Personal Profile
Where abouts are you from?
I’m originally from the small town called Pulaski in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, but have been living in Savannah, Georgia since 2000.
What is your technical background and education?
Inspired by my family and art teacher in high school I decided to pursue a career in art. Upon graduating high school in 2000, I went to the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) obtaining my BFA in Computer Art (focus on 3D Animation) in 2005. With the help of a large scholarship I continued my education and obtained my Masters of Architecture upon completion of my thesis book in 2010 entitled “The Pulaski Institute of Design” about transforming a furniture plant in the heart of my hometown into a design school - transforming the town into a “college town” which in turn would boost the economy and surrounding local businesses. While in school I started creating websites and had established my own business called Web Lab Design Studio, growing to have clients across the east coast of the United States. In 2015 I helped create and brand Picker Joe’s Antique Mall in Savannah, still maintaining role as CTO, growing the custom Picker Joe’s products to include coffee, soaps, candles and more. In February of this year I co-founded the Savannah Streetcar Design District to promote local businesses in one of the most growing parts of historic Savannah.
What inspires you to design watch faces?
I started out by buying my first smartwatch - the Gear S2. After quickly getting bored with the faces available, I wanted to make my own and found the Gear Watch Designer Beta 1.0. There wasn’t a plan on sharing the faces, but decided to upload a couple to Galaxy Apps to see how they would do. I made $17 that first day. So I thought to myself, what if I had 200 watch faces? Infinity Watchfaces has well over 200 available now.
Inspiration comes from everything around me - places or people. I love it when folks come up to me and say “I have an idea.” It’s great to be unexpected - from detailed faces like the King Chronos series or dynamically animated ones like “Joe” featuring a fun-loving dog who reacts to your step percentage.
What are some of your hobbies?
I’m a tech geek, love taking photos, and have 3 dogs and a cat that rule my world. Savannah is an event town, so you will often see me out and about having fun and networking with other local business owners.
Christopher Shomo
Your Brand
When did you create your brand?
Feb of 2016.
How many watch faces do you have in your collection right now?
230 to include 20 Galaxy Themes as well.
Do you have a particular theme you like to create your designs around? If so, what is it?
As long as it is animated and unexpected - you will see it. It could be aliens, dragons, dancing astronauts, or more traditional designs that have animated surprises.
What are your top most popular and/or most download watch faces in your collection?
Digi-Glow is the most popular - used to be my top paid face, became free as a thanks to everyone when the sequel Digi-Glow Spark came out.
What designs are you working on next and when can we expect to see them?
I’m about to introduce a new series starting with Agent 8. With about 10 faces currently in production and a couple Galaxy Themes a week, get ready for a rollercoaster of fun.
Identify all the items you create for the Samsung Galaxy/Gear series: Watch Faces – Apps – Themes
Watch Faces and also Themes for Galaxy Smartphones. I’m 2 months into designing themes and so far everything is going extremely well. Since the introduction of video lockscreens, we are now in my zone. Get ready for many more dynamic, attention-getting, fun, hilarious, cute, seasonal, and all around crazy cool themes with matching watch faces!
Watch Face Community
Please talk a little about the watch face community and what makes it interesting/special for you?
The part that’s special for me is the talented designers and awesome folks appreciate the hard work that goes into creating quality watch faces. It’s the people who make this worth it - every customer, every review… the watch face community has brought people together from around the world.
Why should designers consider developing watch faces?
Some perks are to be part of a fun community & make some money. Don’t expect to make a fortune, but you can make some good money with the right design and marketing behind it. The coolest part is knowing that people from all walks of life - from all over the world - could be wearing your design.
What are the common pitfalls you see when designers first start out and how should they avoid them?
Don’t make all your faces paid - establish your brand with some free ones. GOOD free ones.
If you could a new developer one piece of advice, what would it be?
Don’t get discouraged. Take a look at my portfolio from where I started to where I am now. You’ll laugh how much design quality has changed. Also - a bad review will happen, even on the best watch face. Don’t let that get you down - take a breather, then respond nicely. Take into account customer feedback - but remember it is your design, stick to your gut. A cool guy who’s a Jeweler said that to me. ;) Last bit of advice - a product is 10% your ideas, 90% the way you present it.
Which developers create watch face designs you really like and that inspire you?
Jeweler - Broda - Brunen, wow those guys rock. The team we had at SDC 2017 last year including Swiss Watch Faces, 78°N, and Echo Visuals - all were so inspirational along with the developers of the Gear Watch Designer now Galaxy Watch Designer.