Goldfinger C.S. founder Darrick "DL" Warfield is a busy man. While discussing the Atlanta-based company best known for its design of ads, music packaging and websites for pop culture's royalty, he may field five phone calls, joke with a co-worker, and direct him on a project. Then, he may unknowingly wow you by remembering the last thing you discussed with him before the phone calls.

He is focused. His sharp memory is typical of those with boundless creativity, something he regards as a constant while growing up in St. Louis. Painting was his earliest dance with the creative. "Art is something that I've always done. In elementary school, I used to get in trouble for drawing during reading time. My gift for art is somewhat genetic since there are artists on both sides of my family," he says.

He says that he took plenty of art-related courses in high school. His teachers urged him to become an architect, but he kept his options open. He also entertained thoughts of zoology, though his path was quickly diverted upon entering his freshman year at Washington University in St. Louis on an athletic scholarship. "Too many science classes for me,!" he joked.

While balancing and excelling at the commitments to his studies and the school's track and field and football teams, he met lofty opposition from his advisors. "Right when I got into my major [painting]," he says, "the teacher wasn't too fond of my doing athletics. But, I loved athletics as much as I loved art. Grading was problematic because he thought I was wasting my time, but everything worked out in my favor."

Points were also in his favor during his junior year of college, when a part-time job at a popular clothing store led to Warfield's interest in an internship with the store's parent company, Edison Brothers Stores. Warfield's application process demonstrated the benefits of providing the unexpected. He sent out the usual resume, cover letter, and art samples one day. The following day he sent Edison Brothers a promotional package, ensuring his good fortune: "They received a Chinese food box with my name and my logo at the time across the top of the box. Inside the box were fortune cookies, and each fortune told why Edison Brothers should offer me the internship."

He landed an internship with the St. Louis-based company's marketing department. The department was responsible for conceptualizing the commercials, print media, and packaging for its chain of stores, including Oaktree and JeansWest, and the popular dining and games venue Dave and Buster's. Warfield impressed Edison Brothers' bigwigs, resulting in the company's creation of a product developer/creative consultant position for him after he received his bachelor's in painting in 1992 from Washington University in St. Louis' School of Fine Arts. He was responsible for creating store interiors, advertising and marketing campaigns, and clothing designs.

Asked whether a great difference between general and clothing design exists, he notes no outstanding difference. "You just use a different brush to direct your art. The only difference with clothing is that you must have a greater sense of confidence in your foresight. Things need to be done about six months in advance. You have to be able to forecast trends. You either have to lead the pack, or stay close behind the lead dog." Conversely, "print-driven materials have to convey a message. Clothing doesn't necessarily have to. It's just an aesthetic."

After Edison Brothers, legendary hip-hop label Tommy Boy knocked on DL Warfield's door to head its clothing line. He was responsible for designing T-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets & hats. During his time with the New York-based label, once home to rappers De La Soul, he bought a computer and spent a year teaching himself Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Quark XPress, Painter, Bryce 3-D and Macromedia Flash. Those skills came in handy when he was pegged to head LaFace Records' Creative Department in 1995. Supervising a staff of four, the department was responsible for creating the materials used to promote the powerhouse label's projects, including the cover photo, and any art accompanying the producer credits and liner notes for Outkast's "ATLiens," Goodie MoB's "Still Standing," Toni Braxton's "Secrets" and TLC's "Fanmail" CDs.

Despite the controversy surrounding the demise of the label, headed by Antonio "L.A." Reid and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Warfield says there were no major challenges at LaFace. A few challenges, but nothing staggering. "Since it was a creative-driven company, the decision makers were creators as well. A lot of times you had to suit the appetite of them and the artist. It was also a challenge for some artists to open their minds up and take a risk to do something they may have never thought of doing before."

When LaFace closed its doors in 2000, Warfield was a few years past 30. He credits LaFace as a company that gave a lot of young African Americans the chance to "get their own thing rolling," thereby giving him the tools to officially launch Goldfinger Creative that same year. Armed with a staff of two, the collective has worked on ad campaigns for Hennessy and HBO, a website for Grammy Award-winning singer Monica, and collaborations with Nike, automobile giant GMC and rappers Nappy Roots, among others. Warfield's relationship with former LaFace artists Usher and Goodie MoB allowed Goldfinger to work on the packaging for Usher's multiplatinum CD "8701," Goodie MoB founding member Big Gipp's debut disc last summer, and the rap group's upcoming KOCH Records' debut, respectively.

Of Goldfinger, Usher says, "What keeps me going back to the Goldfinger staff is not just their obvious creative excellence but the passion that they put behind your project. They're relentless and really care about your product." Goldfinger's current projects include the CD packaging and website for female rapper Jackie-O, rapper Q-Tip's debut CD on Dreamworks Records, a website for Chicago-based telecommunications company Equivoice and Baby Ballers, a product essentially made for babies but will appeal to their parents. "Its sports ball shapes are made of foam rubber that slide over baby bottles," according to DL. The Baby Ballers product is in its development stages, but the married father of two says he hopes the bottle holders, affixed with major universities' mascots, will inspire infants to attend college.

DL Warfield advises Black collegians to "make their dreams happen" by working hard, being enthusiastic about any task given, and thinking outside the norm. Spoken like a person whose focus on the future is etched in solid gold.

Jevaillier Jefferson is a Los Angeles-based editorial consultant.