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August 8, 2005
Designing Woman
Katakismet Design is not responsible for any outbreaks of
insanity or institutionalization resulting from attempts at
reviewing this site using a 56k modem.
The year was 2000. I had just finished a year of freelancing as a graphic designer.
With no background, no training, no degree, no experience in graphic design,
I had to talk my way into an agency by creating a portfolio and creating a "professional
graphic designer" character. I wowed the agent. The hard part was the first month on the job!
I had been enamoured with computer design since 1995 and I knew that all I needed was a year
on the job to learn everything I needed to know. I knew it wasn't going to be easy but I was
right. I learned and I earned and by the summer of 2000 I was ready to open my own design firm.
Katakismet Design | New York was borne out of the necessity to promote my new design skills
and to try to capitalize on a lucrative service industry. What I didn't realize was that part of this
financial success was due to an economic bubble and the intoxication that resulted across the
industry. I had just got active online; my experience was in print. I didn't see it coming.
I still had an agent and in September 2000 I got the call that would change my life.
A company specializing in producing and promoting industry conferences like ApacheCon, JavaCon and the likes needed a graphic designer. Within two weeks I knew they needed more than just a designer. They needed a design firm to support all of the work. I checked out their schedule of events that was already booked in 2001 and I spoke to their other vendors. I negotiated a much higher fee and started building a new office. There was alot of work coming.
By December 2000, we were moving into a new office. I had two full-time designers and was looking to hire more. I leased equipment and put myself characteristically 100% into this new endeavor. It had the potential of making the production company that we had started in the summer of 1998 a reality and I was willing to work THAT hard.
Ah but it was not meant to be. Written in the stars was a collapse of all this and by the end of January 2001, this dream client proved to be a nightmare. She didn't have the money to pay my agent. My agent didn't have the guts to take her to task. We owed hundreds of thousands of dollars and I was scrambling to figure out what went wrong.
We kept ourselves busy by redesigning Katakismet.com and moving back into our studio and letting our new office, with all of the new renovations, go. In May 2001 I reinvented myself and realized that I had built-in positioning with "The Photocartoonist" and I found myself throwing myself online with the same fervor I had thrown myself into graphic design. We'd best move on, though it would take years to get over this financial blow. Oh well, it was only money. It did delay the progress with our production company but it allowed for three years of research and activity online. Now this is an advantage.
Posted by photocartoonist at August 8, 2005 12:11 PM