Asia David
Asia David
Creative Director / Graphic Designer / Web Designer
Los Angeles, CA
www.asiamdav.com
www.diefreestudios.com
Instagram @asiamdav
twitter @asiamdav
Pinterest
WHAT DO YOU DO?
“As an overall creative entrepreneur, first and foremost I’m a graphic designer.”
*Takes deep breath* As an overall creative entrepreneur, first and foremost I'm a graphic designer. From there, I've branched into creative directing for BUNCH Magazine, branding small creative businesses, and designing Squarespace websites.
WHAT STEPS DID YOU TAKE TO GET WHERE YOU ARE NOW?
1. Majored in Visual Communications with a double minor in Art History and New Media.
2. Did a million internships both in school and after graduating in various fields.
3. Designed anything I could get my hands (or wacom pen) on.
4. Cold emailed cool brands, connected with dope creatives in LA, and just kept working.
5. Landed at BUNCH.
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON RIGHT NOW?
Crafting up the perfect cover for our next issue of BUNCH (The top 100 Creatives), starting layouts for all the people I secretly want to become friends with, and creating moodboards for our editorial photoshoots. Away from BUNCH I'm working on my personal website asiamdav.com. After realizing I have no web presence, I was ashamed and then came up with the ambitious goal of building my website in 2 days. As you may have guessed, that didn't happen, so now I'm pulling together creators to help bring my vision to life.
WHAT'S YOUR STYLE/PERSPECTIVE/TASTE? DO YOU HAVE A PROJECT THAT REPRESENTS THIS?
My style is very minimal and editorial (yes, I'm one of those annoying people). The dream is for my design to start conversations that can shift culture using fashion and art.
WE ARE ALL SLASHIES WITH MULTIPLE SKILLS, WHICH ONE DO YOU WISH YOU COULD DO MORE OFTEN?
I wish I could focus more on photography and illustration. I've played around with photography since I was 10 years old. It was my very first love and introduction into the creative arts and I never took the time out to develop a true skill and style with it. That will change this year! With illustration, it was always something I was envious of any one who was naturally gifted. There are endless amounts of styles and ways you can communicate through illustration. That's for sure on the to-do list.
WHAT IS FRUSTRATING YOU RIGHT NOW?
My number one frustration is time. I haven't decided if I simply don't have enough time to do all the things of my heart's desire or if I need to focus on time management. As an entrepreneur, there's always the art of balancing the work that pays the bills with the work that makes you jump out of bed, and spending time developing your skill set. Fortunately, I have some overlap in that area, but until ALL my work has me jumping out of bed, I will not be complete. The second thing that's frustrating me is the lack of progress I've made with my visual design studio, Die Free Studios. It's an idea I've been passionate about since my junior year of college, and because I'm so close to it, it's hard to see clearly the direction I want to go in terms of branding, a logo that I won't hate in a month, and simply moving from idea to execution. Thankfully, within the past few months I hit a milestone after talking with various friends and creatives! I realized I needed to simplify my idea and should probably just hire someone to create the logo for me, so I can move forward.
IF YOU COULD HIRE SOMEONE FOR $20/HOUR, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE THEM DO TO MAKE YOUR DAY EASIER?
Take care of all my admin work, create my schedule each week, and make sure I'm always fed.
LET'S BRING OUT THE TIME MACHINE. WHAT DO YOU WISH YOU COULD HAVE TOLD YOURSELF, WHEN, AND WHY?
"START NOW!" And funny thing is, I WAS told that, but didn't realize exactly how important that was until now. I especially wish I knew this when I was 14 and secretly wanted a blog but self-doubt took over. This was in the days where the only place you could blog was through blogspot.com. I now live by this and is perhaps why I thought I could build my website in 2 days lol.
IF YOU COULD TALK TO AN EXPERT TO GAIN MORE INSIGHT ON SOMETHING, WHAT WOULD IT BE ABOUT?
The behind the scenes of running your business to finances, organizing your time, and gaining enough traction where you don't have to seek out work anymore. PUNO, WHERE YOU AT?
WHAT KIND OF OPPORTUNITIES/PROJECTS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
I would love to build more Squarespace websites for fashion, art, or specialty brands. My favorite projects are where I get to act as the art director for the time we're together, giving direction on photography, graphic design, and overall branding.
WHAT IS YOUR IDEAL CLIENT?
Fashion brand! One with a unique mission, beautiful style, starting from the ground up or wants to be rebranded. The best relationships come from clients who know what their brand is, has similar taste as me, respects my craft & process, and views our time together as a collaborative effort. I often become friends with clients because we're equally passionate about the project.
WHAT IS YOUR RATE?
I work primarily within my packages at a set price and only enforce hourly rates of $45 p/h for overtime. No package starts below $500. Because most of my packages are custom at this point, emailing me want you want and your budget is the best way to explore the possibilities of our potential time together.
HOW SHOULD SOMEONE APPROACH YOU ABOUT WORKING TOGETHER?
Email or Direct Message my instagram or twitter. (I feel so weird saying DM me, but it's true, it really goes down in the dm).
HOW DO YOU STAY CREATIVE?
Whether it’s 300 ft or 300 miles, I get away of my house.
This member profile was originally published in March 2016.