1987
I graduated from the Salisbury College of Art in the UK - with an HND in Graphic Design with Business Studies. Salisbury at the time had a very strong work placement program, through which I spent a couple of months in my senior year working for the Jim Allen Design Team in Hammersmith, London. My first full-time design job was with Creative Concepts in Surbiton, Surrey, where I functioned as the senior designer and really learned many of the skills having to carry out several rolls on my own.
1989
By 1989, I was working for Allied International Designers - who at that time were a top 5 global design firm.
I was selected to work on the rebranding of Allied to rebrand it : Addison Design. (The exploding AIDS epidemic had been the underlying reason for this change).
In 1990, it was announced that employees could apply for an international work exchange to last 6 months at one of Addison's global offices. Following the interview process, I was lucky enough to be selected as the London representative. I chose the San Francisco office ~ a city I was only familiar with from the movies and TV shows of my youth.
Following a further stint at Addison London, I was offered a design position at one of San Francisco's noted design studios ~ Mark Anderson Design.
1993
Flash forward a couple of years, I was hired as a designer at The Gap, where my key responsibility was in-store graphics. Here I created several successful programs, including Gap Denim and Swim. The position provided complete brand immersion and invaluable experience working with oversized print, some copywriting, and P.O.S. design.
1995
Headhunted by Fitch Design in Boston, My wife and I relocated to the East Coast and we settled down with a new family, and started to make roots.
1997
Debenham Design was started as a partnership between Eileen and myself. Later on, as the business grew we rebranded and became GoBig Branding Inc. From there it was off to the races - GoBig secured several major international brands including New Balance, Dunkin' Brands, Timberland, Reebok, Media 100, Nasoya, and Fine Estates from Spain. GoBig's diverse client base has spanned Food, QSR, Beverage, Fashion, Life Sciences, Footwear, Hi-Tech, B2B, B2C, Insurance, Finance, and Education.
2023
We relocated to La Crosse, WI. in 2023. Not on a whim, but rather for a fresh start.
Eileen (my wife & partner) continues to work in the Food Industry locally, while I continue to work with a select group of GoBig clients as well as locally based WI firms.