“How do you come up with this stuff?”

Illustration by Mark Stern. Photograph by Matt Byerly.

Hi! I'm Mark Stern. I've always been a "creative type". From my earliest memories as a child I was amusing my friends with my drawings. I was the comics-obsessed kid drawing Spider-Man or Calvin & Hobbes in the margins of my notebook (while receiving countless detentions and reprimands from my exasperated school teachers trying to get me to focus on their daily lessons). I’ll let you in on a poorly-kept secret of mine: I just really love to draw. Put a piece of paper and a pen or pencil in front of me and I can’t help myself. I decided to channel that creative energy and graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a B.S. in graphic design, and since then I've amassed over 17 years of experience working with ad agencies, corporations, universities and everything in between.

When I’m not at my computer, I enjoy reading, movies, road trips, music, hiking with my dog Ripley, and playing hockey. I publish my marketing and design work over at marksterndesign.com, too. Thanks for visiting!