Jason Smith has a passion for design and the arts.
You can see that when you walk into his company Fathom: wooden floors, recessed lights, a charcoal-gray wool couch, silver-and-glass desks, and orange and indigo iMac computers.
Formerly Fathom Design Group, the 3-year-old agency is at 308 N. Second St., Harrisburg. The design and communications agency creates custom logos, designs Web sites, writes press releases and prepares annual reports, to name a few services.
Inside Fathom's building, the company features Fathom Gallery. The free gallery, which opened May 11, has an exhibition called "Lifelines" by company creative assistant Elisa Cathleen Lauer. "Lifelines," a reflection of Lauer's life, displays collages made of ticket stubs, business cards, bookmarks and museum floor plans.
The exhibition is the company's first step to bring more culture to downtown Harrisburg.
Fathom's second step, Streetmusic@Fathom, will be a free, weekly music series that will begin in July. Fathom is looking for talented artists for the series, said Smith, the company's co-owner and creative director.
Smith said he decided to promote culture because he likes the energy of Harrisburg and wants Second Street to be a destination spot not just a thoroughfare.
The gallery and music series will also improve his young company's image, he explained.
"People are going to hear about Fathom, and that's always good for us," Smith said. "We want to affect the culture of Harrisburg."
Steve Neiman credits Smith for promoting culture and said he doesn't see how a business can grow without giving back to its community.
"I think it's a responsibility," he said about contributing to the community.
Neiman, chief executive officer of Neiman Group, added that part of his contribution to Harrisburg is donating money to the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts. Neiman Group is a Harrisburg-based advertising agency that offers broadcast, print and trade advertising and integrated communications services.
When Fathom is not promoting culture, it's helping clients.
The agency reported revenue of between $350,000 and $400,000 in 2001. Its clients include fund-raising consulting firm Holliman Associates in Newport, Perry County, and law firm Goldberg, Katzman & Shipman, Harrisburg.
To help serve his clients, Smith created Fath om Collective, a group of free-lancers.
The collective consists of graphic designers, architects, Web programmers and public-relations specialists, Smith said. If members of the collective want to work at Fathom's office, they can work in small rooms called "pods" that Smith designated for them.
Smith said he can't afford to pay his 20 free-lancers full time, but he still wants to work with talented people. He added that he considers the free-lancers "affiliates," not free-lancers, because of his close relationship with them and because he pays them a commission. Most freelancers do not get commissions at companies like his, he said. The agency has four full-time employees.
Smith's need for talent and quality earned the company four Polly Bond Awards in April. The National Association of Episcopal Communicators presented the awards in Washington, D.C. Fathom won the awards in the specialized print category for a brochure, booklet, advertising campaign and postcardmailer series.
Before Smith started Fathom, he was a creative director at Morehouse Communications Inc., Lower Paxton Township.
He and his wife Molly started the company, first called Smith Group, in their home. The kitchen was the employee lounge, Smith said. Then, in 2001, he bought a building for $200,000 that was previously Wesley's, an upscale men's clothing store.
Since Smith liked Wesley's interior design, he didn't renovate the building that much, said Jane LeVan, director of client relations. LeVan said another advantage is that the building is right on Harrisburg's thriving "Restaurant Row." "We kind of got lucky," she said about finding the building.
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