By SUSAN PARK

If you had grown up the way Eben Greene grew up, it wouldn't surprise anyone if you became a graphic designer, following in the footsteps of your famous grandfather, Robert Graves.

Graves is the creator of the well known "Let your fingers do the walking" logo and the "Fruit of the Loom" logo. "Gramps" as Greene calls him, is now retired and sailing frequently from his home in New Hampshire.

Greene was born and raised in Yellow Springs, Ohio, a small eclectic town full of artists and philosophers and the home of Antioch College. As a small child, Greene was sent to study at Antioch School, a progressive alternative K-12 that didn't hand out grades and taught kids to challenge themselves at tasks such as juggling.

His father wasn't around much, so his mother took care of him - when she wasn't busy taking photos for a magazine or running her own health food store. He also recalls taking lots of little trips to New York to see Gramps at his small office, which he shared with another designer.

Greene says his grandfather did graphic design "the old approach" - with precise hand-lettering made with brushes and India ink - the way they did it long before linotronic typesetters and way before personal computers.

Greene says he and Gramps would take the train from Grand Central Station out to Long Island and play drawing games.

Little Eben would draw a doodle on a napkin and Gramps would magically create a picture from the scribble. Greene says the experience taught him how to see something in things he wouldn't otherwise see. Greene now plays the game with his talented niece, Zoe, when he visits her in Texas.

At age eight, when other kids his age were thinking about things like Cub Scouts or Little League, Greene had his first collaborative art show, featuring acrylic paintings created by his mother from drawings he made on dinner napkins.

Despite his penchant for creativity, when Greene left home for college in 1987, he chose to major in health and wellness promotion. His motivation: to help his mother with her health food business.

Greene selected Evergreen State College in Olympia because, as he explains, he always wanted to visit the Northwest and he heard that Evergreen was liberal and open to entrepreneurial kids like himself.

It wasn't long after he started school that Green began his own clothing design company, E-Dog Clothing. The company manufactured South African-inspired t-shirts and pillbox hats out of colorfully patterned fabric he designed and created himself.

The hats were a big hit: "Undefined modern hipology in a hip happenin' healthy world," says Greene. He was able to sell them at major retail outlets such as Fast Forward in downtown Seattle.

While marketing his own line, he was able to learn valuable lessons about the value of a company image. "If someone doesn't know how to refer to you, they'll go on to something else," says Greene.

However, manufacturing was time consuming and a lot of work. Greene felt his skills lay in marketing more than production. So after college, he started a graphic design company he called E-Studio, which he operated out of his home in Olympia. His first job was for Bay Center Chiropractic, for whom he created t-shirts and flyers. He also landed work from the Olympia Downtown Association.

Word spread and it wasn't long before he was working on his first big account: a full corporate identity package for radio station MIX 96. The job also landed him an office in the MIX 96 building.

Greene's reputation led to an in-house job opportunity with Brooks Sports in Ballard, so in 1994 he packed up his things and moved to Green Lake. There, he designed logos for shoes that are still being used today.

He opened a small office, Eben Design, in the core of Green Lake (just a few doors down from Vitamilk). At Eben Design, he did work on the side for other companies, while continuing to hold a regular job at Brooks. Eben Design's first large project was to create the graphics for the 12th Annual Saint Patrick's Day Dash.

At about the same time, Greene noted the emergence of personal Web sites on the Internet. He saw that as an opportunity to progress into the 21st Century by becoming a Web designer.

He collaborated with a company in Issaquah called Cobweb. Together, they explored the exciting new world of Web design. Greene would create the artwork for the site and Cobweb would do the code.

Greene also met David Penrose of Top Network, as well as other independent contractors whom he now collaborates with frequently.

Since opening Eben Design, Greene has created logos for Super Jock and Jill, Anderson Nautilus, and two Websites for Vitamilk: Vitamilk.com and VitarichSeattle.com.

He's also innovated a new five-stage approach to creating an Internet identity called, "the Web cycle," and a corporate identity process called "Image Evolution."

Greene says he enjoys living and working at Green Lake where he's just a few feet away from the soccer fields - his escape.

He is currently developing a line of clothing with Post Industrial Press, a Tacoma based company.