Art Direction / Creative Direction
Art & Creative Direction
As an art director, my work includes magazines, catalogs, photo shoots, and large-scale project management. This requires creativity, but also the ability to coordinate and plan design from concept to execution.
Ultimately, design should be a tool for money making. While I’ve won awards for graphic design, the ultimate determination for a marketing piece is whether or not it makes money for a client or employer.
In some cases, such as with Royal Case Company, Inc., the results can be astounding.
Royal Case needed a new catalog. Their prior catalog showcased past projects and left it to the customer to imagine their capabilities. I pitched a new catalog concept with a magazine format, which showcased products artistically, with minimal copy. As a result Royal Case doubled in sales their first year, and quadrupled in sales within four years. The catalog so greatly affected sales they had to build two additions to their headquarters.
Trust.
For companies like Royal Case, creating a catalog which served more as a viewbook than an order form felt like a huge risk. Printing is expensive, and huge photos take up page counts. Re-photographing their entire product line was also a financial risk – but the investment paid off immediately.
Marketing should result in sales and growth.
Pareti is a great example of how art direction, 3D graphics combined with photos, video, and great content can sell.
Thanks to relatable content easily found online, Pareti grew a new invention from a grassroots business in a garage to a 13-person crew with sales across the USA and Canada.
Creative and art direction play a part here, as well as brand management. Since our products appeal to the 20-30 year old demographic, our image must stay constantly in touch with an ever-changing market. We incorporate humor, problem solving ideas, and color to create appeal. This is combined with copious information, provided incremementally per download.
The result is a great deal of information provided in a digestable measure, at the pace of the prospect.
Pareti proves web, graphics, downloadable content, and social media can make a massive impact in an established marketplace.
Pareti’s design must continously evolve to get the attention of new grads, interns, and young professionals, who are often the first to find our site to pass onto decision makers. Continued communication must also effectively communicate to a 30-50 year-old demographic – the typical age group of decision makers.
Art Direction / Publications
As an art director for two different magazines and hundres of catalogs, planning and page layout is familiar territory. I’m accustomed to working with editorial staff in planning feature stories. I’m as comfortable with the detail required to create images or direct photo shoots, as I am directing and mentoring creative staff.
Creative Direction
Working with a creative team, I enjoy inspiring clients with a creative vision designed to meet their company goals. I also enjoy inspiring creative team members to do what they do best. With creative direction, the talents and skill sets of others is another form of creativity. Together we succeed, which is thrilling for the creative group and the client.
Retail Packaging & Plan-O-Grams
Packaging must create immediate appeal. I have experience with toy package design, industrial retail product design, and other commercial B2C product packaging. I have worked with both US and offshore printing companies and have prepared countless files for offshore printing. I also have related experience with:
- Plan-O-Gram design
- Shelf talkers, aisle violators and other retail attention-getters
- Large format printing
- POP design
- Package (structure) design
- Clamshell design
- UPC generation and registration
- Copyright and Registered Trademark
- Brand Management
- Merchandising
Between 2007 and 2012 I designed all branding and packaging for several plan-o-grams representing $65 million in retail products for Apache’s retail product lines.
The highly successful redesign included brighter colors for greater retail appeal across product lines. The overall them provided greater brand recognition thanks to a cohesive look for Apache retail brands.
This included all art direction, photo retouching, signage, advertising and related catalogs for big box stores such as Lowe’s, Menards, Home Depot, as well as smaller chains such as Orscheln and FarmFleet stores.
Apache’s industrial retail lines included compressed air, baler supplies, hydraulic hose supplies, fuel supplies, hosing, and pressure washer accessories.
Retail branding and re-branding continued with close-out or special products.
I developed branding guidelines for all brands, including Apache and its subsidiaries, as well as provided trademarking guidance on branding.
Additional packaging and art direction projects include children’s products and toys, personal care, beauty, and home goods products.
Branding
As Creative Director at The Brown Group, logo design was generally sold with a whole marketing concept in mind – rarely as a stand-alone logo. A full-service approach like this allowed us to do what was truly best for the client in terms of revamping (or creating) marketing tools. Packaged services included web development, trade show display design, content development, photography, and catalog and/or brochure design.
The Brown Group serviced over 200 industrial manufacturers in the Iowa/Illinois region, as well as clients in the toy, luxury, home goods, and cosmetic markets. Our client list included European clients such as Zapf Creations, and other US based, kid-focused clients like the Cedar Rapids Public Library, Gearbox Toys.
My experience is varied, however my focus has always been creating tools which result in tangible sales. It's my hope that my background can help a manufacturing company increase sales based on marketing communications, working hand-in-hand with product development, customer satisfaction, and forecasting customers' needs.
Manufacturing & Corporate
- Plant management
- HR, policy development, and people management
- Procurement
- Project managment (print and construction)
- Safety & OSHA training and enforcement
- Logistics
- Business Planning
- Presentations and general leadership
Marketing
- Content Development, SEO, SEM, PPC
- Web Design
- Product Marketing
- Marketing Management
- Brand Management
- Published author
Design
- Creative Direction & Art Direction
- High proficiency of the Adobe Suite
- CNC operation, CAM and CAD software
- Product Design
- Illustration
- Extensive experience with a huge assortment of media - print, web, billboards, packaging, displays, etc.
