About Paul Kazmercyk
Paul Kazmercyk: Art Director and Graphic Designer at Granite Bay Design
Paul always wanted to be in advertising and design. His mom and dad were creative, each in their own way. But what clinched it for him was seeing Darrin Stephens on the popular sitcom “Bewitched”. Darrin was in advertising and his job and lifestyle seemed like a good career path to follow. And so it went…
Paul attended the University of Bridgeport in Bridgeport, Connecticut where he majored in graphic design with a minor in printmaking.
After graduation he worked as a graphic designer in three small studios in Guilford, Branford and New Haven, Connecticut. He eventually decided to go off on his own and, as a self-employed graphic designer, he set up shop in an extra bedroom in an apartment, then purchased a home with an large artist’s studio already in place. He lives there now with his wife, Donna and their dog, Maggie. Their home borders on a trail system belonging to the Branford Land Trust, where Paul and Maggie enjoy frequent long walks.
As a designer, Paul has worked with a number of clients on a very wide variety of projects including:
Utilities
South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority:
☉ Annual Reports, Annual Water Quality Reports, Newsletters, Bill Inserts, Recreation Department Design and Implementation, Advertising (Consumer and B2B), Nearly All Print and Web Elements
☉ The Watershed Fund Website (Concept, Design and Implementation)
☉ Regional Water Authority Labs (Concept, Design and Implementation)
Eversource:
☉ A Wide Variety of Print Projects Including Brochures, Consumer Communication, Point-of-Purchase Displays, Banners and Signs, Electric Vehicle Materials, Help with Branding, and More…
United Illuminating / Avangrid:
☉ A Wide Variety of Print Projects Including Brochures, Consumer Communication, Point-of-Purchase Displays, Banners and Signs, Electric Vehicle Materials, Help with Branding, and More…
Schools and Universities
Yale University School of Music, New Haven, Connecticut:
☉ Music at Yale Magazine [Sample on the Site] My involvement was to get rough text for each article from the client as well as an extensive collection of photographs and design multiple options for each article. Those would be forwarded to the university for review and/or approval.
☉ Music at Yale Alumni Ventures Anniversary Brochure [Sample on the Site] My involvement on this hefty brochure was similar to the magazine above.
Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Connecticut:
☉ Annual Reports [Samples on the Site: Annual Report Sample A, Annual Report Sample B]
☉ Comprehensive Wayfinding/Signage System encompassing the entire university and spanning two campuses one of which was under construction at the time. My involvement included not only designing the wayfinding, but simultaneously creating an extensive, highly-detailed series of binders that the university personnel could use as a guide for every type of signage from the smallest room signs to large building and navigation elements. The link above shows only a small selection of signs and corresponding pages from the guidelines binders.
Wardlaw-Hartridge School Viewbook, New Jersey:
☉ Half serious and half playful, the Wardlaw-Hartridge Viewbook features a plethora of great photographs of students and faculty, punctuated with type on waves and circles an full page spreads with a large photograph and a facing page with a playful mix of serif and serif fonts highlighting the schools many benefits. [Sample on the Site]
Retail
Madison Flower Shop, Madison, Connecticut:
☉ To help celebrate their 50th anniversary of keeping Madison and the surrounding communities beautiful, Madison Flower Shop commissioned graphic designer Paul Kazmercyk and Madison-based photographer Tom Hopkins to create this striking brochure highlighting the many facets of the busy shop’s floral and landscaping business.
Working with printer George Platt, Granite Bay Design decided to print the process color job on a top quality uncoated sheet. But wanting to be sure the photos “popped” they looked at what other creative people had done and found a piece that was printed with a black “touch plate”. This solved the problem that often occurs when printing on an uncoated sheet where images look washed out because the ink gets absorbed into the paper. (Unlike with a coated sheet where the ink sits on the surface and generally looks good).
Working with Tom’s photographs in Adobe Photoshop, Paul started with the traditional four ink colors (cyan, magenta, yellow and black). He duplicated the black plate which became the “touch plate”. Working on what was now a fifth plate, he “opened up” the lighter areas using the curves function in Photoshop until he had roughly about 1/2 to 2/3 of the original black in that plate. He then used Photoshop’s sharpening tools on that plate to add that extra touch of black number two.
No one involved with the project (printer, photographer, graphic designer) had ever done this before so they ran a press proof using the five-plate (four plates plus the touch plate). The press proof was a success. The result exceeded everyone’s expectations and the brochure was a success. [Sample Pages on the Site]