Friends Garrett Hoskins and Jason Worley both started their Communication Design educations at NCC, graduated in 2005, and headed for Kutztown University, where they earned bachelor’s degrees in Communication Design. Now they both work for Liquid Interactive Media, an interactive marketing company that was named one of BtoB Magazine’s “Top Agencies of 2008” – the only agency in the Lehigh Valley to receive that honor.
And it would seem that the agency, formed in 2006, is making a habit of winning awards. This year, Liquid also took a Silver and two Bronze Awards in the Omni Intermedia Awards competition, two awards in the 7th annual Horizon Interactive Creative Awards international competition, and two Summit Creative Awards.
Hoskins has been with Liquid Interactive -- and Imirage, the company from which Liquid spun off -- for about four years. He worked part-time while attending school, and is now a senior designer for the agency.
Garrett Hoskins
Hoskins introduced Worley to Liquid Interactive while both were still at Kutztown. The company wasn’t hiring at that time, but Worley offered to work there for free for a month so they could see him in action. “A few months after that, I got a call to free-lance for them. That lasted three or four months before they offered me a full-time position.” Worley is a creative designer/developer for Liquid.
Jason Worley
Both Hoskins and Worley work on website design, layout, and Flash animation motion graphics. Hoskins, a life-long musician, also does music and original scores for the agency. He did all the visual and audio for a new product site for Quadrant Engineering Plastic Products. You can see his work at www.designwithtorlon.com. Be sure to click on some of the features at the top of the screen – the cool, jet pack-wearing animated character does some unexpected things!
Worley is particularly proud of his work on Just Born’s new site dedicated to the ubiquitous marshmallow peep. The site is chock-full of clever motion graphics you have to see to believe at www.marshmallowpeeps.com.
The two NCC graduates have only good things to say about their education here. Hoskins says he “will always praise NCC for being a great starting place. I had great, impactful teachers who helped me develop as an artist, as well as preparing me to go to Kutztown.”
The level of personal attention he received from his professors is a big selling point for NCC, according to Hoskins. “I got to know my teachers on a personal level. I could talk with them, and I wasn’t just a number. You don’t get that at big colleges.”
Worley also thinks highly of his NCC teachers. “They knew what I wanted to do before I did. I thought I just wanted to do illustrations, but one of my professors got me into Flash animation, and that was it!” he laughs.
Both Worley and Hoskins love working for Liquid. As Hoskins puts it, “Being in the creative industry is great – the environment, the people. I love the honesty of just sitting around with a bunch of creative people, throwing ideas out.” And when the creative types at Liquid need to recharge, they can take advantage of the office’s unique perks: an X-Box and a foosball table!
