COMING SOON: Jon's new book "Finding Home: The Jon West Chronicles"
Amanda
Am I a master at all of those things? No, probably not, at least not yet. But I’ve learned enough to get the job done, plus a little more. I’m known for being able to learn new skills and for creative, often unorthodox, solutions. It may take me longer, as I usually push the envelope alone. Still, the results are worth waiting for, if only for the surprise of seeing what crazy concoction has developed.
The four years in high school band was the official start of my creative journey. I was a trumpet player in our school’s wind ensemble and jazz ensemble. This was where I learned that there is such a thing as perfection and that it takes countless hours of hard work, individually and collectively, to create a transcendent experience. The pure bliss of being in tune with a hundred others in a single moment – in tune and perfectly balanced from flute to tuba, when every voice is heard singly and collectively—getting goosebumps when a complex piece is played flawlessly during a performance and transcendent moments hang in the air—feeling the invisible current of energy circulating between the performers on the stage and the audience—the swell of pride as we marched together to the cadence of drums. Sadly, I didn’t pursue music as a career.
Instead, I studied visual arts at Texas Woman’s University, graduating in 1987 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) with a concentration in Advertising Design and Marketing — a 4-year degree exploring a variety of visual media, including graphic design, photography, illustration, painting and sculpture, art history and various aspects of business marketing. This was “BC” “before computers” were readily available in our school, so I took an independent study in CAD from the computer department to learn the basics of 3D modeling.
At that time, the neighboring North Texas University was “it” for Advertising Design degrees. Having graduated from TWU, I found it an uphill battle and challenging to break into the advertising agency world in Dallas. So, my career took an alternate route; let’s call it the “scenic route” LOL. Looking back, I learned faster and had a much more unique experience than I would have otherwise. Starting at the very bottom, I gained a much broader knowledge base. And I’ve always encouraged myself with the thought, “The broader the base, the higher the pyramid.”
I began my career as a college senior working as an intern for a family print shop just before WYSIWYG was a thing. To set type, we had to “code” fonts and font sizes using a language similar to HTML markup and print a hard copy to see what the heck we were doing. After graduating in 1987, as Macintosh became a more common tool for art departments, I worked as an ad builder on the night shift for “The Carrollton Chronicle,” a Harte Hanks community newspaper.
As I learned, I found new, better jobs, and my career grew. Getting bored with designing ads, letterhead, and fliers, I created my first little interactive project in HyperCard while sitting next to a printing press clackity clacking away, inhaling vapors from the blanket wash, and chatting with the pressman. Moving on to technical publications, I created my first technical illustration (of a Fujitsu Pocket Commander phone) in Adobe Illustrator 1.0., my first interactive presentation in “Macromind” Director (before it was Macromedia before it was Adobe), and my first little black and white 3D animation in Swivel 3D after borrowing my dad’s Macintosh SE for the purpose. I spent endless hours bringing my little character to life, and this project gave me an internship at a digital video studio as a 3D animator.
I’ve worked for a newspaper art department, a print shop, a technical documents publisher, corporate theater productions, a digital video studio, and an independent contractor developing interactive media for ad agencies, all working with various Fortune 500 brands in the Dallas area, back when 28.8K bps was the bomb and every pixel counted. To most recently, working up to my elbows in customer and market data, building Power BI dashboards for executive teams in San Antonio.
Over my 35+ year career, I’ve worked on thousands of digital media projects, each with evolving technical requirements and looming deadlines of “asap.”
From the days of amber monitors and 14.4k modems through the launch of Windows, Mac, laser discs, Web 1.0, the 1-megapixel camera, CDROM, and DVD through to today’s streaming media – I’ve learned that tech changes, but the fundamentals of communication do not.
Boy, am I ready to slow down enough to stop and smell the roses!
Jon and I have started our creative studio to spend time doing the things that bring us peace and joy and share the results with our friends, family, and extended community. We hope you will follow along!
As always, still curious and driven, I’m pushing myself to continue learning new skills—still expanding my base. But now, my projects are personal and are the culmination of everything I’ve learned. Let’s see how high this pyramid can get.
Here a few of my favorite things…
- GENERATION: Gen X
- FAVORITE QUOTE: “Let’s work the problem people. Let’s not make things worse by guessing” – Gene Kranz, Apollo 13
- CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: “Rise Up” by WALK THE MOON, “Performing with Freedom” by Per Bristow
- CURRENTLY BINGE WATCHING: “Expedition Unknown”
- WAITING IMPATIENTLY FOR THE NEXT EPISODE OF: “Only Murders in the Building”
- FAVORITE CUISINE: Thai, Persian and i’ll never turn down Spicy Korean Fried Chicken
- FAVORITE VACATION: Iceland
- GUILTY PLEASURE: Dark Chocolate
- PETS: 2 dogs, 2 cats, 6 chickens living together in perfect harmony