Today we’d like to introduce you to David.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was lucky enough to know from a very early age that I wanted to be a graphic designer. By age 15 I was pretty determined to parlay my passion for art and design into a career, and I knew that graphic design was the ideal path. There were some setbacks along the way, including not being accepted into BYU’s highly competitive Graphic Design BFA program. I had to settle for the lesser BA degree—a slightly more worthless certificate than the BFA would have been.
But I was either just stubborn or stupid enough to stick with it and ended up landing a job at a small but respected design firm in Provo right after graduation. That changed everything. With the guidance of a patient creative director and an incredibly talented senior designer, I ended up getting a better education than school could have ever provided and I never looked back.
After spending 4 years in the agency world in Seattle, I moved to San Diego (at that point with a wife, two kids, and one on the way) and, thanks to a stroke of great fortune, was able to launch my one business with a small division of Microsoft as our very first client. That was over 15 years ago.
Today, Traina is an independent branding agency that works with companies seeking either the creation of a new brand or a refinement of their existing brand. What makes us so successful is our process—we blend strategic rigor with relentless creativity to build powerful brands that move hearts, minds and markets. Our team is a tight-knit crew of a dozen highly-talented creative professionals who all share an arguably unhealthy passion for great branding and creativity.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It sure was. Until Covid. Creative agencies are usually among the first to feel the pinch when economic uncertainty abouds. And uncertainty has unfortunately been the nation’s economic theme since 2020. Combine that with the challenges that have emerged with the shift to remote work (which has hit creative industries particularly hard), the proliferation of smaller “copycat” studios, and the emergence of AI, and it’s a perfect storm.
These headwinds forced us to completely rethink our agency model. We trimmed from 30+ employees down to a core group of 12 heavyweights, and now rely heavily on contract help for production, development, video, and other tasks that we used to handle in-house. We also went fully-remote, and left our office of 10+ years in Scripps Ranch—a difficult but financially astute decision. But the adversity has also forced us to sharpen our skills, our process, and our pitch to be more competitive and effective in this increasingly competitive space.
Leaner and keener, Traina is now positioned to thrive.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Traina is a branding agency. The agency for “Brands That Move”. By that, we mean that we build brands that connect with audiences on a deeper, emotional level. These brands move hearts, minds, markets, and ultimately our clients’ bottom lines.
How do we do it? By combining strategic rigor with raw creativity. Our process is really what we’ve become known for, and is what makes us unique. It begins with an in-depth research and discovery phase, followed by workshops to help identify and articulate each client’s mission, vision, values and their unique positioning strategy. That strategy is then expressed through the crafting of a messaging platform (the story) and a distinct visual identity (the look and feel) of the brand. It’s an organized, logical, and illuminating process with clear protocols, documented milestones and understandable steps toward the creation or refinement of a brand.
Beyond the core brand identity work, we are also an ongoing creative partner for many of our clients—essentially an extension of their marketing team, helping to activate the brand across all marketing tools and brand touchpoints.
Traina is one of just a handful of local agencies to have been awarded a National Addy. Our work has also been recognized multiple times by the Webby Awards, Awwwards, Communication Arts, The American Marketing Association, The One Club for Creativity, Graphis Magazine, and many other national and international design competitions and publications.
What are your plans for the future?
Our youngest is just a year away from leaving the nest, so I’m looking forward (bittersweetly) to a new phase of life—hoping that it will include a lot more surfing and band practice, along with some travel. I’m also looking forward to the inevitable rebound of the American economy, and the return of consumer confidence. It might not be this year next, but I believe it’s just a matter of time. When that time comes, there will be a lot of companies that have been holding back on a lot of brand initiatives that by then will be desperately needed. I look forward to the new challenges that we’ll face when that floodgate is ripped open.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.wearetraina.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wearetraina
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrainaDesign
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wearetraina
- Other: https://clutch.co/profile/traina
