A Lifetime in the Trenches: The Life of a Graphic Designer

www.sanfrancisco-creative.comSome people collect stamps. Others climb mountains. I’ve spent my life collecting pixels, Pantone swatches, and slightly overcooked caffeine.
I’ve been a graphic designer long enough to have done it all—or at least enough to tell the story. My journey has been equal parts methodical, messy, thrilling, and occasionally terrifying.
I started in the corporate trenches, designing technical charts and PowerPoint decks for a large corporation. Yes, it was structured, and yes, it involved far too many spreadsheets—but I was learning the discipline of precision and clarity, which would serve me for decades.
At the same time, I freelanced for Broderbund Software, illustrating teacher’s guides. Balancing corporate deadlines with freelance creativity wasn’t easy, but it taught me the art of adaptability and how to pivot between different design worlds on a dime.
Seeking something more experimental, I left Chevron for a start-up called Digiscents. Creative freedom was thrilling—but taxing. And then, as start-ups go, funding dried up. That chapter ended sooner than I expected—but not without lessons learned about innovation under pressure and the importance of resilience.
From there, I moved to Flying Colors, a small design firm where the stakes were high and the projects were huge. I had the honor of designing campaigns for the Super Bowl, among other massive events. That period cemented my love of large-scale, high-visibility design projects where every pixel counts.
When the firm was sold, I returned to freelancing, hopping between ad agencies and corporate clients. I’ve worked on events and campaigns for Snowflake, Salesforce, and Google—while also designing posters, menus, and social media content for several local hotels. And yes, if that weren’t enough, dozens of posters for a beloved local pizza chain found their way onto walls across the city.
Parallel to client work, I’ve cultivated a creative side hustle: selling illustrations and photos on Adobe Stock. I also create videos and maintain an Instagram site documenting my travels, showing the world through my lens—sometimes literal, sometimes metaphorical.
In short, I’ve spent my life making things look good, making ideas communicate, and occasionally making a little chaos feel intentional. I’m a busy creative boy—but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Every client, every poster, every stock image, every video, and every Instagram post tells a piece of my story. It’s messy, colorful, and endlessly rewarding.
If you want to see what a lifetime of design looks like, check out my portfolio, my Adobe Stock work, and my Instagram travels. There’s a lot to see, and I promise it’s worth your time.

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