“I had no idea that you could take a Computer Animation degree and do this kind of work,” Craig Candanoza shares about his job as a 3D Structural Designer at New Creature. “It’s really been a blast working here.”
New Creature is a graphic design studio that specializes in advertising and marketing solutions at the corporate level, and Craig’s role as Structural Designer has him using his Full Sail education to create product displays for major retail chains across the country. At age 24 and coming up on his first year at the company, Craig has been busy creating promotional material for such clients as Wal-Mart, Electronic Arts, Marvel, and Hasbro.
“Companies will come to us with a request for a kiosk or a display, and I’ll take the 3D work and design it based on the request,” he explains. “So I use a lot of stuff I learned at Full Sail and apply that to the marketing side of things. We also do a lot of research as designers, and sometimes we’ll go to a local store and just watch people and see how they go from one product to another. It’s interesting to learn why people are led to buy something.”
As part of the marketing team, Craig gets advance access to a number of major product licenses. Most recently he’s been working with the toy lines for the upcoming 2009 summer films Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
“We’ve been working on their merchandise for a while, [so we] get to see all the inside stuff,” he explains. “People from Hasbro come by and show us movie clips, and all the stuff that’s going to be coming out, like toys and videogames. It’s awesome, and when I tell my friends about it they’re like ‘Wow, I need a job like you have.’”
New Creature recently wrapped up their busiest stretch of the year, prepping for the holiday shopping season. This saw the team cranking out dozens of designs for companies clamoring to grab shoppers' attention – not the easiest job when you consider the abuse these displays go through during the season's retail rush.
“Black Friday this year was insane,” Craig explains. “We had so much work to do to get all of our displays in the stores on time – and then people just ravaged them on that day. So now we have to think of an even better way to build them for next year.
“And that’s when the job can get pretty technical because you have to figure out a strategic way to build them so they will hold up to the weight while fitting so many of a product – all while trying to make it look cool. And to me the most gratifying part is when you actually see something that came out of your hard work in a physical form. It’s just awesome.”
Settling down after the holiday rush, Craig has had a chance to look back on his time at New Creature, and feels fortunate to have been able to take his Full Sail education to a company that has such a creative approach to advertising solutions.
“This has been the company’s best year ever in terms of bringing in revenue, and it keeps growing fast,” he shares. “We’re becoming one of the biggest studios in the area for this kind of work. I also feel like I’m really successful in my career now. I’ve already bought my first house, and that’s a pretty awesome feeling. I couldn’t have done it without New Creature, or without Full Sail for sure.”
