
Principal : Smith Design Works
Greater Seattle Area

Principal : Smith Design Works
Greater Seattle Area
• Graphic designer, brander, lecturer, author -with over 25 years experience. Proponent of the gestalt principles of design. Advance-level education in cognitive and behavioral psychology, design theory, sensory branding and brand empathy development. Specializing in corporate, lifestyle, and fashion industries with overseas translatory product placement acumen.
• Particular interest in brand participatory behavior. Rabid interest in working with proactive businesses who embrace change; Forward-thinking B2B and B2C entrepreneurs who can fuse the association between transparency, authenticity and integrity with the healthy promulgation of brand development.
Graphic Design, Experience Design, Experiential Marketing, Product Design, Furniture Design, Branding, Sensory Branding, Advertising.
(Graphic Design industry)
2007 — Present (2 years)
Advise senior management, instructors and students on ways to navigate through instructional obstacles by offering alternative methodologies.
(Marketing and Advertising industry)
2001 — Present (8 years)
Conceived in 2001, the ABA acts to extend the field of branding to American small businesses, corporations, progressive social movement, the academic community and individuals by freely providing resources to those with an interest in branding and its methodologies.
(Graphic Design industry)
March 1989 — Present (20 years 5 months)
As SDW passed its 20 year anniversary, we continue to approach each project with due diligence in the fields of history, psychology, sociology, graphic design, branding, literary and design theory. In fact, SDW is much more than a traditional design studio. We are visual engineers, aesthetic psychologists, and market sociologists extrapolating logic out of chaos, intrigue out of placidity, persuasion out of apathy and communication out of info-bombardment.
Our solutions do not rest in catering to petty whims which pacify the simplest of consumer tastes, but rather that which enthralls users to the extent of a yearning involvement. We realize that in order to nurture a market's prospective desire to belong to a brand, thereby becoming willing participants, one must provide imagery and messaging which covertly seduces with underlying educational and social merit.
For these reasons, SDW was presented the "American Design Consortium's '"Seattle's Top Studio Award" for 2007.'
(Government Agency; Military industry)
September 1986 — April 1995 (8 years 8 months)
• NDSTC Panama City
• Naval Station Norfolk
• NFE/UK,GM,NL,SW,FR
• Naval Station Mare Island
(Graphic Design industry)
March 1987 — February 1989 (2 years)
Co-founded San Francisco Bay Area start-up design studio, later formed into Smith Design Works in 1989. Key clients: PacBell, PageNet, Webcentrix, SlipNet, Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, California Organics.
(Graphic Design industry)
May 1984 — June 1986 (2 years 2 months)
Bellevue design firm staffing 36 employees. Key clients: Boeing, Weyerhaeuser, Nordstrom, Van de Kamp's™, Port of Seattle.
MA , Psychology (aesthetics) , 1995 — 1997
GO BEARS!
1987 — 1995
N/A , Language Studies - Linguistics , 1987 — 1987
O1 , OTP curriculum , 1987 — 1987
BA, BA , Fine Arts, General Studies, Geography, Criminal Science, Military History , 1981 — 1986
General design, branding, cooking, Europe, multi-cultural events, travel, scuba, snowboarding, mountain biking, road cycling, Aprilia motorcycles, camping, hiking, fly-fishing, swimming.
Art Director's Club, AIGA, American Branding Association, icograda/IDA, UCDA, WASCOTS.
• ADC - 2007 "Seattle's Top Design Studio" award.
• Apple - Planet Web Award
• CET/DOC Grant
• IBFIT Continental Award
• City of Sea Tac Appreciation Award
• Environmental Brands Award
• NVV Packaging Award