About
Biography
Michael Mertz is a 23-year-old Graphic Designer currently living in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He graduated (with honors!) from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside with a BA in Digital Art and a certificate in Web Design. Mike is a Creative Director at the Kenosha Area Chamber of Commerce, and is in charge of designing everything from logos, letterhead, business cards, invitations, posters, flyers, program booklets, signs, billboards, magazines, newsletters, forms, advertisements, and just about anything else requiring a CMYK color mode.
Michael is also passionate about photography, music, big cities, cars, and anything with an Apple logo.
What's Graphicography?
There’s “photography” for describing the process of taking photos, and “typography” for type. But since there’s no “-graphy” for graphic design, “Graphicography” was born. Graphicography encompasses photography and typography, but also broader categories such as visual communication, composition, aesthetics, problem solving and branding. Oh, and it’s unique/obscure enough that it Googles nicely, too. So that’s a plus.
The website began in April of 2008 as a final semester final project. All designers need a physical portfolio, but in today’s digital age, it seems that an online portfolio is nearly as important. So here it is.
Artist's Statement
Graphic design is ubiquitous, and for the most part, it is entirely transparent—it has become such a part of our lives, we simply see it and forget it. I aspire to step above and beyond the typical ambiguity of design and produce something distinctive. I draw my sources of inspiration from the world around me: magazines, websites, newspaper advertisements, and even menus in restaurants can be great sources of insight. Ultimately, my style draws from this variety of influences but also relies profoundly on a minimalistic, modern style.
Graphic design is a powerful tool—it can be used to convey any message or promote any agenda. As a graphic designer, it is my goal to create work that is aesthetically attractive, memorable, and simply but effectively communicates an idea. Typography is especially important to me, as it is one of the most powerful tools in design. Through the use of a proper typeface, as well as a thorough use of kerning, tracking, leading and white space, typography can inject significance and feeling into plain body copy. A visual hierarchy is also crucial, as it tells the eye how to move and what to focus on. Likewise, a visual simplicity in my work is also ever-present: I believe that it’s not necessary to use seven words when three would suffice. In a world that is constantly growing in complexity, simple and effective design is vital now more than ever. I try to distill the content or message down and then present the information as simply and logically as possible, leaving out all the unimportant “fluff.” I’m a firm believer of the “less is more” school of thought, and have found that it’s much more challenging to create a simple design versus a complicated one. It is my goal to approach each project with the same logic to solve these problems and create a product that both the client and audience can appreciate.
In my future endeavors, I intend to continue to use typography, a visual hierarchy and a minimalistic, modern simplicity in my work, while learning new techniques and technologies to sharpen my skills and abilities as a designer. As a graphic designer, it is my goal to sustain the effective and memorable communication of a message while maturing as an artist.