How it all began!

People often ask how I leaned to use photoshop. Well, The year was 1997 and I was in college studying graphic design. We were given an assignment to look through issues of Eye Magazine and design a cover sharing our viewpoint on one of the articles. One five hour session in the computer lab and what you see to the right is the first and final design.

The Aesthetics of Transience was published in Eye Magazine's summer 1997 issue. It talked about a fundamental shift taking place in design as a result of the rise of technology. Computers and photoshop were changing the way graphic artists approached design. Grid based design was giving way to more freeform solutions and designers were looking for new ways to keep the viewer engaged.

After reading the article, I developed an art thesis that gets applied to every project. To be successful photography, design and adverting should do three things.

1. The piece should allow for exploration. The viewer should be guided around the page through elements in the design or photograph. Composition techniques and hidden “Easter eggs” are great ways to keep the viewer engaged. In food photography we often add ingredients in the background as flavor queues. 

2. There must be something about the piece that makes it memorable to the viewer. I look for ways to spark a memory from the past. Maybe it’s the smell of an amazing cup of coffee, the taste of a decadent dessert, or their first steps in the sand on a beach vacation. 

3. The piece must effectively deliver the brand message as intended. After all, how effective was the campaign if no one remembers who or what it was advertising.