Don was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. His family moved several times as his father’s career moved. He spent his grade school years in rural Kansas and high school years in suburban Illinois, where making art came into focus. Attending Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, FL, Don graduated in 1968 with honors and a degree in ‘Commercial Design’. After a year at his first design job in St. Louis, he ventured to San Francisco and landed a job in the art department of Rolling Stone magazine. This unique experience led to other jobs at Straight Arrow Books, Earth Times, Clear Creek and Rags magazines. Subsequently, he became Art Director for Francis Ford Coppola’s City magazine and later, U.C. Berkeley’s, California Monthly. During the following twenty-five years, Don held positions as Senior Designer, Art Director and Design Director at the Hearst Corporation-owned San Francisco Examiner and San Francisco Chronicle, where he earned numerous awards for his design work. Leaving newspapers in 2002, he began a solo career as sole proprietor of Don McCartney Graphic Arts, with clients ranging from ballet to booze and beyond. Don is responsible for the branding of Marin Open Studios (MOS) and the design and production of the MOS Tour Guide and advertising campaigns. Most recently, he designed the logo for the newly established Sausalito Center for the Arts in Sausalito, California.