Design became a part of my life early on. When I was about ten, I received a Crayola drafting kit as a gift. It came with a rudimentary drafting board with a sliding straight edge and several templates and French curves. I was fascinated with how crisp I could make my lines. Although I could draw before this, precision became very important to me. In middle school my design focus turned to buildings. Architecture became a career goal before I was even in high school. I loved the idea of inventing space and how elements worked together. When I went off to college, it became clear to me that architecture was much more than design. The politics and red tape in the life of the architect really turned me off. Eventually I turned to graphic design. On the computer, my lines were even more crisp than that kiddie drafting board I started on years earlier. I quickly found that the field could satisfy my love of creative precision, but also without all the headaches that the physical world and building code gives to architects. When you break the rules as a graphic designer, nobody's life is in danger. In fact, breaking the rules generally makes a piece more interesting.

 

Since I graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee in 2005, I have cultivated my career to not only include graphic design, but also many other aspects of marketing. With the help of some skilled mentors, I have learned about how and why I am needed as a designer. These skills have not only made me more a valuable asset to a client, but they have also helped me become a better designer. I still love the precision, but finding that moment when it is appropriate and even an enhancement to break the rules, makes me even more excited.

 

In design there are endless possibilities and solutions. No piece is ever perfect. Everyday design gives me something new that I can learn and use to make myself more skilled and seek new ways to balance the precision and the broken rules.