Interview with Jim LePage

Jim LePage is a graphic designer and amateur photographer from St. Paul, MN. Jim uses his talent to pursue after God, he also uses his contemporary, sarcastic and fun filled writing style, when communicating what he learns from the Bible. Read some of the articles on his blog and I guarantee you, he will have you laughing out loud and at the same time saying Amen!. Today we will be talking a little with him about design and the Bible and how he has fused the two together in a personal project called “Word”. Ok, lets hear from Jim!

1. Welcome to INSPIKS, please introduce yourself. Could you tell us where you’re from and how you got started in the field of Graphic Design?

I live in St. Paul, MN which has the best weather in the world for 6 months out of the year. I have an amazing wife and two cats and I submit to all three of them.

Like most graphic designers, I went to school for guitar construction/repair, delivered pizzas for about 4 years then worked as a preschool teacher. In 2003, after about 5 years of being a preschool teacher, I realized that it wasn’t something I wanted to do for the rest of my life so I decided to go back to school for graphic design. I had no experience in graphic design, very little knowledge of computers in general and didn’t have a strong background in art. It just sounded like fun. I did a 2-year program at a community college and then started working at my church as a designer.

Old Truck in a Parking Lot in East St. Paul by Jim LePage

HDR Image of Shoreline in Monterey, CA. by Jim LePage

2. Please tell us a about how you became a Christian and how that has impacted the way you approach design.

I grew up going to church and to Christian schools. I guess I had some type of walk with God during that time, but it never grew past a childlike faith. By the time I went off to college, I couldn’t wait to finally ditch all the boring church stuff. For about 4 or 5 years, I had nothing to do with church or Jesus. I was very lonely at that time and at a certain point, I decided to give church a try again. From the first time I set foot back in a church, my faith began to grow. I’m not one of those people that can tell you the date, time and my shoe size when I really decided to submit to God, but I can say that it happened around 1997.

As far as design, I see God as the ultimate artist and the author of creativity. When I design, I’m just trying to imitate him by doing the best I can.

Taking off the Headphones -Sermon Graphic by Jim LePage

Undercut Logo Design by Jim LePage

3. Tell us a little about your job as Design Manager at Woodland Hills Church?

I interned at Woodland Hills while I was still in school and was hired there as a graphic designer a couple months before I graduated. Currently, I oversee our graphic design and web areas. The biggest complaint I have about the job is that it’s completely ruined me from working anywhere else. My boss is the best supervisor you could ask for (seriously, he’s better than your boss). The people on my team are super cool and I have complete trust and respect for the leadership at the church. I kinda lucked into this gig, but man, if you are able to work somewhere (church or otherwise) with leadership you trust and where you are appreciated, respected and challenged to grow, grab on to that. It’s worth way more than a higher salary at a place without those things.

Word: 2 Samuel by Jim LePage

4. Who are your favorite artists? What impress you most about them?

• Mark Weaver Amazing designer. He’s got a really unique style and I love his use of shapes.
• Frank Chimero Phenomenal illustrator with a crisp, clean vibe. Check out his “The States” series.
• James White Digital artist extraordinaire who builds massive PSD files. Plus, he loves old school metal.
• Deviant Monk He’s got an awesome collage style and great AfterEffects skills.
• Aesthetic Apparatus Minneapolis screen printing duo that turn out some awesome gig posters.

Word: 1 Samuel by Jim LePage

Word: 1 Kings by Jim LePage

5.Your “Word” series as made quite an impact on Flickr, tell us a little about the project and why you started the series?

Thanks! First of all, I have to say that INSPIKS has been extremely supportive with Word. You guys have been very encouraging and I really appreciate it!

I’ve always had a hard time reading the Bible. It seemed boring and reading it seemed like such a duty. (Can I get an “Amen!” from anyone on that?) I knew there was more to the Bible than what I was getting out of it and I wanted to figure out a way to see what I was missing. I decided that I should try to combine it with something I’m passionate about – something I really like to spend time on. Since I couldn’t conceive of a way to combine the Bible with a Sonic Chiller, I decided to combine it with my next favorite thing – design. This happened around January 2010 and I had been hearing a lot about people starting up the 365 project where you take a photo every day for a year. That seemed like a really cool idea so I took that concept and morphed it into Word. My plan is to go through the books in order, posting one new design a week for 66 weeks, from Genesis to Revelation. The limits I’ve set are that I can only spend roughly 3-4 hours per design, including research.

So far, it’s been incredible. Reading the Bible and knowing that any passage could be turned into a design has given me a fresh perspective on God’s word. I’m not even halfway through the Old Testament and already I’ve read about giants who were offspring of fallen angels that mated with humans, how God talked to someone through a donkey and how a prophet who is teased because he’s bald called out bears to eat the people who teased him. I now realize that I’ve had it wrong this whole time. The Bible isn’t boring, it’s crazy!

Word: Judges by Jim LePage

6. I love the dumb jock approach, strong imagery and tattoos in the Judges design. Tell us a little about how this concept developed.

With every design, I read or skim through the book, do a little background research on it, then jot down certain passages that seem like they have design potential. From there, I pick a passage and start designing. With Judges, nearly every passage I wrote down was about Samson, so it seemed to make most sense to do a design about him. Samson is one of those dudes that I remember hearing about in religion class, but only as someone who was a strong and powerful man of God who defeated the enemies of the Lord. I never remember hearing about the fact that he was pretty much a dumb thug. I mean, really dumb. It wasn’t just one or two moronic decisions. Time after time, he continually proved how dense he was. I tried to imagine what Samson would be like in today’s world and the dumb jock with tattoos was the first thing that hit me. In retrospect, Samson probably would have spelled the word “Philistines” wrong on his tat.

Word: Deuteronomy by Jim LePage

7. Where do you go to find design inspiration? What are your favorite websites?

• OMG Posters Collects the best recent work from screen printed poster designers.
• FlickrDesign Gallery site of cool design work found on Flickr.
• Grainedit Modern graphic design blog.
• Wired Magazine The design and layout of this magazine continually blows me away.

Word: Genesis by Jim LePage

8. Are there any specific techniques you use when designing that you would suggest to someone who is starting out in graphic design?

With Photoshop, get familiar with layer styles and layer masks. In Illustrator, try to wrap your mind around the pen tool and bezier curves (I still am). With InDesign (or text layout in general), Paragraph and Character styles may take some time to grasp, but they will be your best friends.

Word: Joshua by Jim LePage

9. Thanks again for providing INSPIKS with this opportunity to interview you. Any final thoughts for our readers?

Do personal projects. Word is the first personal project I’ve ever done and I wish I’d started sooner. Aside from rediscovering the Bible, I’ve been able to try different techniques, discover new skills and build up a series of designs that (I hope) look great in a portfolio. If you don’t think you have enough time for a personal project, set limits to make the project work for you. Pick a color palette and format size that you have to stick to. Maybe you choose to not use photos and only use type. Give yourself a time limit. Set parameters to make it work for you.

Word: Ezra by Jim LePage

Where to Find Jim LePage on the Web

• Portfolio/blog
• Flickr
• Twitter
• Facebook

Word: 1 Chronicles by Jim LePage