Welcome to Narwhal Creative, the San Francisco-based creative studio of Tim Lillis.
Narwhal Creative's focus is digital design — UX, UI, interaction design, and creative direction. With an emphasis on simplicity and storytelling, I am a valuable partner to clients of all sizes.
This studio specializes in creative work for technology companies, cultural and educational institutions, maker-type things, and the outdoor industry.
I'm also 1/2 of Primer Stories. Primer Stories is a digital storytelling platform that bridges the gap between interactivity, art, knowledge, and dialogue. Our visual narratives integrate text, illustrations, animation, photos, and sound to entertain and enlighten our audience. We've been credited with expanding the interactive medium in the same way that podcasts did for radio, and TED talks did for speaking engagements. After expanding into a for-hire studio, we've received a Webby award for our 2017 work with the International Committee of the Red cross.
I've contributed tons of illustration to MAKE and CRAFT Magazines, and ran an illustrated column / comic strip in MAKE for 5 years called Tricks of the Trade. I developed the format to share tips by experts in their fields, imparting pro-tip-level knowledge to non-experts in an installment-based visual apprenticeship.
I was a co-founder of Music Video Race, a platform for collaboration between musicians and filmmakers, pairing them up to create more than 60 all new music videos in a 48-hour period. We sold out our screening event for three years straight in the Bay Area before expanding to include an event in Austin, TX. My duties included managing operations + logistics, art direction, selecting the bands for inclusion, and all marketing activities.
An avid cyclist, Ive created lots of cycling apparel, both for the cyclocross team I ride on, and for my own line of clothing, Narwhal Cycling. Narwhal Cycling was spurred by a month in which I designed one jersey every day, after which I decided people should be able to wear some of the designs. I created two full kits so far, with more coming soon.
Another notable project was Kaiju Big Battel, a live monster wrestling league. For years I was a graphic designer, prop master, and production manager for live events and video shoots, coordinating set and prop creation, costume building, intern schedules, and everything else that goes into working with live city-crushing monsters. Aside from the main attraction of sold-out live events, we produced a DVD series, a paperback book on Hyperion Books, silkscreened art, a video special for MTV2, and some of the most bizarre merch you've ever seen.
That's not everything I've done, you'll see tons of other work on this site. Take a look around and holler if you have any questions.
I've spoken at SXSW, NerdNite, ITVS, Designers and Geeks, and Maker Faire about creativity, collaboration, play, and design. If you'd like to talk about a speaking engagement, a design project, a bike ride, or anything else, drop me a line here.
Have a good one!