Mike Sasso

About Mike Sasso

I've been a professional artist for longer than I care to admit. But I quit my day job on January 1, 1978, so you do the math. I studied Fine Art in college, where I received a Master Degree in design and photography. I became a "Graphic Designer" (although it was referred to as a Commercial Artist in those days) out of a necessity to survive, but I never gave up on Fine Art. Once an artist, always …

I spent the first several years of my career working by myself, and I was fortunate enough to acquire a number of loyal clients - one of which was Uni Filter, who I still work with to this day. My primary experience is in Print Design - brochures, catalogs, advertising, package design, logo design, etc. Remember, there was no world wide web back in those days. But I eventually was forced to design websites, because as we all know, everybody needs, or wants, a website. So I went with the flow, reluctantly.

Now I primarily design websites. It was slightly difficult for me at first, but I feel that I'm finally getting the hang of it. It's just a different way of organizing information, a different way of looking at the traditional "page." And actually a more exciting way. Pages now come alive with images and content interacting in ways they never could before. It's very exciting!

But I needed a younger person to work with. Someone who understood the internet, who grew up with this outrageous technology, and to my surprise it turned out to be my son Sam. I always thought that Sam was going to grow up to a famous musician (just like I once thought that I would become a famous artist) but sometimes life has a different idea. Sam is a brilliant young man with surprising talents. And he surprises me on a regular basis with his depth of knowledge of web development. As he will you.

FYI - There's something I forgot to mention – I also have over twenty years experience teaching Graphic Design and Photography at the College and University levels. Ciao.

Pass the Gestalt – Continuation

3.2.15 by ,

Let’s continue our discussion of Gestalt Theory, shall we? Have you ever wondered why some design approaches seem more coherent, connected or unified than others? May it’s because the designer has used the Gestalt principles to bring together or visually connect the design elements. A good example of this is [ . . . ]Read More


Here’s Where We Draw the Line

2.13.15 by ,

Most younger designers today don’t know how to draw. Personally, I find this hard to believe, but unfortunately it seems to be true. So at the beginning of each new project, they find themselves staring at a blank page on their computer screens, hoping for some kind of design intervention [ . . . ]Read More


Sans vs Serif

1.8.15 by , ,

As we all know, it’s common knowledge that Serif fonts are more legible than Sans Serif fonts. But before we go any further, what is the difference between the two and who cares? Well, most people don’t care, and I call those people the general public. But for those of [ . . . ]Read More


Where’s the Yellow?

1.6.15 by ,

If the primary colors of computer monitors is RGB, then how do they produce the color yellow? Simple. Computer monitors create color by utilizing the “additive” method. The color YELLOW is created by adding full-strength red and full-strength green. Adding two-thirds strength blue gives us a lighter (not darker) yellow. [ . . . ]Read More


Pass the Gestalt

12.2.14 by , ,

Any learned graphic designer has certainly come across Gestalt Theory. Whether they understood it completely or not. But I discovered, after twenty years of teaching graphic design, that the students that did understand it created better work than those that didn’t. In my own work, I have found Gestalt Theory [ . . . ]Read More