Rick Whelan is a founding partner of Ditto!, a unique combination of a printing company and a multi-disciplinary design firm committed to providing strategically driven marketing communications designed to achieve results linked to business plan objectives.

Rick’s approach is to be a strategic creative partner to his clients by “connecting the dots” of strategy, creative and media. Rick brings this strategic perspective to his work through his broad career that includes hands-on experience in nearly every aspect of design, including corporate and brand identity, annual reports, print collateral, multi-media, corporate film, marketing, packaging, signage, user experience and interactive, for some of the most design-conscious clients in the country. Past client experience: Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Freddie Mac, AT&T, Natural Resources Defense Council, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Meredith Corporation, Harris Interactive, Fox Television, The Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, The Washington Post.

Rick began his career at New York identity design firms, including Lippincott & Margulies, the industry’s leading exponent. Challenging design and account management positions followed at prestigious advertising agencies, design firms and direct marketing companies, along with Bloch Graulich Whelan and The Whelan Design Office.

In 1995, just as use of the Internet was being accepted as business tool, Rick joined a New York multi-disciplinary design firm on the leading edge of using technology to create unique marketing communications solutions. He later served as president and creative director when the firm transformed itself and became an interactive design firm that also provided print and identity capabilities to its e-business clients. He went on to become chief operating officer at a new subsidiary he formed to provide interactive design and development capabilities to a marketing collateral design firm in New York City.

In 2002, Rick and his son Jackson formed Ditto!, now with offices in Dobbs Ferry, NY and outposts in upstate New York and Vermont. Current clients include entrepreneurs, small-to-medium sized companies and nonprofit organizations: Greyston Foundation, Greyston Bakery, Enclaves Group, Homes For America Holdings, Hebrew Home for the Aged, Dr. T's Plain English Accounting, Project Reach Youth, Arts Society of Kingston.

Rick served as president of the Dobbs Ferry Chamber of Commerce 2002-2004. In 2005, he was elected to the board of directors of the Arts Society of Kingston.

Click here to view examples of his work created prior to forming Ditto!