How did Young Guns get on your radar?

Esteban: Almost every person I’ve followed and admired during my career has been a YG winner. It was something that has inspired me and it’s truly surreal to be even responding to this question right now.

Jordan: It was one of those things you learned early on: this was what it meant to be the best. I never thought I’d get there. I was making banner ads — I thought it wasn’t for me. And here we are, YG23…and sometimes we still make banner ads.

How did you end up in the creative field?

E: I’ve always been drawn to art, design, music, industrial design etc… And when looking at something to do professionally, advertising felt like the one thing where all of those and more disciplines converged.

To this day that’s what I tell people who are interested in pursuing this career: there are so few jobs where you can collaborate and interact with so many different creative disciplines.

J: I completely stumbled into it after a few years doing music videos in DC and Boston hip-hop circles, and a very fun stretch under Edward Boches at Boston University. It felt like a game of thought puzzles. How do we make X + Y = Z? And Esteban taught me how to make it art.

Advertising should always seek to become art. How lucky are we that the work is guaranteed to be seen by thousands, millions? It better be worth their attention. I love that challenge.

Why did you decide to enter this year?

E: We’re both 30 now, so yes it was definitely now or never. I applied solo a long time ago and this time around was our third time applying together. I guess it’s true that the third time’s the charm. It’s been fulfilling to see the progression of our work during these 3 years.

J: So much of life is like those finger-trap toys. We wanted it very badly for years. So much so, it probably showed. And it matches our development, too — in our early years, we were better at selling the work than actually making it. It took us a little while to figure that second part out.

And this year, after all this work, we did the whole application the night before the deadline. Of course, when you least expect it, there it is.

You only get to submit six projects. How did you decide what made the cut?

E: We made a list of all the projects we would consider submitting, but for us the ultimate test was asking the question: “Are we the most proud of this work?” If the answer was yes, we would add it to the list.

It wasn’t easy to select 6 things that we felt deserved to be submitted knowing the quality and talent we’ve seen win YG in the past.

J: I think the first five were no-brainers. The sixth, we went back and forth on quite a bit. I’ll let you guess which one that was.

“Advertising should always seek to become art.”

What was your reaction when you found out you won?

E: I remember waking up on a sunny day in Seattle (which doesn’t happen often this time of year) and seeing the email… It was surreal. A rush from a sunny day and on top of that winning YG!

It felt surreal after so many attempts. My wife surprised me with dinner at my now favorite restaurant in Seattle.

J: Go figure, the one morning I didn’t check my email. I’m in my kitchen making coffee when I get an all-caps text from Esteban. Immediately went out for chicken and waffles.

In what ways does where you’re living right now inspire your creativity?

E: I’m new to the PNW, but what’s been inspiring a lot lately are trees. There are so many different kinds, shapes, colors — I’ve been enjoying a lot just walking around looking at them up close. Nature is crazy!

J: My favorite thing about living in New York is getting on the train and looking at everyone’s shoes. It tells you everything you need to know.

Now that you’re a part of the Young Guns community, are there any past winners you look up to and admire?

J&E: There’s people we’ve known for a while and have worked together. We’ve always admired them as people and their work is incredible.

Amara Abbas (YG20) — Her sensibility and ability to tell stories in a very tactile and beautiful way. We met working together at Apple and it’s super inspiring to see what she’s done ever since.

Adrian Yu (YG20) — We recently worked with Adrian on an experiential project in Paris and his studio is so impressive and such masters of their craft.

Siavosh Zabeti (YG12) — Sia has been a mentor to us both since early on in our careers. His work continues to be some of the freshest out there.

If you could create a new Young Guns tradition what would you want it to be and why?

E: We should all get a varsity jacket with the year we won… or maybe we should bring back physical yearbooks and do a photo day for the winners to keep.

J: I think the cubes should be three times the size and made of tungsten.

Name a creative/professional dream project that you have yet to fulfill.

E: I wanna design and build my future house, would love to design the interior of a restaurant and

J: I got into this business to meet someone who knows someone who can play me Jay Electronica’s unreleased back catalog (still looking…). And then I saw Guinness Swimblack by Jonathan Glazer. And now all I can think about is making a film with Jonathan Glazer.