Before the web came along, I spent a few years as a freelance print designer working with clients ranging from local small businesses to a major publishing house. While I miss the feel of paper and the smell of ink, I don't particularly long for the days of sitting around waiting for a 20 meg photo to process, spending weeks on a project only to have the printers cut it crooked, or any of the countless things that can -- and do -- go wrong in the world of pulp. But this is how I cut my teeth as a designer, so below are some example of my early print work. In most cases I did the design and layout, type treatments, some illustration, some photo editing and special effects, and production.

One of my clients was Lawson Mardon, a multi-national publishing house with a license from the Walt Disney Company. I designed three Disney children's books using stills from the original movies to tell the stories of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, and the Hunchback of Notre Dame. I helped develop the overall designs, did the individual page layouts, knocked-out the illustrations, helped select the stills from the entire films, set the type, and did most of the production work. I also worked on point of purchase displays for each of the products. The books also include a section on the making of the movies, featuring original concept sketches and outtakes. I designed the books following the direction of Steve Kellison, Art Director at Lawson Mardon, and Disney's style guides.

By far the least glamourous item in my portfolio is the humble post card. When I first started working with Lawson Mardon, before they trusted me enough to let me loose on Disney, I spent about six months making post cards. Most cards were what we called "slop and drop," meaning nothing but a photo and "Greetings from Wherever" in some gaudy type. But "Signature Series" cards, such as these for Washington D.C., and Seaworld, called for a more elegant design. I've yet to receive one of my designs in the mail from a traveling friend, but my local deli has one up on the wall.

Soon the folks at Lawson Mardon let me do more interesting work, such as books and other published items for the travel and tourist industry, which they made under the name Traveltime Products. As a result, my work can be found in airport gift shops nationwide. I designed over a dozen books for Traveltime, including a picture book of Martha's Vineyard, a collection of Civil War paintings by historical artist Mort Kunstler, a book on San Francisco's Cable Cars, and (my personal favorite, just for the absurdity of it all) a cookbook commemorating the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. I also designed calendars, boxed photo collections, bookmarks, and other related merchandise.

Most of my other clients were local non-profits without the budget for full-color printing, so I did a fair amount of black-and-white and spot-color design of collateral, brochures, and other materials. I also did a fair amount of work for the University of Califonia at Santa Cruz and the UC Extension at Berkeley, such as a Guide to Student Life distributed to incoming freshman at my alma mater.

More examples of my early print work can be seen on the old web site for Griffin Design Studios, my nom de plumeback then.