First as Creature Graphics, than as Spank, this was David’s first foray into the world of branding, graphic design, and entrepreneurship. Inspired by his irreverent Punk Rock roots, and the tees of the scene. He decided to throw his hat in the ring and see if he could make a clothing brand he wanted to wear. Without any experience Dodde designed 24 t-shirts, a complete branding package and catalog for this brand. What’s crazy about that was he taught himself how to build an entire company. David learned to illustrate for screen print, copywrite, design catalog layouts, market, and sell all from the bedroom of his parents house.
Studio Ink was a mom and pop screen print business doing local work. David partnered in and brought national brands to their portfolio. The first client he brought was House Industries. House became Studio Inks first national client and increased the profile of the company a thousand fold. From House came jobs for Phish, Coop, Leo Burnette, Pepsi Co. and more.
Stink was a start-up skateboarding brand and David’s first real passion project. Having grown up in the 80’s punk and skateboarding scenes, he wanted Stink to reflect the ideals and aesthetics he admired so much as a kid. It was David’s second foray into the world of brand building and ownership. This time he acted not only as a designer but also as the Creative Director. Working with Davidson Plyforms, David innovated skateboard manufacturing by being the first to print wood plys prior to laminating. This experience was his Masters degree in brand building and marketing.
If Stink was his Masters degree in branding and marketing, then Seven Worldwide was his Phd. David’s responsibility was the Kellogg’s account, as a package designer. David redesigned the iconic Corn Pops packaging, in turn innovating the cereal isle by putting four unique packages out at once. Other highlights of his tenure there were winning the SpongeBob SquarePants cereal and Pop-Tarts.
In 2007 David partnered with music critic and communications professor Benjamin Hunter to create Wide-Eyed. The full color large format tabloid magazine circulated to a tune of 50,000 copies per month in the greater Los Angeles area. As Creative Director, David managed a team of artists and photographers from across the country to provide LA with a preview of the great music and art through his organic approach to visual direction. Wide-Eyed provided its audience with a vast array of interview with some of the worlds most provocative musicians, artists and thinkers including Shepard Fairey, The RZA, M.I.A. and Douglas Rushkoff . In 2008 Wide-Eyed was the official magazine of Coachella Music Festival in Indio, CA. Visit Wide-Eyed's archive here.
Having had served as a seriography vendor for over ten years, in 2009 David came on board as a fine artist/resources advisor.
Known throughout the world as a prolific type foundry, House Industries has made a considerable impact on the world of design. House Industries fonts scream from billboards, wish happy whatever from tens of thousands of greeting cards, serve as the basis for consumer product logos and add elements of style to a wide range of mainstream media. In their illustrious career, House artists have mastered a large cross-section of design disciplines. Their typography deftly melds cultural, musical and graphic elements. From early forays into distressed digital alphabets to sophisticated type and lettering systems, House Industries’ work transcends graphic conventions and reaches out to a broad audience. What ultimately shines in the House Industries oeuvre is what always conquers mediocrity: a genuine love for their subject matter.