About

Company History

Faded Pictures Designs was started by Bret Robertson in 1998. Bret has been designing for the web since 1995. Faded Pictures started as a moniker under which Bret produced independent films while in college at Biola University [1999] as a film major. Some of those films might someday reappear here, until then, just imagine how award winning and great they were.

The Name

Many have wondered where the name came from, and if it means anything. The short answer is, a song and nope.

Some have asked if we restore old photos, a legitimate question. But we don't, sorry. We do, however, like to play with photos and are pretty good at making them look old or new, depending on our mood at the time.

The name Faded Pictures though, came from a song by The Smashing Pumpkins called Where Boys Fear to Tread off of their Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness album. The name itself wasn't picked because of any special meaning or significance, mostly just because we thought it was pretty cool. We do feel it is kind of mysterious and avante-garde. That's what we tell ourselves anyway.

Personal

Creative

Bret has always pursued creative things, it's probably the Hawaiian in him. Seriously, think about it, the hula, surfing, poi, totally creative stuff.

From picking up the guitar in junior high, to writing and recording a worship album in high school, Bret has always enjoyed the right-brained creative things mixed with the left-brained logic and details.

In college, Bret taught himself about the aesthetics of design and composition, as well as the technical side of the Internet. He built his first website in 1996 for a small film project he wrote, produced and co-directed.

After college, Bret worked in the film and TV industry for a few years doing various jobs from an Assistant Editor, to a Writer, to a Producer. He even has a TELLY Award to show for his efforts.

Bret enjoys all sorts of creative and geeky things, especially if they have an Apple  on them or can manipulate an image. Sometimes his wife worries about him.

As a designer, Bret has worked in print, web, and interactive new media, but much prefers web design. It is the juxtaposition of the design and the code that he likes. It's all about the abstract and the concrete, the creative and the logical, the yin and the yang; you get the idea.

For branding and identity design, we recommend our partner Thrive Studios. Chris from Thrive is all into that sort of design stuff, and is really good at it too.

Family

Bret is married to the love of his life, Leslie. They married in 2004, and their life has steadily grown more amazing each year.

Bret and Leslie don't have any kids, but they do have the cutest Pug ever, Duke Kahanamoku. Duke was named after "the Big Kahuna" himself, the famed Hawaiian who is known as the Father of Surfing. Duke is quite the character, and certainly the center of attention. He is the primary entertainment around the Faded Pictures' office.