Just who the heck is L2D?

Helen Norman photo

I'm Kent Lufkin and I started L2D Design in 1997. My background includes a bachelor's degree in design and photography and decades of experience in marketing, advertising and promotion for big clients and big ad agencies.

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, marketing communications was pretty simple. If you had a product or service, you simply ran some advertising which generated new sales and profits which then got reinvested into even more advertising, perpetuating the cycle.

But today, magazine and newspaper circulations are steadily declining, the old TV networks are steadily losing viewers and outdoor billboards have largely gone the way of the leisure suit. Hundreds of channels on cable television, the Internet, email and other new types of communications media have changed the old advertising landscape forever.

As consumers, we have more choices today than ever before. But the one thing we have less of is time. As a result, we've become increasingly impatient and obsessed with our quest to do more and more in less and less time. For a business trying to reach prospective customers with limited attention spans, being able to respond quickly to rapidly changing markets is vital.

That's where L2D offers an advantage by being able to quickly respond to your needs with timely communications vehicles and messages.

But for me, communications started long ago with a #2 pencil and a tablet of newsprint.

I grew up in California, the oldest of three boys in a family of nomads. Once I discovered a talent for drawing, I had little time for anything else throughout my school years, eventually earning a BFA in graphic design and photography. After knocking around a succession of jobs in corporate marketing departments and an ad agency, a transfer eventually landed my art-director wife Janna and I here in the Seattle area.

By 1997, with a family and a mortgage to support, we figured we’d pool our experience and start our own design business, two Lufkins joining forces, both designers. Thus the name L2D - Lufkin twice Design - was born in a late night epiphany. But not long afterward, Janna decided to focus on photographic styling instead, leaving the design business and the L2D brand to me.

In my earlier positions, I’d gained quite a bit of experience creating and deploying successful communications programs for others. As a newly-minted small business owner, I was confident I could tap the same skills to complete projects within my clients' budgets and deadlines, drawing on my background in marketing, advertising, project management, graphic design and art direction. As the Internet came of age, I added web design to my skill set.

	L2D World headquarters

Now, almost a decade later, I’ve been privileged to work with a wide variety of clients, ranging from sole practicioners to large corporations with hundreds of employees. Modern communications tools enable me to serve clients nationally and internationally just as easily as those within my own area code.

My goal is to provide my clients with maximum value and personal, responsive service. As principal, I’m directly involved in all projects and, when necessary, draw on specialized skills outside L2D. This approach enables me to consistently provide clients the highest design value.