Welcome to the "Graphic Design" section of my web-portfolio. Below you will find a brief outline of and background to what you will find within.

I'm not sure what it was that sparked me to get into the graphic arts, but I was already doing a brisk business painting jean-jackets at age fourteen. I felt obliged to chose architecture as a 'serious' study instead of 'all that art stuff', but something kept drawing me back to the less technical world of design. I ended up dropping architecture altogether when I went to work as a graphic arts/photographry apprentice in 1986, and was running my own graphic design business before a year later.

My light table and x-acto knife from those years eventually gave way to my first Macintosh SE, Mac IIfx, and the first versions of Freehand, QuarkXpress and Illustrator. I should note here that, though I've been using all the latest technology ever since the dawn of the 'computer age', I still do my layouts by hand before sitting down in front of any screen. Paper and sketches for me best captures, expresses and preserves my imagining something someone else will see; Secondly, that way I have a reference to show the idea and carry it through the often idea-diluting computer layout techiniques and limitations. In my opinion, technology is a means to an end but not the end in itself. I hope it shows.

To see some of what I've done in the graphic arts, please click on either the 'index' below or the 'jm-schomburg' heading above, then choose 'graphic design' once you get to the 'Contents' page. If there is something you would like to contact me about, you can do so through the envelope you will see in the lower right of your screen. But for now, I wish you a pleasant visit.