Mark Miner
Mark Miner has been around the Artist Series for quite some time now and is yet another who has made the step to make his dream a reality. Mark is settling into Portland as we speak and ready to develop his career at adidas performance.
Mark Miner was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 24, 1983. Three years later, his dad left the family and he and his brother Mike and sister Eva were left in the care of their mother Colleen. Mark had a childhood filled with adversity. His family moved every two years or less, grew up on food stamps, and often had holiday dinners given to him from food banks. His upbringing was one of the reasons for his work ethic and passion for life, which he claims were all lessons learned from his mother. Years later Mark's mother was remarried and then the family moved to Michigan. while in Michigan, five more children were born (Marvin, Charles, Hannah, Lewis, Lillian). The growing family kept life busy and taught Mark many lessons concerning life. His step-father was never home and often made life more stressful for his mother. Over the years Mark and his brother Mike ended up becoming father figures for the children. You could always find Mark playing ball. Often in school he was called a "gym rat" because he was always working on his game. Mark would often wear basketball shorts under his clothes so he was always prepared to play. He and his brother would often play pick up games for money. Mark growing up found hard times trying to get a job. He did drawings for his professor's company, lawn work, school propaganda and posters for money. Mark's mother motivated him and drove him to go to art/ design school. Growing up art was a hobby but he wasn't sure if it was something he wanted to do as a career. He was not thrilled about art school. In fact, he was against going to Parsons School of Design and moving to New York City. Once he was accepted to Parsons he never thought he would be able to go because he did not have enough money to pay for tuition and his step-dad wouldn't support him. However, his mother worked frantically to get him financial aid, and he enrolled in Fall 2002. At Parsons, Mark was majoring in Communication Design. His early days at the school were full of disappointment and lonely times. Over the years this changed and became increasingly open to others at Parsons. Now he is committed to helping others and often gives speeches to students about school options, careers, and life experiences. As a sophomore in school Mark began his footwear career. He started working for a contracting agent. Here he was able to gain experience and travel overseas to work in factories on prototypes. A year and a half later, he began working at Kenneth Cole. While at Kenneth Cole he worked with Kenneth Cole New York, Reaction, Unlisted, Tribeca, and Alfani. Along with working at Kenneth Cole he also started to work on side freelance opportunities. Mark has always been into pushing the limits, solving problems, innovation, and athletics. It is only right that he finds himself with a company that believes in the same beliefs. Starting June 1, 2006, Mark will be a Footwear Designer for Adidas Performance. He will be responsible for creating original design solutions of performance athletic footwear (basketball and running). In Mark's life has come change(s) but somethings will never change like his eternal passion and relentless will to overcome and motivate others. His future lies in his hands and not in luck; fore all things he believes happen because of hard work.
The following is Mark's interivew with obscurepupil.com.
1.) Your focus areas are footwear, print, and identity. Which of the three do you prefer and why?
Print and identity falls under work that I have done for school (I have done some minor professional work in these two areas). Footwear design is my focus and the direction I see myself to continue. I don't mind designing websites, wayfinding systems, information maps, advertising concepts, company identities or style guides. I find these types of projects useful when designing footwear or when your designing in general. I believe the same problem solving and thinking process developed in making a logo can be used in designing an outsole for a shoe. The simple rules of design can apply to both communication design and footwear. Things such as composition, proportions, color, scale, function, form, communication and thought process can be applied in both cases. So even though I prefer footwear design, I don't look at communication design in these past years as a waste of time. I have gained many insights and tools of design through my studies. Footwear design is actually a recent love. I grew up playing many sports, basketball being the sport I trained the hardest in. I always had shoes around me. I would go through the rubber on my shoes in some cases in less than a month. The concrete really ate up the shoes and so I was frequently buying more shoes. So I always had shoes in my past but never thought of designing them. Growing up I didn't have internet or a computer. I wasn't able to have many of the great online forums that the kids have today to showcase and fresh'n up there skills. Some of the sites that are great for aspiring footwear designers are Kicksguide(http://kicksguide.com/) and core77 boards/ footwear design (http://boards.core77.com/index.php). It wasn't until my spring semester of my freshman year in college that I got interested in footwear design.
2.) Who are you currently working for and how do you like it there?
I am currently under contract with Adidas. I start June 1, 2006, and will be doing men's basketball and running shoes for a new concept development team. I have also been freelancing and just ended a 1.5 year temporary employment with Kenneth Cole. Kenneth Cole treated me like family. I have made many friends and been treated with respect while working there.
3.) Were you always into art growing up or was it something that you just decide to pick up? Explain.
Growing up I took art as a hobby. I used to make all my birthday and holiday cards homemade and would draw posters for school or events for school. I also would sketch comic book characters to basketball players from time to time. But I mainly drew as a hobby. I grew up with a greater passion in sport. I was always training and playing. Even in high school my involvement with basketball took a toll on my design work for my classes. Throughout school art/ design wasn't always my favorite subject. I have always been interested in science. I think it is ok to be interested in other subjects and I believe much that you learn from these other subjects can be applied to something possibly in the future. In high school I was not sure if I was going to go into design. I was not familiar with the many opportunities with design. As a senior in high school I probably could have named 5-7 colleges and that was mainly because I followed some college basketball. I did not no of any design schools. It was my art teachers and mainly my mother who pushed me to get into design school. If it wasn't for my mother and my younger brother and sister I would not be where I am today.
4.) You were one of the Finalist for “Lebron III.5 theme of the 2005 Artist Series Contest.” What was that experience like and what did you gain from it?
What can I say... I am fortunate to be apart of the Kicksguide community. That site has been helpful for me and many in my place. My "Lebron III.5" was my second try entry for the Kicksguide artist series contest. My first entry did not make the cut and I took that as a challenge to push myself. I made a conscience effort to post my process and research online for feedback. Even though it was a contest I think it is better to look at them as progression projects. These contests are great ways to develop as a designer. So I continued to develop my concept and finished with a couple pages of work. I submitted all of them. I asked if they wouldn't mind having links to my other works that would help communicate my design. The links went up and from what I remember I received a small negative response to the links of more work because they believed I was cheating my having more process work being shown with the links. At the end of the day it is fair and anyone could have done the same. I think now it has become in some cases a standard to show more process along with the final design. I think this project wasn't as eye catching as some of the others but think it has pushed some boundaries. I did not end up winning the contest nor did I win the contest after that. It has not been about the winning but the feedback and development of me and others on the site.
5.) If you could design a shoe for any athlete who would it be and why?
Expected answer is Michael Jordan. That would be an honor, although I would like to design for a less publicized athlete. I think there can be more done to promote sports and being active in our communities. Footwear is a component to the goal of a more active lifestyle. I would focus on designing shoes to stimulate more active lives. So I guess would be designing athletic shoes for non-athletes. You have to start somewhere why not start with the feet and work your way up.
6.) What’s a day like in the life of Mark Miner?
When I first read this question I was not sure of how to approach it. For the past 3 years It has been 1 life changing event after another. I have had on average 2-3 hours of sleep a night, and have been dealing with 19 credits at school, 3-4 jobs, finding free time, and family issues. These are in no way excuses or used as pity. I don't try and compare myself to others. We all go through things in life and we must adapt and move forward. I have been living with the mindset, work my ass off now and then relax later. With all that goes on during my day I find peace and relaxation while I eat. I love to eat and talk about what ever comes to mind. Some days dinners last a couple hours and then its back to work.
7.) What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned from being in the field of new media design?
new media.. I am not sure if this is only for new media alone, but something learned that has helped me is to be able to communicate clearly. Whether it be in a verbal presentation or to your thumbnails of your designs. It is important to be able to get your idea across. What good is a great idea if you are the only one that can understand it especially if your working amongst a team. 8.) Where do you see yourself in in ten years? In ten years I will be 32 years old. I would like to have a family by then. A man in life is nothing unless he has a family. A loving wife and some children would make me content and bring on new challenges to my life. To accomplish many things in life and have no one to share them with is not something I look forward to have happen. My foundation would be in place in communities around the state or world. The Inspireme Foundation is a not-for-profit organization established to raise funds and dedicated to supporting innovative programs that offer inspiration. Its goal is to promote inspiration in communities, actively promote excellence in education, and living active positive lives. Career wise I am open. I would have taken what challenges present themselves and pushed myself and others around me to greater levels. I want to design and innovate our world. I see myself in the footwear industry for the time being.
9.) On your pdf samples you have a personal company that you created called “FreeForm.” Is that something you plan on pursuing, to actually own your own company?
I am pursuing my personal foundation (The Inspireme Foundation). FreeForm was a concept proposed for class. The thought of a personal company does not interest me at this time. I have much more to learn before I can take on my own business.
10.) Any last comments or any hellos to anybody?
footwear Jim Metellus giusi galeotti pablo munoz ja turner jason petrie michael ditullo jason mayden dallas stokes d'wayne edwards denis dekovic Jelena tony hardman jack kishk darin hager lisa cronin school ted byfield howard davis julia wargaski jack solomon friends jessica washick stuart lyle carolina garcia kicksguide family core77baords/ footwear family family mom mike miner/ bro eva miner/ sister marvin, hannah, lewis, charlie, lilian
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