So what the heck is a mouse-jockey?

Glad you asked.

I came up with the term "mouse-jockey" when I was working as a designer in Calgary. Part of my many responsibilities included front counter walk-in service. On a particularly busy day, I had a design project that required focus, to get that creative brain geared up and working productively.

But you know how it goes at the office...

There was a steady flow of people needing assistance. Retrieve this file. Send this to print. Adjust the color on this document. Plot this poster. Crank it out, crank it out, crank it out...

ARGH! After a couple of hours of interruptions, I got a tad frustrated.

"I'm not a graphic designer," I growled. "I'm a freaking mouse-jockey!"

And so the phrase was coined.

I'll bet you feel like that too some days. Right?

Except you're NOT a designer. You're a business owner trying to get marketing materials produced. Or you work for a small or mid-sized company and have one of those "catch-all" job descriptions... do the books, send out the invoices, pick up the mail, design and maintain the web site,... the usual day-to-day.

No matter what your role, you have real work to get done in the day. And you don't need the added stress of having to play Media Master with layout software. (Worse yet, trying to design a brochure with only Microsoft Excel at your disposal!)

Think about it... What is one of the tenets that you were counselled to practice when you got into business?

Do what you do best, and hire out the rest.

So in the case of print and online image development and marketing, you release the burden by getting the "freaking mouse-jockey" to do it for you!

Because that's what I do best.

Then you get back to doing what YOU do best.

About the Creative Genius

Meet Patricia Simoneau, Creative Genius. Patricia is known to clients and friends alike as a person who can look at the ordinary, put it in a new perspective and create something totally innovative.Insightful and perceptive, she has a talent for "sifting through the fog" in someone's mind and extracting the exact vision and solution they desire.

Patricia's design and illustration career started in high school, creating a mascot pin design for Melville Comprehensive. (Ever try to make a Cobra look cute?) From that small start began a love of layout and design, typography and color as she studied at Medicine Hat College. In her senior year, she won the Canada Awards for Excellence - Student Category in Design and Science.

That was just the beginning.

Patricia went on to work 10 years in post-secondary education in Alberta, where she applied her illustration, design and communication skills in a variety of jobs. She then had the good fortune to work for Xerox Canada in Calgary. While with Xerox, she became a key player in a number of their business service sites, leading their Western Canada graphic design initiatives. She was respected by her clients for her diligence and quality work, her colleagues for her calm demeanor under pressure, and her managers for her imaginative marketing and communication expertise.

Today, Patricia continues to unearth innovative design and brand image solutions for customers throughout Alberta, Western Canada and into the United States.

Patricia believes in empowering her clients with knowledge and information to make smart choices when it comes to their marketing and branding strategies, in order to alleviate the stress and anxiety that comes with the territory.

Winning Designs for YOUR Business.
mouse-jockey.com
P.O. Box 70002
Olds, Alberta, Canada
T4H 0A3
403.556.7537

Saturday, August 2, 2008 10:06 AM