New England Black Weekly
RIP 1980
Illustrator, Production Artist
Boston-based newspaper. My first professional gig. While still a freshman at MassArt, I was introduced to the hectic pace of a startup news organization being run on a shoestring budget. This training would prove to be helpful in future editorial assignments (The Boston Edge, Citizen's Group Papers , Urban Beat, Computerworld). Our main competitor was the Bay State Banner. In this crazy time, we swore to bury them.
What Went Wrong?
Okay, so they buried us. There just wasn't enough of a target audience to support two similar publications.
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Vision Machine Research
RIP 1983
Storyboard Artist, Production Artist, Graphic Designer
Startup, cutting-edge video game developer. The major project was creating the 3-D photographic technique used in today's most popular games. Like most startups, the organization was run on a shoestring, the hours were long, and moral was great until checks started bouncing.
What Went Wrong?
By my sketchy memory, the lead programmer bolted for another firm.
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The Boston Edge
RIP 1986
Op-Ed Illustrator
A weekly arts and entertainment newspaper. I provided front-page and interior editorial illustrations. Like most startups, the organization was run on a shoestring, the hours were long, and moral was great until checks started bouncing.
What Went Wrong?
Our main competitor was a little mom-and-pop outfit called the Boston Phoenix. 'Nuff Said.
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Gregory Fossella Associates
RIP 1988
Production Artist, Graphic Designer
In it's heyday, this industrial design firm was internationally famous. Not bad for my first professional day job. I was Junior Production Artist (a.k.a "Stat Rat") Through hard work and a willingness to learn, I was promoted to Junior Graphic Designer. This was my introduction to real-world fundamental production techniques needed to make professional-level printed work.
What Went Wrong?
Mr. Fossella's old-world philosophy became outdated by the late '80s.
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Citizen's Group Papers
RIP 1990
Illustrator
A group of Boston-based small-town weekly newspapers (Allston-Brighton Citizen's Item, Brookline Citizen's Item, etc). I started off in the Production department, which was still doing traditional paste-up at the time. After seeing my editorial illustration experience (New England Black Weekly, Boston Edge), the editors started using my high-concept Op-Ed illustrations.
What Went Wrong?
General decline of newspaper readership.
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UrbanBeat
RIP 1992
Graphic Designer, Illustrator
Startup, Boston-based newspaper. I obviously didn't learn my lesson from my experience at the New England Black Weekly. I took over the design chores from a burnt-out graphic designer, designing and producing the entire publication from the ground up. Worked closely with the one-man Editor, Publisher and CEO. Converted the digital art from Aldus PageMaker to Quart XPress. Redesigned the logo and provided editorial illustration. This was all done on a Mac Plus, so lots of time was spent hitting the return key and waiting. Our main competitor was the Bay State Banner. In this crazy time, we swore to bury them.
What Went Wrong?
There just wasn't enough of a target audience to support two similar publications. The Editor overextended himself, and ultimately couldn't generate enough content or advertising dollars for the company to survive.
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Midnight Oil Studios
RIP 1993
Graphic Designer
Independent design and marketing agency. At the time I was hired, computers (hardware by Apple, software from Adobe and Aldus) were beginning to take the place of traditional creative and production tools. Our clients were major advertising agencies and shopping mall conglomerates.
What Went Wrong?
The principals were terrific artists, but horrible project managers. Due to one crisis or another, the company worked us least 50 hours a week, while only paying us for 35. In my opinion, this environment kept us from retaining enough talent to hit increasingly unrealistic deadlines. Due to a financial disagreement between the principals, the company was split into independent companies which relocated to San Francisco and New York City.
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ITG Department of Merrill Lynch
RIP 2003
Web Designer
My introduction to cutting-edge web development (ASP, CSS, DHTML, dynamic Javscript). Merrill Lynch, based in Hopewell NJ, bought startup company ITG to create web tools for banking and day-trading.
What Went Wrong?
With the internet economy crash, Merrill decided it didn't need to finance a remote office in Cambridge.
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Publicom
RIP 2004
Graphic Designer, Illustrator, Production Artist
Worked on porting Reader Rabbit content from CD ROM to printed workbooks. Developed page layouts and illustrations from start to finish.
What Went Wrong?
Publicom was experiencing clash flow problems.
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