Get to know the people who make Springbox an exceptional agency. What Inspires You? is a series of posts that offer insight into our talented and creative staff. 

Jonathan Bowden

Senior Designer

What did you do before joining Springbox?
I grew up in Eureka, went to art school, became a Minister, then worked at Bogusky’s shop, all before finding my way to Springbox.

Where do you find inspiration?
My Creator, my bride, my baby girl, riding my bike through the northwest hills, running around town lake at lunch, taking random walks through downtown and consciously seeing my surrounding; Prefuse73, Explosions in the Sky, Mute Math, The Album Leaf, a Pandora mix, Monocle magazine, Good magazine, Invisible Creature, Fantasy Interactive, Apple, Metalab, Joshua Abraham Heschel, Rob Bell, Yvon Chouinard the founder of Patagonia clothing, TED talks, Dribbble.com, Siteinspire.net, rain, fog, sunsets on the bus ride home.

Which websites have inspired you recently?
Dribbble.com
It’s an online community for designers, sharing some of the best work taking place right now.

Siteinspire.net
The only “gallery” website worth checking out.

The Boston Globe’s “The Big Picture”
Always a great look into the world around us.

Which trends in interactive are you currently paying attention to?
The few brands that are moving past making a lot of noise / buzz, and instead are finding ways to be USEFUL to customers in their daily lives.
 
The vast distinction between the two parties either making the digital experience easy, simple, guided, and somewhat closed (Apple, Sony) vs. those making the experience sprawlingly open and endlessly customizable  (Google, Linux).

 

 

Get to know the people who make Springbox an exceptional agency. What Inspires You? is a series of posts that offer insight into our talented and creative staff. 

Paige Lurie

Account Executive

What did you do before joining Springbox?
I'm very excited to be a part of the Springbox team. Before joining the agency, I focused on the AT&T account at GSD&M's Idea City and the Dell account at Schematic. I was the account manager on the YELLOWPAGES.COM account, leading the development and implementation of many successful online banner campaigns. I also had the opportunity to support production of two Olympic TV spots that aired during the 2008 Beijing games.

Where do you find inspiration?
Traveling is my inspiration. I enjoy venturing to new places and trying different things. During college, I studied abroad at the University of Seville in Spain and was able to immerse myself in the Spanish culture, visit the crazy monkeys in Gibraltar and surf in Lagos, Portugal. By widening one’s horizon you are able to take so much more in. 

Which websites have inspired you recently?
We'reAllFans.com
This site was developed by Chiat and is truly engaging. It illustrates the voice of the fan in an artistic manner.

Anthropologie.com
Provides an easy, convenient shopping experience. And let’s be honest: I have a slight addiction to the clothes from Anthropologie.

Which trends in interactive are you currently paying attention to?
Anything and everything social media related. Technology today has fundamentally changed how brands and their audiences communicate, not just online but across all mediums. Interactive thinking is at the heart of this. I’m an avid social media follower, paying particular attention to Facebook and Twitter trends and how companies are using this information. 

 

 

Get to know the people who make Springbox an exceptional agency. What Inspires You? is a series of posts that offer insight into our talented and creative staff. 

Mike Nowlin

Director of Development

What did you do before joining Springbox?
 I was a programmer for a dozen or so years — always on the web — for big companies, startups, and everything in between. That morphed into project management, product marketing, an MBA and now I get to run a team of ninjas.

Where do you find inspiration?
I’m no longer a front-line developer, and I now have more management and strategy tasks. Lately, I have been inspired by ways people, companies, or products have dealt with the issues I get a lot of pain from: dealing with complexity, efficiency, communication, planning and good old management. I read a lot of business and management books (Barbarians at the Gates is my current one and it’s excellent).

I’m also very interested in cooking and people who run successful restaurants. Grant Achatz is a big one, and Thomas Keller. Books by Michael Ruhlman. I really liked Robert Mondavi’s book.

The other big source of inspiration for me is my team, and specifically, watching and talking with them about what they do when they have some free time. These guys are knee-deep in technology at work, but also really push the boundaries in their free time. It’s fun to watch.

Which websites have inspired you recently?
 37Signals is a big inspiration. I mostly work on strategy, sharing/collaboration, and meetings, and they have some great products in those areas.

The guts of Facebook are very inspiring. Some of the behind-the-scenes stuff like Connect. Watching FB become the universal single sign-on is like watching Google ten years ago.

Google is actually the most consistently inspiring site suite for me. Google IS search, period. And it’s just so pure, so correct in its implementation. Google Maps is my most frequently used application outside of the basics like email and Office (primarily maps on the iPhone).

Which trends in interactive are you currently paying attention to?
 I'm paying attention to Mobile sites and apps, Social media (especially integrated into existing corporate sites), HTML 5 and heavy tech stuff such as MVC, testing software and document repositories.