Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Despite the ever-increasing abundance of negative economic news -- layoffs, cutbacks and businesses closing -- we've found yet another business that's busier than its ever been.
At the end of the cul-de-sac at Exchange Place, there's a window with four digital countdown clocks. They're counting off the days, hours, minutes and seconds to some very important dates.
The staff at Infinite Scale Design Group is in charge of creating the look, feel and image of some of America's premier events. "Our next project is the Orange Bowl," creative director Cameron Smith told us.
That's on Jan. 1, then comes the BCS Championship Game a week later. After that, there's the Sundance Film Festival, the NHL All Star Game, Superbowl XLII and the Daytona 500: six projects in six weeks.
Walk around the office, and on every wall and every computer screen there's a graphic or banner or other image in various stages of design. It's busy here, and extra help was needed.
"We brought on additional freelancers to help us through December and January with the massive workload that we have," said Amy Lukas, director of project management.
Infinite Scale got worldwide exposure during the 2002 Olympics. The huge building wraps in downtown Salt Lake could not be missed.
That exposure helped them land the Superbowl -- now five years and counting -- and those Superbowl images have since drawn the attention of the NCAA, BCS, NHL and Sundance. All are new clients looking for a higher-quality look.
"That's why they've come to us. They said, ‘Look, we've been here and we know you can take us there,' and that's what happens; and sometimes that can be a challenge and a little bit difficult," Smith said.
Lukas added, "When the NHL hired us, they said, ‘We want what you did for the Superbowl. We want that quality to represent us.'"
It's a business that's going against the grain of today's economic downturn. The company is growing and attracting new clients, with a staff of dedicated employees who don't mind the long days and nights to make sure these projects are completed and in place when these clocks hit zero.
Despite how busy the company is right now with all the simultaneous projects going on, they say the 2002 Olympics was the "daddy of them all.'
E-mail: kmccord@ksl.com
