By Nicole Gennarelli
Two VCD graduates casually started their ideal business in February 2006. Now more than four years later it’s still going strong.
Sean Higgins,’05, and Nicholas Rezabek,’03, were roommates at Kent State. After graduation, they went their separate ways; Rezabek went to New York City and Higgins stayed in Cleveland. A few years later, the two realized they needed to create a job they both loved doing, because no one was going to do it for them. That was how The Bubble Process was born.
“Our main focus is primarily involved with the implementation and execution of limited edition silk-screened rock and roll posters, but that isn’t our only facet of creativity,” Higgins and Rezabek said. “We are also involved in editorial illustration and branding as well as a couple other areas of interest. We just like to cover our bases with everything we can get our hands on.”
Higgins and Rezabek said they work on mainly everything together. Living eight hours apart is tough, but it works for them.
“We talk to each other all the time over the Internet,” they said. “Instant messenger has been our lifeline these past couple years. We always try and stay heavily involved in each other’s worlds, but not to the extent of overkill. It is just the perfect amount.”
Generally, both of them work on everything together. Sometimes projects are suited for one of them, but they are always helping each other.
“We do everything from pencil, to pen, to marker, to watercolor, to computer, to torn paper and then some,” Rezabek said. “Right now, our print shop is in Cleveland with Sean, but we look forward to setting up in Brooklyn soon.”
Higgins and Rezabek said they haven’t faced any major hardships so far.
“There are obviously ups and downs with a business, dealing with clients and the workload, but we really cherish everything we do,” Higgins said. “Since we screen-print 95percent of the posters we design, there can often be unforeseen hurdles to get over outside of the “creative” aspect of what we do. But that’s been part of the learning process.”
The name of the business has a link to Kent State. When Higgins and Rezabek were roommates in Koonce Hall, part of Tri-Towers, they always referred to the building as “the bubble.”
“Basically it had anything you really ever needed,” Higgins and Rezabek said. “You really never had to leave. So we always called “home” the bubble, and the name spawned from that.”
The Bubble Process makes a profit in a few different ways. Most of the time the guys are commissioned to make posters for an event or company.
“Sometimes we work with bands that have a limited budget, and we offer our services with the right to sell the poster on our site and at events,” Higgins and Rezabek said. “Although sometimes this pays off, we really do this as a labor of love. Outside of posters we are commissioned for our designs and illustrations.”
Higgins and Rezabek have received a lot of recognition from both art and design groups.
“We have had our posters and art featured in various art galleries around the world and have been featured in multiple design publications and contests as well as online magazines,” Rezabek said.
Classes at Kent State helped them in the real world. Both developed a work ethic from the VCD program that has helped them achieve success.
“The conceptual foundation of the VCD program is really the one thing we took away from the program and has always been the first thing we address with our projects,” Higgins and Rezabek said. “That is something that has helped to make us stand apart.”
Keep trying and keep learning are the biggest pieces of advice they can give to current students pursuing their dreams.
“We are constantly honing our skills and pushing ourselves to the next level,” Higgins and Rezabek said. “If you can’t find that goal you are searching for, you may have to go out and make it yourself. We did, and we have zero regrets.”
http://www.thebubbleprocess.com/
Nicole Gennarelli is a junior public relations major and marketing assistant in the Dean’s Office of the College of Communication and Information at Kent State University.
Tags: art and design, brand, CCI, College of Communication and Information, Kent State University, KSU, Nicholas Rezabek, Nicole Gennarelli, posters, School of Visual Communication Design, Sean Higgins, The Bubble Process, VCD
