Hello, how are you?
My name is Joe Tower and I’m a professional graphic + web designer living and working in Minneapolis MN. I thoroughly enjoy all aspects of design, from branding and print work to full-scale content management system (CMS) web integration. My personal favorite CMS solutions are Wordpress (which this site is built on) and Drupal (which this site might be rebuilt on). My favorite projects involve the whole design solution package — from the initial logo and brand development through the website, advertising and beyond. I take great pride in providing clients standards-compliant, usable, engaging and visually pleasing websites. Microsoft and their products are the bane of my existence and I focus energy on ridding the world of the plague they insist on spreading. I love a challenge and become bored without mental/visual stimulation.
Basically,
I’m trying to make the internet less painful and the world more beautiful.
On the rare occasion my mind isn’t focused solely on design, I enjoy film (favorite decades being the 40’s-60’s), music (jazz, metal and hip-hop), quality beer (Mikkeller & Rogue are aces) and hanging out with friends and family.
Career
Growing up, I wasn’t big on math or sports, especially in high school. English was always a favorite, but I found my true passion in the arts. From sketching band logos during class lectures to painting/sketching in art class, I started the pursuit of finding my voice. In high school, the admiration for art increased drastically. With the guidance of an eccentric wonder of a human, Stan Sutter, I had the revelation to pursue a career in the arts. Stan was the first true artist I had ever met and I was thoroughly fascinated by his technique and ethos. He introduced me to some of my favorite musicians/artists as well. He deepened my admiration for Tom Waits and people like John Prine.
In my senior year of high school I had no clue where to go to college. One day a few folks from The Academy College came to art class and spoke about design as a career. I was immediately intrigued and started researching my college options. I took a tour of the Academy and decided it might be a good fit. Though the Academy was not renown for their design program, I found some like-minded people and more importantly, had some excellent professors. Through the guidance of Diana Green and William Wells I learned design basics, typography, enhanced color theory, story boarding, art history and film history. Tara Carroll taught a design course that was the most beneficial from a business standpoint. She was the only professor who stressed typography, purchasing fonts and actually had us designing real projects. She would take on the role of client and teach us how to write a brief and establish a time line. I wish she had stuck around to teach another class but she moved to New York to start her own firm, Color Parlour. I hope Diana, William and Tara are doing well and if you read this, thanks for everything.
Throughout my college career I was freelancing, working hard to get clients and have a steady work flow. Through working on my own website I slowly learned how to code websites using HTML and CSS. In college I learned to design table-based websites and I hated it — knowing there had to be a better way. There was and that thirst for learning hasn’t been quenched yet.
I graduated with a bachelor of science degree in graphic design. Shortly before graduating I landed a job at Intran Media, located in Wayzata MN. In my 2+ years at Intran, I was able to design ads for McDonalds and a few other clients. Most of the time I worked with artwork designed by ad agencies across the U.S. and sizing the large-scale artwork to fit within the dimensions of freight truck sides. I also had the opportunity to refocus and refine the Intran Media brand. Unfortunately, I left before finishing their website but I learned so much from the experience of working there. I will always remember the awesome family-like environment Intran offered. It was time for me to leave and pursue other avenues — the more creative, design-oriented type. I was so hungry for actual consistent design work and I wasn’t getting what I needed to thrive and advance in my career.
These days I work for a web design firm called August Ash, Inc. I get to design and develop standards-compliant websites. I thoroughly enjoy what I do because it’s always changing and I learn something new every day. Coming from a print design background, I had some challenges to overcome — as designing for the web is a different world than print. The same core principles exist but there are significant levels of usability and interactivity that differ.
Freelance Design
I live to design, communicate and work with people. If you are interested in working together, please contact me.