The following is from the AD Venture interview, published in October 2000, by the Lansing Advertising Club.

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You're famous worldwide for your holiday cards. What inspires you as you approach each holiday season and where do you get your ideas?

Inspiration is a small part of the process. The x-mass message started years ago as my opportunity to treat the holiday with the irreverence that I thought our culture was giving it. I guess I got rammed in the ankle one to may times by a shopping cart, and felt that we were losing the true meaning,  spirit of giving, and the concept of the holiday. “Deck the Halls”, “Just say Ho” and “Hummmbug”, explored that concept and it seasonally grew from there.

I also use it to experiment with production challenges, techniques and trends, while conveying a message from a different point of view than the obvious. Exploiting absurdities, embracing enigmas and reveling in the power of paradox.

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A recent mailing you sent out notified clients and colleagues alike that you've reached the 25-year mark of your career. To what do you attribute your longevity in the business?

Pigheadedness!

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What's your second favorite thing to do (assuming the first is your work)?

Nothing, I mean really doing nothing--calm, quite relaxation. Though with my other aesthetic pursuits, there isn’t much time for that.

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Tell us a little bit about your educational background, and does it help you in your day to day work?

I receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design from Northern Michigan University in 1974. That was the first BFA degree that they issued. Before that, there were only BA’s and a lot of BS.

I think on a day to day basis the most valuable thing about education is realizing it is an ongoing, life long process--a living thing.

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If you weren't a graphic designer, what would you have like to have been?

A gentleman gardener. You know, tweed sport coat, pruning roses and methodically tilling fertile soil, while pondering the metaphorical relationship of those labors to life and beauty. Either that, or a power hitting, right fielder.

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What possessed you to name your dog Bob?

I have always viewed pets as another partner, or member of the family. With that in mind, and from the canine point of view, “Bob” is as unique a moniker for a dog, as Kyle or Zoey, or any of those “soap opera” names, presently given to his more human counterparts. Also, when we walk down the street (picture this), an untrained beast and his best friend, and it’s difficult to distinguish which is which. Hence--Bob.

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How do you define success?

Nothing fails like success.

I believe “success” is a relative term, better used by others to arrive at some sort of standing.

Looking inwardly or personally, I think success has much to do with following your own bliss, enduring and succeeding. And along the way contributing positively to your community, no matter what scale or form that may take.

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Do you consider yourself a philosopher? If so, what beliefs do you espouse?

No, that could be thought of as arrogant, although honest arrogance doesn’t disturb me.

I consider myself a communicator in the broadest sense. Listening then speaking--creating words and images that are intended to shorten the gap between the head and the heart, creating visual poetry.

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If you knew reincarnation was guaranteed would that change how you live today?

No.

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For what are you most grateful?

I am grateful for it all, for everything that has come my way, the troublesome as well as the good.

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If they made a movie of your life story, who would you want to be cast as you?

Maybe that fat French guy, I can’t remember his name.

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I've heard you're partial to Woody Allen and Alfred Hitchcock movies.

What attracts you to them?

I admire their genius as related to their craft. In the case of Alfred Hitchcock, you can sequence the history of the modern cinema by following his career. From his silent films of the late 20’s to his last project in 1976, he took the art of story telling to another level. He created unbelievable human emotion from voids of time and space on film. Really making something, something substantial, from nothing. What you don’t see or don’t know, took on a new importance, to the story. The graphic designers counterpart to white space.

As far as Woody Allen, beyond his humor and incredible wit, I admire his work ethic. Doing a major film a year. Adding to his body of work, and not necessarily interested in the box office or critical success of the film, as much as refining the process and exploring new as well as, old ideas. Somewhat using the process to define himself, as opposed to the more obvious autobiographic nature of his work.

I believe both of them as artists are masters of creating virtue out of necessity and at least in their work, know exactly how far is to far, and take it to that extreme. Also, I really like their haircuts!

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