A mockup of a trifold brochure showing a listing of CDs from artists who are currently on tour. The brochure is stylized to present each CD on it's own ticket, and the brochure uses a brown paper texture for each ticket set on a light blue and white background with overlays of crowds cheering at concerts — Knowing how to eliminate the need for redundant work in design software tools frees up more time for making the final deliverable beautiful

I honed my skills in InDesign by creating more multi-page brochures and catalogs than I can count

One of my first graphic design jobs was as the in-house designer for a large corporation called Baker & Taylor. B&T is a wholesale distributor of books, movies and music, and has been in buisness for more than a hundred years. One of the main responsibilites of my work included creating catalogs of available titles to market to retail stores and libraries around the world.

Efficiency was mission-critical

As you might imagine, taking a list of literally hundreds of titles and turning it into a visually-appealing catalog would be very time-consuming for a designer if they weren't willing to learn page layout programs like InDesign really, really well. Fortunately, I take a lot of pleasure in finding ways to be more efficient in my work.

A mockup showing all six panels of a trifold brochure for a promotion fpr Books-a-Million called DVD Playground. The brochure features imagery of playground toys with a child peering though a submarine-style portal on the front. The DVD titles are set on a translucent background that references the shape of film, with the playground images showing through to create a leyered composition — The predictable cadence of the information about each product in the catalog can be used to make for lightning fast formatting if you're willing to learn how to use InDesign's automation features.

My desire to work as effectively as possible led me to become an InDesign expert. I became highly proficient in the use of style sheets, style sheet dependencies, and variable-data techniques. I also became a master at troubleshooting formatting issues within the program. I became the go-to for my design colleagues when they were having trouble with their formatting.

A mockup showing a bifold catalog design for Black Music Month titles. The cover features a close-up of a black male singer that resembles Usher singing into a microphone. The background graphics of this catalog design incorporate warm tones of red and orange with warm neutrals. — When you can get the information from the spreadsheet into InDesign with a couple of clicks of the mouse, and you use actions in Photoshop to process the images of each product to be uniform and correct, there is more time to make the composition reflect the energy and tone of the product offering as a whole.

Sometimes, happiness is simply appreciating the beauty of a well-formatted document

My work for B&T informed much of the coursework I designed when I taught software proficiency at the collegiate level. While it may not be the most glamourous aspect of design, being skilled with using industry-standard tools like InDesign is what can make one designer more marketable than another. The greatest compliment I received in my teaching came when one of my students came to me and said, "I wouldn't be able to do my job if it weren't for the things I learned in your class."

Processing all of the product information and content quickly leaves more time to make the final deliverable reflect the energy and mood of the promotion or business behind the message. I always enjoyed the process of creating the typographic treatements for the titles and finding just the right imagery to create rich, colorful backdrops for the product offering or to set the right emotional tone to support the message of the business I was helping to promote.

Some Highlights from the Archives

Even in an increasingly digital environment, I advise my clients and my students never to underestimate the appeal of something that is a pleasure to hold. Here are some of the most successful catalogs and brochures that I've designed throughout my career. Many are from my time at Baker & Taylor, with some that I've designed to promote the services of some noteworthy clients in the mix for good measure.

Do you need a skilled designer who can save you time and money?

Hiring inexperienced designers can cost you when they aren't equipped to work smarter and not harder. I've trained hundreds of junior designers on how to be efficient in the tools of the design trade, which has only made me faster and more resourceful through the years. Tell me more about the projects you've got in queue, and I'll show you how I can save you time and money