The text version of the desk
Same portfolio as the desk, without the props. Built for screen readers, crawlers, and anyone who would rather just read.
M Dean Jones — Graphic Designer & Print Production Specialist
Boardpholio
SA Media
Something Simple Services
Veritoken
EmTech Summit
DriveAds
Dallas Young Makers
Doctor Bitcoin
My Deslexic World
Roger Wilco
LRN
Xclaim Mobile
Blue Feather
Claudette & The Guys
SATX Concrete
STOP
Todd's Treats
Highlights from the iPad. Full case studies live on the desk.
An old online acquaintance was making homemade absinthe and asked me for a bottle label. He gave me the name — die Lücke — but let me run with the design, so I went wormwood-meets-chemistry: gothic type, the molecule sitting inside / overlaid on an absinthe spoon, and a green sunburst.
I used to be a member of an online forum back in the early days of the internet — a forum of electronic artists, everything from drum and bass, techno, industrial, all kinds of electronic music. The people who ran the forum had a small record label based in Hawaii and asked me to put together the artwork for one of their artists: a rapper named eMac.
These were for SA Media, before we did the big rebrand with the new logos. I decided we needed Production Crew shirts so people would stop messing with us when we were trying to load in and set up the live streaming studio area.
Personal merch for the 'Verse. Serenity Transportation & Courier Service and Reynolds Transportation, printed mostly on brown tees — Mal and Zoe were Browncoats, so the shirts wear the brown — with a little khaki thrown in. Stickers, a cap, a tote.
Personal merch, dressed like the uniforms. Montgomery Scott's 170-in-1 oil on engineering red, La Forge's Garage on Next Generation gold, Doc McCoy's snake oil on medical blue — plus a cream tee for the elixir label. Mug, cap, stickers.
Personal merch from the Guide. MOSTLY HARMLESS on black, Life / the Universe / Everything 42 on navy and on Don't Panic yellow. A tote, stickers, and a towel — because a hoopy frood always knows where theirs is.
Personal merch for the physics jokes. COLLIDER? I BARELY KNOW HER! and SCIENCE GIVES ME A HADRON, printed for dark shirts and a heather light, plus a mug and stickers.
Personal merch, the leftover drawer. SPORK, Hello Chucky, Vote Megatron, Stinson's Legen Dairy Farms, The Nose Knows, We Are Keto, and the Badger Song in BASIC. Stickers, a mug, a cap.
Olypsis was a fantastic example of a group of people with an excellent vision and product but had trouble actually presenting those to the world. Their website was basic, not well organized from a marketing perspective, and they had no presence driving traffic to the site.
Award-winning interior designer Kevin Bryan came to us with the request for a basic, mobile-friendly website that showcased his work and real estate staging business in a stylish, easily-updatable manner. We used Elegant Themes’ “Divi” theme/builder package to deliver a gorgeous, modern site in record time. We also designed a simple, across-the-board solution for updating his website, Twitter, and Instagram accounts.
The Roger Wilco Agency was a marketing agency that I and a group of my coworkers founded after we left the enterprise tech news and research organization we previously worked for. As Employee No. 1 and Creative Director, I was tasked with the bulk of the visual, branding, UI, and UX work while helping to shape and refine our identity.
Something Simple Services was an effort to spin The Roger Wilco Agency’s marketing and creative services out into its own entity. I and one of my coworkers, was offered ownership stake in the newly-formed company.
Simply put, Drinky.Science was a blog born as part of a guerrilla marketing campaign for an up-and-coming vodka brand/company. From conceptualization to branding to design and build out, I oversaw or executed the vast majority of the site’s birth into existence.
Gurun Investment Advisors came to us with a nearly decade-old website built on obsolete technology. They needed our help to expand their clientele to younger, more tech-savvy investors.
RoboKind Robots approached us for help on several levels: a need for a freshly redesigned, reorganized, and feature upgraded web presence; content to help with their governmental outreach efforts on behalf of ASD students; and upgraded product photography due to major visual and feature changes to their line of robots.
The founder of RoboKind contacted us with the idea of a next generation education platform that was based on Blockchain technology and gave teachers and content creators the ability to have greater control and revenue generation from the work they produced. The platform also would give students better tools to meet their unique learning styles.
The symphony management came to us with the request for external dimensional lettering for new office space, but all they had was a low resolution PNG logo and no established color palette. Had to vectorize the logo and match the PNG's RGB colors to the closest equivalent Pantone colors. This project still gets us work from random people who see it.
ACE Parking came to us with a huge order for signs for the entire St. Paul Square parking area, including several lots and a parking garage. All they really had were some ideas and the SPS logo and colors. I took that and extrapolated it into a hipsterish retro design theme that matches the site's historical quality and feel.
This one was a pretty straightforward half wrap, except that the measurements we were provided with didn't match the artwork we created, so I had to recreate parts and reprint them on the fly as the application crew were wrapping the bus itself. Everyone was super happy with the results.
Similar to Senior Health Services, the client came to us with nothing but a logo, colors, and a request for several types of signage, including window and door perf, an exterior sign, and an interior sign with a raised TotalCare logo. We went around for several revisions on the perf, but eventually came together with a solid set of designs.
This particular client came to us with nothing but a logo, a couple brochures, and a request to do window perf for the entire front of their business. I took a couple cues from the brochures they provided and built out the entire rest of the design on my own, except one end panel that had a design provided by one of the companies they represent.
Dellview Elementary's counselor came to us with the idea to apply window perf to a set of interior windows, widely spaced, with a dolphin theme, in a stained glass style. Due to a need for an accelerated timeline, I used Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Firefly AI to quickly iterate on several ideas, settling on the pictured design, with me adding the text manually. After installation, we were informed that the kids, parents, and teachers all love the project.
International Paper came to us with a rather cartoony sketch up of some evergreen trees and some information that they wanted printed on window perf and installed at one of their local facilities. I used Google's Nano Banana to iterate on several versions of a more realistic winter scene with evergreen trees and FlexiSign for the final layout. The client liked the design so much that they had me put together similar designs for their other local facilities.
The clinic was moving to a new building they had built specifically for them, so they wanted a dedication plaque. I used the reverse print on brushed ACM technique. With this one, not only was the plaque shape routed, the colored logo was routed and covered with colored vinyl, then adhered to the plaque for a raised logo effect.
Tech Port wanted a nice but relatively inexpensive dedication plaque for the Boeing Center, so we went with a tried and true method I came up with: printing reverse black on silver brushed ACM (Aluminum Composite Material) and covering it with a clear acrylic face plate (for protection), all precision cut on our CNC router and mounted on brushed aluminum standoffs.
The local Marriott on the Riverwalk came to us with a need to replace their directory signs, which we had replaced several times before, due to restaurant and shop tenant changes and hotel expansion and renovation. In order to facilitate easier (and more cost effective) future changes, I suggested a sandwich of a brushed ACM, a thin printed polystyrene directory layer, and a protective acrylic front cover, all mounted on standoffs. The client wanted the directories to mount flat to the wall, so we sourced a special mounting system that works like a wall anchor but uses standoff caps to secure the signs.
Amongst a full suite of signage including a monument sign, front facade lighted sign, interior dimensional logos, and ADA signage, Habitat Construction tasked us with creating individualized, numbered blade signs for each suite. We precision CNC routed .040" mill finish aluminum plate, 1 for each side of each sign, with a thin, black acrylic insert. We used high strength silicone adhesive to assemble the signs.
The union came to us with an idea: a logo skirt made from acrylic, that blocked the view from the front of the receptionist's adjustable standing (and sitting) desk. We ended up printing the design in reverse on clear vinyl, applying it to the back of a CNC cut acrylic, and covering the back in white vinyl to fill in the clear areas. We had to build custom, magnetic mounts to accommodate the client's mounting request that the screen be easily removable if needed.
This client came to us with nothing but a name and requested a basic branding (logo and brand kit) and job site signage, including all design. We went through several iterations of logo design and color palette. Once we settled on that, I put together the signage, with the client insisting on arrows pointing at their QR code.
The owner of STOP makes custom built outdoor fire pits. Each one is hand built and welded, and each incorporates a one-of-a-kind recycled antique decoration piece. He needed a logo, pit cards (to attach to the pits with the STOP story and care instructions), die cut business cards and banners. I built him out a full brand kit with logo, colors, and typefaces. He still comes in to refill on business cards and pit cards, and to get specially-sized banners for different promotions.
A rather simple job where the client wanted a 10ft "tall" vinyl logo for the floor of their main garage/event space, which they would resin over. We installed a two piece cut vinyl logo (two pieces because our plotters only handle 5ft at a time) flawlessly. The result photos speak for themselves.
The Hilton Palacio del Rio came to us with some ideas to help IPW attendees to locate the hotel, including an idea to wrap the columns, but they had no clue how to do it. I came up with a simple, printed wrap using standard 13oz banner material, secured on a single corner with grommets and zip ties.
To follow the trend of new homeowners posing with their realtors and a giant key, Ray came to us to create a key for him to use in similar photos. I found a Kwikset key shape (standard front door residential lock brand) and routed it out of white ACM, then applied a cut vinyl version of Ray's wordmark.
The San Antonio police came to us with an idea for a sponsor banner for the recurring "battle" between them and the Fire Department, but no real design. I kinda went ham with it and they loved it.
Jaycee's came to us again, for Fiesta, to create a banner for their Gorditas booth this year. I used a few elements from last year's Mini Tacos banner for consistency and came up with a bold design to really catch the eye and feature their product.
A local well known business owner wanted a small banner, to be mounted in a LED-lit box, as decor for his friends and family, summer backyard movie nights. He only had some verbiage and a request for bright colors. I decided to go with a super retro "theater intermission", space theme with all custom artwork. He and his guests loved the result.
Cynthia's parents wanted to surprise their daughter with a large outside banner for her graduation, but all they had was the info and a few photos. I researched the school and found the mascot and school colors and designed the banner from scratch. Everyone was more than pleased with the results.
This project was brought to us by a ranch owner that wanted a fun design for the plates on his ranch truck. My first design was much more "license plate" but the client wanted something more modern. This is what we came up with. The plates are precision CNC routed .040" aluminum with a printed vinyl overlay.
One of our former receptionists has a brother that has a small cottage business making cookies and wanted to make some labels for him to put on the tins. She came to me with a very basic idea and I just ran with it.
This was a fun, personal project I came up with when the Spurs were making their NBA championship run this year (2026). I used a combination of Nano Banana, reference images, Affinity, and an idea. The stickers were the first design, created to be given away at our front desk and to friends. The banner was created to fill space on a print run. The posters were an experiment just to see how well this particular brand and type of paper would hold up for another, paying client's job order.
The owners of my shop wanted to do something fun for their only son's first birthday, so they chose a Boss Baby theme. The A-Frame sign has one design on each side, placed near their front door, so guests saw the appropriate side as they entered and left. For the banner, they just gave me the wording and a bunch of photos and I ran with the design. The party went off without a hitch and the guests loved the signage and decorations.
Email contact@mdeanjones.net. On the desk, the fountain pen opens a short form.
The notepad on the desk cycles these one at a time.
Graphic design will save the world right after rock and roll does.
But I find that for myself, without exception, the more I deal with the work as something that is my own, as something that is personal, the more successful it is.
I want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares, as opposed to ugly things. That’s my intent.
I strive for two things in design: simplicity and clarity. Great design is born of those two things.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
How well we communicate is determined not by how well we say things, but by how well we are understood.
Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.
If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the cost of bad design.
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction.
Any product that needs a manual to work is broken.
A user interface is like a joke. If you have to explain it, it’s not that good.
Design isn’t crafting a beautiful textured button with breathtaking animation. It’s figuring out if there’s a way to get rid of the button altogether.
Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that's why it is so complicated.
And with it all, good design's not about what medium you're working in; it's about thinking hard about what you want to do and what you have to work with before you start.
Design is just language and the real issue is what you use that language to do.
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
Simple is good.
Real artists ship.
If you can design one thing, you can design everything.
Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent.
Designing a product is designing a relationship.
Art is life. Design is emotion. Craft is the expression of humanity.
Design creates culture. Culture shapes values. Values determine the future.