Back in my day technology wasn't anything like today. We started our education in analog world, with rotary phones and 8 tracks and ended in the infancy of the digital age with "you've got mail" and CDs. Cellphones were only for the wealthy, wall street and doctors (and only made calls).
High school graphic design class consisted of a Macintosh 128K computer equipped with Mac Paint. We would literally copy with a xerox, cut with scissors and paste with wax rollers. We had to develop negatives, create plates and print on an actual press.
By senior year, we had "a" desktop computer with color monitor to share, one of the first versions of Photoshop and a color printer. Times were-a-changing.
Throughout college, each semester would reveal the latest and greatest design software that we would have to learn.
I think this constant change made for a great lesson to what it was like in the real world.
It taught me change is inevitable and being able to adapt at a moment's notice would always be important. That just because things had "always been done that way" didn't mean that was the only way (or the best way). It pushed me to never stop learning. But most importantly, it allowed me not to be afraid of new challenges or the unknown.
So after graduating college, I packed two suitcases, boarded a plane with a one-way ticket and moved from Massachusetts to Southwest Florida to start my journey – 1,400 miles away from everything I had ever known.
Stop 1 - '98-'99
My first job was at a small mom-and-pop print shop where we designed mostly industrial and religious catalogs. Although it wasn't really creative visually – it was a great experience to be be creative spatially and, more importantly, great for problem solving.
Stop 2 - '99-'00
Next was a publishing company which produced weekly newspapers, magazines, classified shoppers and more.
My day-to-day consisted of everything from advertisements, to cover designs, to pagination (deciding where ads are placed in relation to editorial copy), editorial design and how can I forget – collaborating with the editor to create a weekly editorial comic entitled "Oh Brotherton" (my maiden name).
Stop 3 - '00-'22
On to another publishing company, this time a local daily paper. This destination had many pit stops and zig-zags along the way.
Below is an attempt to cram 22 years and multiple roles into a few bullet points.
- '00-'02 - Graphic designer
- Hired as a "utility" designer to fill in where needed
- Trained a new branch on processes & operations
- '02-'06 - Electronic Ad Coordinator
- Organized & processed incoming ads from outside agencies via disk or email
- Designed ads for specific clients as needed
- Worked directly with agencies and pre-press to trouble shoot as needed
- '06-'07 - Advertising - Outside Sales
- Maintained and grew a book of business for display newspaper ads.
- Designed ads for my clients as needed
- '07-'15 - Creative Consultant
- With the success of designing my own ads, I was asked to stay on the sales team but as a resource to assist the entire team with their creative
- This position was then expanded and more designers were added to the team
- Assisted the editorial with implementing a new publication design
- Helped the marketing department ads as needed
- Served as an interim "process" manager during a re-org
- Developed workflows as we transitioned to a new project management software
- '15-'22 - Internal Agency
- The scope of design work broadened to include services outside normal newspaper needs — email, digital, collateral materials, websites, outdoor advertising, etc
- Developed workflow and processes including naming conventions, asset management, project management, etc
Stop 4 - '23-Present
Amy Creates It begins. The journey continues.
