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Resume

Professional Experience

Director of Brand and Creative

EIS Ltd, San Francisco, California (Remote)

February 2023 - Present

Senior Visual Brand Manager

VIAVI Solutions, San Jose, California (Remote)

August 2016 - January 2023

  • Built the strategy, approach, and refinement of the corporate brand guidelines and shaped the evolution and visual identity of the global VIAVI Solutions brand
  • Streamlined the creative process, delivered high-value assets, and created a cohesive, pleasing look-and-feel that could be achieved consistently by a creative services team, regional creatives/marketers, and by creative vendors globally
  • Accountable for the creative direction, brand training, and skills development of a 12-person creative team made up of in-house production artists, graphic designers, illustrators, UX specialists, front-end developers, interactive designers, video editors, motion graphic artists, presentation designers, tradeshow display graphic designers, event display designers, and interactive designers
  • Managed external creative resources. Created a brand-certification process for creative vendors. Collaborated with, educated, and held accountable third-party creative vendors and made them an efficient extension of the creative team.
  • Creation of high-level design themes for corporate campaigns as well as product specific campaigns for 20+ business units
  • Worked on brand equity transfer plans for product sub brands that were more known than the master brand, as well as brand transition plans for several acquired companies
  • Worked on social media strategies, improving engagement through more variety of approaches, templates, and optimized ad content for both paid and organic social
  • Championed the optimization and vendor relationship of no-code interactive design platform, video asset management platform, social media strategies, etc.
  • In addition to corporate brand guidelines, maintained social media guidelines, photography sourcing and photoshoot guidelines, video brand guidelines, presentation guidelines, product marking guidelines, UX guidelines, as well as various DIY creative templates and information portals, and regularly conducted live brand training sessions

Multimedia Manager

Siteimprove, Bloomington, Minnesota

August 2014 - August 2016

  • Art direction, strategy, media planning, and execution for a complete media mix of graphic design/print materials and advertising, front-end and back-end web development, video editing/motion graphics and onsite video production
  • Management and creative direction to junior graphic/multimedia designers and external web development vendors. Implementation of project management system (Basecamp) and documentation of creative processes
  • Planned strategies and reported results to executive team on online advertising, search engine marketing (SEM), and Google AdWords pay per click (PPC) campaigns to executive team
  • Management of digital assets - organized, stored and built processes for retrieval of rich media. Also managed, tracked and documented digital rights and permissions
  • Development of video customer testimonial program including planning, format, coordination, strategy, videography, editing, and motion graphics
  • Managed and maintained marketing technology (marketing websites, microsites, email and landing page templates) for quality assurance, accessibility compliance, search engine optimization (SEO), and provide analytics reporting

Senior Graphic Designer

Bosch, Burnsville, Minnesota

May 2012 - July 2014

  • Execution of print creative, web creative, display graphics, video motion graphics & live action video editing, videography and photography at client events and trade shows
  • Creative direction to junior graphic designers and external vendors (advertising & design agencies, web development agencies, video production companies)
  • Core participant in RFPs, close working practice with creative agencies, managing the relationship, ensuring we are getting the most from that resource as an extension (not replacement) of the team
  • Supported product marketing strategy, lead creative process on product launch advertising and messaging. Worked across multiple divisions and brands in video security systems, professional audio equipment, aviation and broadcast headset and radio communications brands

Lead Graphic Designer

IDeaS Revenue Solutions (part of SAS Institute), Bloomington, Minnesota

January 2008 - May 2012

  • Graphic Design of print collateral (large collection of product brochures & literature), trade show booths/displays, and publication advertising
  • Implementation & regulation of corporate identity system
  • Creation of standardized illustrations, icons and chart theming for corporate presentations and sales presentations
  • Interface design, development, and content management system setup for company websites, lead-generation landing pages, and email campaigns
  • Printer vendor sourcing, file preparation & print quality control
  • Website globalization and translation coordination for Simplified Chinese language and German language
  • Video Editing and Motion Graphics for Marketing Videos, Webinars and Software Demonstrations
  • Provided Creative direction and project management to on-site full time graphic design/web design contractors to deliver all design projects for global marketing teams
  • Research and Strategy for search engine optimization and pay per click advertising campaigns

Lead Graphic Designer and Web Designer

Universal Promotions, Rogers, Minnesota

January 2005 - January 2008

  • Small promotional products printing business that required wearing many hats: Answered customer service calls, entered orders, proofread orders, made printing plates, setup production artwork, managed and trained junior production artists, and served as product line manager for two small divisions within the company that were marketed as separate entities
  • Worked as liaison with company administration and staff while functioning as project director for product catalog and web site development & design
  • Responsible for concept, design, development and implementation of brand identity systems, new product development, product catalogs and dynamic product line web sites which significantly improved client value perception of company
  • Researched vendors and printers to source most economical printing and marketing solutions for company

Operations Manager

UPI Wide Format Printing and Unitech Foil divisions

  • Led the development of and operated a startup wide format printing and vinyl sign cutting division. Became in-house expert on Mimaki printer and cutter equipment and trained production staff. Developed marketing plan and created sales collateral for the division’s offerings
  • Operated the Unitech Foil division. Managed the inventory, processed orders and led the sales of the hotstamp foil products, and provided product expertise. Developed and maintained sales collateral and website

Production Artist

BIC Graphic, Sleepy Eye, Minnesota

Temporary contract position

September 2004 - December 2004

  • Typeset client ads, created original artwork, recreated artwork for offset printing, retouched images. Met fast-paced production environment efficiency guidelines, accuracy standards, and print production quality control standards.

Call Center Customer Service Representative

TCF Bank, Minneapolis, Minnesota

February 2002 - May 2004

  • Worked in a fast-paced call center environment researching and analyzing customer bank account and online banking situations, resolving routine issues, owning customer concerns, and responding to inquiries/requests

Marketing Communications - Graphic Design Intern

Posi Lock Puller, Cooperstown, North Dakota

February 2000 - September 2001

  • Independently designed various print materials for sales department and company operations departments
  • Established Posi Lock’s brand identity and developed identity standards handbook
  • Implemented advertising campaign ensuring proper brand image and successfully increased brand awareness and sales through direct-response design

Sales Representative

Dynamics Marketing, Inc. Cooperstown, North Dakota

November 1997 - February 2000

Education

B.S. Graphic Design

College logo

B.S. Graphic Design

The Art Institutes International Minnesota

Graduated September 2004

Agile Certification

Agile Certificate

University of Minnesota College of Continuing and Professional Studies

Awarded April 2022

Courses in Agile Fundamentals – Scrum, extremeProgramming, Kanban, Agile Coaching, Agile Teams and Metrics, Agile Testing, and Agile User Stories

Training

  • Adobe MAX Conference, Spring 2013, Fall 2020, and Fall 2021 Design & Content Conference, Fall 2014
  • Hubspot INBOUND, 2015
  • NAB Post Production World, 2013 and 2014
  • Spring 2014 HOW Design Live Conference, Summer 2012 and Summer 2014 InHOWse Design Managers Conference, Chicago, Illinois
  • Summer 2011 Wide Format Printing Summit, 2007

LinkedIN Skill Assessments

Completed/passed skill assessments on LinkedIN:

  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • After Effects
  • Agile Methodologies
  • Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
  • Microsoft Powerpoint
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

See on LinkedIN profile

SKILLS

I'm at an expert level in the majority of these tools/skillsets, but these numbers rank the time I've focused in these areas.

Adobe Photoshop
0%
Adobe Illustrator
0%
Adobe InDesign
0%
Adobe After Effects
0%
Adobe Premiere
0%
HTML/CSS
0%
WordPress
0%
Drupal
0%
SEO
0%
Web Accessibility
0%
User Experience (UX)
0%
Presentation Design (PPT)
0%

Creative LEADERSHIP Experience

0%

Creative Process

0%

Design Team Leadership

0%

Project Management / Scoping

0%

Budgeting

0%

Resource Allocation

Freelance Experience

Multimedia Design Consultant

Dustin Marson Graphic Design
2002 – Present

  • Print and Digital Ads
  • Brochures/Flyers
  • Infographics
  • Branding/Logos
  • Banners/Signage
  • Business Cards/Stationary
  • Photo Retouching
  • Book Layout
  • Motion Graphic Video
  • Videography
  • SEO Consulting
  • Pay Per Click Advertising Consulting
  • Software
  • Technology
  • Hospitality
  • Small Business
  • Veterinary
  • Clinic
  • Financial

Volunteer Experience

Committee Chair & Den Leader

Boy Scouts of America
2016 – Present

  • Provided support to den leaders to ensure a quality educational program
  • Planned and conducted monthly pack committee meetings as well as communicating plans and decisions transparently and collaboratively with other leaders and parents
  • Responsible for ensuring the Pack has enough qualified adult volunteers, guiding them on their safety training requirements, and keeping the pack engaged with the community for visibility and future recruiting
  • Administrative and support tasks (re-charter paperwork, schedule writing, liaison with regional council)
  • Creation of pack promotional materials for recruiting and Scout events
  • Planned and carried out the activities and classes related to patch earning adventures for Scouts