About

First of all, thanks for visting my portfolio and hope you have enjoyed what you have seen, cause I take my work very seriously and provided only the utmost quality as a part of my contribution to any project.

Education

My history as an artist has evolved over the years and continues to evolve each and every day, as does the industry. I started out with a BFA in Painting from the University of Illinois in Champaign Urbana, which really began the interest in art/design. You can see some of my work in the Gallery under “Fine Art”. I have always been an artist at heart. Not being completely satisfied with what a fine art degree was and could offer, I wanted to expand not only my horizons but also my capabilities, so I pursued an additional degree in Graphic Design.

Attending the Illinois Institute of Art in Schaumburg was one of the best decisions in my life. Graphic Design has been a way for me to be able to merge my art & design capabilties within a digital media. I graduated with a BFA in Visual Communications in Spring 2006 with honors.

Work History

After my completion at ILIS, I took a job straight out of college for a local electronics manufacturing corporation. Here I was hired as a Graphic/Package Design Assistant in which I worked on many exciting projects across the board. The majority of the work was centralized on packaging design, and the ability to carry the design standards associated with that brand onto additional skus as new rollouts were thrown into production. Hello Kitty, American Idol, Tweety and Jensen, each entailed a specific set of design guidelines that were necessary to follow. Aside from the design process, doing package mockups was an integral part of my role, as well as sell sheets, logos, and whatever other project arose.

After my role at Spectra had expired, I moved on to work with Creative Circle (freelancing company) to see what else was available. They have been great from the start. While with CC, I found myself working with many great companies and design firms, all while meeting and making some wonderful contacts along the way. The jobs encompassed many things along the way, such as packaging, annual reports, signage and much more. I worked with a great group of people at S2 Marketing in the Loop doing a lot of print production on financial projects like annual reports, brochures, ads, billboards, newsletters and web graphics. Marks Plier was able to offer a completely new experience, when we began working on the Factory Card and Party Outlets Annual Halloween wall. The wall included a lot of photoshop paths and some extensive work in InDesign. Next, US Music Corporation was able to take me back to what I love the most…packaging. Here I was able to not only do a lot of packaging mockups on brands like Hanna Montanna, Simpsons, Little Einsteins, Camp Rock, and High School Musical, but also contributed my talents to working with dielines and brand standards along the way.

Still staying connected with Creative Circle, I moved onto take a full time position as a Creative Designer/Manager at Rod Sickler Salon and Spa (Runway One). Our marketing goal here was to take a salon and recreate its identity as the top salon in town within a 20 mile radius. My work with this company covered many scopes from email marketing, brand identity, marketing collateral, gift card marketing, and advertising promotions.

Currently I am self-employed as an independent contractor which is not an easy feat by any imagination. Recent projects continue to expand my portfolio as I continually seek creative projects and people to work with. Email marketing, as well as branding continues to be a driving force in my work, although not the only one.. My most recent project allows me to bring my drawing skills to the table as I dive into some character development.

Take a look at the portfolio for yourself and make your own conclusion!

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