aux.design.about
About Auxiliary Design
Auxiliary Design is the moniker under which I have worked for the past eight years, designing countless t-shirts, stickers, buttons, catalogs, flyers, posters, one-sheets, CDs, LPs, 7"s, 10"s, 12"s, picture discs... The list goes on and on. My beginnings as a designer are as humble as could be; cutting and pasting using photocopiers and dot matrix printers. I even hand drew the covers of dubbed cassette copies of old punk albums that my friends and I shared. Years went on and I continued to assemble flyers and demo tape covers for my bands throughout high school and beyond; from photocopiers to Photoshop.
At age 21, I landed at job at Initial Records, as the "zine guy," keeping up with zines and buying ads. I quickly dove headlong into their small collection of mildly outdated Macintosh computers, and learned all I could by pestering everyone within earshot who had more graphic design knowledge than me. After a year or so, Initial's previous full time designer left the company and, as unprepared as I was, I stepped up to fill the position. I soon became not only the designer but also the label manager, running the day-to-day operations of the company. Over the next five years at Initial I would design every piece of print that left the office, including most of the CDs and t-shirts. My time at Initial was invaluable and I learned more than I ever could have in any proper schooling program. Most of all, I learned from my mistakes and by dealing directly with manufacturers and printers with an infinitely more vast amount of knowledge than I could've hoped to have at that time.
Over the years, my bands became better known and I came to possibly my greatest acclaim for the designs I did for my own bands - The National Acrobat, Black Cross, and now Coliseum, as well as my brother's band, Breather Resist. I did freelance design work for many years alongside my duties at Initial Records, but as my desire to strike out on my own and the possibility of Initial closing their doors loomed, I decided to leave the label in October 2004. Since then I have worked full time on my own, exclusively focusing on Auxiliary Design.
As you can see by looking through this site, I have worked with a massive number of bands and labels. I have been lucky enough to have longtime associations with many of them, giving me the ability (with their input of course) to create their visual identity by working with them through many years of records, shirts, stickers, etc. Being a part of the image of a band, label, or record that I support and enjoy has meant the world to me. I would not have had the opportunity to have done the work I've done, and continue to do, without the support of so many wonderful people. I'd like to thank everyone I've worked with in the past, and I look forward to hearing from new people in the future. Here's to new friends, great art, and great records!
- Ryan Patterson // Auxiliary Design // 6.01.05