About Pamela Geismar
I am a graphic designer who loves designing books, packaging, logos, brochures, stationery,
and, recently, web sites. I run my own small
design business, soon to be named Domino Design,
doing a variety of design projects for clients
all over the country, from small one-person shops
to multi-national organizations. No job is too big
or too small!
All the details, for those who want to know:
I graduated from Yale College with a BA in English
Literature and Art, clear that I wanted to be a
designer because I loved layout, typography, and
creating visual solutions. In New York in the early
1990's, I worked in several studios including
Sisman Design. Projects during this period included
collateral work for several fashion magazines such as Allure and Details; ads
and catalogues for art galleries such as A/D Gallery and Blum Helman; identities
for small companies such as Munder Skiles and the Harvard Collection of Historical
Scientific Instruments; and viewbooks for Connecticut College and Yale University.
Since becoming a Designer at Chronicle Books in San Francisco in 1995, I have
designed and art directed hundreds of books including The Beatles Anthology, The
Splenda World of Sweetness, The Spiaggia Cookbook and The Pleasures of Slow Food.
I designed the look of Chronicle's best-selling The Bad Girl's Guide series (over
100,000 in print of each title in the series), aimed at young women with its sassy
pink vinyl cover and slightly-twisted illustrations. In addition to designing, I
art directed 20 books a year, putting together creative teams for image-driven
cookbooks, pop culture impulse purchases, fine art photography books, design
volumes, and non-fiction titles. As a result, I have extensive experience defining
a product's audience, using design to serve the product's marketing needs, and
producing products within the constraints of the retail world.
I became the Design Director for Adult Trade books at Chronicle Books in 1997,
adding on the responsibility of managing the in-house design department, taking
overall responsibility for the aesthetics of each season's list, and developing a
better understanding the financial and business aspects of a publishing company.
I moved back to New York in 2002 to raise a family, and now do freelance work for
several clients, including United Nations Development Programme and Stewart Tabori
& Chang. In 2003, I became the Design Director for Chronicle's Custom Publishing
division, in which capacity I art direct all the proprietary projects they do for
clients such as Nordstrom, BabyGap, Anthropologie, Old Navy, Starbucks, Williams-
Sonoma, restaurants across the country, and McNeil Nutritionals. This role has
honed my ability to hear the needs of each different client I am working with,
develop a good working relationship with each of them, and produce a beautiful
object that meets the client's needs and exceeds their expectations.
email pg [at] pamelageismar.com