A long time ago in a galaxy not so far away…

so long ago that I can remember when Photoshop came loaded on a stack of floppy disks…

I began a long and incredibly rewarding graphic design journey. My name is Daniel Pitner, and I’ve been professionally designing since 2002 after graduating from The Art Institute of Dallas, working across a multitude of industries and platforms.

Upon graduating with a degree in 3D Computer Animation, I thought I wanted to be a 3D animator for cinema and game studios. While searching for a job in that industry, I applied the skills acquired at school to design flyers, business cards, posters, as well as animating titles for things like training videos.

One day, somewhere in the early 2000s, a good friend and incredible man named Fern Sanchez introduced me to the world of HTML and website design, opening up a whole new world for me. I began learning newer web technologies like CSS that gave visual designers the power to move past the world of HTML tables to create something beyond informational and now build beautifully creative layouts.

A new era in online design.

After some time, and refining my web design chops, I discovered the magical world of Macromedia Flash—eventually purchased by Adobe and assimilated into its growing suite of design applications. With this tool I was able to combine my love for web design with my life-long passion for animation.

It was incredible. I could now go beyond simply designing pretty visuals to creating an entire online interactive experience. This program enabled me to create animations for websites, applications and games alike. It was fun and exciting!

Alas, the party was over June 29, 2007 with the introduction of the iPhone and Steve Jobs deciding not to allow third-party plug-ins to be loaded on the device. While Flash was rebranded to Adobe Animate for use in a number of applications, Jobs’ decision eventually led to the death of its use as a tool for building sites.

A few sites I either integrated with or built entirely with Adobe Flash.

In the last 15 years I’ve worked for a game studio as an illustrator and UI designer, a TV show as a website and graphic designer, a design studio as a website and graphic designer, an HVAC company as an “everything graphic design” designer, and a marketing agency handling all things print and digital.

I’m the proverbial “Jack-of-all-Trades” and I can’t believe I get to do this for a living. Alan Watts said “Figure out what you love to do and do that.” Simple words that make so much sense, yet most people find themselves in jobs they don’t enjoy in order to make money so they can survive to keep doing that job.

I don’t have a job. Whether I’m designing a logo for a large company or making music videos with my daughter, no matter what, I get to play for my money, and I count myself incredibly fortunate for that.

Give me a reason to play.