I am a skilled graphic designer who creates, designs, and produces print and digital marketing assets to punch-up your communication efforts, to polish your proposals to win business, and to help you sell products and services. I don’t take myself too seriously, but I am serious about delivering quality design that meets your objectives, and makes you look good.
Here’s five ways that I can help you.
Doer.
I’ve been busy doing things the entirety of my professional career. In 2023, I decided to take a chance and give umpiring a try – something I always wanted to do. After a season of High School and Junior High Baseball games, I realized that what I loved most about umpiring was being inside the ropes and being part of the game, so I decided to explore teaching. Being a person who believes the best way to learn anything is to dive-in, I signed up to be a substitute (sub) teacher and landed a full time gig as long-term sub at Eisenhower Middle School in August 2023. At the same time, I enrolled in an Alternate Certification Program, took a bunch of tests, completed 240 hours of course work, and received my English Language Arts (ELAR) Teaching Certificate in July of 2024. Like I said, I was busy doing things. I accepted a job as an Eighth Grade English Language Arts teacher at Jackson Middle School in August of 2024, and that experience extinguished my desire to be a teacher. What I learned most over the last two years of my teaching journey; in addition to loving a challenge, is that I am not afraid to take chances. I proved myself to be an adept and engaging teacher, and in my short time I was rewarded with the best kind of professional referrals I’ve ever received: letters from students thanking me for helping them. It was a wonderfully, difficult, demanding test that I passed for the most part. I’m grateful for the opportunity, but the time had come for me to get busy working on the next chapter of my professional career. Now, I’m busy learning, evolving, and completing all the unfinished projects I left on the table two years ago. I can do, for you.
PLSTIC GRSS: Re-using Remnants
I came home one day and discovered the contractors next door were wrapping up a putting green install at my neighbor’s house. I introduced myself and told one of the contractors that if he had any “scraps” left over that he could pile them in my drive-way. When I got home the next day, there was a big pile of random sized pieces in my drive-way and my neighbor was curious as to how they got there. After a quick conversation about his leftovers and how I was going to repurpose the “trash”; I have a batting cage that I thought would be a good fit, it became apparent that the remnants were too small and too odd sized to use as the floor for my batting cage. So, being the idea guy that I am, I came up with the concept of “Plant Coasters” for my indoor plants and branded my efforts PLSTIC GRSS. I searched out absorbent bottoms and cut the grass in three sizes, and created the demo products. Then, I created some packaging, labeling, and identity elements for the plant coasters, and added to the product line-up with a “landing tray” using recycled wood that I cut to size and sanded down and varnished. I even created a tailgate game fashioned after the old-time Texan game “Washers” that could be played in a parking lot. It’s amazing what you can do with some remnants, curiosity, and imagination. It was bound for the landfill, now it can be bound for your house instead. Check out the prototypes and the designs on my portfolio.
VIEW THE PLSTIC GRSS PROTOTYPES
When Bugs are Gone, You Win!
It’s amazing how many home-spun solutions to everyday problems exist that wouldn’t have been brought to life without TikTok. We all hate bugs, right? We’ve tried everything you can think of to keep the flies and mosquitos off when we want to enjoy some time outside on our patio. But, Texas being Texas, it’s been an impossible task. Cue TikTok and one grandma’s home solution: Cinnamon and Rubbing Alcohol. It seemed to easy to be true and much to simple to work, but it does! After snagging everything we would need to create a few bottles, and after experimenting with the formula, I created a new brand: Cinnawin. When bugs are gone, you win! The product turned out to be a remarkable solution for our trash and recycle bins, and it creates a nice barrier around the patio that gives us bug free relief for as much time as we want to be outside. Plus, the industrial bottles I selected have a great spray radius so it was fun to zap flys on the spot. For a bug repellent, it leaves a nice cinnamon scent unlike other repellents. It even works on your skin — although we need a smaller mister bottle for that application. What do you think? Want to partner-up and make Cinnawin come to life?
Let’s Go Reno!
Football is a tough sport. At one time, it’s all I ever wanted to do. Unfortunately for them, The University of Texas never came calling and I hung up the cleats a long, long, time ago. In that distant past I was fortunate to be healthy. It’s a rough game and getting hurt is part of the process. My son, Garrett (6) has been playing at a high level and nursing injuries once again as he makes his final push in high school. His good buddy, Michael Reno, wasn’t as fortunate. He had his senior year clipped by, “shin splints” that turned out to be a massive ACL and MCL tear. He was crushed. I was crushed too, because I’ve been living that nightmare with Garrett for the last few seasons. This was my tribute piece for Michael Reno, #2 who had his outstanding season as a slot receiver cut short. I’ll be yelling, “Let’s Go Reno!” the rest of the season. You should too.
Satisfying a Client Hungry for a New Name, and Craving a New Look.
The great folks at The RK Group asked me to help them come up with a new name and a new look for their Premium Ready-To-Eat-Foods division. The name and the look had to be bold to match their new modern and expanded headquarters. We payed homage to their factory roots and created a portmanteau that honored their beautiful food creations.
Honing Your Skills: Annual Report
Design leads to Proposal Design.
The second stop on my career journey was at Datapoint Corporation working in Corporate Communications. The plan for me, six months removed from graduation with a degree in Journalism (Commercial Art Minor) from Southwest Texas State University, was to take a few pieces of the design of company collateral from a host of freelancers, and bring it “in-house”.
Punch-Up Your Next Design Project.
ADD A DESIGN PRO. There’s nothing like getting on the ground level with you as we bring your big ideas to life. I will help you from the first pencil sketch, to the final printed or digital application. I strive to create work that resonates with your audience.
ON-BOARD Parrish today.
Seminar & Event Branding.
Clients trust me to create print and website templates with design that is true to their branding standards, and adheres to best practices. Without reinventing the wheel.
• Visual Design
• Design Templates
• Sales and Specification Sheets
• Presentations
Get the ball rolling with Parrish today.
My mission is to make you look good. I help business owners succeed by delivering thoughtfully designed content that solves communication challenges. Punch-up your efforts by adding Parrish to your team today.