Swinnerton: What was the genesis behind nomBat?
Rawls: What was the genesis behind nomBat? Originally from Santa Cruz, I found myself in New York City on a search of adventure, while there I found work as an operations manager in the financial world. Although I made the decision to stay in the city I always knew that I would return to Santa Cruz once I established a business that would be able to support me full time, without having to have a traditional 9-5 job. Jules Henry was working in New York City as the Creative Director for web at an advertising agency when we met. After several years of dating we decided to combine our professional efforts and launch nomBat Branding. With Jules handling design and me handling management, client development and strategy we were up and running in our own business. We started out part time at first and eventually jumped in full time, leaving our day jobs once we had enough of a nationwide client base to move back to California.
Swinnerton: What kind of projects do you love to work on?
Rawls: What kind of projects do you love to work on? Branding, which is more that just graphic design and logos. Branding is the full experience a person has when they come into contact with your product, goods or service Although about half of our current business is web design it’s the excitement and passion of entrepreneurs that really keeps us excited. We love to help local business owners see their visions come to life through graphic design by helping them see the full brand picture and how important it really is to their success.
Swinnerton: How do you help business with their Brand?
Rawls: How do you help business with their Brand? We always keep an open mind, but don’t always try and reinvent the wheel. More often than not what a business needs is a creative look at their materials while we apply sound branding and marketing fundamentals. Existing brands often have good will that needs to be maintained, and markets have expectations of products, all of which can be helped with great and effective design. Jules Henry is a professionally trained graphic designer who graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design with Honors, and has worked as a professional graphic designer ever since. I have a background in marketing, brand positioning, business management and I have a sincere love of strategy. Together we offer top notch design for very effective materials.
Swinnerton: Does living / working in Santa Cruz County influence what you do?
Rawls: Does living / working in Santa Cruz County influence what you do? Absolutely, we are in love with the community here in Santa Cruz and are honored that we are able to add value to the local business environment and individual brands.
Swinnerton: The year is 2020, what is going on with nomBat?
Rawls: The year is 2020, what is going on with nomBat? One of the things that we would love to bring to Santa Cruz is more access to the global economy, giving local business owners and entrepreneurs the tools to make an income outside of Santa Cruz while living here in paradise will be one of our biggest contributions to this community. Although we love Santa Cruz, we will also have a pension for adventure. We will always keep a connection to Santa Cruz, our community, our projects and business partners even while globe trotting in search for business projects, fun and adventure.
