Zak Kaplan was born in Washington D.C. in 1977. He grew up in Central New Jersey where he was an Art Major in high school and learned guitar out of school. In 1995 Zak began working on his B.F.A. at Mason Gross School of Art at Rutgers University in New Brunwick, NJ. He enrolled in the Visual Arts department and concentrated his studies in documentary photography. Outside of class he played in a variety of bands in the budding New Bruswick punk scene. A month before graduating in 1999, Zak saw an exhibit featuring works by the Russian Constructivists and Soviet Propaganda artists. Immediately following graduation he dove head first into the field of graphic design, studying his favorite designers and teaching himself how to use a computer and design software. A year later he moved to the Asbury Park, NJ area and began working, and continues to work, for New Jersey Punk Pioneers, Chunksaah Records. Although still very active in the punk scene, he spends most of his days designing for a wide variety of clients with his freelance busniess, Rogue State Design, based in Allentown, PA.