About James Bridges

Over the past 20 years, I have worn what appear to be a number of professional hats.

I have been a creative director and an art director. A graphic and UI designer. A journalist, copywriter and editor. A photographer.

In the end, it all boils down to communication.

That’s what has ultimately tied all of my work together. It’s all about the best ways of communicating ideas, be it print, digital, image or word.

Sometimes it’s been altruistic—working the news and science beats in my university newspaper days or years creating educational programs to teach frog dissection and ecology through a series of Digital Field Trips. Sometimes it’s been to help sales or marketing of everything from hair salons to software to foreign exchange trading platforms.

I started in print with newspapers, as a reporter, editor and even production manager, but also an early summer job in packaging design, literally working close enough to feel the rumble of the printing press that was producing the paper wrappers for shingles I had designed just a few weeks earlier.

But my professional life has been digital. From early web sites relying on tables and iframes to educational software distributed on CD-ROMs through to today’s landscape of responsive design and the ubiquity of apps. The challenge of finding the best way to provide a streamlined, clean and engaging user experience is something I find very rewarding.

When I do my job right, it should be virtually invisible. Good design leads you without you even noticing how it’s doing it. Likewise, good writing communicates what it’s trying to in ways you may not even be aware of at first.

That’s my philosophy anyway. And if it sounds like something that fits with yours, I’d like to hear from you.