After college, Tom decided to pursue a career as a writer. While he didn’t immediately find a position, his typing skills earned him a job as a typesetter at the National Association of Home Builders. There, he worked closely with the NAHB magazine’s art director, Bono Mitchell. A few short years later, the two would team up to create BonoTom Studio.

“As a typesetter, all I had was a monochrome screen with the words and codes, telling the machine what the point size was, what the font was, what the leading was, what the line length was, etc. I had enough experience that I could set entire pages of text instead of just galleys,” Tom says.

That all changed with the introduction of the first Apple computer. Using Aldus Pagemaker, a page layout software, Tom was able to see his work on the screen before printing it—a “mind-boggling” concept at the time. Instead of tedious line measurement and lots of coding, he could watch the layout come together in real time.

When asked, Tom admits that he’s not the most skilled designer at BonoTom. But his philosophy on publication design is that it’s “organization beautified.”

“First of all, the pages need to be inviting and easy to navigate—the organization part,” Tom says. “Then, typography and graphics need to be creative and compelling to make a reader want to read—the beautification part. I can’t overstate the value of quality typography.”

Tom placed a heavy emphasis on typography when teaching graphic design at Montgomery College. The lack of education around typographic principles is concerning to him because it leads to art graduates who may be adept in graphics and layout but can’t design a compelling headline look. Tom says he wishes there was a greater priority placed on typography in art programs.

Over more than 45 years, Tom has seen publication trends come and go. A recently emerging trend is that associations are beginning to take a hybrid approach to publishing. The most successful publications are keeping their printed versions but also incorporating electronic distribution. Whether this amounts to running both versions concurrently or publishing different issues in different formats, Tom says the practice has kept advertisers happy and members informed.

No matter what, he says that associations must continue their publishing in some format.

“I think it would be foolhardy to totally end any version of the association publication.”

BonoTom Studio is built on Tom’s work ethic and continuous adaptation to new technology. If a successful career and business built from scratch are indicators of figuring out one’s life, maybe everyone should major in psychology!