Graphic Design

There is something about taking an idea from somebody and making it tangible that no other profession can match for satisfaction

I have been working frequently in the Adobe creative suite since 2007 and I think the story of how my style in this field has evolved is the most interesting of my 3 main areas of focus.

I got into this field as a way to share whatever popped into my imagination with my friends so it was more art at the start but I started getting commission work and that changed my perspective a bit.

I tended towards making people’s projects ‘mine’ and it took me a while to figure out why I was needing to make a million changes before we had something both of us were happy with. Every font, image, and position was geared around making something for myself.

It was when I started really digging into my marketing classes at UND that it dawned on me that I should not be making promotional work that appealed to me, it needed to appeal to the target group! This in mind, I came up with a pretty simple mantra that explains the philosophy I follow to this day: “My professional work is not art, it is a product”.

The phrasing might be a tad blunt but it seems to drive the point home quite well. I may have my own personal style that I use in my personal artwork but when I am commisioned, it’s about figuring out the brand/ personality/ message that you want to send and making that happen.

There is a totally different type of satisfaction in learning about other people, other companies, and different ways of looking at things and wrapping you work around that. The sense I get from people is ‘You get me!’ and that’s all I could ever ask for.

In a nutshell, my major principle with professional graphic design is to take myself out of the equation and try to build whatever somebody else is imagining.

Proficiency wise, I know the classics inside and out:

  • Adobe PhotoShop
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Adobe InsDesign
  • SLR-based camera photography
  • Print specifications
  • Print process