky Mountain Oysters (which are bull balls).

11. One device that if lost would be catastrophic for you.
Uhhhhhh… the REMOTE! Duh?!?!?

12. What keeps you sane?
My wife keeps me grounded and is always quick to point out what’s really important in life.

McGuire Wedding Logo Design By McGuire Design

13. Do you practice client pitches in front of the mirror? Or is it more constant mind-rumination when you are drifting off to sleep?
I used to practice pitches in front of the mirror, however it got too expensive as I broke all of them, lol. I do not practice pitches anymore, because I feel that the work speaks for itself. If you have to try so hard to sell your work, then you either didn’t do a good enough job or its time for you to fire your client.

14. Tell us 5 things about Robert McGuire that no amount of googling or digging on the interwebs is going to tell us.
I’m a huge sports fan, gaming addict, outdoors fanatic, car enthusiast, and an amazingly wonderful person, once you get to know me.

The Rackspace Cloud Website Designed via collaboration at Ideagin

15. Your most recent role is policing the stacks over at Brandstack. How do you approach a creative process like that with rationale and a stern attitude? Do you chalk out a set of rules for yourself to adhere to?
This has been tough, as design is highly subjective. However, my approach to logo (identity) design are a set of guidelines depending on what category they fall under. It is very similar to when you’re judging design work. Logo design will most of the time fall into one of these categories or a combination there of : conceptual icon, typography, illustration, and/or combination of those. We’ll be elaborating on each of these very soon.

16. What is in store for you in the near future? Sneak us a peek at something that is still in the works?
Well for the near future there’s going to be some great exciting things coming to Brandstack. I am working on one, possibly two online applications/companies that will come out this year. That’s all I can say. It’s all hush, hush… If I told you, I’d have to kill you.

Podcast Ready Website designed in collaboration at Ideagin.

17. Will you design logos to sell on Brandstack still? If so, do you approve your own logos or is there a different approval process?
Yes, I will still be designing logos and from time to time I will be submitting them to Brandstack for approval. The approval process is different and I think even harder for me. As the design standards that are set for me are by Wes and our other employees to approve. I also have my own standards, which I do my best to design logos to be award winning and in hopes of getting them published in books/magazines.

18. A lot of logo designers are recluses. Given your very active social stature, how important do you think being social and a networking wiz is to logo designers especially? What advise would you give a shy designer that would make them crawl out of their shell?
I would say don’t be shy. It’s good practice to talk about your work or ask questions about other work that you’ve seen. It’s all a learning process no matter if you’re a rookie or veteran in the design field. You’ll always be learning. For young or shy designers, I would recommend you getting books and magazines. Go back also to see how designers came up with logos 50 years ago and what process they used. One of the best practices also that I used to teach is find logos that you really like, those that are published, won awards, etc. and deconstruct them, working backwards. This can help you and teach you process in how to create the best of the best logos now and in the future. Best of luck to you all.

Thanks for the interview Sneh!

And Thank You Robert, we wish you the very best!

 
Two Love Birds Logo Designed By McGuire Design

Robert’s work can be seen on his portfolio website Mcguire Design. You can head over to his Flicks And Food blog to read about latest restaurant and movie reviews. Robert can also be found on Twitter as @mcguiredesign and @flicksandfood