I am a graphic designer based in New York City specializing in book jacket design and working with images and text.
Though graphic design was my college major, it only was after a decades detour into music and, subsequently, publishing, that I came full-circle, home to design. For that, I thank the pandemic time-warp for a starkly clear-eyed vision of what I do and don’t want to do for work.
Up until the pandemic, I’d had a full career in the music business as a music writer, retail manager, music trade editor, label manager, album cover designer, DJ and music–and subsequently–book publicist. At every stage, I’d found a way to involve graphic design.
As a DJ record shop manager, I started a cheeky, slap-dash xerox newsletter, which grew from a one-page chart of best-sellers to a 6-page, folded and stapled zine, each issue more twisted than the last. That trashy zine got me to Manhattan as the creative director and editor of a dance music trade.
From there I went on to work at three record labels, two as general manager. At each, I shoe-horned graphic design into the mix, designing everything from CD packages, to elaborate press kits, stickers and merchandise.
I moved on to work as an independent publicist, first aka PENETRATIONINC (no space, no period), the name of which simultaneously delighted and scandalized potential clients (effectively weeding out those that weren’t gonna be any fun).
Unsurprisingly, I had a very colorful roster of projects, including Jeff Stryker, Cazwell, Amanda LePore, Richard Morel, Lady Bunny, Bob Sinclar, The Ones, Gus Gus, Tommy Boy Entertainment and The Black Party®, for which I remain the publicist after 14 years.
After a name change to the less pearl-clutchy Popular Publicity and shift to book publicity, I worked primarily with nonfiction, and socially conscious titles. I’ve represented books on food, drink, pop culture, photography, art and LGBTQ issues. I found I loved designing my website, particularly, curating images, so much so that if a potential client didn’t have great photos, I turned the project down.
During a 2-year lane-change to an in-house publicist for a visual (coffee table) book publisher distributed by Random House, I fell in love book jacket design. Credit goes to the brilliant designer Peter Mendelsund and his stunning cover for Ben Marcus’ "The Flame Alphabet." Here again, I spent so much time designing the press kits that the publisher had to tap me on the shoulder and remind me that we had three in-house designers.
When that gig ended, I designed my resume as a coffee table book, which I later updated to include 5 book cover designs of my own. You can see it here. Nine of my book cover designs are included on this website, the most recent of which is "My Fabulous Disease" by Mark S. King.
In the end, I returned to Popular Publicity and a slew of projects, all of which all went into free-fall as of March 2020. Post lock-down, I judiciously took on new projects, before moving the simmering graphic design pot to the front burner.
In Spring 2022, I launched my Esty shop, The Tee Service, another outlet for my designs. I love designing for the shop, not only to sell, but for the process, because within minutes one can create a mock-up, see that 4 a.m. idea in 3D and have it online for sale later the same day.
I live in the East Village, maintain a curated vinyl record collection of questionable taste but undeniably brilliant cover art, and enjoy reading contemporary and classic literature, biographies, science fiction, and graphically stunning style magazines (hello, Fantastic Man).
I’m currently exploring blowing up my street photography series (Palimpsest) to be sold as prints and developing home accessories (some of which you can see in my Etsy shop, along with designs for 170+ products.)
Favorites include, in no particular order: authors Edmund White, Iain M. Banks, Gary Indiana, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Patti Smith, Hanya Yanagihara, David Sedaris, Truman Capote, and Duc de Saint-Simon; musicians Cesária Évora, João Gilberto, Dave Brubeck, Derrick May, Róisín Murphy, Grace Jones, and Intergalactic FM; artists Robert Motherwell, Dale Chihuly, Mark Rothko, Massimo Vignelli; designers Rick Owens and Walter Van Beirendonck; and New York locations Crystal Gardens, John Derian, Washington Square Park, Central Park, The Odeon, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, the Union Square Greenmarket—and, believe it or not, the subway.
Though it has a, how shall we say, an exclusive following, my Instagram serves as a casual mood board, the words I can now only hear in the voice of Loic Pringent, of whom I'm a fan.