We know what happened. You opened the paper and scratched your head. "I know them!" you thought. And you were right!  In the April 11th issue of the Tampa Bay Business Journal there was an article about cool office spaces, and R-Design was featured. You can view more photos of our space in the middle of this page.

R-Mission

People are spurred to action by their emotions and intellect. R-Design is about eliciting actions for our clients from the right audience – whether those actions are purchases, phone calls or learning.

To this end, we combine the visual arts of design with the science of research to provide solutions to our clients’ needs – even the ones they don’t yet know they have.

Through innovative and creative thought, we aim to not only use, but also develop new media to effectively communicate our clients’ products and services to the right people. In doing so, it is our 5 year goal to be the top creative studio in the Tampa Bay area.

Such a strong presence in the business realm will allow us the financial stability to embrace worthwhile service projects to help build our local community.

R-Team

Creative Catalyst R-Design was started by Raffi Darrow in May of 2003. Raffi's PR and writing experiences include Rolling Stone, Scholastic Math, The St. Petersburg Times, Mercury Records and more. She holds a BA in Communications with a media writing emphasis. Her graphic layouts and user-friendly web sites are often fueled by chocolate and her passion for use of color. If she is out of the office, she is probably watching her daughters on stage at school.

Development Director Dr. Brian Darrow is known for keeping his finger on the pulse of what's next. An academic-turned-entrepreneur, he holds a PhD in Oceanography and makes computer models of water ecology. He uses those programming skills for R-Design's websites and handles much of our search engine marketing. "I've recently started running because a bunch of people told me that I'm built like a long distance runner. I figured I may as well give it a try." You can follow his training here.

Design Daredevil A wild child from the Midwest, Kelly Weatherby moved to Tampa to settle down and start a career as a graphic designer. "I chose Florida because I love the sun and I wanted to be near the ocean," she says. Kelly graduated from IADT with a BFA in Graphic Design, and spends much of her free time cultivating her creative spirit. She enjoys photography, painting, writing and cooking. However, she is not afraid to sleep an afternoon away or stay up all night reading a good book. "I love to travel, especially when it means spending time with friends and family. The most important things in my life are love, laughter...and a little mischief now and then."

Design Intern Ben Cleveland is our newest intern. After 4 years of wandering around the Caribbean with the U.S. Coast Guard on a BIG white boat, Ben decided to settle down and go to school. He is currently a senior in the University of South Florida's Graphic Design program and will graduate in the summer of ’08. In his free time (what little there is) he likes to draw, read, play the banjo and spend time with his 4-month-old baby Colette (awww).

Spanish Translation - olé! Carmen travelled alone, sight unseen, from Spain to Florida when she was in her 20's, convinced that the world would be a bigger place if she no longer lived in the same country as her parents. She has since planted her roots in our tropical paradise by marrying a Floridian and having the cutest, roundest baby. Although none of us studied much more than 10th grade Spanish, we trust every word she types to be accurate because Microsoft does too.

Comic Book Maker Carlos crash-landed in the tiny island of Puerto Rico about thirty years ago. A steady diet of comics and sci-fi movies fueled his imagination, helping Carlos become the mild mannered graphic designer and illustrator he is today. Carlos just earned his Associate's Degree in graphic design from IADT and is continuing for his Bachelor's. In his spare time he can be found working on his self published comic-book. Carlos drew the R-Design team and many of our comic-styled illustrations.

Did you meet R-Design? View event photos here!

R-Office