Been there, done that. I have had a very eclectic journey as a designer, but following were the river flowed has given me a wealth of skills that very few others possess.

My Associates degree is in Architectural Drafting and Design. Many of the courses for this degree are the same art and design courses required for a fine arts degree; Basic Design, Freehand Drawing, Figure Drawing, Architectural History, Model building and other creative courses.

Early on I did pursue a drafting career, but found I enjoyed graphics far more.

I have designed for standard 4 color process and spot color printing, oversized output for trade show displays and banners, promotional items, web and animation.

Photoshop – I have used Photoshop forever. It is my favorite application.

Illustrator – I use Illustrator just slightly less than Photoshop and often I use them together.

Dreamweaver - This is the only application I use for web site development. While I have a basic knowledge of html, xml and other scripting, I do not have the expertise to do direct coding. I find that Dreamweaver provides an excellent UI that takes care of most of the coding so I can concentrate on design and content.

Flash – I have used Flash for the last couple of years. I enjoy doing web animations and Flash is a great tool.

Indesign – I have used Indesign but not to a great extent. Most of my work as a freelance designer has been more advertising and presentation graphics. I do have extensive experience with desktop publishing software including Pagemaker and Quark.

Microsoft Office – I am very familiar with Excel and Word. As a designer I really don’t use Power Point but I am familiar with it.

I am a cross platform designer. I can work on PCs as well as Macs. I prefer the Macintosh platform for most design work but really PCs are just as easy.

Working as a freelance designer I have had to be my own technical support. I have worked with numerous printers, scanners, and imaging devices.

While employed at printing companies I have been trained on pre press equipment and fully understand the pre press process. I have operated several oversize output printers for banners and trade show displays. I have used various industrial production color and black and white toner based copiers.

I am very comfortable designing for either print or web. It is an asset at the beginning of a project to know if the art you are designing will be used as full color, spot color, in print and or, on the web. I understand optimal resolution, color modes, and graphic file types to make all versions of the art have a consistent look and feel. I also know what will not work well and can advise alternate versions.