Who we are

The Story Workshop is a design studio led by Erik Evans. The Workshop creates powerful brand experiences and visual storytelling filtered through a unique vision and sensibility.

Forged by a career spent in animation, marketing, agency work and publishing and fueled by my love for graphic design, typography, film, graphic novels, DIY building and storytelling we strive to create powerful work that connects on a visual as well as conceptual level.

What we offer

The Story Workshop offers a commitment to creativity, integrity and craft. Delivering brand experiences that engage, delight and entertain.

BRAND STRATEGY
BRAND IDENTITY
EXPERIENCE
PACKAGING
CAMPAIGNS
ILLUSTRATION
DIGITAL

The best brand strategy is developed as a partnership between the client and design team. This is a key component to establishing a road map that will guide us in expressing your brand attributes to your consumers through design. The best identities require courage and a strong vision.

Who am I?

Erik is the Design Director at Automox and the Creative Director at his company, The Story Workshop. With a career spanning over 25 years Erik has had the pleasure of working creatively with some of the best companies in the Bay Area including Pixar Animation Studios, Duarte Design, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Facebook, Cisco and others.

As a creative leader, Erik utilizes a background in animation, illustration, branding, graphic design, film, design thinking and storytelling, to create powerful work that connects on a visual as well as conceptual level. His goal is to create powerful brand experiences and visual storytelling that filter through a unique vision and sensibility.

Erik holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Animation and Illustration from San Jose State University and a Master of Fine Arts in Illustration from The University of Hartford. He lives in Bend, Oregon with his wife, Tarah, and twins Jackson and Parker as well as furry kids Cody and Kirby.

For more information on Erik or his work, please visit www.thestoryworkshop.com

Personal Manifesto

A few years ago I found myself at a crossroads in my career. 

At the time I questioned if the work I was doing had any meaning. Was I meant to do something else entirely with my career? Was being a designer enough for me? Did it connect me to a larger meaning for my life?

Instead of doing something drastic, I decided to go back to the basics. I would work on side projects that I had been thinking about doing and see where this would lead me.

This resulted in three major projects that changed everything. The first was building DIY home projects with my hands. Instead of being afraid of power tools, I embraced them, rebuilt my backyard (Including a deck, pergola and stonework) and a new studio from scratch. 

Second was to make comic books. To write and draw and tell stories that had been brewing in my head. Just for the love of it.

The third was to build and implement an after-school program teaching kids how to write and draw their own stories and comics.

What blew me away was how everything was connected. All the skills I had amassed over the years showed up in every phase of what I was doing. Building with my hands was a natural extension of my design thinking. I could see spatial relationships and how wood, steel and stone could go together in ways that made sense. Making comics reignited my love for storytelling and combined with writing and drawing that stemmed from my life-long love for the comic book medium. And finally, teaching and working with kids fostered a side of my personality that is about nurturing and coaching and passing on the knowledge to future storytellers and artists.

In retrospect, what I discovered was that by doing the things I loved to do - writing, drawing, making building, teaching - all stemmed from my career as a designer. Furthermore, they are all things I have been doing naturally since I was a child, daydreaming and drawing and creating in my room. 

Everything made sense.

By embracing the things I truly loved, un-ironically and whole-heartedly, I found happiness in my chosen career path. More importantly it lead to breakthroughs in my career and in my life. 

Its lead to inspired work, better working relationships with colleagues and a joy for my life both personally and professionally. The growth I had experienced also manifested in the confidence to take on more robust roles at work from senior designer to art director to creative director.

Ultimately, what I found is that I’m grateful. In turn, that gratitude has made me love my career path and has made me an excellent creative director