Stephen Smith
President and Creative Director

Contact Stephen

The story of Crop Marks Design - a journey well worth the trip.

Crop Marks Design Studio was born in 1994 as an entrepreneurial effort to slowly build a design firm focusing on graphic and web design in central New Hampshire. Realizing that his first job out of college (designing yellow page ads) wasn't going to put him on the road he wanted, Stephen bought a $4,000 PC from Dell (Dell told me I was one of their first residential customers!) and came to Concord to register the business, thinking he would freelance his way out.

Naturally a business doesn't develop overnight so Stephen got into the advertising agency scene for 14 years carrying titles of Senior Graphic Designer to Creative Director of well respected award-winning agencies. During these years, Crop Marks Design was operating in the background (yes, lunch hours, late evenings, weekends, holidays, etc.) slowly developing a growing client base and referral network.

Today, Crop Marks Design has developed into a well respected design firm in the community – with Stephen having left the ad agency world far behind to do things his way. With clients in every type of business, located coast to coast - "his way" is working just as planned.

Stephen is a graduate of Plymouth State College (class of 1991), an active member in the Concord, NH Chamber of Commerce and has been recognized by the NH Internet Awards, Ad Club of NH, American Graphic Design Awards, NH Graphic Arts Association for creative excellence.

Everything that an ad agency isn't...
the benefits of being boutique.

We could brag about lavish studios and multi-person teams of people to cater to you while they pretend to have an actual interest in your business - but we won’t. In fact Crop Marks Design Studio is quite the opposite - hence the whole “creative alternative” thing. We're a new breed of design firm - small, highly professional with an active interest in the success and growth of your business.

Does size really matter?

Why should it? If you want to pay inflated prices for someone's extensive overhead and a team of people who don't get to know your business, that's fine. However if you're looking for the same top shelf creative without the runaround, give us a call.

Crop Marks is small in size and that’s just the way we think it should be. Stephen Smith, President and Creative Director drives the business and oversees all creative. Naturally one man can’t do everything (although it’s close). When in need, quality designers are utilized to assist in bringing out the best for the client. This type of business model allows for the most cost-effective, yet creative approach to each and every project.

How can Crop Marks do it all?

Passion - pure and simple. It’s in everything we do for our clients and is very evident - just ask them! As a small business we understand and appreciate every client and treat them as if they were our only one. Oftentimes with larger agencies, you can get the feeling of being burned simply because of lack of attention - or getting the attention you need, a bit too late. That's not the case here - we've been thanked many times for our promptness - even if just responding to an email.

One of our primary goals is developing long-term relationships with our clients. Why? Simply because strong relationships produce strong materials as well as a referral network that can't be beat. Many of our clients have had a growing relationship with Crop Marks for over ten years - you don’t see that too often. It’s all about the customer service.

So what’s in it for you?

Top shelf creative work that's affordable, reliable and timely all topped with a level of customer service you shouldn't receive...you should expect.