Senior Art Director

Rob Barge
One day, when I was in the first grade, my teacher lined all the students' desks up in front of a big picture window, gave each kid a huge sheet of paper, a big red #2 pencil and a box of crayons, and told us to draw what we saw outside. I drew Popeye! At the age of eight, I landed my first paying freelance job and I haven't stopped working since. Over the past 25 years I’ve applied my craft as a designer, illustrator and art director in the newspaper, magazine, publishing, and marketing trades. I began my professional career while studying at Auburn University in the mid-1980s, right here at Ellis-Harper Advertising. In those days none of us had ever seen, much less designed on a computer. We did it the hard way – by hand, with dangerous. sharp tools.  It was the best foundation imaginable for producing carefully planned, well-crafted work. After college and Ellis-Harper, I worked in the Advertising Art Department of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution . My grandfather, Howard Paris, had been the longtime Art Director there. As little boy I would go to work with him sometimes, and he would set me up with everything I needed to be an "artist" for the day. It was fascinating and it got in my blood. My 20-year newspaper career took me into the Marketing Department of the AJC, then on to lots of interesting and challenging art and marketing positions including the Palm Beach Post and The State (Columbia, S.C.). In 2006, I co-founded Catalyst Advertising and then in 2007, Hardware Graphic Design + Illustration Studio. So now, I’m on-board at Ellis-Harper once again.  Senior Art Director. Hmmmm. That’s a long way from the fledgling designer and illustrator here so many years ago. Think I've come full circle!

 Responsibilitties: Design and Creative Direction

Years Experience: 25+
Hometown: East Point, GA
Education: Auburn University, BFA, Visual Arts, 1986
Attributes: Positive and optimistic, Cool under pressure (calming presence), Fast as lightning, Photoshop freak, Hard Work = Good Work, Industrious, Curious, Patient, Versatile
Favorite Part: Devising outstanding solutions to complex problems; The Prodigal Son returns to EHA; Creating exceptional creative work; Tight deadlines (I know, that’s sick!)
Neat stuff: The greatest blessing of my life is spending time with my son, Spencer. Met my wife Trisha in high school; she was 14, I was 15. She had a crush on me and I never knew it! She finally got me. Lucky girl. I've won more than 40 Press Association Awards in three states, plus a bunch of national and international awards for design and illustration. But who’s counting? Played semi-pro baseball in my 20s. Excellent defensive first baseman. Couldn't hit the curveball. Big fan of Popeye.