Hello. I'm Valerie Moreno Morgan. I'm an art director, graphic designer, and illustrator currently living in Lansing, Michigan.
I've had a fascination with art and design ever since I was a kid in Ohio. I would draw anytime and anywhere, sometimes hiding for hours under the dinner table with a pad of paper and colored pencils. It probably came from my grandma in New Mexico, who was a painter and gave me the best advice I could receive: “Don't be afraid to try. You can't be creative without making a mess.“ (This line didn't always go over well with my mom.) However, she and my family were always supportive, and their encouragement helped me turn fascination with art and design into a career.
Why Design?
On a stroll through the library at Ohio University, a stack of magazines shelf caught my eye. It was several design annuals from How magazine, and after looking them over, I was hooked. I decided to move to Phoenix to study graphic design at the Art Institute, and graduated two years later. Since then, I've worked as an art director for several magazines, designed for advertising agencies, created web sites, and done a variety of freelance projects for clients large and small. I enjoy experimenting with typography and have recently begun to experiment with photography.. I continue to draw and paint, and I sometimes do illustrations for my designs. And I still love the freedom and variety of design.
My design aesthetic is simple, consistent and clean and I can say from experience that making a good simple design is a lot of work. I love learning and experimenting with design software, and I like that they both facilitate consitency and open up almost infinite possibilities for creativity. I've recently been learning more about web design. I'm excited by the potential to bring the same level of design I see in print to the Internet.
Why Michigan?
My enormous extended family lives mostly in southern New Mexico, and I've lived many places - Ohio, Phoenix, New York City, Detroit, and now Lansing. My husband brought me to Michigan. I met him while living in Manhattan. A mutual friend introduced us, and we instantly hit it off. He works in news, and after working at the New York Times for a while, he was offered a job at The Detroit News, and we both agreed to give Michigan a try. Two years later, we got married (followed, of course, by a huge celebration in New Mexico complete with mariachi band). And now he's at MSU working on a Journalism PhD.
