Design

The Creative Crackerjack, LLC We pride ourselves for our inventive design skills that fit many budgets. Working with us takes the crunch out of your deadlines with intoxicating results. Some of our specialities include logo design, print advertisements, brochures, signage and wedding invitations.
	Gina Maria Rosato, "The Head Crackerjack," has been a student of the visual arts for many years, studying and observing great artists. Formally she has a BFA in Graphic Design and Illustration from Georgian Court College in New Jersey.

Upon graduation in May of 2001, the graphic design world in central New Jersey was leery of hiring a recent graduate with no formal work experience. Armed with forty cold calling resumes, Gina drove to the post office on September 9th and hoped for the best, as she planned to start making her follow up phone calls over the next couple of days. However, with the life changing events of September 11th, she felt too selfish to even bother. There was no such thing as business as usual in the coming days, weeks or even months for the tri-state area.

Mustering up the courage, Gina decided to try and call the smallest and most local of the businesses on her list, hoping this approach was less offensive. Within the third phone call she found someone interested in a "newbie," perhaps because Gina didn't have any preexisting bad work habits and could be properly trained for production. Finally, the first step on the ladder was reached.

After paying her dues as a catalog production artist, Gina was contemplating trading in her pantyhose for blue jeans and heading west: back to a small Colorado mountain town where she had worked during the summer while in college. Arriving for only a visit to Silverton, in the summer of 2002, she had heard about a local magazine that was possibly hiring. By the end of the day, Gina had called her folks back east and told them her two week vacation was now a permanent one.

She got the job with the local magazine. Here she perfected the display advertisement as Art Director working on several publications showcasing Southwestern Colorado. Realizing how the business owners that she worked with needed more detailed design needs in their advertising budgets, she teamed with another local designer creating brochures, rack cards, trade show booths and other advertising materials. In 2004, Gina was finally prepared to give it a go on her own, bringing her knowledge and quality design to her own clients.

By April of 2009, Gina had the opportunity to take part in a preservation effort by the San Juan County Historical Society, to save The Silverton Standard and the Miner from extinction. The Silverton Standard has been continuously published since 1875 and was in need of an Advertising Director and Office Manager. With her previous advertising and production experience, this was a perfect fit for Gina to hop aboard.

By late 2010, Gina was growing a bit tired of ten years of production deadlines and the newspaper was in now good shape to move on. She had contemplated maybe expanding The Creative Crackerjack into the tourist industry, which is Silverton's main source of revenue since hardrock mining ended in the early 1990s. Over the past few years, Gina sold some of her custom designed Christmas greeting cards at local craft shows. They were well received by the locals, so she thought, "Why not try to design some custom souvenirs for the tourists and maybe try a storefront this time?"