Eric Smith

In His Own Words

• What do you do (in 5 words or fewer)?

  Oversee creative output studio-wide.

• What's the best advice you ever got?

  My father never let me quit anything. "Stick it out," he would tell me. That meant I wouldn't really have a choice in the matter. In retrospect, he was right in every instance.

• Who's your favorite Free Ranger to work with and why?

  There are many and it is really hard to choose. I love working with Ruben, because he always brings great ideas to the table and is really collaborative.

• What is your biggest fear?

  It's a tie. Being buried alive in Earthquake rubble (you think about these things living on a fault line). Or, that some Tea Party hack will be elected President in 2012.

• What is your dream travel destination?

  I wanted to study wildlife in the Galapagos Islands. Check. I went last year and it was life-changing.

• What are you most proud of?

  My photography. The older I get the more I figure out how to create good images.

• What’s your favorite board game, and why?

  I love Trivial Pursuit! I rock on Arts & Entertainment and History questions. A pink wedge and a yellow wedge, please!

• Are you a nerd? Why?

  Yep. I love typography and kerning letters. If that doesn't scream "dork" I don't know what does.

• Free Ranger Bio

  A Rhode Island School of Design alum, Eric Smith is Free Range’s creative director and director of the studio’s live action video shoots. In addition to his video work he brings a sophisticated, cinematic approach to branding, web and print projects. His cross-disciplinary career began in the early 1990s as an intern at Tibor Kalman’s legendary New York design firm, M&Co.; since then Eric has held design positions at some of the most prestigious agencies in New York and Hollywood. He has created brand identities for Oprah Winfrey, James Cameron, The Lifetime Television Network and The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, among many others. Eric also specialized in creating feature film title sequences for classics like The Truman Show and The Mask of Zorro. In 2006, he was tapped to become Chief Creative Officer of environmental public/private partnership EcoMedia, now a division of CBS. In that role he co-executive produced a syndicated television series that created environmental overhauls in celebrity homes.

  In 2011 Eric was invited to judge the AIGA Design Effectiveness award competition and served as a guest blogger on AIGA’s website. He lives in the stunning Orinda hills with an equally stunning black lab, Petey.