Four Graphic Design majors are putting what they learned in the classroom to work in the “real world.”

“We started trying to put this idea together last summer,” said Nathan Hobbs, a Black, AL native, who is one of the founders in Studio 207, a multimedia design company based in Troy.

“We realized through the degree program that we worked well together. Each of us has their own strengths and we round-table the work,” he said.

Along with Reanna Thompson, from Panama City, Jared Hester, from Birmingham, and Howard Pervee, of Hartford, the quartet named their company after their Troy Campus classroom in the International Arts Center, and decided they wanted to stay in Troy to launch their business.

At the end of their final semester, they entered the IDEA Bank’s student business marketing competition and took top honors. In addition, Studio 207 has won a Telly Award for a music video they produced; took five Silver Addy Awards from the American Advertising Federation, claimed six medals in the YellowHammer Film Festival and their film, “Happy Birthday Greg,” took Best Directing, Best Acting, Best in Show, Best in Bama and Best Use of Required Dialog awards in the YellowHammer 48-Hour Film Festival.

Video production isn’t their only long suit, however.

“Our tagline is ‘we do it all’ – between the four of us we do video, photo, print design, web design, and motion graphics,” Hobbs said. “I feel like even the (agencies) in Dothan and Montgomery are much more focused . . . We are a one-stop shop.”

Not only is the group a full-service graphics agency, but their niche is in serving clients in Pike and surrounding counties, meaning companies don’t have to go to Dothan, Montgomery or Birmingham for professional-level services.

“Right now, we’ve realized that staying local has been a big advantage for us,” Reanna Thompson explained. “We are in the Troy area. We’re here and we can come into your office and talk to you face-to-face. There are opportunities here, and they don’t have to go to Dothan or Montgomery.”

The group landed its first major contract client, Troy Regional Medical Center, in February, and have worked with several other companies on projects.

“People can do things for themselves, but we’ve paid a lot of money to get a degree so that the four of us can bring a level of professional design to anybody who wants to work with us, rather than them sitting in front of a computer for hours and hours,” Jared Hester said.  “We have professional equipment and industry standards to bring to the table.”

Hester said the classroom experience at TROY taught the group the importance of professionalism in the creative process.

“A lot of professors have been freelancers before and know how to get into business. They try to teach the industry standards and how you need to do and they hammer deadlines because time is money. They teach getting things done in a timely manner and that how you talk about your work is professional,” he said.

“We’ve had to learn a lot of business on our own because design work is what we know,” he added.

Hobbs echoed that sentiment, and points to the IDEA Bank in getting them working as a business.

“The creativity is where we live. In the business side of things, we’re brand new – we didn’t know how to file an LLC; we didn’t know how to talk about taxes; we didn’t know how to work as a group as a functioning business. That’s why we came to the IDEA Bank,” he said.

The group works out of the IDEA Bank and from their homes, but the support they’re receiving is helping them organize and learn the ropes of running a successful business.

“They’ve been developing a proposal for the IDEA Bank as a client, and we’ve been meeting about their approach,” said IDEA Bank Director Lynne George. “I think it’s helpful for them to ‘learn by doing’ as they go through the client process.” 

While the business isn’t large enough to hire a full-time manager, through the IDEA Bank’s help they’re taking steps in the right direction. They’re hiring a CPA to help on the financial end of the spectrum, and they divide the administrative workload between them.

“I think we just want to be back to focusing on the creative things,” Purvee said. “We’ve been slogging through the standard business stuff, but that’s not why we got into business.

“We got it in to help people,” he said.