Experienced art director and multidisciplinary visual media expert will focus on the studio’s innovative motion graphic design for film, television, advertising, and other media.
Nice Shoes has hired John Koltai, a multidisciplinary creative director, designer, and animator with experience spanning virtually all forms of visual media. In his new role as creative director, he will focus on innovative motion graphic design for film, television, advertising, and other media.
A specialist in FUI (future user interfaces) and other future tech graphics for film, Koltai’s credits include Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spies in Disguise, Thor: Ragnarok and Iron Man 2 & 3. His design work has been featured in ads, branded content, and broadcast media for IBM, Ford, CBS, NBC, The Daily Show, and The Economist. In his most recent project, Koltai designed FUI graphics for the new HBO Max series Peacemaker.
“John is an incredibly gifted artist, innovator and storyteller, whose work is familiar to movie and television fans around the world,” noted Nice Shoes executive creative, global, Harv Glazer. “He has a wonderful ability to imagine future worlds and to present them with uncanny realism and artistic flair. He’s also an artist of extraordinary range who can enrich and expand all types of projects. We are excited to welcome him to our team.”
“Throughout my career, as a creative director, designer and animator, I’ve focused on producing great work—work that I can be proud of,” shared Koltai. “I’m thrilled to join a company that shares that commitment.”
Koltai’s background includes staff and freelance positions with leading design studios in New York and Los Angeles including The Mill; Method Studios; MPC; Smoke & Mirrors; ESI; Loyal Kaspar; Leroy and Clarkson; Imaginary Forces; Perception; Cantina Creative; Mixtape Club; and Blue Sky Studios. His work has been featured in Motionographer, STASH, Gizmodo, Promax/BDA, Pushing Pixels, Communication Arts, and Create Magazine.
A graduate of New York’s Parsons School of Design, Koltai began his career in broadcast motion graphic design, creating show opens, promos and similar media. His focus shifted in 2011 when as a designer at Perception, New York, he created graphic sequences for the film Iron Man 2, depicting technology used by Tony Stark in his superhero creation and his “Stark phone.” He followed that with design sequences for many other films, including holographic, smart glass and multi-touch user interfaces.
“The future tech environment has a ‘wow’ factor, but it can also be used to convey story points,” he added. “It not only has to look cool, it has to be appropriate, technologically coherent and advance the narrative.”
Regarding his new role at Nice Shoes, Koltai says it’s a chance to further his work in future tech design and to explore new realms.
“I look forward to contributing to a lot of interesting projects,” concluded Koltai. “I am well versed in 3D animation (Cinema 4D), 2D animation (After Effects), and designing styleframes and storyboards. At Nice Shoes, I hope to participate in all that. The scope and quality of the work they do here is the biggest attraction for me.”
Source: Nice Shoes
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
