When I was a kid I liked to draw. My favorite subject was school projects, building dioramas, wall displays and in fifth grade I designed a Pioneer Lifemagazine which is on this page. My aunt was married to a no-good bum of a graphic designer and by association all artsy graphic designers were to be avoided and certainly not something to aspire to. So I suffered through high school not an athlete by any consideration and not one of the artsy crowd either.

Off to Hillsdale college where I took a couple of art and drawing classes so I could have class with my girlfriend. It was too easy and I finally got some “A”s. I designed flyers for my fraternity when we had jungle juice parties and other rush events.

Graduation, with a communications degree, woefully prepared for a career. I worked in stores and waited tables. Then I met Ron who was a real graphic designer at a drawing for every day. Hey this looks like something a could do. I produced a couple of newsletters for the Ground Round restaurant and went to an interview at a local record store who needed a store display artist. I was already working in a store but this was a Record Theater record store! I made displays out of posters and hand lettered signs when we had sales or ticketron selling tickets. Was a great job, concerts, records, 8-tracks. My boss called me downtown to the office to talk. Well, Walter, the guy who did the newspaper ads was quitting to be in a band and would I like the job? Would I? Heck yes! I worked in a record store main office and warehouse and did displays in 7 stores and did the full page ads for the chain of stores, as Welk as riots of side work for bands, album covers, The Agora, and concert promoters like The Belkins. More free concerts, concert parties and learning how to be a graphic designer. Ron and I would sit evenings and talk about design and read Graphic magazines.

Wouldn’t last forever so I had a local printer, Evans Printing, print my resumes and letterheads. Dick Evans offered me a job and it was close to my apartment so I took the offer. I worked 5 days a week key lining business cards, brochures, flyers and whatever else somebody needed in the early 80s. A lot of wok for a wide variety of customers, fast, fast, get it printed, deadlines. Being kinda hot headed, this resulted in a huge argument with the boss and me quitting before he could fire me.

Back to waiting tables at a good French restaurant (free dinners) and working part time for ad agencies, printers, and anybody else who would swap money for work. I had my tools in a tackle box of sorts and would call in the mornings to see if there was any work today. I eventually called on a guy with vast experience in the Cleveland market and he offer me space in his office. His mane was John Crotty and he had repped several illustrators and was back in Cleveland after a stint in booming Atlanta. “You can use this space however you want and just be here to do my work”. Wow great deal! He had a stat camera and a Chagrin Falls address. I went there every day. We had hospitals, heavy equipment manufacturers, Sherwin Williams and other big names as clients. Steady work for me and I could do work on the side too. Umm, after he bought himself a house in Chagrin and a sailboat and an ultralight and lots of other toys, It seemed like something was wrong. The offer of making me a co owner and he’d move to France didn’t seem to be happening. I began to want to spend my time with a future wife and so John and I split in a nasty way.

I continued to work for my customers out of my house. All good. Bought a house in Cleveland Hts. I continued to design and produce printed newsletter, brochures, logos, and all other sorts of printed materials. Something call the World Wide Web was beginning and my neighbor Fred Way got me up to speed on this whole modem and email thing. See Fred was a retired computer engineering professor from Case Western University. I didn’t really thing that electronic stuff could ever affect the print industry, and it was so difficult for me to learn at the time, I am not a coder. Years passed and do did some clients, others retired and other moved to online projects.

I tried newspaper design, aargh I had to work with all those other people and late at night. Hated it. Kept a few customers and eventually ended up at one of my customers. Easy Sign had produced some signs for me a few years ago and the needed someone as a graphic designer. Learning sign design. Pretty easy, one or two words on a board. I got a chance to bring my typography knowledge and the many historical styles I am familiar with. My experience with photoshop and illustrator brought the sign concepts something fresh. I worked with 5 or 10 other people (sign designers, painters, carpenters, interior designers) who knew their stuff. I learned large format printers, substrates, cut vinyl, inks, screws, hardware, paints and gold leafing.

So as you can see I bring a wide background of experiences to your project.

So, need an expert in producing signs, marketing and communication tools, newsletters, brochures, online graphics, websites, corporate identity and other communications?

I provide creative services, design and advertising both online and in print. I can work with your existing staff either in-house or as freelance consulting, and use my professional connections with creative partners to serve your communications needs. When you are looking for solutions that go beyond design, I am a capable, creative source ready to work with you.

You will find that I am reliable, affordable and efficient and offer creative solutions.

Branding— Just starting out or updating an existing logo? There are many directions for the project, let me help you choose the best one for your needs.

Publications— Designed to have a flow from page to page. But it’s more than just designing the pages, files are prepared properly for the printer eliminating issues as the job goes to press.

Advertising—Make sure your ad gets seen! I design for online and print, magazine, newspaper and political ads too.

Signs— Exterior message and wayfinding. Interior wall treatments. Window and vehicle vinyl.

Books—I’ve worked with historical societies, publishers and authors to organize and display their work.

Many years of experience will ensure that you have knowledgeable, creative and reliable source for your design and marketing projects. I can bill by the hour, project or pages.