I always say that I grew up in a print shop. Though it’s not entirely true, it feels like it. Before owning his first printing company, my dad sold commercial cameras and supplies for large printing companies and worked as a pressman. I loved spending time in his print shops. I remember that one of his client’s was running for office — city council, I think. My dad was doing his campaign materials — yard signs, banners, flyers, postcards, and even “Vote for Me” pins. I’m pretty sure this was when I first became intrigued by graphics.
My dad was a pretty decent graphic designer, though I never heard him refer to himself as such. He was also an ametuer award-winning photographer. So, we always had a darkroom somewhere in our house — the garage, the bathroom — and now at his shop. This is when I first discovered silkscreening (a form of printing that is used to make T-shirts and other promotional materials like… yard signs), which required a darkroom. I would be mesmerized by my dad in the darkroom as he developed photos and now as he “burned” the screens for silkscreening. I got to squeegee the ink across the screen to make the signs. It took me a few tries to get it right, but I loved it!
Fast forward a few years to when I was in high school. My mom, who had always been my dad’s bookkeeper, joined him full time on the premises. She had always been a fast typist (she typed all my term papers for me). Me and my three sisters were expected to help out. One job that we were often asked to do was to walk in a circle around a big worktable with stacks of printed pages to a book, picking up one page at a time to collate them together to be bound. I pretty much hated working there, especially since it meant missing out on other extra-curricular activities. I was a teenager, so what did you expect. I vowed, at that point, to never be in the graphics business.
With that in mind, I decided I wanted to be an architect. I was pretty good at it, too. I was one of two girls in my drafting class (as a side note, the other girl in my class actually went on to become a successful architect). I won an award or two with my designs and a Who’s Who in Industrial Arts. I also received a college scholarship. Soon after my first semester of college started, I found out I was pregnant. So, long story short, life went a different direction. It was actually my mom’s idea to go into graphic design, so I took an Advertising Layout class at the local community college. I was hooked! I went on to work as a production artist, layout artist, graphic designer, and art director for various companies, and yes, a few printing companies, before deciding to freelance.
As a freelancer, I found myself with clients that needed printing done, so, of course, I brought the work to my dad. He was a craftsman… a perfectionist. He was constantly fixing the art that his customers brought him, but did he fix mine? Nope. He would give it back and say, “You know that I have to run this job on the AB Dick. So, you know that I’m going to need more gutter than that.” Then, I’d have to fix it myself.
Did I tell you about topics at the dinner table? He would hand me a loop (small magnifying glass) and a brochure and ask me how many colors were there. I’d look at it and say with pride and certainty, knowing that he hadn’t fooled me, that it had five colors. Because, in addition to the four colors in four-color process, there was a spot varnish. He’d look at me, shake his head, and say, “Try again.” That’s when I could see not only an additional varnish, but also a solid Pantone color. It had seven colors! So, embarrassing, but I learned.
My dad passed away over twenty years ago and still to this day I remember the lessons he taught me. He is the biggest influence on my life and career. For years after he passed, I would find myself picking up the phone to call him for advice on a project that I was working on, only to realize that he wasn’t there. I still miss him.