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Interested in:
Creative visual + product design
Proficient in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Sketch, Glispa,
InDesign, After Effects, Muse, Powerpoint, Adtile and Logic X.
Experience:
Senior Designer at Tapjoy
Advertising and Marketing Industry July 2015 – Current
• UX + Product Design
• Video production + motion graphics
• Marketing collateral (white papers + digital support)
• Visual + Interactive design
Accounts include:
Adidas, Fox Sports, 20th Century Fox, Pandora, Netgear,
Paramount Pictures, Sony, Puzzle Social, Telltale Games.
Graphic Designer at Say
Advertising and Marketing Industry November 2013 – December 2014
• Banner ad design
• Interactive design
• Video + motion graphics
Accounts include:
XO Jane, Gear Patrol, Fashionista, Bio, HonestlyWTF,
Lifetime Moms, Readwrite. Hyundai, Universal Pictures, Best Buy.
Graphic Designer at Lead 5 Media
Advertising and Marketing industry January 2011 – November 2013
• Web + UI design
• Video + motion graphics
• Art direction
• Mobile app design
• Corporate branding
• Logo design
Accounts include:
Chavez Supermarkets, River Rock Casino, Gambit Mobile, Accelerex,
X-Marketing, That’s Solar, Pop Sugar, United Medical Resource.
Education:
Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design
• BFA, Communication Design 2010
Marquette University
• Minor, Advertising 2010
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Earliest encounter with graphic design?
Most kids collected baseball cards. I collected vacation and travel brochures. My dad was a pilot and I’d come along with him on his excursions. I would collect all the little roadside attraction pamphlets that they would have on display in motel lobbies. I had shoe boxes of those things and would spend hours pouring through them. That was really my first spark in getting excited about visual communication and the importance of visual language. I would also spends hours upon hours making fake album covers for make-believe bands in Microsoft Paint.
What has been your career path so far?
Even though I knew that I wanted to pursue graphic design as a career, I spent a few years after high school traveling and absorbing the world around me. This time in my life was crucial in shaping my vision of the future.
It allowed me to approach design from an organic and primitive perspective. At the time, I was playing in a number of bands and supporting my community with an onslaught of crude album covers, xeroxed posters and countless home made zines. These D.I.Y practices ultimately fueled my drive to pursue design seriously.
I enrolled in the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and after four years and three internships, I graduated with a BFA in communication design with a minor in advertising.
I then moved out west where I put my professional career in motion. I spent a few years working for a variety of startups in addition to taking on freelance work. Today, I am currently working as the Senior Designer for Tapjoy where I oversee a plethora of projects related to product design and marketing. I'm always looking for new tools and resources to draw upon and am currently interested in exploring Augmented Reality more in depth.
In 2017, several of my designs was featured in the book, "Making the Cut: The World's Best Collage Artists" by Crooks Press. My directorial debut was featured on the Death Records Compilation, "Music Video Vault: Volume One."
Who are some designers you admire?
I credit Art Chantry as being the first real design hero the made me want to follow graphic design. His work
with Estrus had a profound effect on the way that I experienced design. His book, ‘Some People Can’t Surf’ was my bible in college.
I'm influenced by Push Pin Studios, Susan Kare, George Hardie, Keiichi Tanaami, April Greiman, Wayne White and Katherine McCoy I’ve been inspired by lot of Vaporwave stuff lately. I really like what White Dog agency is doing with 3D animation. Paul Rentler's Black and White prints have been hitting the spot lately. Big Bud clothing out of L.A. is great too! Everything Gucci does is gold.
Greatest thing you’ve designed so far?
I haven’t designed it yet. Everything that I make is better than the last thing I made.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
1. Continuing to meld my design and artistic integrities into a unique package.
2. Directing 1800-General commercials. (For a great low rate, get online! Go to the general and save some time!)
If you could design or art direct for anything, what would it be.
I love projects with multiple layers which operate as designated pieces of a larger puzzle. The exciting thing about design for me is how it can invoke the sense of experience. The designer is the curator of that experience and can draw upon all the familiar languages that we interface with every day. With that being said, I've always wanted to design and build a mobile gaming app. It's been a passion project that I've always wanted to see through.
Most importantly, I'm interested in collaborating with interesting people who think differently and aren't afraid to push boundaries. I thrive off the energy of seeing other designers create.
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Listening: My current Spotify playlist.
Watching: My favorite Youtube videos.
Reading: A lot of Architectural Digests and Historical Biographies.
Writing: My art blog.