A bit about me, my name is Joe Butters, and I grew up in northern Pennsylvania. I joined the U.S. Army and served on active duty for four years. During my time in the U.S. Army I was stationed in Germany and in the U.S. at a few military posts.
After my time in the U.S. Army was done, I settled in Raleigh, North Carolina with my wife (although we were not married at the time). I worked in several positions for a few years as an electronics technician, specifically in the telecommunications industry. I became very bored repairing phones. There is a limited number of problems or failures that can happen to a phone. It was for this reason that I decided to go back to school and choose another vocation.
I started taking computer art and animation classes, but as fate would have it, I accepted a position doing graphic design and desktop publishing and loved it! I completed my Bachelor of Science degree in Graphic Design while working at Cotton Inc. I worked at Cotton Inc. for 13 years, and one day almost the entire department I worked in was laid off. A very sad day for all of us. I tried working in print shops as a graphic designer but found that was not a good fit for me. I like to be creative and soon discovered that being a graphic designer in the print industry there is little room for creativity. The bulk of my day was spent preparing files for print and not doing the creative design work I love.
I worked as a freelance designer and dog trainer for a bit. Yes, I know what you’re saying, Dog trainer? Where did that come from? After I was laid off from Cotton Inc. I started assisting with dog training classes at Teamworks Dog Training in Raleigh, NC. I found that I enjoyed working with dogs. Teamworks is a positive reinforcement training facility, they use modern science-based training methods, this made sense to me, being a bit of a science geek. I became a certified dog trainer and taught puppy classes and A.K.C Canine Good Citizen classes, but fate would provide me with another opportunity.
I was recruited by Street Legal Industries for a graphic design position with the U.S. Army Reserve. Although the position is based on Fort Liberty NC, I accepted, and for a bit, I was staying in Fayetteville (with my dog, Diana), during the week, and coming home on the weekends. Then COVID-19 hit, and we spent a year working at home. The short of the story is, due to the COVID-19 lock-down, new computer network protocols were put in place in the building I work in on Fort Liberty, and because I do a lot of social media, the majority of my job cannot be done in the building. I now work one day a week at Fort Liberty and tel-work the rest of the week. I find this to be super awesome! I am able to get more work done and get to spend more time with my dogs and wife.
I love what I do, I get to do the creative design work I love, I also do the Social Media and webpage updates for the department I work in. I work with a good group of people; most are former military or active Army Reserve. Overall, a great fit for me and the people I work with seem to like working with me as well. (At least that’s what they tell me anyway, hehe)
Types projects I have worked on:
Design:
Marketing Collateral, Brand and Logo Development, Advertisements, Brochures, Flyers, Rack Cards, Posters, Banners, Trade Show Booths, and probably almost anything else you can think of.
Photographed:
Corporate Events, Personal Portraits, Product Photos, Building Photos, Landscape Photography, Wildlife Photography, and Photographic Editing & Restoration
And a few websites as well…