David Merrill attended the University of Utah for two years before transferring to the Art Center School in Los Angeles. He graduated in 1965 with majors in both Illustration and Advertising Design.

For six years he was an advertising art director with Ogilvy & Mather in New York on such blue chip accounts as American Express, IBM, International Paper, Mercedes-Benz, Sears and Zippo.

From 1971 through 1977 he was the art director of TIME magazine where he was responsible for the overall look of the magazine while designing and art directing several hundred TIME covers.

In 1977 he founded David Merrill Design and over the next 23 years designed or redesigned more than 100 publications.

n 2001 he relocated to Park City and began a new career in landscape painting with the same enthusiasm that served him well in both advertising and publishing.