Just the facts: Age - 30; Hometown - San Francisco; Education - graphic design at California College of Arts; Employ - designer at Radium since 2005.

On design: Baltezore's first foray into design was as the singer and poster designer for punk band Black Cat Music. "I realized design is not about making something look cool, but about communicating an idea in a way that gives people pause," he says. "I subscribe to the idea that design is about solving a problem instead of imposing my personal style."

Six feet under: In his youth, Baltezore worked a variety of jobs, of which grave digging in Oakland stands out. "It was a beautiful cemetery," he says. "They dig graves using backhoes and I had to jump in and square off the corners with a shovel. You can make a good living at it."

Best work: For The Sundance Channel's "Action Poetry" series on former US poet laureate Billy Collins, he adapted "The Country" using illustrative motion graphics. The poem has a cautionary tone when read aloud in Collins' unemotional voice. "It shows what happens when you're not paying attention to something that a child would imagine is going on."

Getting physical: To emphasize the hand-drawn style in "The Country", Baltezore tried to incorporate physical objects, such as a crumpled up old shirt, which he comped in digitally as a hill.

Radium http://www.radium.com