WHO I AM
My name is Gary Joseph Cieradkowski. With a name that contains almost half of the characters in the alphabet, it was no wonder I ended up as a graphic designer turning letters into art. For over 25 years I worked with the best design and advertising firms in the country. My clients included the biggest and most recognized brands in the world, and chances are you’ve visited or purchased something I designed. I created the environmental and print graphics for Oriole Park at Camden Yards, designed the music department of Barnes & Noble, rebranded and repackaged the Folgers Coffee can, and my poster work has won awards from around the world. I started my own studio a decade ago because I wanted to bring to my clients all the talent, knowledge and experience you can get in the largest agency but without the overhead and needless costs. And I wanted to do this on my uncompromising terms.
Ever since the age of seven when I happened upon a book of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s posters, I have believed that graphic design is an art form, the perfect blend of artistic sensibility and typographic expertise. With this ideology finely honed through decades of hard work and dedicated study, I offer my clients and their projects a personalized touch no one else can offer. Most firms specialize in one particular aspect of design: branding, print, environments, packaging. What my studio specializes in is, well, everything. My philosophy is that the true designer can design to all disciplines, and that the most important thing to know is how a concept starts as a brand mark that expands and matures through its consistent application to signage, print, packaging and web. I’ve successfully done this for the best brands in the world, and I can do it for you.
In addition to a successful career in design, I am also a published author, specializing in baseball history. My writing, art and research was recognized by the Baseball Reliquary in 2015 when I was named the recipient of the Tony Salin Award for Contributions to Baseball History, the highest honor a baseball writer, historian and researcher can receive. My book “The League of Outsider Baseball: An Illustrated History of Baseball’s Forgotten Heroes” was published in 2015 by Simon & Schuster and I am currently the editor of “21: The Illustrated Journal of Outsider Baseball.” I have been a guest on NPR’s “Weekend Edition Saturday” to talk baseball with Peter Simon and continue to be a featured speaker at book festivals and libraries across the country.
