Duz Creative Founder Eric Weber On Strategy, VR, and Dogs With The Right Amount of Naughty
What is the one book people should read to understand what you do?
Mark Pollard’s Strategy Is Your Words, which I found via Instagram, does a really amazing job of breaking this complicated thing we do into simple notions. He helps people understand how creatives approach problems and why strategy makes such a difference to the final product—the book’s about what we can do when we get the right information. And it’s for anyone intrigued by the psychology and methodology of creativity, or anyone who thinks there’s an alternative to the 75 slide powerpoints we sometimes feel we need to build to justify our work.
Do you have a pet?
Yes, Finley. He’s just the right kind of naughty. That’s the great thing about having a dog—they can’t be too perfect. And they also teach you to protect and care for another creature that doesn’t have the advantages you have.
What have you seen lately that’s been inspiring?
I received an Oculus 2 virtual reality headset as a Christmas gift. It has so much potential that I didn’t even foresee. As a marketer and as a human being who thinks about how we interact with our environment and how we process things, I realized this has the ability to be transformative.
It’s tapped into my boyish and childhood enthusiasm for electronics. In my workout this morning, I was in Brazil, standing in a 360-degree photorealistic environment, hovering ten feet above the ground. I’m watching Netflix not on my television but on my Oculus. I have a very nice flat screen TV; my Oculus is on a lodge in Denver with a mountain in the window and a television screen that’s the size of a movie screen.
I attended my first virtual reality event—the Dalai Lama and Greta Thornberg. You show up and it’s just like being in the lobby of a theatre. There are different screens—the Russian Ballet, a live Emcee. It was my first experience being an avatar, which is also kind of trippy. Other avatars move around you in a simulated environment. The second I got there people starting approaching me and talking to me. I had a very linear expectation of going to see the Dalai Lama speak and hadn’t processed that I was entering a public space. One guy came up to me and took a selfie. I had to go to the balcony to find a space that I felt safe in.
What’s your favorite desktop/office item?
I have a Kachina doll, snow maiden. I’m second generation off the reservation, and it makes me think of my Dad. Our cabin up north is filled with Native American art and, as a young boy, our heritage was something my Dad reinforced in our house. There’s a lot of pride, history, and connection in that.
It’s also a reminder of a very special trip. My husband kidnapped me. I didn’t know where we were going until we were in the air. And the doll was something we bought to start building a collection because he acknowledges that part of my heritage.
And it’s cool looking. It’s done in a style called root as opposed to the more popular styles which are very intricately carved. This one is a single piece. I really love that.
What website other than the major social, search, and news sites, do you have bookmarked?
Foldfactory.com It was started by Sappi, a paper company, to help designers. There’s a Fold of the Week email. We were actually featured on it some years ago when a printer submitted one of our designs.
I was a sculpture minor in college. I’ve always loved origami and folding paper and thinking about how paper, which is traditionally thought of as a two-dimensional substrate, works in three dimensions. There’s an art to creating panels and tapping into the psychology of the reveal.
Eric Weber is the founder and Creative Director at Duz Creative, a brand-focused print and web development agency founded in 2006, specializing in marketing solutions for small to medium sized businesses and emerging brands. We’re brand specialists. And we can help your brand reach its audience by helping you carry its message.
The company operates with a mix of contractors and full-time employees – using an extended network of the best strategic creative, web, media and production professionals in the industry whom we can engage on an as-needed basis to get the job done.
