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So, this is a bit awkward...the 'toot my own horn' section. It's not something that I am super familiar or comfortable with...but I'm pretty darn good at what I do, and I'll attempt to highlight some of the reasons for you. I'm not denying that I'm a bit of a kook, but that's covered under the liabilities section.
Traditional Media Background
In today's information and technology rich age, there's not much stopping just about anyone from downloading commercial design software, loading it onto a cheap PC, and 'voile!', planet Earth has another graphic designer on its hands. Truly, there are a few out there who've taken this approach and become skilled designers. My path, however, has been a bit different. Prior to ever owning a computer, I drew...and drew, and drew. I invite you to take a look at my drawing and painting sections in order to see what I'm talking about. It's this background in drawing and painting that I believe gives me a slight edge over the average competition. I still think like a painter...and I like it that way. I hope you do too!
No Formal Education
I know, I know...and I'll list this under the liabilities section too, but it has its positive side as well. I've received very little formal instruction over the years. I had two years of Advanced Placement art classes in high school. After that, I took 'Life Drawing', 'Intro to Cartooning', and 'Intro to Airbrush' at Fullerton Community College in California and that's it. The reason I feel this is an advantage in certain instances is that there are NO voices in my head telling me I can't try a certain thing when working on a design. I've worked with people who have four year degrees and wondered why they gave so much authority to their college profs, to the degree that they would not 'color outside the lines' which were drawn for them in school? I like to try a lot of things on for size before I decide what to buy. Design is a wild frontier full of unexplored valleys and peaks, let's get out there and see it all!
Photoshop GOD
I've been using Adobe Photoshop on an average of 4 hours every single day of every year since 1995 going back to version 2.5 of the program. Frankly, after having worked around some other artists recently, even I am now willing to admit that I'm one of the fastest & best Photoshop jockeys around. I never feel unable to bring my own visions or the vision of a client to life in the EXACT way it is imagined. It's simply a side effect of living a major portion of my adult life inside that program. Practice may not make me perfect, but it's made me pretty f'ing great!
Take Direction Well
Hear this the right way, okay? I don't really care that much about your design. WHAT???? Now just think for a second. It's your design. If I suggest orange, but you insist on blue, then you get blue. It is after all, your design, your vision, and let's not forget that it's also your money paying for the service. Another way of saying this is that my ego is not SO big that I'll be unmovable on any particular point. I may battle a bit for my point of view, but in the in final analysis, it's your satisfaction that we're working toward...so blue it is. Make sense?
Moral Compass
I'm the type of guy who has seen enough suffering and injustice in my lifetime that I'm left with zero desire to add to the pile. As a result, there have been many times where I've refunded a client's entire deposit regardless of the percentage of work completed, once I determined that I wasn't the right choice for the job. I'll give an example. A high-end construction company on Maui approached me to create their new website. I really wanted to work with this client and things progressed well and in a timely fashion, until I began to deduce that the ENTIRE site should be done in Flash. Now my Flash skills are fairly basic, which you'll see if you visit the web design section of my portfolio. After a few weeks of floundering, I met with the client and introduced them to another Maui design firm who I knew had the staff to carry the project to completion. Even though I had essentially finished 70% of the site, the new firm had higher rates than mine and I didn't feel it fair to exceed the originally established budget. So, I handed my $1000 dollar deposit and all my source files to the new company and made absolutely nothing for my labors. While that may make me one helluva stupid businessman, I do sleep well at night. I can't abide a cheat, and you'll never catch me taking money I've not earned.
Unmarried
Okay, if you're still reading this...well, WOW! Anyhow, I'm not married, nor do I have much luck with the ladies (I guess God decided to group all my talents in one area) and as such, I have my time pretty much to myself. I'm not saying this is an entirely good thing, but it does allow me to work some pretty strange hours when needed. The longest stint in recent memory was working at a small local Maui newspaper where I was the only one constructing their annual 'Best of Maui' issue. I began at a normal work hour on a Friday and by the following Wednesday morning I'd slept only 12 hours and at one point worked 70 hours without a break whatsoever. It was a massive undertaking and only an unnattached lunatic like myself could have pulled it off. Another time, while working at Tradewind Graphics on Maui, a longtime client of the firm inquired as to whether or not a 100+ page website could be constructed quickly? They had four days left before boarding a plane for a mainland, and attending a tradeshow for which the site was needed as a working display. Again, with very little sleep, I delivered the site with about 3 hours to spare. Upon returning, they gifted me with a $1100 tandem kayak in appreciation, above and beyond my salary at the company.
Well Traveled
The last thing I'll say is that I've been out there in the world a bit, having lived in a bunch of different places and traveled more than many. I've lived in Manhattan's East Village, the Smoky Mountains of eastern Tennesee, on the side of a lake in the northern California wine region, in Orange County, California, the San Francisco Bay area, in the small country village of Wokingham in Berkshire, England and I spent five wonderful years on Maui. I've walked to Machu Picchu, hiked the Annapurna circuit in Nepal, drank myself silly in the great city of Dublin, Ireland, been ousted from my hotel in the tiny Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan by the King himself (scheduling error), 'Run with the Bulls' in Pamplona, Spain. I've traveled all thorugh western Europe and Great Britain, and swum with Humpbacks & wild dolphins in Hawaii. My point is that these experiences of getting 'out there' in the world make me a better person, and as a result, a better designer, IMHO.
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