About
The Designer
This is the website of art director-designer Shanna Blasingame. I work on all types of projects, large and small, working mostly on the computer but interweaving hand skills also. The programs I use most are Photoshop, Quark, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Flash, Word, Acrobat, etc. Others have included Freehand, Excel, Pagemaker, Powerpoint, Persuasion, Framemaker, Keynote... whatever it takes. I execute my own creative ideas using a combination of software programs, with the exception of working with a programmer, writer, illustrator, other creatives or techies if needed.
A-Typical Studio
Ahh... my cabin. It turns out that fighting traffic, a parking garage, an office building, central air controls, cubicles and a community refrigerator wasn't my gig. In '97 while employed full time at a large ad agency in Pittsburgh, a vacation to Alaska put things into perspective. It crossed my mind to move there, or maybe try and create the same environment here. Nature, trees, sunshine, rain, is what inspires me, not walls. And windows, I need windows! Just outside of Pittsburgh, I'm in the environment that sparks my creativity the most. There's still easy access to the city and the world, thanks to the turnpike and the internet.
Educational and Creative Background
At East Texas State University, I majored in fine art, advertising and business. I wrote some computer programs (left brain) and painted nude models (right brain) amidst some things in the middle which included advertising and marketing. Professionally and personally, I've freelanced and worked in other design studios and ad agencies, large and small. I've worked temp and part-time jobs, on site and from home. I've layed out manuals in multiple languages for international companies, designed franchise spec manuals for national companies, designed wedding and anniversary invitations for friends and parents of clients, and just about everything in between. Today I'm doing what I love best, working directly with clients from a home studio full time.