We caught up with Eric McDougall in anticipation of his Arts + Design Mondays @ BAMPFA talk on Monday, April 23, 6:30pm to ask him about his creative and diverse experience as a student at UC Berkeley, design, art, and life. Read our short interview with him below and plan to join us for On Social Architecture: Democracy, Design, and New Networks.
You’ve had a varied career as a creative director, brand leader, producer, designer, and overall rainmaker. Let’s start off with you telling us a bit about the roles you’ve had in different organizations over the last couple of decades.
A: Except for two years at Zynga, I’ve always had my own companies. My current consulting firm, Black Ink, works with CEO’s and entrepreneurs on large projects that tend to encompass change, brand, design, and culture. I lead all engagements and bring on handfuls of experts to work with me. When our strategies and proposals are greenlighted, our clients hire the creatives, designers, architects, interior firms, contractors, and others to execute the work. We participate in the selection of these team members, and then creatively and strategically oversee and direct the projects through to completion. Recent projects have been in the global workspace, consumer product, and retail sectors, and have ranged in scope from $100M to $200M. At Zynga I was “Minister of Cool.” I oversaw creation of the current Zynga headquarters in San Francisco and was also Director of Global Brand. My stint at Zynga was a crash course in breakneck startup culture, social games, virality, digital advertising, and data-driven everything.
Your varied career followed a varied undergraduate experience—in terms of the classes you took, degrees you earned, clubs and activities in which you participated. Tell us about your time at Berkeley and the experiences that were most memorable to you. What was the most surprising aspect of your time here?
A: When I first entered Berkeley, the undergraduate programs were on the quarter system, which I liked very much because one could take a much broader array of classes. I was an Environmental Design major, but took classes in physics, chemistry, organic chemistry, American history, biology, mathematics, rhetoric, economics, comparative literature, art history, sculpture, French, and many others. Early on I joined the UC Berkeley Jazz Ensemble as a drummer. One day the director asked if any student was interested in leading a college band jazz festival that we would be hosting in Zellerbach, so I raised my hand. It turned out that that position was automatically a committee member of the larger 3-day UC Berkeley Jazz Festival, featuring leading, world-class artists. I then worked my way up that organization until in my senior year I was Talent Director. I would stay up really late in Wurster Hall, working on CED projects, then get up at 6am to make offers to and negotiate with NYC talent agents at William Morris, FBI, and other agencies. With all of this entertainment and design experience, it’s no coincidence that my first job out of school was at promoter Bill Graham’s production entity, FM Productions, a veritable Santa’s workshop of production, where I first designed stage sets for touring bands.
The most surprising moments came from a few campus jobs I had. I had the staff student position at the Greek Theater, with a surprising level of responsibilities. We had a professional IATSE union rep who was the de facto production and labor boss and ran the stage, rotating security and box office people, and the ED of SUPERB, who I worked for, who was more present the first 6 shows or so, then would come by more intermittently later. She trusted me from my work on the Jazz Festivals, Cinco de Mayo, and other SUPERB productions. I handled backstage, rider requirements, janitorial, catering, etc. I even recall doing settlements with the IATSE guy, BGP, and the bands. At the time SUPERB essentially rented out the Greek late spring and summer season to Bill Graham Presents and other promoters, so campus was not involved in the bookings.
I had insider, backstage exposure to all the bands and performers that came through the Greek across two seasons. It was really fun. Talking Heads. Peter Gabriel. Flock of Seagulls. Joan Armatrading. At the time I had no awareness at all of the Grateful Dead and one day an entire new culture showed up. Hells Angels as security. A huge Deadhead campground on the playing field next door. A backstage hippie living room with myriad wives and kids. The entire audience high. I had never seen anything like that. Later I was asked to design scenery for the band, which they liked, but never fabricated.
What are some of your favorite projects over your career? What were you challenged to do, how did you execute? What was an unexpected solutions?
A: I really enjoyed witnessing the growth of Silicon Valley culture project by project, and helping engineers and entrepreneurs talk about the qualities and benefits of their innovations. I led many pivotal product launches for major tech companies over the years, and in order to generate creative content or even just clear communications about technology or benefits to convey to press and customers, I needed to understand both the technology, what was new, what had changed, and then later offer creative approaches, language, and analogies that ended up being the core communications. One great example was the launch of Java. I was on Sun’s Java launch committee and at one point the offering went viral in the mainstream press, beyond just tech press – a big deal. Java was presented to us as a way to “animate your browser,” because it featured programming that allowed responsive graphics based on mouseovers and clicks – a big deal at the time. But then several of us dug deeper and realized we had something more powerful to offer, and changed the core message to “write once, run anywhere,” which was more about a unified web experience across different browsers and platforms, expressing the deeper DNA of Java. We ran with it and it stuck. I designed the 200’ wide “Netropolis” stage set for Java’s launch in Moscone Center and hired NPR science guru Ira Flatow as our emcee. Java remains a popular language with developers.
Do you find yourself adapting any of your Berkeley experiences in your career and personal life now?
A: I include my 14 years serving on the board of BAMPFA as one of my core Berkeley experiences. I joined the board’s architect selection committee leading up to what is now the current new BAMPFA in downtown Berkeley. At the time we had four Japanese architects on the final list: Tadao Ando, Toyo Ito, Kengo Kuma, and SANAA – these are all incredibly important and talented architects with global reputations. Ito-san was awarded a Pritzker. SANAA went on to design the New Museum in NYC. As part of the process we toured local and regional projects with these architects in Japan and were hosted by them and their teams. This 12-day immersion in cutting-edge contemporary Japanese architecture now informs so many aspects of my life and aesthetics now, and augmented my personal Pantheon of heroes. Japanese buildings reflect a deeply ingrained aesthetic that encompasses client, architect, engineers, contractors, and workers. We marvel at the intersections of materials, and the way the screws and fasteners are evenly placed, and credit the architect, but such perfection in detailing comes from the whole ecosystem, and in fact lies deep in the culture. Berkeley architecture professor Dana Buntrock is an expert on this and has written extensively on the subject.
You’ve spent a good deal of time in the Bay Area; how has this region propelled your career? What excites you most about the present and future of the Bay Area? What worries you most about the present and future of the Bay Area?
A: The Bay Area is the most amazing place to be and to continue to evolve. Being involved in tech and Silicon Valley has obviously been good for me. I found I had a useful, core role early on and built a career and companies based on that. But there is so much more going on here. It’s changed, but there is still a special, unique spirit and “Renaissance” energy. We lead in progressive culture and politics, environmentalism, food activism, and so much more. But also I like the deeper pockets, like the Long Now Foundation community, fungus furniture making, Mission school art legacy, Ocean Beach surfing, and coffee culture, that began with Peet’s in Berkeley in 1966 and leads all the way to trendy and bespoke Blue Bottle (I was an investor), which just opened a cafe in Kyoto.
It’s difficult to be excited about the future in this current climate, but I find solace in the physical beauty of this place. Can Bay Area leadership in solar, electric cars, anti-plastic alternatives, predictive/preventive health care, and healthier food bring clearer air, healthier outcomes, and happier lives to others?
Scrappy entrepreneurial ventures rely on young talent to launch big, fresh ideas. Vibrant cities have healthy, diverse, and edgy cultures of local art, music, and culture. On both fronts I’m most worried about housing and affordability for dreamers, artists, musicians, and others here in the Bay Area. It’s a tangible crisis, that is many years in the making, and only getting worse in the face of the short term rental market and neighborhood gentrification.
Who are your favorite designers and why?
A: Issey Miyake: an experimenter and innovator in materials and technology through many decades. Diller Scofidio + Renfro: people-centric projects and architecture (BAMPFA!), and stimulating exhibits, follies, and experiments. Morag Myerscough: a friend, colleague, and graphic designer who brings color, pattern, type, and exuberance to large-scale installations that are smart, and make one smile. Morag is right for these times.
Who are your favorite artists and why?
A: Donald Judd: he’s become the ultimate timeless Western artist in this country. His work is crystalline, still, ultimate. Clare Rojas: a friend and painter whose work has distilled into a unique and personal perfection of shape, space, color, and line. Clare is just getting going and is divinely inspired. Leo Villareal: A friend and “Burner” who is known here for the Bay Lights, an exercise in elegance and restraint on a huge scale. His current modest project: lighting the 17 bridges along London’s Thames River.
What do you think are the best qualities of Berkeley and what do you wish we could change or develop more?
A: UC Berkeley has always had strength across top graduate programs, and still has. But what separates Cal from other universities is that it is a public institution. That is an inherently Western ideal – a University modeled on great European institutions, but free and open to all smart, curious, and qualified applicants, not just for the elite, wealth, or dynastic families. Berkeley remains an equal opportunity University in every sense, and I’m most proud of that. I love hearing the stories about how many of our undergraduates are the first ones in their families to go to a University. That is Cal gold.
I wish the State’s leadership and California voters valued not just Berkeley but the entire UC System much more and understood as much as I do about what a great investment it is. Although UCB’s administration, development, and campus units do a great job and boast significant new buildings on the campus, much of the legacy infrastructure needs maintenance and upgrading. The physical infrastructure is the last item in the budget pecking order, but deferred maintenance and capex upkeep is beginning to show more and more. UC Berkeley should reflect the riches of the region and be a shining and inspiring beacon for future generations on every front.