GRAPHIC DESIGN

VERBAL + VISUAL = MESSAGE


TOM WHITE




MAPLEWEIRD

MISSOURI


︎




EST. 2003

DESIGN


PHILOSPHY


NYC04 - LA07 - DC12 - STL15


I have been working in the Graphic Design industry since 2003. I currently work as the Design Director at St. Louis magazine as well as an Adjunct Professor at the Missouri School of Journalism. I also have experience working with SAVEUR Magazine, AFAR Magazine, The Book Designers, The Missouri Historical Society, Washingtonian magazine, San Diego magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles magazine, and Honolulu magazine.

A great professor once said, “graphic designers are problem solvers,” and I find more and more each day how accurate his lesson was. No matter what the problem may be, a graphic designer should be able to produce a relevant, logical, interesting, and intellectual solution. Anything less would make said professor “barf, and go blind.”

Graphic Design is not a thing, rather it’s a process, an idea, a message that hones the fundamentals of graphic design such as: The Gestalt Theory (The sum of the whole is greater than its parts), Verbal + Visual = Message, and the 3 factors that define a relevant and logical solution (1. the nature of the problem 2. the audience 3. the functional parameters). Good design comes from extensive research and great attention to detail, and it always contains a solid intellectual concept. Bad design, on the other hand, as our professor so eloquently put it, “should be nuked with the whales.”

Our professor’s last words of encouragement were blunt: “now go out there, create world-class graphic design, and knock the world on it’s ass.” And so, as a world-class graphic designer, this is my challenge and goal. With each new problem I solve, I must find a way to catch the world off guard, I must find a way to disrupt it’s balance, and then with one mighty blow, send it plummeting onto its rear end.


AWARDS & RECOGNITION


City & Regional Magazine Association
Designer of the Year 2021, 2019


City & Regional Magazine Association
Designer of the Year (Finalist) 2020, 2018, 2016


City & Regional Magazine Association
Cover Excellence (Finalist) 2021, 2020


City & Regional Magazine Association
Excellence in Design (Finalist) 2021


City & Regional Magazine Association
Feature Design 2023, 2021, 2019, 2016


City & Regional Magazine Association
Feature Design (Finalist) 2018, 2016


City & Regional Magazine Association
Spread Design 2022


City & Regional Magazine Association
Spread Design (Finalist) 2022, 2020, 2019, 2016


Great Plains Journalism Award
Magazine Page Design Portfolio 2021


Great Plains Journalism Award
Magazine Cover 2021


Great Plains Journalism Award
Magazine Cover (Finalist) 2019, 2016


Great Plains Journalism Award
Magazine Page Design 2021, 2019


Great Plains Journalism Award
Magazine Page Design (Finalist) 2019, 2016


Society of Publication Designers
SPD59 Chair


Society of Publication Designers
Medal Finalist
Design: Feature, Service, Story
SPD58


Society of Publication Designers
Medal Finalist
Design: Feature, Profile, Non-Celebrity, Spread 
SPD57


Society of Publication Designers
Medal Finalist
Design: Feature, Lifestyle, Travel, Food, Shelter, Story
SPD57


Society of Publication Designers
Medal Finalist
Design: Feature, Service, Story
SPD56


Society of Publication Designers
Medal Finalist
Typography: Cover 
SPD56


Society of Publication Designers
Design Merit
SPD58, SPD57, SPD56, SPD55, SPD54, SPD51, SPD48




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