John Johnson is the director of creative services for The Auchter Company, a general contracting, design-build and construction management firm.
WHAT DO YOU CREATE?
“We can design and prepare our advertisements and all our own presentation materials in-house. We can produce everything from truck signs to street signage, multi-media presentations and burn our own CDs.”
WHO DO YOU CREATE IT FOR?
“I provide services for Auchter and any involvements the principals may have, and for project owners, clients and subcontractors. I have a limited relationship with our clients. Say we’re building a large condo and the owner needs PR material. I can work with them to provide brochures, advertising and layout. People normally would have to go to an advertising agency or printing company. I’m not in competition with service bureaus; I don’t actively seek clients. My main clients are Auchter and the Florida Center.”
DO YOU DESIGN BUILDINGS AS WELL?
“No. All the CAD work is done by architectural engineers. Whenever the public sees something we put outside of a building, I make sure the image is correct and has continuity.”
HOW HIS POSITION CAME ABOUT
“I had been doing freelance design work for Auchter for almost seven years. When they decided to build their own building [in early February], they were able to create a full-time creative services division. Now that we have a creative division, we can do services that before we had to farm out.”
WHAT’S REWARDING ABOUT YOUR WORK?
“The idea that I enjoy what I do. I enjoy coming to work. It sounds trite but it’s true.”
WHAT’S CHALLENGING ABOUT IT?
“Being able to put down on paper or in images what the principals’ or project manager’s ideas are and to be able to take those ideas and put it in a presentation that reflects the standards Auchter Company wants to have.”
EDUCATION
Johnson has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts with a concentration in graphic design from the University of North Florida. “During that time my wife, Anne, and I lived on a sailboat for nine years. We would go cruising for a few months, come back and I would take a class.”
WHY SPECIALIZE IN GRAPHIC ARTS?
“It’s an ego thing. I had an artistic background and it seemed like the perfect career. I didn’t start doing this until 1987. I spent 20 years in the Navy.”
FREE AGENT
“My wife and I started our own magazine, Florida Care Giver, which we sold a year ago. We still have Options [a magazine about elder care]. I was also doing freelance. I took a position with a repro graphics [blueprint] company, then went to a company similar to that and started a color department.”
BORN
Shawnee, Okla.
PUTTING DOWN ROOTS
Johnson and his wife live in Orange Park. They have a daughter, Dianne, and one granddaughter.
PERSONAL INTERESTS
Sailing and woodworking are Johnson’s hobbies. To escape everyday life, he enjoys a fantasy novel, watching the classic film “Fiddler on the Roof” or goes joyriding in his friend’s Dodge Viper. Big on dining out, Johnson recommends Club Continental. “Survivor” is his favorite television show.
FIFTEEN MINUTES
In 1995, Johnson won a national design contest in Tampa at the Gaspirilla Festival of the Arts.
— by Monica Chamness