About

Hi, and welcome to my on-line portfolio

That's me over there, Dennis Dickerson. I've been doing graphics, illustration, and my own artwork all my life. It's the closest I've come to real work since college. I started out as an in-house designer for a pharmaceutical company then worked for a couple of design studios in the Boulder area before going independent as Respond Grafiks.

Check out the sidebar stories - Every year I've made a point of traveling to design conferences and visiting other design, advertising and marketing firms – more than 50 in the last ten years. I've met and picked the brains of dozens of the best designers, advertising and marketing people in the country. The ideas I've picked up are the root of the little essays you'll find on this site. I urge you to have a look at them to understand how I think about this business, and how I approach this work.

Smaller really is better . . .

Working with a small company has benefits for you, the client. First, I will value our relationship; you'll be more important to me than you will to a large design firm. I enjoy design and I value our work. Being small means I HAVE to pay attention to your needs and give you the best work possible, a fast response and a reasonable price. My goal is to overproduce on every project. It's the only way to survive in a highly competitive field.

But being small doesn't mean I scrimp . . . I have a roomier, more comfortable studio, better equipment and more up-to date software than almost any studio or ad agency I've visited. But my overhead is quite low, so you'll never be smacked with outrageous invoices. You'll know before I start what everything will cost.

How we'll work together

First, I'll consult with you. Then I'll usually provide you with a written brief of your project – a summary of our discussion along with my thoughts about the style and approach that would best for your project, and why. There should be a reason for every design choice.

Remember, fine art is subjective, but commercial art is objective. It has a goal. If a project doesn't work for you, you've wasted your money.

After you’ve reviewed the brief we'll discuss it and work out any kinks to be sure we're both on the same page. This saves a lot of time, money and frustration, especially with new clients.

Then, I’ll normally prepare a bid that will detail each step of the project, and the cost. Often, I can save you money on printing because of my many contacts. I stand by my bid prices, unless you radically change the project. If you don't like my ideas or prices and we can't work it out, you owe nothing.

Why isn't there a web design or commercial illustration section?

Simple. This site isn't finished yet. Use it as an example of what I can do with a static web site. Note the flash animation, integration of .pdf files and image optimization (for download speed). I have some more complex sites in the works (that include databases and e-commerce) and I'll include them here when they're finished.

As for as illustration (my first love), unfortunately there's not a lot of call for it. But I will be adding an illustration section as soon as time allows and I can pull together enough samples.