First Year Odyssey was unlike anything UGA had done before. It is designed specifically for incoming freshmen in order to introduce them to the academic life of the University in a unique way. We created the logo and identity from the ground up, including their website, brochures, class booklets, promotional material and this video.
Will couldn’t resist coming home to Athens after working his way up the East Coast. A graduate of the University of Georgia with a BFA in Graphic Design, he formerly worked as an in-house designer with the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. An early bird, you can probably find Will before dawn running his neighborhood streets or lifting weights at the Y. Will lives close to downtown Athens and is married to Brittany, a lectuer at UGA. They have three kids and one cat, Moses.
Raised in coastal Georgia, Scott began drawing pictures at a young age and hasn’t stopped. As a teenager he created designs and color separations for silk screening, buried his head in comic books and learned about lettering in a local sign shop. Scott earned his BFA from the University of Georgia and later taught graphic design there for 10 years. For the last 20+ years at The Adsmith he’s enjoyed creating solutions that help clients achieve their goals. Scott serves on the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation (OCAF) board of directors and enjoys volunteering with the organization to promote the arts in his community. Scott lives in Watkinsville with his wife, Allison, his daughter, and Daffodil the cat. In his free time he enjoys drawing, painting, and attending his daughter’s dance and musical theatre performances.
Amanda, a graduate of the University of Georgia Graphic Design program, brings almost 10 years of experience to the table, crafting delightful design experiences working at the fulcrum of aesthetics and elegance. Among other things, Amanda is a soccer fan, dog lover, superhero buff, multidisciplinary designer, and a new mom. In her free time, she’s been keeping busy enjoying life with her husband and newborn son, Kaden.
Kirk Smith, president of The Adsmith, has over 35 years of working experience in advertising, graphic design and marketing. His interest grew from a youth surrounded by the business of “creating” — where as a child he would try to draw cartoons or help with ad “paste-up” alongside his father, an accomplished artist, cartoonist and the entrepreneur who created The Adsmith.
Kirk graduated from the University of Georgia where he majored in Graphic Design while working part-time at the company’s original downtown Athens office. Upon graduation, he began working at the agency full-time as an art director, eventually becoming a partner and now president of the firm. During his tenure, the agency’s work has been honored by Communication Arts, Print’s Regional Design Annual, Adweek, the Telly Awards, Addy Awards, Outdoor Advertising Association, Cooperative Communications Council, NRECA, the National Bank Marketing Association and many more.
A native of Athens, Kirk has always believed in doing what he could to help the community and area non-profit organizations. His primary focus in recent years has been as an advocate for people living with cancer, serving on the board of The Cancer Foundation and serving on the Committee for the Free to Breathe 5K. He was recently honored with both the PPD Hero award and the Hero of Hope award from the National Lung Cancer Research Foundation for his work raising money for lung cancer research as well as advocating for the importance of clinical trials. He has also volunteered on patient advocacy committees for Pfizer Pharmaceutical and was a guest panelist for Novartis Pharmaceutical as an advocate for lung cancer patients.
During his career, he has also served as a Mentor to the same young man for almost three decades, and has loaned his leadership skills to the board of the Clarke County Mentor Program, including two terms as president of the steering committee and several terms on the executive committee. Kirk is a graduate of both Leadership Athens and Leadership Georgia and has served a term on the Board of Directors of the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce. He was Co-Director (along with his wife, Jayne) of the Winter Games of the Georgia Special Olympics when they were held in Athens, and served as publicity director for the same event the two years prior.
In recognition of his community involvement, he was chosen as a “Community Hero” to carry the Olympic Torch during it’s route to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta (an honor he shared with both his wife and father). He was also awarded the Advertising Federation’s Silver Medal for creative achievement and community involvement, was a finalist for the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Person of the Year and recognized by the Athens Banner-Herald as a “Super Citizen.”
Kirk lives in Athens with his wife, Jayne and dog, Maximus. He is an avid runner, hiker, cyclist, mountain biker, Dawg fan, and advocate for those most vulnerable.
“People can’t pay you to care. People can’t teach you to care. But when you find something that you care about, you give it everything you’ve got. You never settle. And you are always pushing to learn and be better and support those around you. All I’ve tried to do in my career is care.” — David Droga
“People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures” —F. M. Alexander.
Noelle, a native of Hawaii and Art Director at the Adsmith, began working as an intern in the summer of 2010 and just never left. She loves helping the community through design and has been honored with a few community awards for her contributions to the Boybutante AIDS Foundation here in Athens. Noelle is a lover of music and currently plays in two local projects. She is the guitarist and one of the vocalists in Shehehe, a fun, fast, punk 3-piece with 2 Flagpole Music Awards under their belts, just having reached their 9-year mark. Tempest is her new project and has a much more mellow vibe, channeling modern lounge and jazz/blues; she provides vocals. To add to her many ambitions, Noelle loves cross-stitching, bowling, and her 2 cats, George and Hades.
If anyone knows design, it’s Harold Dean. He’s been cranking out print materials and winning awards for our friends at the UGA Athletic Association, among others, for as long as we can remember. As a seasoned Adsmith Designer, he makes up 1/3 of the tried-and-true trio, complete with Scott and Kirk. When Harold’s not at work, he enjoys a good old-fashioned game of football or basketball.
Our uber-talented Front-End Web Developer Grace grew up in a town called Fairyland (not joking) where she attended Fairyland Elementary and lived on Aladdin road (still not joking). Needless to say, she wanted to find an equally magical place for college — so moving to Athens was an obvious choice. As part of our talented Creative Team, she helps build and implement beautiful, modern and design-savvy websites with a focus on responsive design, cross-browser compatibility and accessibility for clients and end-users. When not coding the interwebs, Grace can be found dangling from a trapeze bar, in a yoga class, or hanging with her loved ones and super cute pup.
