30 years of faith

When my design practice turned 30 in December of 2020, I realized how life had come full circle, even though I imagined things turning out very differently.

In the late seventies, I was studying design at OCAD University and Jazz at York University concurrently, and decided that music was my path – I simply had no interest in becoming a graphic designer. Back then, music was everything to me. Design and the adventure of visual art was only a close second to the dynamic world of Bebop Jazz I was immersed in. The smoke-filled clubs where I gigged as a sideman and led a trio were my second home, and where I hoped to create a career for myself.

By 1983, my wife Gillian had been working for years in the printing industry heading up small art departments. She was offered a job at a new printer and accepted the job on one condition: that they would hire her musician husband as a production assistant and part-time delivery driver, a day job that would help keep the music going. Over the next few years, I moved around between various ad agencies and design firms. Those experiences prompted me to take the biggest risk of my career — I decided to go solo and start my own design practice in 1990.

It’s ironic how life comes full circle. In the years since, I’ve had the honour of teaching design at OCAD and was appointed an Associate Professor in the design department at York University, in 2013. 

At the end of 2020, an unexpected gift arrived: I became the first graphic designer in Canada to be bestowed with a Fellowship by the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) for research contributions in design, art direction and typography.

As my design practice enters its 30th year, I’m thoroughly enjoying the fluid process of building on my past work while exploring new creative vistas in design and typography. The honour I’ve been granted by the RSC has generated a cascade effect within my creative landscape and has catalyzed my curiosity about what may be possible in the coming years. 

My sincerest thanks to all my clients, colleagues, mentors and friends who have helped me out along the way. Although she’d rather not be singled out for my eternal gratitude, Gillian is truly the one who had faith in me when it mattered most.