Today we’d like to introduce you to Clifton Alexander.
Hi Clifton, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I grew up in a tiny town in the mountains of Southern California and just so happened to be living in the same town as a world-renowned private arts high school called Idyllwild Arts Academy. Up until high school, I was not artistic and showed no interest in art. But being in proximity to such an amazing resource, my very wise mother suggested I attend this school, at least for one semester. I felt out of place the first few weeks, being among kids who were wholly dedicated to their performing or visual arts, and here I was just starting. But I slowly grew to love the art I was creating, the school, the teachers and my peers. I became a full-time artist from that point forward, studying ceramics, photography and sculpture. And I loved being immersed in such an arts-focused environment. When I graduated from Idyllwild Arts, I decided I wanted to continue as an artist but to study something more technical like graphic design. I loved the idea of creating logos and brands and marketing for companies using my fine arts background. I saw it as an advantage to have this type of background. The ability to dig deep and think like an artist, but to use that thought process in the design world.
I applied to several art and design colleges, mostly in California, but I was particularly drawn to Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI). I had never been to Kansas City and only had pictures from the school brochure to look at, but something about the people I met and the look and feel of the campus (from the pictures) drew me in, and I accepted an offer to attend KCAI. On my 18th birthday, I jumped on a plane and moved to Kansas City to go to college. I just went on a whim and lots of encouragement. I made it through an incredible four years of art/design school at KCAI and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design.
At the time of my graduation, there weren’t many jobs available for young designers, but I had decided I wanted to stay in Kansas City. So I took an internship at Barkley, one of the larger ad agencies in town. That internship lead to a full-time design position at Bernstein-Rein (BR). The life of a young designer back then was less than glamorous, but I did what I could to build up my portfolio and had some great wins during my time at BR, a huge part of which was creating most of the look and feel for the Kansas City Royals season that year. That was a dream job to be designing for the Royals! I left BR after a year and half and moved on to a position at a large global architecture firm. We worked on graphic design projects for stadiums and arenas, but also for museums and parks. It was a challenging but rewarding job as a designer to be able to have influence over large crowds at a stadium or to be designing exhibits that will challenge and engage people. Eventually, the architecture firm decided to eliminate their entire in-house design team, and I was out of a job. My bosses at the time started a new company to handle all of the ongoing work, and they offered me a position to join them. But I turned them down and started my own company instead. I had been thinking about starting a design studio for a while at this point, and I decided that this was about as good of an opportunity as ever.
So I struck out on my own and started REACTOR in a bedroom in my small house. I had no idea how to run a business, what to charge for my services or how to get work. I was never involved in business or pricing decisions at my previous jobs, so I had to learn all of it. Now, 18 years later, we have an incredibly talented group of 5 people that work here, a rad office/gallery in the heart of the Crossroads Arts District, and a growing list of clients and partners that anyone would be proud to be associated with.
Over the past 18 years, REACTOR has become a “small but mighty” design and branding studio with clients all over the country. We’ve evolved, we’ve had incredible advisors along the way, we’ve had good years and bad years. But at the end of the day, I’m living my dream. I have a small business that makes a difference in the world for entrepreneurs and large brands alike. We’ve been able to mentor and grow countless young designers and marketing minds, we have a million funny stories to tell, and we even have the world’s largest collection of taco-themed fine art.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
When you’ve been in business for 18+ years, it’s impossible to have a smooth road the entire time. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs and I would say the downs happen about every three years on average. Whether it be the economy, client turnover or employee turnover. I’ve honestly come close to quitting several times during these down periods but I’ve come to learn that these things just happen, and are impossible to control.
One of my biggest struggles in the early years was just simply undervaluing (or undercharging) for our work. I didn’t understand the correlation of busyness to profit. Just because we were busy didn’t mean we were making any money. It took me a long time to figure this out. Eventually, during a very stagnant time in the business, I decided I needed to either hire a consultant to help us figure some of this out or just close up shop. I had one employee at the time and we were doing great work for some really great clients, but there was no growth and financially, it didn’t seem like we had much hope of going anywhere. So I scraped up the last $5,000 I had and hired a business consultant. It was one of the wisest decisions of my career and ultimately led to some real focus on the business side of the business. We were always very good at the creative and design, but I had no idea how to “run” a business. Fast forward many years later and I’ve continued to hire consultants when needed or invest in training during downtimes and it’s ultimately lead to years of very good times and helped us to sustain during down periods.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about REACTOR Design Studio?
We are creators of EPIC Brands, world champion designers and marketing strategists who never settle. I think the “never settle” part of the equation is our biggest differentiator. Being an artist first, then a designer brings a unique perspective. An artist’s work is almost never “done”, and you are constantly thinking about and strategizing ways to improve the work, new techniques to use, and big ideas to add in to the mix. Our core focus is building and growing brands, whether they are new or over 100 years old. The core services we provide are Brand Identity, Brand Voice, Naming, Rebranding, Marketing Strategy, Brand Strategy, Graphic Design, Packaging, Print Design and Digital.
We work with some pretty awesome clients including: Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Camp Fire, Q39 BBQ, Kansas City Orthopedic Alliance, Visit Kansas City Kansas, National Museum of Toys and Miniatures, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, Perfect Square Biscuits, Wyandotte Economic Development Council and Hunt Midwest.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Feel free to reach out and connect with me, we’re always looking for new clients and people/companies to partner with.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.reactorkc.com
- Instagram: @reactor_kc — @clifbo —- @send.somethingnice
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/reactorkc
- Twitter: @clifbo
