If you’ve been in or worked in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community long enough, you’ll recognize the work of graphic designer Gary Hill.

You might not have seen his face, but you likely have an imprint of the USS Arizona Memorial Gardens at Salt River and Talking Stick Entertainment District logos in your mind. Hill created those. He began collaborating with the Community about 26 years ago, and some of his logos and graphic standards are still being used to this day.

Hill recently retired from his work. In fact, Hill was on vacation in a cabin in the mountains when he patched in with his “iffy” cell service to talk with O’odham Action News about his work with the Community.

“Over the last 26 years, I’ve met and enjoyed working with a lot of great people at SRPMIC. I enjoyed learning a lot about the Community and Native culture,” said Hill, who grew up in a small town in Illinois.

Hill’s earliest exposure to Arizona Native culture was reading Arizona Highways magazine. His grandparents had a subscription.

3 Takeaways:

• Graphic designer Gary Hill, who worked with the SRPMIC on Community logo design, graphic standards and more for over 26 years, has retired.
• Notable work includes logos for the USS Arizona Memorial Gardens at Salt River and Talking Stick Entertainment District and designing for campaigns during gaming compact talks.
• Hill also worked with the Community Relations Office, Discover Salt River, Health and Human Services and more on a number of graphic design projects.

Designing SRPMIC’s early annual reports helped Hill learn about what was going on in the Community.

Hill graduated from Arizona State University in 1979 with a degree in advertising design. Through a series of referrals, Hill said he began working on a project with local communications services company STRATEG!ES and Janet Johnson, former Community Relations Office director.

Johnson remembers working with Hill early on when the Community was strategizing how to work with the state of Arizona after Governor Fife Symington refused to sign the 17th tribal compact with the SRPMIC in 1994, which led to the Community placing the Fairness Initiative (Proposition 201) on the ballot in 1996. In June 1998, Arizona Gov. Jane Dee Hull signed a compact with the Community.

Hill’s work on graphics for the campaigns impressed Johnson. “Hill came out with designs and gave us options for color,” she said.

“Gary worked from home. He was kind of like an entrepreneur. He was a graphic designer when we didn’t really have any graphic designers. Graphic designers weren’t out there much. It wasn’t really a field that was ‘in the norm,’ so he was very unique.”

Johnson continued to work with Hill, which presented him with opportunities to work with other SRPMIC departments such as Community Relations, the Community Development Department, Discover Salt River, the Economic Development Department, Community Regulatory Agency, Health and Human Services, Saddleback Communications and the Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs, to name just a handful.

As the CRO grew its own department dedicated to graphic design, Hill often collaborated with Daniel Martinez, who is now the CRO multimedia manager.

SRPMIC Public Information Officer Blessing McAnlis-Vasquez first had the opportunity to work with Hill more than 14 years ago as the Community began expanding its marketing efforts for the Talking Stick Entertainment District.

“He already had a strong understanding of the Community and our approach to design, which made him an invaluable partner from day one,” said McAnlis-Vasquez. “What always stood out to me was his ability to listen. I could send over a rough sketch or describe an idea, and he would transform it into something beautiful that was almost exactly what I had envisioned.”

McAnlis-Vasquez said that he had a rare talent for adapting his work to reflect an organization’s vision, mission and style, rather than imposing his own.

“I miss working with him but am deeply grateful for the role he played in helping us tell our story over the years,” said McAnlis-Vasquez. “I wish him all the best in a well-deserved retirement.”