Designer Clients
The helped test the software used in The Palace, a graphical chat virtual world first developed by Time Warner Interactive. Then she went on to design palaces of her own that outshine the original. She also designed some of the hottest selling products offered by Margaritaville Merchandising, Jimmy Buffett's retail organization. And she led the team that produced the three-dimensional visualizations for the giant heart in the BodyZone of the new Orlando Science Center. These days, Lynn R. Finch, President of Cadtek Services Inc. doesn't often find the time to indulge in her favorite sports - surfing and body boarding. That's because the San Jose State University alumna is usually burning the midnight oil, either for her Maitland graphic design and drafting firm, or for her virtual corporation, Finch Interactive Group. Finch Interactive specializes in Web design, on-line environments, VRML worlds and graphical chat spaces. But somehow, the 43-year-old wife and mother of two teenagers can still find the time to devote thousands of hours to volunteer efforts, such as The Healing Palace, a graphical chat virtual world under development. It will enable homebound and hospitalized children to learn and to interact with their teachers and their playmates. "The projects that interest me most are the ones where I can integrate my artistic talents and technical skills with my vision for a world in which communication and community outreach are enhanced by collaborative, catalytic efforts," she says. "Diligent isn't quite the right word to describe her," says Bob Hughes, promotion manager for television station WB 32 in Tampa Bay. "Compelled is more like it," echoes Charles Parrish, who directs the Technology Innovation Center at Valencia Community College. "I admire her eye for good balance and good design, but I sometimes get - the word frustrated comes to mind - by her [insistence on the] nth degree of quality." It is that insistence on quality, however, that has allowed Finch to grow Cadtek from a tiny technical drafting service with a clientele made solely of engineers, architects and technical designers to a small but influential graphic design service that has worked on projects ranging from theme parks to dog houses. Her seven-employee firm offers presentation graphics, multimedia, animation, three-dimensional visualization, corporate identity, merchandising graphics and exhibit design graphics. Cadtek has a client base of 200 and about 20 steady clients. In 1996, Cadtek logged $500,000 in sales, and projections show $750,000 in sales for 1997. Her client list is populated with some of the most well-known names Central Florida. For instance, Cadtek has been working for several years now on a computer-assisted facilities management project for Florida Hospital. Cadtek integrated original plans from the 1950s with the design changes made in the Orlando campus in the ensuing four decades. Then, the company created a set of new CAD floor plans that can be accessed on-line. "It will be one of the biggest interactive facilities management projects in the country when it's done," she explains. Cadtek was on the phase four expansion team for the cavernous Orange County Convention Center, along with Helman Hurley Charvat Peacock/Architects Inc., Central Florida's largest architectural firm. Cadtek also worked with HHCP and Dering Design on the Orlando Science Center. "Our work is all over the building," she says. "We did everything from drafting plans to producing 3-D visualizations for the giant heart in the BodyZone, as well as art for the huge tongue and body map rugs, the wall-sized sports photomontage mural in the BodyZone, as well as drafting and graphics for many other exhibits." Finch's forte is "working with 2-D images, such as CAD drawings, line drawings and technical models and converting them into 3-D animation," says Dick Hoffman of JHT Multimedia in Winter Park. Cadtek worked on the construction documents for Orlando's Ripley's Believe It Or Not with Maitland's PVK Architects. The firm has worked on several projects at Universal Studios and Disney and has designed merchandise and publications for Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville. Finch started Cadtek Services in 1987 with a $49,000 loan from George Livingston, a well-known "angel" financier whose interest she bought out recently. Livingston persuaded Parrish to become Finch's mentor. "A friend of mine who I've known since childhood had invested in her company and asked that I help him and help her with some mentoring many years ago," recalls Parrish, who is a well-known and highly respected graybeard among Orlando's technology elite and who lunches with Finch about once a week, on average. "There's always two sides to mentoring, and while I'm mentoring her, she's pressing me to stay up-to-date in technology. It's mutually advantageous." In 1995, Finch formed a second, virtual corporation: Finch Interactive Group, in which she teams with other individuals to produce on-line interactive environments, graphical chat spaces and VRML worlds, as well as designing Web pages. "The company actually has no employees," she says. "I act as the creative and directional resources for projects that I might originate or that might originate elsewhere." Finch's second company has designed an interactive kiosk for Nectars Inc. as well as the Web site for WB 32. "I would put her at the top of my list of Web site developers," says Hughes. "There are so many people out there that will tell their client, 'Oh, we know how to do a Web page.' In the end, they're clueless. You have to make a site that is visually compelling, with compelling content, and that's all stuff that she understands." |
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