Rudy ARNOLD

What was your very first job?
I was a paper boy… might have been 11? Maybe 12? Also mowed lawns, and worked the register at the family Dairy Queen around then. Not sure which came first.

Please describe, in your own words, what your job is and what work it entails. 

Currently I am a Creative for Getac Video Solutions. We provided mobile computing solutions for Police Agencies that includes Video management, Trigger box systems, Body Cameras, but mostly the software that allows Agencies to have live video of situations. I started in July, I am just getting my feet under me. I am pretty excited about the cutting edge technology that I get to promote. I have plans to do a brand refresh, redo the website, and produce quite a bit of video content over the next year. At the moment I am managing our first digital trade show, a variety of product launches, and some different ad initiatives.

How did you discover that the creative world was right for you?
I was in high school and didn’t really fit in until I had a very specific art teacher who showed me a new way to learn, one a bit less traditional than the teacher student relationship. She showed me how I choose my own pace to become more efficient and push my own growth. Taught me to be more aware of my strengths and weaknesses. At that time I was into painting. Probably simile 

Was there a time in your life that you credit to this discovery? Was there a train of events that brought you to where you are today?
I was in college and couldn’t decide between being a documentary photographer, Art Teacher, or a Designer. I love solving problems with creative solutions, improving processes to showcase how creative thinking can be vital to personal and organizational growth. I love mentoring, running internship/apprenticeship programs, and teaching. 

In a constantly changing world, how do you find inspiration to keep your work fresh, innovative and relevant?
This is a tough one, the world has become obsessed with showing the people around you the newest and most impressive thing you are doing, social has really changed so much. I do my best to focus on relationships with people outside of that. I really enjoy watching peers in our industry develop. But that expands past just design. Friends and peers in other industries that inspire me sometimes even more. Software developers, musicians, fine artists, engineers, automation…. Its inspiring to hear what people are passionate about regardless of the industry they are in and sometimes seeing that struggle for achievement exists in everyone who cares about what they do is pretty inspiring to me.

If you had to pick one piece of work or project that you are most proud of, more for the creative work and innovation it required, rather than its recognition or industry “success,” what would it be?
I’d like to pick an achievement in each of the areas I mentioned earlier… but at the cost of being long winded I’ll say that as a creative it is relatively easy to conclude that a certain product could be branded/designed better, and redesign it to something really intriguing. What is difficult is to choose a project, or career path willingly that is absurdly difficult, be inspired by that difficulty and excel there. I took a job a few years ago at a company that makes water movement equipment. Essentially pumps. Wastewater pumps, rv pumps, farming pumps, etc. What inspired me to take the job was the leader there, but also I thought to myself, if I can find a way to make information about pumps sexy, that would be pretty amazing. It took years, but I think I ultimately achieved the goal with the help of quite a few awesome people on my team there. The one I’ll share is a video filmed by Jon from Venn.mn that I art directed, a piece that was so much fun to make (3 days 1500 miles) and showcased a tool that can really help farmers save money and is safer for their crops and the environment. http://www.rudyarnold.com/pentair.html 

Which creative disciplines do you commission most, and are most interested in seeing more of and why? Which of these disciplines are you most interested in seeing at CONNECTIONS? (ie photo, film, production, social, experiential, vr, cgi, animation etc)

All of it, I am most intrigued by where AR/VR is going and I think ultimately is where the future of design is. But I think all of the industries have something one can learn from.