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Nick Rastenis
Set Design, Production Design: movies, tv, film, commercials, Exhibit Design, Environmental Design, Experiential Design
Professional Background
Nick Rastenis is a highly skilled and passionate design professional specializing in creating immersive environments for various visual mediums. Based in Chicago, Nashville, and Austin, Nick's expertise transcends traditional design principles, allowing him to craft unique experiences for television, film, commercials, theatre, and exhibit design. His diverse range of services includes set design, scenic design, environmental design, and interior design, showcasing his versatility and adeptness in translating creative ideas into visually stunning environments that tell compelling stories.
From his early career, Nick has built an impressive portfolio through numerous roles in production and design. His innovative approach and design acumen have earned him opportunities to work with high-profile clients and projects across the entertainment industry. Nick's commitment to storytelling through visual arts is the cornerstone of his work, and he continuously pushes himself to develop creative solutions that elevate each project to new heights.
Education and Achievements
Nick holds a Master of Fine Arts in Design from the prestigious Yale University, where he honed his design skills and developed a deeper understanding of the creative process. Prior to that, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Design from The University of Texas at Austin, laying a solid foundation for his career in various design disciplines.
Throughout his career, Nick has worked with a multitude of organizations, taking on various roles such as Creative Project Manager at L3Dfx and Production Designer at Gorilla. His extensive background includes serving as Exhibit Designer at Imagen LLC and Production Designer at several notable firms, including Engineisle and Mekanism. His ability to integrate storytelling with design has created a lasting impact in the projects he has contributed to, making him a sought-after figure in the design community.
Notable Projects
Among Nick's notable projects is his role as Production Designer and Set Designer at NBCUniversal Media, LLC, where he played a pivotal role in developing aesthetics that resonate with audiences. Additionally, his work at Giordano Dance Chicago as the Manager of Marketing and Design reflects his capability to blend creative vision with strategic marketing initiatives. Nick also contributed significantly as an Art Director at Big Toe Films, further showcasing his versatility in the art and design domain.
Nick's creative reach extends beyond individual projects. He has also worked on numerous productions, including various theatre companies where his set design expertise came to life. His roles at venues and companies such as the Mortar Theatre Company, Piccolo Theatre, and Lincoln Center Theater highlight his adaptability to various artistic styles and audiences.
Skills and Tools
In addition to his extensive design experience, Nick is proficient in an array of industry-standard design tools, demonstrating his technical abilities. He is well-versed in Adobe Creative Cloud applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and After Effects. Furthermore, he has expertise in 3D modeling and rendering tools like Rhinoceros, Keyshot, V-Ray, and AutoCAD, which assists him in bringing his concepts to vivid life. His skills in storyboarding and production art layouts enable him to communicate ideas effectively and engage collaborators throughout the design process.
Nick is also known for his leadership abilities, which have been honed through years of team-leading experience. His approach promotes collaboration while ensuring conflict resolution among team members, fostering a productive and creative workspace.
Community Engagement and Future Aspirations
Beyond his professional endeavors, Nick is committed to contributing to the arts and design community. He is recognized for his willingness to share insights, mentor aspiring designers, and engage in local art initiatives. As he continues to develop his career, Nick intends to explore more collaborative projects that can merge environmental considerations with creative design, emphasizing sustainability and innovative solutions in the design realm.
Achievements
Some of the prominent accomplishments in Nick's career include working as an Art Director at significant production companies and showcasing his design talents through impactful set designs at various theatres. His role in influential projects, particularly with NBCUniversal Media, is a testament to his dedication to excellence in design. The breadth of his experience across different industries exhibits his flexibility and skill, making him a well-rounded design professional ready to tackle future challenges.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.