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Long before I even knew what “graphic design” was, or that it was a possible career to be pursued, I have memories of sitting in my room drawing (or more correctly, copying) logos out of magazines. All the classics, from Joe Camel to the Washington Redskins and any other random bands that I pretended to be way into at the time. My subscription to Spin magazine (back when it was oversized, and was decidedly more “indie”) provided me with all sorts of pop-culture minutia to emulate. It wasn’t until much later that I realized that I had started the foundation for my eventual decision to pursue this choice of daytime labor.

After almost passing on the opportunity—mainly due to my own teenage laziness—to get out of my hometown in rural Maryland, I ended up going to college at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh to pursue design. I can say with a great deal of certainty that I made the right decision. Going to design school is basically a test to see if you can stay sober enough to absorb the important information, while using your waining buzz to discover the creativity to emulate and evolve the styles that surround you. When I graduated from school I started working at a small design firm in the Southside of Pittsburgh. This little five person shop, run by a friendly but stern Polish immigrant, helped me to establish the building blocks of my deisgn style that I am constantly trying to obliterate. The funny thing about learning the fundamentals of design principals is that once you’ve got those figured out, you are contantly trying to teach your self how to break outside of those confines. It’s often easier said than done.

After a few years in a design firm I got the opportunity to be a designer at one of the largest advertising agencies in Pittsburgh. At the time, it was my dream job. Working on national clients, mingling with other like-minded creative types, expensing happy hours on a regular basis… the good life. Well, now things have settled down quite a bit, mainly due to the dreary economic climate, but also thanks to the evolution of the industry. There has been a major shift away from exclusive shops that specialize in one discipline. While this evolution has happened within my current place of employment, it’s probably a bit slower than the rest of the world. With less segregation of disciplines comes the neccessity of being very multifaceted. It’s much more difficult to settle into a niche style and still retain the capacity to earn a paycheck.

I guess all of that back story really just leads to the body of work that I’ve created over the last few years. While my style and focus are always evolving, I feel comfortable in my ability to adapt to whatever market, client, or medium that gets thrown at me. Check it out, and if you’d like, let me know what you think.

[My Resume]

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