Meet Tom Maniaci | Creative director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tom Maniaci and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tom, what do you attribute your success to?
No matter the size and scope of any project, a television commercial or a quarter-page print ad; a logo for a small, local business, or a complete rebranding for a national company, I give it my all. Every project is important to the client, so it’s important to me, and they see that.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
In college, I intended to major in Painting. However, I had second thoughts about the viability of a career as a painter – at least in terms of making money – so I decided to major in Graphic Design. Graphic Design was also a path to Advertising, which interested me because I could still use my artistic skills, but also write…I loved to write. Focusing on both skills served me well early in my career at small advertising agencies where I had to wear multiple hats. Then, later at a very large international agency I was, against the norm, my own writer/art director team. Most successful creative teams work well together because they are very in sync with one another. Well, who could I be more in sync with than myself? When I’m working, the pictures and words form at the same time very organically. What sets me apart from others in my field is the same thing that sets others apart from me and everyone else: our ideas. My ideas are unique, just as everybody’s should be. When a client hires me, it means they like my ideas more than others. That is very gratifying in this very subjective field. However, I try to leave the subjectivity to others, because I truly believe there can be, and often is, a right answer to any given project’s solution, whether in terms of graphics and/or writing. I want people to know I always strive for that right answer.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
In the last ten years or so, Detroit has gone from “nowhere to go” to “nowhere to park”. My guest would see the Birmingham, Royal Oak Fernale shops and restaurants where I live, but we’d head downtown – a lot, especially in the summer. I wouldn’t take the freeway. We’d take Woodward all the way and I would talk about the great Detroit of the 1950’s and the sad Detroit of the 1980’s and the amazing rebirth the city is seeing right now. We would visit art galleries like Gallery Camille in the Cass Corridor, then have dinner at La Feria right next door. Another night could see us having dinner at Lumen with a nightcap at Detroit Vinyl Society. If there’s an event at The Scarab Club, great. If not, obviously the Detroit Institute of Arts. A Tigers game at Comerica or a show at The Fox on the weekend and then dinner at Gilly’s Clubhouse. Sunday morning would be a great time for the Riverwalk, and maybe check out Eastern Market.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
As a student at the Kansas City Art Institute, I studied under some great professors. One of them was Victor Papanek, author of many books on design including Design For The Real World and How Things Don’t Work. He created designs for UNESCO and The World Health Organization. He received numerous awards, from the National Endowment for the Arts, IKEA Foundation, and many more. He arrived at KCAI my junior year, so I had two years to learn from him. He expanded my vision of design to a whole world view. He taught me that good design was more than just important to the world…it was vital.

Website: https://ManiaciMarketing.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frameyourface1/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-maniaci-26231a12/

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