Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Sin.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Eric. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’m a son of Korean immigrants, having arrived in the United States at the age of four. My mother recognized early on that I had an affinity for the arts and pushed me towards that direction. Thinking back, this was something that was highly uncharacteristic of what our culture pushed. Instead of following the traditions of having me pursue a career in medicine or law—my mom recognized my passion and supported me fully since day one. It wasn’t something easy for her to do—our family wasn’t well off and had she followed the advice of others around her, I likely would not have made it here.
The most discouraging point in my early pursuit of creative freedom was when I had failed to get admitted into the Los Angeles County High School of the Arts. At that point, I lost a lot of fire for drawing and let the culture of gaming and animation take over me.
Eventually, I found design and became active on DeviantArt. In 2007, I was hired by my current boss when I had found my artwork was printed in a Game Informer magazine ad without my permission. With no knowledge of how the world worked, I called and threatened to sue. The company graciously paid me for the infringed artwork and paid me to create a follow up for them.
Since then I grew in my craft, gaining some global recognition far too early and becoming much too bigheaded before I had even graduated university. I attended CSUF until 2013, then took up a job as a Senior Designer at a startup called Kidoodle.TV.
While it seemed like all was going well, I had lost a lot of passion in my work and in 2015, Kidoodle.TV went through a massive restructuring and I had lost my consistent source of income. After having applied to multiple job postings through Indeed and Monster for Graphic Designer positions and being rejected by every opportunity, I felt tired enough to call it quits. In 2016 I took a job as an Account Manager at a third-party Amazon sales business.
After quitting due to irreconcilable differences, I found myself looking for work again. I got a job at a local agency in Chino called Rooster Creatives, where I was given opportunities to grow and hone my craft. My fire for the design had returned, and during that time I was introduced to brand design through my first (and last) big project: OMOMO tea shoppe.
In 2018 I quit my job at Rooster and took up a role as Creative Director back at Kidoodle.TV. The company had been growing steadily in the past year and after rehauling the business model—become profitable. In addition to working as CD at Kidoodle.TV, I had started my own creative business called 2717 Design, with my best friend of 15 years.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I quit design a couple of times. Creative burnout is a real thing, and it hit me harder than I think it hits most people. My tendency to take on too many projects and be overly ambitious sometimes became too much to deal with. Working full-time as a Creative Director and trying to take on projects to keep my creative juices flowing was sometimes really hard to balance. A person with a small business like me that’s purely run on projects has to constantly find a way to balance bringing in consistent income with fulfilling the need for creative expression. Often times, my business had to take a backseat for me to do excellent work as a CD for Kidoodle.TV
It’s been super stressful, but also super rewarding in many ways.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about 2717 Design – what should we know?
With Kidoodle.TV, I was part of the business since it started up in 2013—meaning I had a lot of direct input in how the business grew. Our company sought to serve parents whose kids were encountering inappropriate and dangerous content online by providing a safe ecosystem in which they could enjoy content. It’s a big mission, but I’m super proud of how much we’ve accomplished so far—in the past year, we established a steady revenue source, established a new brand identity, and launched support on almost all mobile and TV devices.
With 2717 Design, we focused purely on the brand design of businesses. We don’t take retainer contracts (because both me and my partner have full-time jobs to supplement) and we only take projects we are passionate about. I’m most proud of having gone through one year of working on my own creative business, and that we were able to ultimately generate *some* profit. We’re different because much of the time, our focus is on smaller businesses and providing them with a lot of tools and insight that they might not have been aware of. We don’t take projects for money—we only take projects to do good work.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Quite a lot of people. Some obvious ones to shout out are my family—my mother, in particular, has always supported my creative endeavors. In the Korean-American community, there’s quite a bit of stigma for a career in art, so my mom really went against the grain to not only allow me to pursue this direction but support it wholly.
In terms of people who’ve made a genuine impact on my growth as a designer and entrepreneur—I have to give credit to my favorite boss, Neil Gruninger. He’s always trusted me with the artistic direction of any idea he wanted to chase, and I’m just fortunate we got to see one succeed. My partner Steve Chu also takes a lot of the edge off in dealing with clients and helping to work on the business side of things.
And of course, all of our clients and partners—because without them, we don’t exist.
Pricing:
- Brand Identity Package – $7500 to $20000, determined by scope of work.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://2717.design
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/ericysin
- Other: http://linkedin.com/in/quickfox
Image Credit:
Albert Halim, Alyssa Apparicio
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