meet Jeff devey: enemy of nephews and nieces (and their logo designs) worldwide.
What do you do at GDS?
Mostly I deal with designing (or re-designing) logos. I create custom illustrations, lettering, and icons, and basically try to do my part to make our clients look better than the competition. I'm also responsible for a lot of the logos that use custom typography, or hand-drawn scripts.
I also get a lot of redesign and rebranding jobs. We like to joke about how often these logos are developed by the nephews and nieces of our clients 'who are really good at drawing' - but in reality, it doesn't happened too frequently. Although we're always surprised about the branding choices some clients have made prior to hiring us!
Too often, existing fonts are limited - so it's great to be able to offer our clients that service as part of many the logos we create. I also do some stationery designs, and designs for vehicles.
What's your background? How did you get into this racket?
I grew up in the industry and basically started at an early age hanging around (and later working at) my dad's graphics business, where I learned first how to draw, then learned the skills necessary to put my designs in digital form. What started as designing logos for fictitious companies just for fun has since evolved into creating award-winning logo designs for real clients. With over 1000 logos under my belt, there probably isn't a business type that I haven't designed a logo for.
What are your favorite portfolio pieces?
I would have to say the Royal Crown Dairy logo is the one I'm most proud of at this point. I'm a sucker for nostalgia and design styles from the past, and the amount of work involved in taking the piece from a rough pencil sketch to a finished design really paid off when I got to see the finished product on everything from brochures to vehicle graphics to magazine pages.
What accomplishments are you most proud of?
So far it has really thrilled me whenever a project I have been involved in is recognized by awards or publication, which I hope thrills our clients as well. I also feel privileged to work with designers of the caliber found at GDS who go the extra mile to create truly unique and outstanding designs for their clients, and who continue to inspire me with their talents.
What do you do when you're not at work?
Let's see ... right now I enjoy learning Spanish, oil painting, playing keyboards in a band, geeking out about tech stuff (mostly stuff from Apple), and spending quality time with my wife and two dogs.
Quick Stats
Key Accomplishments and Qualifications:
- AA Degree in Art from College of Southern Idaho
- Over 10 years experience as a designer and illustrator
- Has won awards in several national art contests, winning his first at age nine
- Has designed over 1000 small business logos
- Designed cover artwork for EOTO's album "Fire The Lazers!"
Can Often Be Heard Saying:
- Lyrics from random pop songs in a really bad falsetto
- "Is that really their current logo?"
- "I'll have a triple venti caramel macchiato."
My Favorite Things:
- The Internet
- Apple products
- Coffee
- Oil paint
- Hand lettering
- Retro logo design
