Ozarks Profile: Jeanne Forkner

What is your job?

Jeanne Forkner is a small business owner and graphic designer whose studio is located at 1330 E. Cherry, Ste. 7. "My business is called Design of the Times," she said. "I design all kinds of printed materials magazines, brochures, logos, etc." She said she does the vast majority of her work on computer. "I work on a Macintosh using Quark, Illustrator and Photoshop. I have clients like the Greene County Medical Society, Forms Plus, the Kansas City Medical Society, others. My biggest client is Executive Data Control."

Tell us about your company.

Six years ago Forkner bought an existing graphic design business owned by Mary Wheeler. "Buying her business turned out to be the best thing I could have done to start my own company," Forkner said. "In the agreement, I bought all the equipment I needed, but more importantly, I received the contacts that to this day have been my best and most reliable clients."

What prepared you for work as a graphic designer?

Forkner said she was always interested in art, and especially in the graphic design side. She earned her degree in fine art from Lyon College in Batesville, Ark. "I also took quite a few graphic design classes at SMSU," she said. "I was right on the edge of the computer revolution in school. I only had one college class that used a computer, but my work-study job in Arkansas was producing all of the school's bulletins, programs, etc. on the very first Macintosh, a tiny little computer with a tiny little screen. From then on, it's been on-the-job training and working hard to keep up with the technology."

What's the best part of your job?

"I love working for myself, and the satisfaction I get from owning my own business," Forkner said. "Because it's my company and my business, I have a lot more dedication, and know even more that I need to follow through with deadlines. I find that I work harder and longer hours than I ever did when I worked for someone else, but it is so much more rewarding."

How do you like to spend your leisure time?

"Outside," Forkner said. The designer is also the president of the Ozark Mountain Paddlers. "I try to get out on the river at least once a month year-round. I also love biking, backpacking, traveling, and gardening. I just moved into a new house well, new to me and just got the garden going this spring. I'm excited about that. I planted herbs, tomatoes and peppers. It's not a very big garden, but it's very sweet. I haven't planted any flowers yet, and I do need to plant a lot of trees at some point, probably in the fall. I think fall is tree-planting time. Gardening is very therapeutic, especially after sitting and working on a computer all day. It's a good opposite activity, I think."