statement



As an artist working in both photography and graphic design, I feel my role is much like that of a tour guide, or interpreter, helping my clients use illustration and photography to express their own voice, style, message, whatever. After working in this field for over 20 years there is one truth I have come to know.

It all starts with the image.

Whether a photograph, illustration or combination of the two — no design concept will ever truly succeed if it is based on weak images. There have been several clients over the years who have had a very good idea of what they wanted to convey in a design project, and had the photographs in hand. Unfortunately, the photographer who worked with them didn't share in this vision and the results were good photographs technically — but with no sense of continuity — and no chance of pulling off the client's desired result. I have tried to manipulate and squeeze every bit out of such images, and trust me, it just doesn't work!

My initial meetings with clients often have little discussion about the project at hand. More often, its a discussion about how they feel they are currently getting across to their audience, do they even know what their audience is? From there we often discuss the design style or "look" that is most likely to catch the eye of their audience. These discussions can obviously vary tremendously because everyone is different and many or most of my clients haven't spent a lot of time thinking about these issues. They often say, "I don't know, that's your job."

Well, what is my job is to get them to see the millions of ways there are to express an idea or concept and find the one that fits the project at hand. In subsequent meetings we spend a lot of time looking at other people's work in print, web and television to try to get a sense of what the client's audience responds to. Eventually we find the "ah-hah" moment, the idea clicks for our project and we're on our way. The point is, it always starts with the idea first, then the images, then the design.