In 1987, creative directors John Shirley and Jim Hutchinson loved what they’d done for years – writing, designing and producing advertising – but realized they were doing less and less of it. In an attempt to escape the bureaucracy of typical agency structures, they formed Shirley/Hutchinson CreativeWorks. By eliminating all of the meeting / memo / timesheet / phonelog minutiae, they were able to concentrate on the “good stuff”: strategically-anchored creative ideas. A decade of regional and national clients  later, they’re still in marketing warfare every day and making every minute count. The promise of the name they chose way back in 1987 is still ringing true: Shirley/Hutchinson creative… works.         It may be true that some designers are made, not born. But Jim Hutchinson was born one. In his teens, he apprenticed for Fred Lasswell, inking panels for the nationally-syndicated Snuffy Smith comic strip. He spent eight years as a designer with Design Direction, a Bay Area graphics house. Then in 1970, he was hired by Ensslin & Hall Advertising (now Earle Palmer Brown). At E&H, a relentless dedication to graphic art — for clients including Critikon (a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary), Pfizer, Tishman-Speyr, St. Joseph’s Hospital, Arvida, Beneficial and Paragon — elevated Hutchinson through the ranks to co-creative director. Along the way, he designed packaging for Lykes meats, Lykes Pasco juices, Del Rio olives and Younger’s beer. Unfortunately, as creative director, Jim found that the more he “directed”, the less he created. In 1988, he co-founded Shirley/Hutchinson to focus on his own design and art direction, which immediately drew the interest of clients like BankAmerica, Diet Centers of America, Ansell Medical of Australia and Linvatec (a division of Bristol-Myers Squibb). Hutchinson eats, lives and breathes this business. (Extra hours are much less painful when you are passionate about what you’re doing.) He fervently believes that — to the consumer considering a purchase — the packaging is the product.