IN MY MIND

Man running with mouse in his hand

Design is a sport

I’m sure that not everyone relates to this, but the rush I feel when I’m pushing to produce my best graphic design work reminds of the feeling I get when I’m pushing on a long run or tough mountain bike ride.
When I’m getting started on a new design project, it’s just work, process and self-belief. But as the design starts to take shape and pulls me in, and I feel myself moving past internal barriers, and it gives me an endorphin rush similar to a good work-out. So, in that way, graphic design, to me, feels like a sport that I love doing.

Professional Background

My eye and ability for graphic design, surprisingly, took root while performing the roles of a pressman, and later project manager, in the printing industry. Catering to very talented and discerning artists from high-end agencies in the Boulder/Denver area shaped my lens for what makes great commercial art.

Those printing roles demanded technical precision and an unwavering commitment to faithfully reproducing artwork as close to perfect as we could get it. The long hours and high standards taught me patience, grit, and a strong respect for producing quality.

I took my technical understanding for the printing process and married it with my strength for building and maintaining relationships when I accepted the role of outside sales/estimating/project management/customer service. I really enjoyed serving as the liaison between clients my team while implementing, in a new way, all I’d learned.

Building on that foundation, I pursued and earned a degree in graphic design from the Art Institute of Colorado. After being submersed, daily, for years in the work of those very talented agency designers, I was thirsty for knowledge when I started school and I soaked it up like a sponge.

Upon graduating, I worked for a few of my former clients where I learned the basics of print design and corporate design. I later augmented that knowledge by studying front-end web design (WordPress, Shopify, Slider Revolution, HTML, and CSS) and studio photography.

In my design career, I’ve created for print, web, social media, trade shows, and retail, amongst others, and I also worked as a photographer shooting both local scenic and product photography. For the past seven years, I’ve also focused primarily on production design, drawn to its fast pace, organizational demands, and the opportunity to apply a wide range of skills.

MY SKILLS

Graphic Design

Production Design

Web Design
WordPress & Shopify

Product Photography

Professional Photo Retouching

HTML & CSS Coding

Offset Printing Expertise

Project Management & Sales

Primary Markets Served: Educational, Musical Equipment, Real Estate Home Improvement, Food, Counseling, B2B & B2C

WORKING STYLE

Analytical

Problem-Solver

Friendly & Easy-Going

Empathetic & Helpful Team Player

Detail Oriented

Dependable

Operate with Integrity

Seemless Transitioning Between Skillsets

Committed to Quality

Strong Work Ethic

DELIVERABLES DESIGNED

Social Media Ads

Websites (and coding)

Logos

Infographics

PowerPoint Decks

Corportate Collateral

Catalogs

Packaging

Vehicle Graphics

Exterior Signage

Product Photography

Tradeshow Materials

Email Campaigns

Primary Technology

Percentages spec’d below represent the approximate percentage of my career spent with these different technologies & skills.

Adobe Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, Acrobat, Bridge)100%
Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel)100%
Front-End Web Design (WordPress, Shopify, HTML & CSS)60%
G-Suite (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Gmail)40%
Studio Photography30%
AI (Firefly)1%

Above is the primary technology that I use, but I’ve also used many others…
After Effects, Distiller, Constant Contact, Vertical Response, Wix, Weebly, Magento, Dreamweaver, C-Panel, FileZilla, Slider Revolution, Google Inspect, Editor-X, WooCommerce, GitHub, Sublime Text, Slack, Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Monday.com, SmartSheets. I also regularly work on both Mac & PC platforms.