Will run for tacos: Meet award-winning designer Jeff Welsh
Will run for tacos: Meet award-winning designer Jeff Welsh
For more than 25 years, Jeff Welsh has delivered award-winning designs for GA Creative clients, helping businesses tell their stories through thoughtful, compelling visuals. An avid long-distance runner and lover of veggie tacos, Jeff approaches every project with tenacity, whether it’s a website, video, digital ad, annual report, PowerPoint presentation, or a running-shoes-of-the-month calendar. His approach blends creativity, strategic thinking, and a focus on delivering real results.
When it comes to incorporating trends into his work, Jeff takes a thoughtful and strategic approach, favoring timeless solutions over fleeting fads.
Jeff believes that while graphic design trends may seem exciting in the moment, they often lack longevity and risk becoming quickly outdated, which can detract from a brand’s integrity. “Trends, by their very nature, are fleeting, and they often won’t reflect your client’s brand values,” he says, emphasizing the importance of enduring design principles. Jeff prioritizes creating work that not only resonates with a brand’s core identity but continues to connect with its audience over time. By focusing on best practices and a deep understanding of his clients’ goals, he creates designs that are both relevant and enduring.
Jeff says that projects must be flexible enough to grow with a company or organization for years to come. For example, district energy company dJoule (pronounced “jewel” needed an online presence that better reflected the company, its leadership, and its expertise. However, the initial budget and timeline only afforded a long scrolling landing page. But Jeff knew they wanted to build something that could grow as dJoule did, so he worked with the client to identify their long-term website goals—and designed a scalable web presence that would work for the company now and well into the future. According to the client, “We were thrilled with the strategic engagement and the depth to which GA Creative went to understand us and our business.”
Jeff’s advice for those considering a redesign? “Think about what isn’t working with your current site, listen to your audience, and clearly define your goals. When every piece of the website serves a purpose, you’re setting yourself up for success.”
Jeff was interested in art from a young age. He says, “My dad is an artist, and when I was a kid, I would set up my easel next to his and paint the same thing he was painting. I was probably the only 5-year-old around who was painting wine and cheese plates. After high school, I started becoming interested in book design and typography and decided to study graphic design.”
What he didn’t count on was a mentorship with an icon. Says Jeff, “I was lucky enough to have studied under the great Louis Danziger who helped shape graphic design into what it is today. He was a huge inspiration and taught me to stop and think before beginning to design, to simplify your work by removing anything unnecessary, and to resist trends that lead to imitation, not inspiration. Whenever I start a new design, I still hear his words, ‘The solution to the problem lies within the problem itself.’ This means that the best design solutions come from the subject matter and not from outside influences.”
When Jeff steps away from his MacBook, he’s off to the races, literally. He and his wife have participated in ultra marathon races throughout Washington, Oregon, and California. When he’s not wearing down his sneakers, this Issaquah native, husband, and father of two is snapping pictures atop the Issaquah Alps, dreaming of traveling to Patagonia, or tasting the whiskeys of the world.
