About Us
Hold Fast Creative is a full-service design studio that specializes in web design, web development, user interface design and custom mobile application development.
Led by Derek Balmer, our boutique company is on a mission to deliver stellar design and development services to good people with
awesome ideas.
So, what’s it like to work with Hold Fast Creative?
Our process is simple; we listen to your problem, then provide the best solution possible within your timeline and budget. Whether you need an interface for your new product, or a complex custom-tailored website, we have the expertise to provide you with a great solution that will exceed your expectations, not your budget.
We are a small company which allows us to stay nimble. Most projects are hardly ever a straight path. As ideas evolve and requirements shift,
we keep the work fluid and roll with the changes as they arise. We work with corporations, non-profit organizations, small businesses and
individuals alike.
Another benefit to operating a small studio is our limited overhead. We partner with trusted contractors on a per project basis when needed. This allows us to assemble a lightweight team, picked especially for your project, that will provide expert service without bloating the cost. This collective approach to design and development creates real value for our clients.
Derek Balmer
Principal / Designer
Derek lives in beautiful Denver, Colorado where he spends his days (and nights) telling the tales of others through pixels and code. He’s obsessed with visual communication and fascinated by the influence design and technology have on our culture. He enjoys working with nice people, who are passionate about their craft. Having the opportunity to be creative and solve problems for these people is, quite frankly, what Derek is all about.
In a former life Derek was the Creative Director of a small mobile content startup, where he led a small team of print, web and motion graphics designers through torturous direct response projects; often involving excessive use of the words “fresh” and “hot”. It was a great experience. He made some friends, and learned a few things (some the hard way).
In June of 2006, Derek quit his job, married the love of his life and started a new company building mobile apps with a couple partners. Since then he has been running his studio, Hold Fast Creative, and started a few fun experiments such as Momentile.
When Derek isn’t working, he’s working.
Random (and very odd) personal facts, beliefs & opinions.
- I’m a family man. It’s pretty awesome.
- My pancreas has a bad attitude. The official medical term is Diabetes.
- Roughly 75% of my body is tattooed. I look kinda funny naked.
- A day at the track is always a good day.
- Dig what you do (or don’t do it).
- I am incapable of growing a mustache.
- When I was 8 years old I had a mullet.
- Passion over pennies. Always.
Brett Duncavage
Partner / Developer
Brett became obsessed with computing in the 1980’s when a TI 99-4A made its way into his home and he wrote his first program in BASIC. He was hooked, plain and simple. Writing code provided challenges and emotional payoffs that other activities simply couldn’t match. Since then, Brett has soaked up computing knowledge like a giant sponge (or a really big stack of napkins). Brett was formerly the System Architect at 9 Squared (now Zed America) where he developed all of their flagship mobile applications. Since then he has been crushing code and producing mobile applications and custom web apps for various clients across the nation.
Fun facts about Brett
- BS in Computer Science (minor Mathematics) University of Denver 2003
- Awarded the 2006 Qualcomm BREW Developer Award for RealTone JukeBox.
- Knows the BREW, iPhone, and Celltop platforms intimately (Andriod is well on the way).
- Knows the C, C++, Java, PHP, and Objective-C languages deeply.
- Can solve a Rubik’s Cube in 2 minutes (I’ll get to the sub 1 minute mark someday).
- Once ate a golf ball-sized portion of wasabi in one bite on the promise $23. He never received the funds.