Meet Ron Thompson | Creative Director/Designer/Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ron Thompson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ron, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
To me “risk” is such a strange word when associating it with my life or more specifically my career. Sure there are obvious things you may do over the course of your life that are risky on a health or life and death level, but when it comes to work and life experiences I always would just say “I’m taking a chance”. Maybe that’s just me minimizing either side of the outcome to make me feel better about a decision…haha. I’ve always taken a look at situations or opportunities and asked myself is this something that furthers my learning, introduces me to new people, expands my opportunities and view of the world, and is it fun or can it bring joy. Then on the flip side, what’s the worst that can happen? You fail and then try something else, but even in the failure there’s still lots of great things that can be taken away.

My first career out of college had nothing to do with design (graphic per se) or art. I worked at a large engineering firm in the environmental planning department. Pay was decent, stable job, etc. But I had an opportunity to switch careers to doing graphic design and take a chance on something that I enjoyed whether getting paid or not. That one decision almost 25 years ago has taken me on a fun, wild ride to jobs/living in NYC and now LA. And as of the past ten years, my own design studio, which was also a chance I took with a couple other fellas.

There’s always time in your life to take chances, but I would highly recommend that when you’re young with little to no major responsibilities is the best time to try your hand at a variety of things. The older you become things like marriage happen, you have children, buy a home, settle into your community, etc. Not to say that you can’t still try new things, it just becomes a bit more involved and the stakes are a little higher.

Take those leaps of faith because you never know what amazing things they may lead to.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I started off in school wanting to be an architect. Back in the early to mid 90s the internet was still in its infancy and access to all that the world of architecture offered felt limited in a way. I also grew up in Virginia, not in a city like LA or Chicago where beautiful and modern architecture is on full display. Between that and being swayed by a friend’s disgruntled architect father I switched majors to Urban Design/Geography. My first job right after school dealt with mapping within an environmental planning department at an engineering firm. Really interesting work, but the projects were long and left little room to creativity.

After a couple years at the engineering firm a friend of a friend was moving down from Boston and wanted to start a design studio, and asked if I would want to partner up and be an art director. I had no real idea what that all meant other than I would get to use my art and creative side again, plus see the results of projects much sooner. So I took a chance and worked on all sorts of projects. From branding to magazines to illustration to motion graphics, and most importantly at the time, websites. I essentially cut my teeth at this first design gig. I worked long hours, read every design book I could get my hands on, and subscribed to all the design related publications. It was trial by fire in the world of graphic design.

I then hit the ceiling of what was available to me in the Norfolk, Virginia area as far as design goes. I’ve always loved cities and how they work (hence my major), and also taking trips up the coast to D.C., Baltimore, Philly, NY, and Boston. The lure of living in a major city was there and so I headed up to NY. There I freelanced on projects for Spike TV and MTV, and did a short stint at Huge working on the first Hip Hop Honors awards. An opportunity then came up to work for Big Spaceship, which was full of amazing folks in which I made many long lasting friendships.

During my time in NY I was freelancing with another studio in LA called Hello Design. They asked if I was interested in moving out west to become design director. I had been to LA, but never really thought of living there. All my friends, family, and NY were on the east coast. But I thought, this could be a great opportunity and I could always move back. So I took that chance and headed to LA.

Fast forward 18 years and I’m still in LA. During which I’ve freelanced for numerous studios/agencies, was creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi, and as of 11 years ago started ITAL/C with my partner Matt Titone. We also have another brand, Indoek, that focuses on surf and coastal culture with a gallery space in Ventura.

All along the way I’ve worked on my own artwork and illustrations, which have been shown in various group shows and also tend to find their way into my client work.

It’s been quite a fun ride since my first job back in 1997. I’ve learned a ton, worked a ton, and met a ton of great people along the way. There’s a whole lot more to the story, but I can share that over some drinks one day.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I think it’s obvious the first place to visit is In-n-Out…haha.

Oh man, this is such a tough one since there are so many different things to do in LA and the surrounding area….

Culturally I would visit some of the big museums (Broad, LACMA, Getty), some smaller galleries (Hauser & Wirth, Blum & Poe, Perrotin, New Image Art, Regen Projects), case study homes (Stahl House, Eames House, Neutra VDL House).

For good eats, since my wife is Korean I would hit K-Town (too many to list here), sushi in the valley, pizza (Quarter Sheets, Sei, Bianco), Leo’s Taco Truck for late night al pastor, food list is just too hard to pick.

I don’t go out as much as I used to for drinks but some faves are (Mandrake, Tiki Ti, HMS Bounty, Hinano, Slipper Clutch, El Prado, The Thirsty Crow)

Hit up some shows (The Regent, Troubadour, El Rey, Palladium, The Echo/Echoplex, Teragram Ballroom)

Outdoor stuff (drive up PCH then head through one of the canyons towards the 101, watch the sunrise at Griffith Observatory, visit Vasquez Rocks, hike the various trails around LA)

Neighborhoods to visit (Atwater Village, Silverlake, Echo Park, Larchmont, Arts District)

And because I love sports (LAFC or Dodgers).

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
This is both tough and easy to answer!

Tough, because there are so many people that I’ve worked with or befriended over the course of my life that have pushed/challenged, encouraged, provided insight, and so on (I think you know who you are). It would be a disservice to the numerous in calling out just a few. However, I do want to mention my business partner, Matt Titone. It’s been a fun and wild decade of running our design studio, ITAL/C, together along with taking our other brand, Indoek, to new heights.

Now the easy part. I owe everything to my family (parents, wife, kids, brother, and sisters), and specifically my mom. She was a painter, illustrator, art teacher, and instilled creativity in me from an early age. I don’t think I would be doing what I am now with out her in my life.

Website: https://italic-studio.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stopbreathing/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronthompson3/

Other: www.indoek.com, www.stopbreathing.com