#antilabs

F.U.S.E. 2014 is happening again this year in Downtown Fresno and our friends at Creative Fresno have been hard at work lining up a great lineup of venues and performances.

Once again we had the privilege of crafting the aesthetic identity for the event (it's our third time). This year we had help with the lettering from Lab friend Curve HTK.

Cliché time: Mumbai = sensory overload. Gazing from the car window constantly surrendering your sense of regularity, seeing a new idea of what normal means every 3 minutes. The first couple days in Mumbai was an exercise in relaxing my own personal sense of what I should expect to encounter in a given day. Flying through the cities streets with our driver Raj expertly navigating the ins-and-outs of the  unique Mumbaikar interpretation of acceptable driving practices was a case-study in making your own way — literally. The horn takes the place of the blinker, and any space wide enough to fit the natural taper of the front-end of Raj's Tata equated to our own lane. The city doesn't come alive until around 11am, and once you come to realize that — getting up-and-going just before dawn becomes your temporary key to the city. Wandering the streets of Lokhandwala, Andheri and Santacruz, we were fortunate enough to be able to spend most of our 7 days experiencing the real Mumbai. A Mumbai in which you can go days without seeing someone that's not 'local.'

Speaking of locals, here's Lab friend Poetik Justis of Slumgods crew doing a freestyle on the Santacruz Skywalk.

FALL 2013 PRODUCTION REEL

People often ask what I’ve been up to. Press play and find out. There is so much I want to say. Every scene in this production reel comes with one hell of a story and if you catch me at a bar one day, I’ll probably tell you one of them. People often ask me what I want to do now. The same thing I’ve been doing, only better. Music videos, commercials, and documentaries is where it’s at for me. I just want to build and grow and keep meeting inspiring people along the way. People often ask me why I’m back in Fresno. Why the hell not? I’ve traveled the world shooting videos in hella places. I can write treatments at any coffee shop in the world. It really doesn’t matter. My people are here. I’m from here. People often ask me "What is AntiLabs?" It’s the home of epic Chatroulette parties. But really, it's an approach — the method by which we tackle projects and help clients make the most of opportunities to build their brand. The product of that process has been seen by hundreds of millions of people around the globe, and that's something we're very proud of. Me and Floyd are working together closer than ever now. If you’re not familiar with AntiLabs, get familiar. Let’s do work.

Punit Dhesi Director [email protected]

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When it comes to writing anything substantial, they say that starting is the hardest part. Now that I’ve got that out of the way, let me introduce myself (shhhh, this is my process).

My name is Hans Steele, but most people around these parts call me ‘H’. Ive been asked to write a little about myself, which is a surprisingly hard thing to do. When I want to learn about someone whom I’ve never met before, my instinct these days is to glance over their various social media profiles and make some assumptions (and I like to think I’m not the only one that does this). While this isn’t always the case, it’s a tactic that people in our culture often resort to. So let me save you the trouble. My LinkedIn labels me as a “Strategic Creative”, Twitter describes me as “fierce and beautiful (and bears)”, my Facebook is filled with occasionally-relevant links and images, and all three of those platforms might lead you to the realization that I just started working for a company called Anti Laboratories. 

FINDING DOWNTOWN

My deep interest in the Downtown area began just over a year ago when some classmates and I began a remodel project on an old home in the area. After learning a lot about construction, networking with some great people, and ultimately completing the project, I wasn’t sure what the next step was. I dabbled in some more construction related projects through the summer heat, but as an impatient youngster I wanted a bigger hand in making a difference downtown. 

While working part time for a contractor in the Fall, I had some classes at Fresno City and spent free time looking to get involved downtown. After a couple months of failed attempts in finding a position downtown, I finally got connected with a downtown nonprofit called Creative Fresno and simultaneously found an apartment in the area. CF offered me a volunteer position doing some legwork on this new project called “CartHop”, which was supposed to keep me busy a few hours a week. Soon after, through my desire to see the project expand and grow, a few hours a week turned into 25 hours a week and I found myself with a real job. All of the sudden, I was living, working, and playing in downtown Fresno, and I loved it. 

H STEELE, PROJECT MANAGER

So where does AntiLabs fit in? Well, quite perfectly. I met Floyd through Creative Fresno, and learned about his branding and design company through his work for CF and the CartHop project. Right away I noticed his unique focus on improving the downtown area through the creative outlets of his business. Like me, Floyd lives and works here, but he’s been doing it for years. My coordination work for CartHop caught his eye, and his passion for downtown caught mine, so he approached me with the opportunity to obtain and manage projects for his company (in a nutshell, I’ll be communicating with small business, nonprofits, and independent artists to ensure that they can get the most out of their image).

Of course, I jumped at the chance to be involved with AntiLabs, especially since it would allow for me to maintain my work at CartHop. I've admired frequent AntiLab collaborators Punit Dhesi and Conlan Spangler for some time, and working with them was an exciting opportunity.  The work coming out of this studio is striking, fresh, vocal, and ultimately screams innovation (it’s called Anti Laboratories, after all). Recent revitalization efforts have championed these very attributes, and I knew that it’s prudent for a small business like Floyd’s to be connected with the movement. Downtown has had a valuable asset not at its doorstep, but sitting right there in its living room, tweeting from the couch (but getting a lot of quality work done too). 

DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY

Anti Laboratories is a company downtown needs. I met with a business owner just last week who asked me why AntiLabs doesn’t move up north where the money is. Our answer is simple: Its always tempting to take the easy way out and head to greener pastures, but that approach never brings change. Progress doesn’t happen on its own, committed people need to be involved. We want to make a difference. We want to breath life into a city-center. We innovate, we do, and at the end of the day we remember that downtown Fresno needs a little Anti in its quest for a new life. It needs to do things differently, and we’re the perfect guys for the job.