Graphic Designer Joseph Gonzalez spent part of his early boyhood in an impoverished neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. It was too dangerous to go outside and play so summer days were spent at his father's T-shirt printing business where, as a seven-year-old, he watched carefully and learned everything he could. Without realizing it, this was Joe's first exposure to design. As years passed, his father's business folded, his parents were divorced, and Joe and his twin sisters were shuffled endlessly among his father's girlfriends or to people and family who would temporarily provide shelter for them. By the time Joe's father began a second T-shirt business called Varsity Screen Printing, Joe was in sixth grade and had begun to draw. He was good at it and his talent instilled him with a sense of accomplishment and a means of therapy. Because his skill had advanced by then, Joe helped at his dad's new shop with typesetting and printing shirts. "This was the dark and cold period of my life," Joe said. "We didn't have a place to stay so we squatted in an apartment above the shop. With no hot water, no heat and no electricity, we kept the milk on the back porch in the winter to keep it cold. It's kind of crazy that we lived that way for over a year." Even though art and drawing were ever present in Joe's life, he was intimidated by other high school art students and felt he wasn't good enough to pursue art in college. He attended Purdue University Calumet in the field of communication but dropped out a year later. He enrolled in art classes at Indiana University Northwest thinking he could fall back on the art he knew best. Recognizing, however, that maturity and responsibility were lacking, he left school again and decided to make it without an education. At the age of 19 he moved to Las Vegas to be with his mother and sisters. Struggling with a sense of purpose but still intent upon his art, he began painting again. With renewed confidence at the age of 22, he went back to school for the third time -- this time in the associate program for graphic design at the International Academy of Design and Technology in Chicago. "It was the first time I had ever used a computer and I was scared to death," Joe recalled. "I used that fear and my past as motivation to do the best I could and get my degree." In spite of graduating with honors in the top 3% of his class, Joe soon learned that jobs were scarce just after the September 11 tragedy. "I was ready to go and had nowhere to go so I decided to return to school," he said. This time Joe enrolled as a full-time student at the Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago and also landed a full-time job at Moran Design in Hammond, IN. With a hectic schedule, there were times, he said, when he was tempted to quit school but went on and obtained his degree. His employment offered additional education and experience in the workplace -- dealing with vendors, managing printers, and working with such clients as Peoples Bank, the City of Hammond, St. Xavier University, and Towle Theater. With a desire to expand to a larger business entity, he was hired in 2005 by the Community Foundation of Northwest Indiana where his creative talent and projects know no limits. His work is visible on billboards, in magazines and newspapers, on the internet and in the hands of many people throughout Northwest Indiana and beyond. Apart from his full-time CFNI, Inc. position, Joe also freelances as a Creative Director for Allema Advertising, working with such clients as The Hartford, AAA, AON, SnapFitness, and the American Legion Auxiliary. And in his spare time he freelance under the name of Miracletwentyone and has completed projects for Munster Parks and Recreation, Wicker Memorial Park, Hospice of the Calumet Area, Open Fire Media, Pebble Creek Farms, and Belair Woods Adventure Camp and Faith Church. And the young boy who long ago learned about the T-shirt business currently has five shirts for sale with allmightys.com, a website T-shirt competition based in London. Joe and his work has been featured Graphic Design USA, The Times, The Big Book of Illustrators, earwaks.com, photos.com, fudgegraphics.com, and thelegendsleague.com. In 2008, he was selected as the featured artist for the Blues, Jazz and Fine Arts Festival in Munster, IN. In January of 2009 the first annual INsight Design Conference will take place in Northwest Indiana. Joseph created and orginized this event as a way to give back the the design community. The event was created to help new and inspiring graphic designers. "It has been a long time passion of mine to help students in a way that wasn't offered to me when I first started in the field." The event brings industry professionals together to review porfolios and talk to those looking to enter the indstury. For more information visit www.insightdeisgnconference.com. Overall Joseph truely loves what he does and is passionate about design. I don't have a particular design style as many designers do," Joe says. "One style limits your opportunities and brands you with a singular look. The content, medium, and usage should dictate the visual -- not the other way around." Joe and his wife Lisa reside in Northwest Indiana with their two young sons.