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    • Crain's Detroit Business: WINNER: 2008 Social Entrepreneurship Award
      “It's really interesting to watch a community grow from 11 people to just shy of 300 in a short period of time, to watch people communicate and go from online chats to getting together in person, forming impromptu groups, meeting each other ... "
    • Ann Arbor Business Review: Southeast Michigan networking site has creatives in mind
      "The site would work similarly to MySpace or LinkedIn but would be targeted to creative companies or individuals such as artists, musicians, designers, IT professionals, programmers, video editors and writers, said Carl Winans, a partner in the firm."
    • Real Detroit: Connecting Creativity
      "Carl Winans has a different idea about social networking. His idea? Make it local. After he finished co-founding an Internet advertising and design agency, Elemental, he decided to take some of his ideas to the next level by tapping into Detroit’s ..."

Today…

When I’m not working out the details of a new idea, devouring blogs and books on what’s next or traveling, I’m helping clients big and small learn how to use new media and social networking to their advantage.


I’m a new media strategist, designer and technology junkie with a marketing background and more than eleven years of experience. My background in interface design, usability and my deep understanding of new media and social networking trends allows me to contribute directly to the success of my clients.


With inspiration derived from Larry Weber’s book Marketing To The Social Web, I launched Deep Canvas in April of 2008, a social network for the creative community in Metro Detroit and subsequently won Crain’s 2008 Social Entrepreneurship Award.


The Good Ole’ Days…

My entrepreneurial drive asserted itself during my college career when, by day, I would skip classes to design, print and sell t-shirts out of my dorm room and, by night, attend the local comedy club to perform amateur stand-up. I found myself quickly returning to classes, however, when MSU sent me a letter stating I could not run a business out of my dormitory and the comedy club strongly advised me not to quit my day job.


I began my career freelancing while attending Michigan State University, founded RIPE Interactive in early 1998 after graduating with a degree in advertising. In late 2003, I and four friends founded Elemental with nothing more than our talent, chemistry & teamwork. Elemental was an interactive firm that was hell-bent on retaining creative & technical talent in the midst of Michigan’s challenging economy. I have subsequently built a network of strategic alliances and clients throughout Detroit, Chicago and Los Angeles and launched carl_winans(digital) in late 2008 to bring the latest and most efficient new media and social networking solutions to my clients.