Hello to all of you that may have stumbled across this page. What is this? This is an ancient (by Web standards) resume/portfolio that I created and launched in 1994 (in the heady days when the align parameter was the hottest tool to control Web page layout). Surprisingly, it renders probably about as well as it did back in '94 (sans the gray background as was the standard for browsers of the period). No attempt has been made to update this page from when it was last updated in 1996. It remains here as a reminder of days gone by. If you wish to contact me, or see what else I might be working on, back your browser out to redrom.com.
Welcome to Designer Profile. This site is intended to provide in-depth information for Robert Schmitt who is primarily a Graphic Designer but also an Art Director, Project Manager, Illustrator, Copywriter, Lingo Programmer, Mac Whiz, and a whole lot of everything else. I am currently available for your freelance projects.
Clicking on the icons above will whisk you quickly to subsections of this "virtual résumé". Here's a brief description of the sections:
Clicking on the main title, Designer Profile, will take you to the virtual portfolio, where you can view select images from Bob's portfolio. The Cheese icon will take you to Where I Come From, a description of Bob's educational background. The Registration Marks icon will take you to Where I've Been, Bob's work experience in the Graphic Arts field. The Binary icon will take you to Where I'm Going, Bob's future objectives. The Window icon will take you to What I Can Do, a description of Bob's technical abilities. The Map icon will take you to Where I Am, Bob's current location. The Crayon icon will take you to Designer Sites, Links to other WWWeb (wuh, wuh web) sites of interest to designers and creative types. If you would like to contact Robert Schmitt you may use the NEW! feedback form or contact him using these other methods.
Why cheese? I am a former "Cheese-Head", a term which has it's roots, I believe, in baseball. Chicago White Sox fans came up with the term to describe Brewer fans that would drive down from Wisconsin when the Sox would play home games against Milwaukee. The term quickly spread to include Green Bay Packer fans and ultimately to describe anyone from "The Dairy State". Being born in Wisconsin Rapids and raised in Madison, Wisconsin qualifies me as a bona fide, card-carrying "Cheese-Head".
Madison, the state capitol, is a politically and educationally rich environment surrounded by the natural beauty of several gorgeous midwestern lakes and punctuated by architectural masterpieces designed by the late, great Frank Lloyd Wright. I attended college at Madison Area Technical College (MATC) where I earned an Associate in Applied Arts Degree in May of 1983. I majored in Commercial Art with additional credits from the Visual Communications and Printing and Publishing programs. MATC, a leading technical college in the heart of the midwest's finest educational district, imparted all the necessary knowledge needed to begin my career in commercial art.
MATC has a World Wide Web site which you can access through the links above. Their site will allow you to tour the college, view the campus and peruse the curriculum and course descriptions of all their programs. You may find this information useful in your evaluation.
I have extensive experience in producing high-quality, multi-color printed materials. Ranging from one color to four color process plus spot color, varnish and specialty applications. All my work goes directly from my computer to high-res, composite film with absolutely no table stripping or third-party compositing required. I have a thorough knowledge of trapping, resolution factors, and other production related issues. I have literally produced thousands of projects for a wide variety of clients with speed, precision and an unerring attention to detail. My conceptual and design ability is matched by my technical expertise in producing any manner of project imaginable, including: brochures, logos, posters, packaging, advertising, direct mail, POP, CIP, magazines, catalogs, books, and many others. I've done it all. The following is a list of the places where I've done it:
Creative Director
Songline Studios, Sebastopol, California
November 1995-Present
Songline Studios, affiliated with O'Reilly and Associates (the creators of the Global Network Navigator), specializes in developing innovative, interactive content for online audiences. I recently started as the Art Director for their flagship product, Web Review, an online magazine.
Senior Art Director
Jamison Bell Advertising, Inc., San Diego, California
August 1990-November 1995
Managed creative department, oversaw creative, art and production. Coordinated with a variety of vendors from printers, service bureaus, color houses, and the like, to photographers, illustrators, designers and other creative services. Involved in administrative duties such as creating budgets, scheduling work, and generating invoicing. Managed student internship program, in which I was involved in evaluation, selection, and coordination. In addition to my duties as Senior Art Director, I also held the position of Manager of Computer Systems in which I had the following responsibilities:
Evaluate needs, research and select brands, and authorize purchases within a yearly budget. Configure new systems, trouble-shoot system problems, and instruct employees in new techniques, technologies, and software.Art Director
Jems Communications, Inc., San Diego, California
April 1988-August 1990
Managed art department which produced six magazine titles: two monthly, three bi-monthly, and one quarterly, as well as a wide variety of collateral materials and advertising. Responsibilities included overseeing hiring, design, copywriting, concepts, illustration, photography, approving film proofs, approving press proofs, and production art. Converted entire department to Macintosh-based electronic publishing. Wrote comprehensive report detailing work flow scenarios, cost expenditures (hardware, software, and consumables), projected cost savings vs. traditional methods, and equipment recommendations. Generated follow-up reports on cost savings.Art Director
Hare Strigenz, Inc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin
June 1987-January 1988
Was responsible for guiding jobs through from concept to completion including: overseeing design, copywriting, illustration, directing illustrators, directing photo shoots, type specification, production art and press proofing. Dealt directly with clients on accounts.Designer/Illustrator
RSN Promotions, Inc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin
August 1986-June 1987
Worked with radio stations across the country. Heavily involved with direct mail contesting and promotions. Duties consisted mainly of design, illustration, and production art.Production Artist/Illustrator
BB Design, Inc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin
June 1984-August 1986
Responsibilities included production art, illustration, marker comps, and design. This job served as the foundation for quality in my work. Working for one of the best production artists in Milwaukee, I learned the skills and sense of perfection that has stayed with me today and translates to my work on the Macintosh.Advertising Coordinator
Magnum Opus International Publishers, Madison, Wisconsin
June 1983-June 1984
Developed advertising and business identity for a new art publishing company. Duties included design, copywriting, production art, photo direction and press proofing.
I love digital media! It's a designer's dream. Everything is done in full color and it's all low-res so the file sizes are manageable. No torturous waiting for the computer to process huge chunks of data in a bloated, over-sampled raster file. No output hassles as complex vector files bring the service bureau's poor, overworked RIP to its knees. No sitting and staring at an ugly, sterile progress bar plodding along, with a watch cursor that spins wildly out of control (if only time passed as quickly as the hands on that watch spin). No screaming at the monitor, "faster! damn you!" as your hands grope for it's imaginary neck so you can throttle the life out of it (whew, can you tell I've had a lot of tight deadlines?).
My objective is to use my existing expertise in print design and production to design for and be involved with the creation of digital interactive media (interface design, web site development, multimedia authoring, HTML authoring, etc.) as well as all the supplemental materials that go with it (promotional materials, advertising, packaging, labeling, logos, collateral, etc.).
I believe that the process of learning is never-ending. With technology, this is doubly true. There is no doubt that computers have--especially in recent years--revolutionized the way we work, and opened incredible new avenues for us to ply our trades. The Internet, and particularly the World Wide Web is a dramatic example of this. With thousands of businesses and organizations going on-line every month, the need for dynamic graphic representation has never been greater. For without good design they have no chance of standing out in the crowd.
Technology has created new need for graphic designers to become fluent with computers as well as maintain a high level of creativity and design craftsmanship. For many "right brainers" using that left side is a difficult transition to make. Specializing as a designer no longer is an acceptable pursuit. We are now required to be typographers, retouchers, scanner operators, programmers, strippers, and color separators.
I would like to stress the fact that I am very fluent in all aspects of the Macintosh platform, in particular as it relates to the field of graphic arts. I often consult and instruct coworkers as well as other businesses and friends. And I have a wealth of tricks and shortcuts that make me very efficient and quick. I am an expert user of the "Big Three" (Quark Xpress, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator) these being the three most employers look for. Also I am very fluent in many other commercial applications including: Macromedia Director, Fractal Design Painter, HSC Live Picture, Adobe Dimensions, Sound Edit, Ray Dream Designer, KPT Bryce, Res Edit, Fontmonger, TextureScape, etc. and a variety of very excellent shareware and freeware programs (HTML Editor, GIF Converter, Transparency, etc.).
In my work, I currently employ a Power Macintosh 8100/80AV with 40MB RAM and a 1.3GB HD. My system includes a Radius Precision Color 17" Monitor, Apple 300i CD-ROM, Geoport 14.4 bps modem, Global Village Teleport Mercury 19.6 bps modem, Mirror 600 scanner, Apple Laserwriter Select 360f, Hewlett Packard Deskwriter 550C, Micronet 128 and 1.2GB Magneto Optical drives, 44/88 Syquest. For work at home I have a Power Mac 6100/60 8/250 CD with a 730MB external HD, Supra 28.8 fax/modem, and--believe it or not--the ever-elusive Zip Drive from Iomega, which I dig tremendously and highly recommend (assuming you can find one). On the road I use a PowerBook Duo 230 4/80.
I've been in this business for over a decade and I am often astonished at how much technology has become outdated in a relatively brief period of time. In the previous sections I have listed only the skills and experiences which would be considered pertinent today, however that doesn't describe the whole scope of my experience in this field. Offered here, for those interested (for whatever reason, be it nostalgia, a niggling sense of completism, or the belief that the sum of the parts add up to describe the whole of a person's worth) is listed the rest of my technophilic past experience:
I have experience with these machines:
Fairchild photo typesetter, Fairchild tape operated text machines (4961, 2961), Compugraphic IV typesetter, Itek 540 and VGC CPS 320 daylight stat cameras, LOGE VWR 440 and nuArc VVE1418 darkroom stat cameras, production camera (flat-bed), nuArc plate maker, multi-lith and AB Dick presses, Colorease/Chromatec transfer systems.
I have experience with the following processes/techniques:
Photomechanical proofing in monochrome: blueline (blueprint, dylux), brownline (brownprint, silver print), HLO proof, velox. Photomechanical proofing in full-color: match print (Cromalin, Fuji Print, AGFA Proof), color-key, transfer-key, Colorease and Chromatec transfer systems, production press proofing. Pre-press: stripping and imposition procedures, direct and indirect screen separations, electronic scanning systems, Scitex, photomechanical plate making. Printing processes: letterpress (relief), offset lithography (sheet-fed, web), gravure, screen process, miscellaneous (thermography, flexography, ink-jet, etc.). Miscellaneous finishing procedures: die cutting, embossing, foil stamping, hologram application (hot stamp, pressure sensitive).
The big news here is that I've moved! I now reside in Northern California, Santa Rosa to be exact, and work in Sebastopol. "Where the heck is that?", you may ask, but I am not alone here. One of the best-known names in computer circles, O'Reilly and associates, calls this their home, as well as a very large computer peripheral manufacturer you may have heard of, Hewlett Packard. Only an hour or so north of San Francisco, Santa Rosa is poised to become the next hotbed of multimedia and World Wide Web publishing.
O.K. Awkward segue time. I want to include this list for people who find it significant but I can't find a better place to fit it in (plus I need to flesh out this section a bit).
Recent Awards I've Won:
Specular Art Contest; annual winner in Best TextureScape Texture category. American Marketing Association; AMY Award, Best Campaign of the Year for Consumer Advertising, North Island Federal Credit Union "San Diego's Own". I am especially proud of this award as I won in a category that includes some of San Diego's finest work from leading agencies. Marketing Association of California; Gold Award for Newsletter Design. Marketing Association of California; Silver Award for Comprehensive Campaign. Marketing Association of California; Silver Award for Annual Report Design. Advertising Club of San Diego--Marketing Exposition; Best of Show for Trade Booth Design. Marketing Association of California; Certificate of Excellence for Direct Marketing Effectiveness. Western Publications Association; Maggie Award for Magazine Design.
Here's my attempt to make this page useful for those that might surf here, other than the potential employer. This is a launching point for what I consider essential web sites the creative type just can't live without. I'll be developing this section as I go along, so check back from time to time and enjoy some of the interesting areas I've been.
The most obvious sites for designers are those of the companies that provide the tools with which we work. Specular, Macromedia, Adobe Systems, Apple Computer, Alias Research, Fractal Design, Strata, and Silicon Graphics all have great content- and graphic-rich sites to explore. Many groups have also put up fantastic sites to support our favorite applications: For Quark Xpress tips check out The Xpresso Bar. Photoshop users can check out all of Kai Krause's Photoshop tips, available online. One of the most incredible, content-rich sites I've seen is The Director Web, which is packed full of great stuff for Macromedia Director users.
Now, to the really essential stuff:
As a designer myself, I understand the value of fueling up with a good breakfast in the morning, which is why I start every day with a strawberry Pop-Tart. But do you have any idea the hazards of this flaky delicacy? (And I'm not talking dietary either.) This site will show you just how combustible these innocent little babies are. For the truly creative, who could live without Legos and Lite-Brite, two of societies finest achievements. How many engineers and artists would this world be without if not for the early creative outlet these gems provide? What every designer needs, every so often, is violence done to small animals in the name of science. This site will take you step-by-step through the dissection of a frog. Great during your lunch break! To be truly confused, travel off to Iceland for a little Icelandic. If you click enough you'll be able to find musician Björk (formerly of Sugar Cubes) the only person I know of that ever came from Iceland. HJÁLP!
Several of my best friends have recently put up sites of their own:
Davey Jolosky A graphic designer like me, only much more bizarre. Tom Page My favorite photographer -- wouldn't use anyone else. Gary Bell Designer, former employer, and great friend -- specializes in marketing and design for churches and ministries. Roger Chandler Weak Web site, awesome illustrator.That's it for now, I will definitely be expanding this section as I weed out the best pages (y'know from a designers perspective) so please stop back. If you have any suggestions e-mail me the URL and I'll take a look.
If you have a forms-capable browser, you may now use my NEW! feedback form. I would appreciate very much any constructive feedback (positive or negative) to Designer Profile.
This page and all its contents are © Copyright 1995, Robert Schmitt, All Rights Reserved. All the images on these pages are original art. I worked very hard on them, please do not steal from me. If you are an employer, hire me and I will create much cooler stuff just for you. If you are surfing and would like to use something you see, please e-mail me asking permission first. Thanks, I appreciate it. For more information about copyright law go here.
