Freelance/Contract Design
Omaha, Nebraska and Abroad
June 2010-Present

Duties: Visual communication services including brand identity, catalogs, brochures, website development, social media posts, e-mails, photography, trade show collateral, video production, editing, publication design, and more! 

To make a long story longer… During this time, I continued my work on Revive Omaha! magazine (that I had been working on for over ten years). I also conducted an experiment and created my own local wedding magazine, Bliss! Quarterly—where I did literally EVERYTHING myself. This was a way to learn everything there is to know about running a business from the ground up, but I was also able to use this as a way to gain design and marketing clients.

This is a long story, but let’s just say that I took all of my experience below and created my own product to learn the in’s and out’s of EVERY position a company would require. Spoiler alert… my experiment was a raging success! It made money. I learned a TON and gained valuable experience than I can share with my clients. I created an excellent exit strategy and sold the rights to the magazine, so that I could focus on the next phase of my career—and I was looking for a quieter, slower-paced work lifestyle.

After I sold Bliss! Quarterly magazine and website, I decided to focus on contract design.

In early 2015, I found an amazing client who I treasure—and we have stuck together ever since! While I consider them my main gig, I still take on some other select clients on the side when I want to branch out into other industries to keep my portfolio diverse and fresh.

AccuCut/AccuQuilt
Creative Director
Fremont, Nebraska
November 2008-June 2010

Duties: Managed team of print designers, photographer and a project designer. Collateral produced included catalogs, direct mail, publication advertisements, flyers, coupons, tradeshow display, brochures, social media posts, e-mails, website banners and graphics, photography, video production, editing, and more.

Impact: As I settled into the fast-paced life of my matured career, I decided to take on new challenges, including management. I was also fortunate to be put through an extensive training program for executives and CEOs (almost like a mini MBA with “Cliff’s Notes” for those of you who get that reference). In my short time here, I learned more than I can sum quickly… but let’s just say that I honed in the skills of team building, production, efficiency, and brand fluidity!

 

Freelance/Contract Design
Omaha, Nebraska
October 2001-November 2008

Duties: Graphic design including brand identity, catalogs, brochures, website development, e-mail marketing, photography, video editing/conversion, and publication design.

Impact: This was when I taught myself web design and had to roll with the times… a LOT! Web design classes didn’t even exist when I attended college. We entered a new millennia and technology was zooming! I found my own clients with varying industries, so my skillset exploded during this period. I also learned the valuable lesson that I can learn and accomplish anything (within reason).

 

The Knot (formerly Weddingpages)
Senior Graphic Designer
Omaha, Nebraska
November 1999-October 2001

Duties: Sole ad designer for print and web in all Knot magazines across the United States. Since I was the only ad designer on staff during this time, I really upped my production speed. I would challenge myself daily to achieve quantity AND retain quality. I found a groove producing hundreds of advertisements per week for over 50 publications nationwide, while never making two companies look alike.

Impact: I eventually transitioned from a full-time employee to a freelancer in 2001, so I was hired to train new hires on how to create and edit Macromedia Flash ads (after this became invented, but before it was obsolete. It didn’t last long!)

 

Trader Publishing
Assistant Production Manager/
Senior Graphic Designer
Portland, Oregon
October 1997-October 1999

Duties: Graphic designer for local/weekly publication. I created print and web ads, as well as produced the layout for the entire publication every week to ensure that all ads were not only present, but placed in each category without wasting valuable marketing real estate.

Impact: I took my skills from my first position and transferred them to Portland, where I excelled and quickly rose to Assistant Manager. And then I transformed my disdain for printing film and doing manual paste-up into action by moving our production team into 100% digitally-produced publications and E-MAILED our files instead of hiring a courier (crazy times!). Laying out the publication digitally online instead of using a pencil and tape turned out to be one of the most rewarding things in my life, as the 20th century came to a close.

 

Graphic Specialties
Graphic Designer
Overland Park, Kansas
February 1997-July 1997

Duties: Graphic designer responsible for whatever task they trusted me with—since I was fresh out of college! I worked on newsletters, ads, PowerPoint presentations, signs, banners, and more!

Impact: This was also during 20th to the 21st century online transformation revolution—so I was tasked with taking my digitally designed collateral and printing film plates to send to the printer for black & white, 2-color spot, and 4-color process plate printing. I learned so much about proper typesetting and design… this was an invaluable start to my career.

Expert proficiency in Adobe Creative
Suite software and Microsoft Office
(and a lot programs that are now
obsolete and long forgotten…)

Team and Personnel Management

Understanding of Prepress Requirements
and Print Production Processes

Proficient in HTML, CSS
and Web Development

Photography/Image Editing

Video Production/Editing

Budgeting and Planning

Working Knowledge of Marketing
and Visual Communications Best Practices

Strong Visual and Conceptual
Problem-solving Skills

Ability to Work Independently
(as a leader and as a team member)

Ability to Work Under Tight Deadlines,
while Multi-tasking on Various Projects

Excellent Project Management Skills

Customer-service Oriented

Typing (85-100 wpm with 99% accuracy)

The Colorado Institute of Art
Denver, Colorado • 1996
Associate of Applied Science Degree
in Visual Communications (3.5 GPA)

• Graduated with Honors
• Dean’s List Award Recipient
• Best Portfolio Nomination (Won 3rd Place)