Hello.
I’m Chaz DeSimone & it’s a pleasure meeting you. But why are you sitting sideways?
If you were expecting to read about National Ampersand Day, you’ll have to go here. Being the egomanic that I am, this page is all about me & me & me.
Good enough isn’t
I don’t recall which major brand used that slogan several decades ago, but I live by it. Passionate about design & excellence, I do not not subscribe to the statement “perfection does not exist.” It does. Great designers prove it all the time.
Scribbling “logos” since I was a tantrum-throwing toddler & adding serifs to letters since I could hold a Crayola* I’ve been fortunate to enjoy a career of creativity. I’ve always been a progressive thinker (in grade school I was considered retarded), which led to pioneering styles & concepts in many areas of advertising & graphic design. My first loves will always be lettering, typography, layout & logos. I get deliriously happy when a client asks me to design a logo with an ampersand in it.
How AmperArt got started
In 2011, as a marketing campaign for my graphic design business, I created a series of “ampersand art” posters. After positive feedback, I turned it into an ongoing series & named it AmperArt, planning to release one piece per month as long as I can push a pencil & a pixel. So far I’ve created over 100. Those first several campaign pieces & all the others are in the AmperArt gallery.
My “real” work
I design brand identity, from a singular logo to a comprehensive branding system; book cover art & interior typography; posters, collateral,+99999999999999****- (the cat did that), packaging & all that sort of stuff.
Within the scope of brand identity (also called corporate identity or visual branding — whatever it’s called, that and expert typography are my favorite design practices), I create the nucleus which is the logo, customize the fonts for the identity program & assemble palettes of color & visual elements to visually support the brand in every aspect: stationery, signage, collateral & beyond…way beyond. I stop at nothing to refine an image that will best serve my client.
You may admire — I mean inspect — my work at desimonedesign.com.
More about me & me & me
On the personal side, I paint vibrant abstracts, create custom greeting cards (featuring the ampersand of course), listen to straight-ahead jazz, attempt to dance swing & ballroom & practically live at Disneyland. Unless it’s hot & sunny — then I’m at the beach with a bottle of suntan oil & nothing else. After all, as my favorite bumper sticker goes, “If we were meant to go naked we would have been born that way.”
*My favorite Crayola has always been blue-green, but I’ll admit I can’t draw much more than a stick figure.
Okay, enough about me. Let’s hear about you. Leave a comment below, or contact me direct. Or go ahead and read why I created National Ampersand Day.