Meet Venice Design Director, Creative Director, Art Director, and DJ: Dersu Rhodes

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dersu Rhodes.

Dersu, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I grew up in Montana sketching on napkins with my dad while we waited for our food at restaurants. He is an architect and my mom is an artist so art was a big part of our childhood. I went to The University of Victoria and studied Fine Art, History of Art and Film. My first short film was a mockumentary on freestyle walking that I filmed, edited, acted, and branded. It was my first glimpse at being able to combine design with motion and I never forgot how exciting that was.

After college I moved back to my hometown to regroup, having come to terms with the fact that I didn’t learn much about photoshop and illustrator in college, I worked construction and at night I studied YouTube tutorials, taking on small local golf courses and friends as clients.

After moving to San Diego, I worked for 6 years in the action sports industry starting as a footwear graphic designer for Reef, then graduating to apparel design and finally embarking on a number of photoshoots as an Art Director. I finally left and bounced around as a freelancer for several surf/skate companies in San Diego and Orange County, learning about product, distribution, and marketing.

In 2013, I moved to Berlin and fell in love with German design and deep house. Darker, more minimal aesthetic grabbed my attention and I began to incorporate that art and inspiration into the blog I started, witness-this.com. I worked for an agency in the city as a freelancer before moving to LA which I felt was the middle ground between San Diego and Berlin.

LA has been a blend of freelance for agencies on the West Side where I worked on the interactive World Cup Launch for Adidas and the 30th Anniversary of Apple Site. The last three years I’ve been tasked with starting and building the design/art department for Vice on the West Coast. In the time I’ve been at Vice we’ve launched Broadly (a women’s centric vertical, Live Nation TV, and the VICELAND broadcast network. It’s been an incredible dive into the future of media and I’m so honored to be a part of the Vice revolution, which I feel now is more pertinent than ever.

Has it been a smooth road?
Most of us as creatives really ride a rollercoaster of emotions that are usually tied to our work. I’ve gone through very dark times where I feel void of creativity and other times where I feel as though I’m really helping to change the world for the better. Music has really been a huge part of keeping me inspired while at work and it’s been exciting to start to channel that into dj’ing shows here in LA. I’ve definitely been thrown into projects where I feel as though I have no idea what is going on, but my mantra has been to smile through it, ask lots of questions and trust that a path will show itself. Everyone here is just trying to do good work and have fun along the way, the more I tell myself that, the more that I am able to enjoy the journey.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I have seen a trend recently in some of the larger clients we’ve worked with, asking for aid in strategizing the distribution of media dollars towards supporting social and environmental causes. This leads me to believe that what seemed to some as a “Tom’s Shoes/Warby Parker trend” will transform into a permanent movement. It’s evident that consumers are becoming more conscious and care about where things come from and who they are supporting. Now more than ever, creatives are directing their skills to help people and the world and my hope is that this spreads like wildfire. Imagine a planet where people care just as much about the well-being of endangered orca’s as the latest pair of Reeboks’.

What has been the primary challenge you’ve faced?
There have been many times when I feel a void of creativity or meaningful projects and I know I share this sentiment with a lot of creatives who pour their heart into their work. It’s easy to feel as though we aren’t progressing when things get slow or ideas don’t come. In the past, I blamed myself for every moment that I couldn’t come up with storylines or ideas, and I’d find myself wondering “what is wrong with me?”

A friend told me about his quest to truly separate himself from his creativity. Apparently, Maya Angelou thought of creativity as the wind that physically blew through her window and she would do her best to catch it. That translates to me like setting yourself up, perhaps with a blank piece of paper or in front of your equipment and when the winds come doing your best to be in the moment and capture every whisp. Then when it suddenly leaves, instead of blaming yourself for losing your creativity, you see it as being fortunate to have been able to receive it and set yourself up for the next gust.

The result of this type of thinking is that we stop blaming ourselves for not being creative and on the other side of the spectrum we stop having an ego about our work. I used to be sheepish when people would compliment my projects, feeling like they were complimenting me, but now as I play with this new way of thinking, it allows me to say “thank you.” and feel truly grateful for being at the right place at the right time or with the right people that helped spark that creative thought. The more I detach myself from feeling that I own ideas or designs, the more I get excited when they come, seeing them as a gift. Yesterday I felt inspired to play music and then an hour later it started sounding terrible. I was able to walk away knowing there wasn’t something wrong with me and instead the creativity had left out the window.

What advice do you wish to give to those thinking about pursuing a path similar to yours?
Be inspired by the work of others instead of intimidated. You might find yourself at a party talking to a 26-year-old director who has already been invited to Cannes for his short, then go home completely disheartened. If you focus on your own projects instead of comparing yourself to that director, you will find you are able to learn from him while keeping true to your vision. Your project will not only come to life in a unique way but you’ll save your energy and an emotional rollercoaster.

I also love the idea of collaborating and using the barter system. Gary Vaynerchuk talks about using your skills to trade for services instead of asking for handouts. For example, we’re looking for a composer for a short film I’m directing and instead of asking for free work for our passion project, we are offering a website design, or branding etc in exchange. Everyone has skills they can offer when budgets are tight and this is the way that people used to do business every day, some milk for some corn!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dersurhodes.com
• Phone: 760-716-3271
• Email: dersurhodes@gmail.com
• Instagram: dersurhodes
• Facebook: dersumusic
• Other: soundcloud.com/dersurhodes