Stephen Schlott, Design Principal
Stephen started with No. 2 pencils thrown away by his CPA dad at the age of 2. The pencils never had erasers left on them so he learned to always incorporate any mistakes into the picture. All these years later, he marks this as the beginning of his love of problem-solving.

Stephen has over 25 years experience in conception, design, planning and fabrication management. His projects at Partners in Design include exhibit and interpretive design, wayfinding and environmental signage for a diverse group of clients in the public and private sectors. The projects are as varied as the planning and design of a ten-foot rustic kiosk with interpretive panels detailing the topography, flora, and fauna of a wetland, to a public information marketing campaign detailing emergency preparedness guidelines.

He has the proven ability to meet design problems with creative and sensitive solutions that speak to diverse clients and audiences. His primary responsibilities include: project planning and concept development, wayfinding, interpretive graphics and exhibits design. He is committed to incorporating an audience’s environment and heritage into the planning and design of projects. Leaving a small environmental footprint is a professional and personal goal in his creative process.

Sharon Mentyka, Designer, Writer and Production Manager

Sharon feels fortunate to have learned the ropes of graphic design from two prominent firms in New York City, who specialized in book design and cultural and institutional marketing. This engendered her love of both image and the written word. The mutual respect she witnessed there between client and designer and the suppression of egos for the project good made an indelible impression on her working process. Sharon has extensive experience as a graphic designer, writer, and educator. Her area of expertise includes project planning and design with a particular focus on public information projects, resulting in communications products as wide ranging as promotional campaigns and books to interpretive signage and web sites.

Sharon is heavily involved with project planning, client interface, thematic concept design, information research, audience evaluations, and production coordination and oversight. She is adept at copy writing and editing, whether for a series of interpretive trail signs or thematic text development for an exhibit. She also advises and assists in clients’ online media efforts, including CMS websites, and social media and email marketing campaigns.

Sharon has been an adjunct professor at both Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle and has served on the Board of Directors of the Seattle chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) as its Education Chair, where she researched and designed a peer education project, Sound Design, focusing on environmentally-sensitive design alternatives for the design community. See more in the EcoStrategies section of this site.