the crew

James | Lesley

James Hersick

I am the President and Creative Director of Rocketfuel Design Company. In other words, I’m a designer who pays the bills. I also serve as the current Vice President of the BlueRidge Chapter of AIGA.

I have 2 boys who I love more than the air I breathe and a dedicated wife who puts up with my crazy ideas. When I can find spare time, I love riding my motorcycles. They have always been the other passion in my life.

In 1994, I earned my degree in Graphic Design from PTI in Pittsburgh, PA, but truth be told, I’ve been studying art and design my entire life. As a very young child (3 or 4), I remember watching my dad draw cars at the kitchen table and thought he was amazing. I was always coloring or drawing (sometimes on the walls). My first stab at design came around age 7 when I started writing and illustrating my own books. Throughout school, I always had great art teachers who encouraged me and supported my interests in the visual arts.

After college and brief Pizza delivery career, I worked as Junior Art Director at The Design Studio in Rockville, MD. I quickly moved from typesetter to art director. It was not really art direction, it was management and paperwork. I decided, then and there, that large companies were not where I wanted to spend my career.

In 1998, I left Design Studio for WorkHorse Creative. It was a smaller company that was doing exciting work. I relished the chance to do something bigger. It was a great experience for me. Over the next 6 years I worked as the Senior Designer, Art Director and then Creative Director. I learned a lot during those years and the made the most of the experience.

In 2003, I became owner of WorkHorse. Over the next year, WorkHorse was tirelessly evolved to match my vision of what a studio can be. In 2004, I relaunched WorkHorse Creative as Rocketfuel Design Company to reflect that vision. Small team. Big goals. Agile. Effective. Important.