Hello. My name is John Zawislak. You can call me Jay, like my friends do. Zawislak is pronounced as it’s spelled (Zuh-wiz-lak). Kapoosta is the name of my site. I’m hoping it’s easier to remember than my last name.

Kapoosta is a popular Polish dish usually consisting of a hodge-podge of ingredients. (At least that’s how grandma used to make it.) This site functions the same way, serving a mash-up of professional and personal work with a hearty helping of my interests from around the web.

My design career started as a teenager while working in the back room of a print company running a silk screening press. It was there I learned to mix colors and match registration marks. I graduated from the University of Massachusetts and originally enrolled for engineering, but I somehow came away with a degree in animation and design.

The next 5 years found me in publishing – at North Jersey Media Group – one of the “top 100 leading media companies” at the time. I started as a paginator, laying out various newspapers and magazines. Before I left I had become a lead designer and a jack-of-all-trades. I was put in charge of all corporate branding. I was also designing ads, laying out magazine spreads, illustrating for articles, and designing and coding websites.

I moved on to become an Art Director at Second Melody, a creative agency in Morristown, NJ. As a small boutique I’m continuing my jack-of-all-trades role, taking projects from concept to creation, literally.

I’m always open to freelance work but, as a brand new dad, I’m more selective with the projects I work on.