Marchand Media recently completed work on this GQ Men of the Year Awards project.
NEW YORK - Recognizing change in the industry, former Four Front Media designer and co-owner Steve Marchand has ventured out on his own, launching Marchand Media (www.marchandmedia.com) late last year. Marchand's new facility is located in NYC's Hell's Kitchen, and is focusing on creating memorable broadcast design.
Marchand says he had taken notice of changes in the industry, particularly with New York facilities such as National and the New York Media Group going out of business. He realized that the "bigger facility with a large overhead" model was no longer sensible and decided to open his own place, where he would be both owner and operator, and where clients would come to him for his experience and skills regardless of price.
"I think I'm ‘the graphic bartender,'" Marchand jokes. "I have the same clients I've had for years, and they like coming to me."
On pricing, Marchand notes, "I think it's important to keep a standardized price and not get into the thing where you haven't seen a client for some time so you slash the price in half. My clients come to me because they respect me and like the work I put out. Price is always an issue, but if they come to me, it's not really for the price. It's for the workmanship."
His facility features Discreet Flame, Combustion and 3DS Max, along with a Quantel Paintbox. He also uses PC versions of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. And in April, Marchand will head to the NAB show in Las Vegas to check out the latest video releases.
"I'm going to maximize what I have already," he says, "whether it's through updates, peripherals or plug-ins that my clients like. I'll also go to a lot of desktop-type booths that have plug-ins to make my life easier. Stuff that I can use on a laptop on the train or at home."