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Graphic Designer Dale Pavlik has been there for Coca-Cola, Bausch & Lomb and the National Hockey League. Now he wants you to know he's here for you.
"After 20 years working on the corporate side and on the agency side, I decided I'd like to give working for myself a shot," he says. Born and raised in Orange (he graduated from Amity in 1982), he graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston in 1989.
He started working as a graphic designer for agencies in Stamford and Fairfield, producing designs for big clients like General Electric and A&W. He went on to work for the Phoenix Company in Hartford. He says it was a rewarding time, but he always wanted to work for himself.
"One day I looked in the mirror and said, hey, I'm that guy with the experience, so I'll give it a shot."
Now the graphic designer with the big names on his resume has gone local with his own design firm, DJP Design LLC. Based out of his Carriage Drive home, he's built his business model from the ground up. In his first six weeks of business, he picked up nine clients. And while his client list has changed, he couldn't be happier to see smaller businesses coming to DJP Designs for graphic design.
"Magically, my journey has come full circle," says Pavlik. "Because of the blessings of those wonderful experiences, working for those big companies -- it takes skill, it's a higher-octane world. But now i'm all about the mom-and-pop. I'm finding thet, morally and ethically, I don't want to work for a corporation."
He works out of his home office, a life he says suits him a lot better. He's got a beautiful view of his own back yard next to his desk, and he's charted out his multi-tier publicity plan on the wall nearby.
"I still believe it should be about the happy client," he says. "And because I work for myself, I don't have to deal with the politics of corporations. You can have a much bigger impact working for a small business. Maybe it's a single person, maybe it's three. It's hugely rewarding to take that experience and say, let me help out the sandwich shop, the yogurt store. That's where my heart is, where the passion is."
Pavlik's press release previously ran on Orange Patch. He is taking clients, and can be reached at dale@djpdesignllc.com.
