{"id":244,"date":"2025-12-02T23:51:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T23:51:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paulblackwood.com\/?page_id=244"},"modified":"2026-04-30T12:49:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T12:49:12","slug":"our-story","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/paulblackwood.com\/?page_id=244","title":{"rendered":"Our Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"244\" class=\"elementor elementor-244\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-31c8d11 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"31c8d11\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-42147fa e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"42147fa\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1204e85 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"1204e85\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">My Story\u200b<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-616f709 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"616f709\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p data-start=\"104\" data-end=\"453\">I\u2019m a Graphic Designer with a deep-rooted love for visual storytelling and a career that spans both digital and print design. After earning my Graphic Design degree from Plymouth State University, I built a multi-faceted path that blends creativity, technical execution, and a strong understanding of how design comes to life across different media.<\/p><p data-start=\"455\" data-end=\"710\">My work began in print production, where I served as a prepress specialist at <strong data-start=\"533\" data-end=\"542\">Spire<\/strong>, a Boston-based printing service bureau. That foundation in file preparation and production workflows gave me a detail-driven approach that still shapes my work today.<\/p><p data-start=\"712\" data-end=\"982\">I then expanded into digital presentations at <strong data-start=\"758\" data-end=\"775\">BBG New Media<\/strong>, developing PowerPoint and Macromedia projects for clients such as <strong data-start=\"843\" data-end=\"859\">John Hancock<\/strong>. Creating everything from slides to interactive content strengthened my ability to communicate ideas clearly and visually.<\/p><p data-start=\"984\" data-end=\"1332\">At <strong data-start=\"987\" data-end=\"1003\">RR Donnelley<\/strong>, I worked as a desktop publisher producing internal manuals, business forms, and client-facing publications. This is also where I began building websites\u2014starting with HTML and Dreamweaver and progressing into modern tools including Bootstrap, CMS platforms, WordPress, and Figma. I\u2019ve also built and managed online storefronts.<\/p><p data-start=\"1334\" data-end=\"1634\">Along the way, I\u2019ve freelanced for a wide range of agencies and companies\u2014including <strong data-start=\"1418\" data-end=\"1432\">Home Depot<\/strong>, <strong data-start=\"1434\" data-end=\"1445\">Staples<\/strong>, and <strong data-start=\"1451\" data-end=\"1465\">Sir Speedy<\/strong>\u2014creating catalogs, branding, promotional materials, and more. I\u2019m fluent across the Adobe Creative Suite, as well as tools like QuarkXPress, Illustrator, and Photoshop.<\/p><p data-start=\"1636\" data-end=\"1877\">Most recently, I worked with <strong data-start=\"1665\" data-end=\"1673\">RISI<\/strong> (now <strong data-start=\"1679\" data-end=\"1694\">Fastmarkets<\/strong>) as a Graphic Designer and Desktop Publisher, laying out newsletters and marketing materials, updating content in the CMS, and supporting timely email communications through Marketo.<\/p><p data-start=\"1879\" data-end=\"2368\">I also operated a side business as the owner-operator of a gluten-free bakery, where I managed end-to-end operations including product development, daily production, compliance, and distribution to local stores. I created and marketed all digital and print advertising, handled sales, customer service, and POS tasks, and managed online marketing tools (Google Ads, Facebook Ads Manager, PayPal) to drive e-commerce growth. I also oversaw budgeting, bookkeeping, and regulatory compliance.<\/p><p data-start=\"2370\" data-end=\"2528\">Whether designing for print, building digital content, or coding a website, I focus on smart, clean, effective solutions\u2014and I love every part of the process.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-905749c e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"905749c\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-9079408 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"9079408\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-aab6e28 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"aab6e28\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"213\" src=\"https:\/\/paulblackwood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/me-300x213.png\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-image-100\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/paulblackwood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/me-300x213.png 300w, https:\/\/paulblackwood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/me-1024x727.png 1024w, https:\/\/paulblackwood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/me-768x545.png 768w, https:\/\/paulblackwood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/me.png 1119w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-09b3bc1 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"09b3bc1\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-37cda134 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"37cda134\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5036cb9 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget-tablet__width-inherit elementor-widget elementor-widget-call-to-action\" data-id=\"5036cb9\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"call-to-action.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My Story\u200b I\u2019m a Graphic Designer with a deep-rooted love for visual storytelling and a career that spans both digital and print design. After earning my Graphic Design degree from Plymouth State University, I built a multi-faceted path that blends creativity, technical execution, and a strong understanding of how design comes to life across different [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-244","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulblackwood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulblackwood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulblackwood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulblackwood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulblackwood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=244"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/paulblackwood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":673,"href":"https:\/\/paulblackwood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/244\/revisions\/673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulblackwood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulblackwood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}