Today I’m doing something I’ve wanted to do for years. I’m starting my own studio and I’m calling it Tinker.
As those who know me might expect, Tinker is going to focus on strategy, experience design and product development in the mobile, social and emerging tech space. If my initial projects are any indication, I’ll be working with startups, agencies and individuals—a mix that’s very appealing to me. Of course, there are few personal and collaborative projects that have languished in a Moleskin for some time that I plan on squeezing in as time permits.
Tinker will start as a studio of one but I expect it to grow and change organically over time. As someone who’s spent the past 12 years in New York City working with startups and agencies, I’ve never witnessed a time where the creative tech community was more inspiring, collaborative, dynamic and capable. Just as every industry is being redefined before our eyes, I expect the concept of what it means to be a creative/consulting/product/service/etc. company to also evolve and there’s no group of people I look forward to working with and learning from as we help define it than the army of creative folks right here in NY. No less exciting is that I’ll also finally get to fulfill my dream of working in Brooklyn. (ps: I’ll see you in DUMBO this Friday, Schnitzel Truck!)
So what am I going to work on? I’ve spent the past few months working with the amazing team of people at kgbweb on getting our product to a private beta launch. We successfully hit that milestone last week and I will continue to do work with the team in a part time creative advisory role as the product continues to evolve. Additionally, this week I’ll be kicking off an Android project with some old friends I’d worked with in the past – a great combination of research and design. I also plan to build more writing into my daily schedule so stay tuned for a more more lively everydayUX as well as some new ideas I’ve had for features that I haven’t had the time to explore over the past two years.
Not enough projects? The most exciting one of all is currently set for early March—my wife Karen and I are expecting our first child. Not only will I be happy and proud to be building my own business from scratch, but it will also allow me more flexibility to spend more time with the family during these first few months.
Now that I’m on the brink of embarking on this very different chapter in my life, I’m giddy with excitement. While this is something I’ve always wanted to do, I wouldn’t have been able to make the last, crucial, leap without the people around me who helped me either with advice, inspiration, encouragement or in most cases, all three: my wife, Karen; my mother, Vicky; Dennis Crowley, Buster Benson, Dan Parham, Chris Reardon, Sundance DiGiovanni, Nick Bilton, Kip Voytek, Toby Joe Boudreaux, Naveen Selvadurai, Champ Bennett, Michael Lewis, Sandy Fershee, Judd Frankel, Silvia Fernandez, Jeff Bonna, Lian Chang, Gabe Berezin, Tom Kletecka, Ian Cunningham, Kevin Cancienne, Chad Pugh, Mike O’Dea, Omar Elsayed, Danny Newman, Michael Surtees, Paul Dix, Stephen Baker, Mike Brady, Kevin Kearney, Matt Galligan, Phoebe Espiritu, Oliver Turner, Jeff Dachis, Hyo Yeon, Brian Murphy, and many more that I’m sure I’m forgetting and already feel awful about! Tinker Studio is live thanks to you all.
Whether it’s this week, next month or next year, if there’s something you’d like to work on together, shoot me an email at alex@tinkerstudio.com or come check out the site and we can take it from there.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
- alex