www.chrislong.biz | Page Layout, Print Design, Ads

Self-starting, articulate, problem-solving designer with four years' experience designing a range of print projects including books, catalogs, mailers, print ads, postcards, newsletters, stationary and business documents. Work has appeared in Publisher's Weekly, Juxtapoz, Hi-Fructose and Heavy Metal magazines. I enjoy design immensely and believe any idea can be successfully communicated.

Ability to create press-ready print documents via Adobe CS and QuarkXpress. Offset printing experience, light bindery experience, knowledge of basic color correction principles and pre-press requirements. Experienced writer with strong composing, editing and proofreading abilities; able to draft persuasive, grammatically correct copy. Computer skills include HTML, XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, .NET, MySQL and basic UNIX. Strong organizational and analytical tendencies with keen attention to detail. Proven ability to communicate client vision successfully, accept criticism professionally and manage downtime resourcefully. Working written and verbal Spanish.

Tripled use of color in monthly newsletter while maintaining production cost, resulting in more pop for the same price. Applied InDesign's Data Merge command and programming knowledge to current job description, reducing newsletter production hours by 55% and increasing ability to detect and eliminate errors. Reorganized department directory structure resulting in more intuitive naming conventions, faster file retrieval and increased network access. Managed 63 writers, illustrators and photographers on anthology book project, successfully meeting 13-week deadline.

2007 - Current: Print Designer, Last Gasp Publishing, San Francisco, CA.
2003 - Current: Print Designer, FunNotFame Productions, San Francisco, CA.

1989 - 1993: Graduated from Buena High School, Ventura, CA with 3.6 GPA in mostly AP courses.
2006 - 2008: Maintained 3.8 GPA at City College of San Francisco. Coursework includes Color Correction 1, Illustrator 1 & 2, InDesign 1 & 2, and Graphics 25.

This 56-page, 8 x 10.5″ catalog represents my most satisfied job to date. The printing, paper, data flow and color palette all combined with the fine art theme and edgy positioning the client wished to communicate. It was truly an instance where the client and designer shook hands upon final presentation because everything worked out so well. The job needed a plate change, as we ran wholesale and mailorder versions of the catalog. The difference is in the final spread.
(Wholesale) PDF 13mb download
(Mailorder) PDF 13mb download

2009 | Offset Print Catalogs

I've been interested in book design since I published my first book in 2003, and to date I've designed or helped design over a dozen published books: Manifesto: Read About Skateboarding (FunNotFame 2003), No Comply: Skateboarding Speaks on Authority (FunNotFame 2005), Barefoot Gen: The Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, Vols. 5-10 (Last Gasp, 2007-2009), Banksy's Bristol: Home Sweet Home (Last Gasp, 2009), Best Erotic Comics 2008 & 2009 (Last Gasp, 2008-2009), The Cannabis Cool Coloring Book (Last Gasp, 2009) and Why I'm Not An Atheist (FunNotFame 2009).

2003 - 2009 | Books

Twice annually I make an 8.5 x 11″ presentation for the international representatives of SCB Distribution, who use them in pitches to key buyers amongst the book industry's top retailers like Barnes & Noble, Borders, and others. The goal is to give the representative more than enough information to sell the book, presented in an intuitive, predictable and easily digested manner.
PDF 31mb download

2008 | Sales Kits

For the past two years, I've done monthly full- and quarter-page, 4/4 ads for Last Gasp that run in Juxtapoz, along with full-page quarterly ads for Hi-Fructose and Heavy Metal magazines. My favorites are the Mark Ryden Hi-Fructose ad, particularly because I corresponded directly with Mark Ryden in the ad-making process, and criticism from such a well-respected artist is worth its weight in gold. There is also a small, eighth-page ad that appeared in Publisher's Weekly (bottom left). I especially liked this ad because limited space challenges the designer, forcing them to see solutions they might not have seen under more gratuitous conditions.

2007-2009 | Print Ads

This spread announcing new titles from Last Gasp Publishing was an interesting experiment in designing in the A3 format for Turnaround, a well-known book distributor in the UK. The idea was to replace traditional headlines with striking visual art that encourages the reader to search for more about the books which contains it.

2008 | Print Ads

The following is an example of a monthly, web-printed, half-size newsletter I do for Last Gasp Publishing of San Francisco. This newsletter is 32 pages, 4/1 with one 4/4 plate to enhance key pages. The newsletters are created rather easily and quickly using InDesign's Data Merge feature.
PDF 28mb download

2008 | Catalogs

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