The year was 1996, two years into my self-taught, part time graphic design ‘career’, and I had just gotten my first full time job as a designer with Martin Audio, a local tape and CD duplication company. I was in heaven, designing CD packages and posters for local and national indie bands and musicians putting out their own music. A perfect fit for me, as I got my start as a designer in 1994 in the Seattle music scene — being in a band myself, and doing projects for C/Z Records and Tasty Shows.

I have always kept busy with side projects.

So when my friend Bryan Yeck said, “You want to design a logo for our new coffee shop?” I replied, “Hell yes, I do.” And I got to work.

For over twenty years I designed nearly everything for Zeitgeist Coffee, including apparel, cup ware graphics, posters and postcards, coffee bean labels, stickers, ads, and their website.

I discovered a lot about myself as a designer as I had free reign to create the brand and style from scratch. It was a great run!