Biography: Ethan Hunt

I am more than the brief. I am a focused, meticulous and strategic design lead, adept in creating solutions that follow the spirit of the creative brief while also pushing the boundaries of the brief. Cognitive dissonance is a big pet peeve for me. The Adobe Creative Suite, Sketch App and his other tools are the closest thing that I have to siblings. Adept at visual problem solving, brand stewardship and creative management, throughout my nearly three-decades in our industry, I have had the privilege of creating groundbreaking advertising and branding for some of the largest household brands, including Pfizer, Verizon, Merck, Keurig and Major League Soccer for starters.

I all began growing up in Philadelphia and being mildly-obsessed with the show “Bewitched.” I simply knew that when I grew up, I wanted to become Darrin Stevens— I saw an adult who was paid to draw and tell people that they needed things based on his drawings (the same thing that I would get in trouble for doing in 80’s Catholic School because creativity of a child was considered more  nuisance over giftedness back then.) “Bewitched” was my first exposure to the world of design and advertising and I doubted that my sketching and creative tendencies could never actually become a viable career. I literally learned–I  attended Drexel University and faced the intensity of the graphic design and communications curriculum an intensity that gave me an edge in the saturated northeast design industry. My career started when print was king and digital was just coming into focus, so the bedrock of my skill set comes from print, typography and publication design principles that I still actively parlay into digital and beyond. Having worked for firms such from Young & Rubicam to Campbell-Mithun on campaigns for Jaguar, Land Rover and DirecTV, I quickly gained a reputation for being innovative, conscientious and creatively-driven.

Though unforeseeable, due to 9/11, my agency went belly-up along with others, and I was forced to take an unexpected detour in my career path in advertising to an activated U.S. Coast Guard Reserve member, and as a Public Affairs Officer, this change actually paralleled my civilian one. I served in the United States Coast Guard as one of only seventy-seven national Public Affairs officers, specifically responsible for 360 recruitment advertising and public relations. Though quite an adjustment, I thrived nonetheless and considered it to be a chance to broaden my overall life and professional experience. My military service later afforded me the opportunity to return to college and expand my skills, furthering my education by attending The University of California, Los Angeles campus in Continuing Education. It was time for a digitally-intensive training to not only strive to be equal-to-but-greater-than my professional creative peers in many areas. As a student in the Design Communication Arts Programme, I was quite voracious in learning everything that time would allow regarding video, digital animation, responsive design, wire-framing, social media and online content development.