Although the old moniker did us well for our first 4 years, as our team has grown and our vision and offerings shifted we felt this slightly revised name perfectly describes the heart of who we are and who we work with.

To get a glimpse of what the new brand and site will feel like, check out our splash page and watch the teaser.

(P.S. – the geek side of us is majorly honored to have taken part in something worthy of TC’s time. The force must be with us.)

Check us out –> http://dribbble.com/BraveNuDigital <– Like our shots and if you’re a designer and ever so lucky, we might even draft you ;-).

GL: How long have you been interested in photography?

ES: Since middle school. My Dad gave me an old 80’s Pentax 35mm for a photography class and I fell in love.

GL: What made you think to use your phone?

ES: Well I take pictures with anything I can and my phone is an easily accessible medium. It gets the job done, at least for right now. People take for granted what’s right in front of them. I like the idea of creating with the obvious like Basquiat did with cardboard and sidewalk chalk, before he had the canvas. You have to work with what you have.

GL: Who or what inspires you?

ES: Aw man that’s tough, so many things: music, animals, words, the forest, history. If I had to pick one it’d probably be people. People are my main inspiration. Everyone is so intriguing — their stories, their passions, the way they hold themselves together.

GL: Describe your creative process — how you go about writing, shooting, making music, etc.?

ES: I don’t really have a process. With photography, it’s more of a feeling. I like the detail and happenstance in life. It’s so beautiful how objects layer themselves on to one another. I enjoy capturing life as it is, not forming it together in an inorganic pose. It doesn’t feel right to mess with something that is already set up so perfectly, naturally.

GL: What are your long term goals, creatively?

ES: I’m not a big believer in long term goals, short term goals are more effective. One of my goals is to test out the iPhone’s underwater picture taking capabilities. I’ve always been fascinated with underwater photography, it’s a whole other world under the surface. I get excited thinking about it, haha. I’d also like to get better with video. Basically, I just want to keep creating and kicking ass.

To view more of Erica’s unique work, visit her photo blog at ericalexandria.tumblr.com.

I’ve never been a fan of books and blogs that tell people how they should work. I don’t care if it’s Michael Bierut or Martha Stewart. We all come from different backgrounds and mature in different ways. So instead of telling you how I think you should work, I’ll tell you how I work.

Whether it’s a double page spread or an advert for a dance show, there’s always one way I start. Simple. Black and white, one typeface, one weight, one point size and no graphic devices. There are lots of people who prefer to jump straight into a near finished piece with four colors and two typefaces, and that might work fine for them, but not for me.

The biggest hurdle for me is usually the starting point. There’s always an overwhelming urge to jump forward and push the boundaries of the brief right out of the gate. As I get further along in my studies and put more projects behind me, I become aware of this desire and seek to sublimate it early. If I’m stuck and have to start over again it usually means that I was impatient at the start and did not plan well enough as a result.

My first thought is space. I need to see the content in the space it will occupy, no matter what the format is. On too many occasions I have made the mistake of designing with dummy text, only to receive the content and realize that it won’t work. It’s frustrating and diminishes my motivation right from the start. I refuse to start a project without receiving the content beforehand. If a client comes to you for work and hasn’t prepared the content, it’s usually a bad omen of things to come. Either they’re not taking you seriously, or they’re not taking their own work seriously.

After structuring the hierarchy and creating a few visually stimulating layouts, I move on to try different typefaces, weights and point sizes. Only when I’ve created a clear and simple image with the typography do I move on to color. Color is by no means an afterthought, and should never be viewed as such, but it doesn’t matter how good your icing is if the cake tastes like shit.

Occasionally, even if I’ve managed to put together what seems like a foolproof plan, I get stuck with an uninteresting layout. It’s inevitable. I can usually pinpoint the reason for this, attributing it to a lack of focus or motivation. At this point, the best thing to do is step away. Go for a short walk, eat something, flip through some magazines, whatever helps. Everyone has their own way of getting past that wall.

Finding yourself to be the only blot of color on a barren canvas can warrant 1 of 2 responses: we either complain of how uninspiring our cities/jobs/friends are or we leverage that very same isolation to our advantage — we make lemonade.

You might just have the unique opportunity to become a titan in your field simply because no one else sees the potential like you do.

From a design standpoint, there are thousands of power-house agencies and lean studios producing game-changing work across the globe. Yes, some of those agencies are nestled tightly along a busy Manhattan street. But, others are planted in the middle-of-nowhere South Carolina drastically changing the culture around them.

The point?

Zipcodes aren’t responsible for greatness — the ability to see your situation (whatever it may be) as an advantage, not a handicap is what produces greatness.

If you’re the only creative agency in town, print out your own certificate of need by birthing some creative initiatives that weave your agency into the fabric of that city’s life.

Take a look around. If it’s vibrant colors and endless streams of creativity you see, hold on tight and glean as much as you can. If it’s more like white padded walls, leverage that blank canvas and stick it to sterile.

Think of it like this: It’s our wall, our frame, your art.

If you are an artist and want your work to be featured and sold in the form of a print or digital file, please submit your high-res art to hello@bravenudigital.com. There, we’ll go over the details of sales, prints, shipment and commissions with you.

We’re looking forward to seeing how this new category turns out.  Check out the first featured print now.