Full disclosure: Alex Roka and Joel Parr, interviewed in this post, are both fulltime employees of the agency and resident BAMFs. I interviewed them because I think their side venture is pretty awesome. I did not accept any bribes of briefcases full of cash, bottles of nice wine or unconditional love. Now you know.
Living in Austin gets exhausting. Every weekend there’s a new festival, art opening and underground concert you should be at. And with the added social media FOMO epidemic, things are only getting more hectic. Am I properly taking advantage of all my city has to offer?
Enter Wanderless – a new age, all-inclusive event calendar for the avid Austin socialite created by Anthony DeGennaro and Alex Roka.
Roka is a designer at GSD&M and came up with the idea with his roommate DeGennaro while struggling to find an event during last year’s Wurstfest. DeGennaro, who works for Emo’s , felt like there were lots of events that were going unnoticed throughout the city. They saw a need for an events site that was filtered well and presented in a pristine way.
A few months later, they had a business plan, a name and Roka got to work on the design. The logo alludes to the Austin tattoo culture with everything handrawn. As “eventcasters for the future”, he was inspired by the mystical nature of tarot cards and magic. Before the site even launched, his logo was picked up by Designspiriation.
For the site design, they wanted to keep it clean, intuitive, and easy to navigate, “Apple functionality meets Pitchfork aesthetic.” With help from GSD&Mer Joel Parr, the Beta site was developed and ready for launch last week.
The team of three wanted the site to be used across different devices. “You don’t always have your computer in front of you when you’re looking for something to do, so we created a site that could be easily viewed on a mobile device too,” Parr explains regarding the responsive design he developed.
It was important to them that the site remained simple without letting it become too cumbersome by trying to do too much.
And that’s exactly what it does. With three categories (music, film and arts & culture), you can sift through the best events Austin has to offer. Their Eventcast gives you their top choices for the day across all categories for week ahead.
DeGennaro says, “We want to have a constant pulse on Austin.” Whether you’re into Formula One Racing or the East Austin Studio Tour, their events cater to all types. It’s important to them that they give exposure to events that normally wouldn’t be on your radar.
So what are the best events in town according to the Wanderless team? Roka loves the Cinema East screenings. Parr enjoys all of the events around the East Austin Studio Tour and anything presented by Learning Secrets. DeGennaro thinks the UT Visual Arts Center is oftenoverlooked and often has many great , free exhibits.
Whether you are trying to prepare for the festivities of this upcoming weekend or just looking for a Wednesday night activity, Roka and DeGennaro want to help. Keep an eye on the site as these guys are hoping to continue eventcasting to bring a refined social calendar to the fine folks of Austin.
Pictured above: Joel Parr/Developer/GSD&M developer, Alex Roka/Founder/GSD&M designer, Anthony DeGennaro/Founder
