My broadcast design career began with an innocent fax from The Weather Channel in Atlanta, Georgia, inviting students to join The Weather Channel Art Department. My first boss, Rick Booth, was a good guy and still is now working for quite a stretch at New England Sports Network. Funny to me that his last name refers to a phone booth. Why? Because after my second full-time appointment at TWC (2004–2006), I was offered a job to join Artifact Design in Old Fourth Ward in Atlanta, Georgia. On my last day with TWC I was gifted a poster that adorns my home design studio today. Christopher Reeve’s Superman from 1978. My teammates scribbled their best wishes to me, cheering me on to continue flying high.
I started TWC in January 1996 as a narcissistic, know-it-all punk who had some serious issues with active listening. Heck, I had no idea what that phrase even meant. I graduated as a TWC Superman. Thanks to everyone who believed in me and even those who doubted I’d ever grow out of my naiveties. So, thank you for putting up with my shenanigans from 1996–2006, ten full years as full-timer, contractor, freelancer, and full-timer reprieve. We collaborated for four more years while I was working at Artifact Design (2006–2008) and Outpost Pictures (2008–2010).
I’m so thankful to my colleagues and friends during that fourteen year span. I eventually traded in my phone booth to become a graphic design detective. My daughter calls me Batman for all the reasons. I have another monicker, too. Modest Psychic of Magenta Sea. Yes, I’m that guy. No mere sideshow psychic, either. I’m entangled with activated intuition, predictive spontaneity, and a willingness to follow my intellect and imagination to the very core vibrations of reality itself. Eventually I broke through my own escape velocity and entered my current trajectory as an enlightened writer. Some call me a soothsayer, but don’t worry Caesar.
In 2012 I received an invitation to interview for NBA TV Design. Ironic that my last full-time boss in broadcast design had another telling name, Simon Coffin. This job nearly killed me. It began with the Game Time redesign. I was paired with two Turner Studio 3D artists to design and produce hundreds of graphics for NBA TV’s core show. The coolest part is that the three of us went head-to-head with three of the most prominent design firms in the country. We were small and scrappy, but we were good. Remaining focused with our eyes on the balls in-play we won the battle. One of them was Prologue. I don’t remember the other two.