Here's a quick run down...
KPMG acquired Cynergy early in 2014, rebranding the group as XDE for Experience Design and Engineering. XDE offers digital solutions and services for a wide array of customer needs.
I lead teams through the creative process, producing quality digital experiences on time and successfully achieving business goals as a result. I guide teams through creative workshops to identify opportunities, map efforts, and inform planning towards business goals that effectively meet user needs. I craft visionary experiences for enterprise software, supporting the needs of Fortune 500 companies across a wide array of industries. I work to see fruitful returns on successful projects, watching efforts surprising unfold into greater opportunities. Even across industries and with new clients. I foster and strengthen relationships, also retaining clients and opportunities through our teams acquisition in 2014. I worked on location with teams in our London, England offices shortly after our acquisition to guide them in learning our processes and building out a similar team. They have since been growing steadily, providing quality services and solutions to their clients.
Cynergy was a small, nimble group offering customized digital solutions to an impressive variety of clients.
As a User Experience Lead I enjoyed a beneficial shift in perspective, expanding my ability to perceive and satisfy user needs. I created productivity driven software experiences, moving beyond web sites and online marketing built for content consumption. I became responsible for a wider range of activities and deliverables, often leading creative efforts with little or no support. I learned to investigate user needs and requirements more thoroughly. I began facilitating and leading workshops with client teams of varying sizes. This new level of ownership brought some valuable lessons in planning through accountability. As a result, I began defining new structures to guide our projects on a progressive path toward completion. I experienced the value in moving a project seamlessly through phases. Owning creative responsibilities from start to completion removed the need for awkward handoffs across teams with little or no involvement in prior phases. My responsibilities also led to more frequent travel, stretching me to grow comfortable developing healthy relationships with executive stakeholders.
Organic is an interactive agency, grounded in digital, offering services to an evolving collection of clients.
As a Senior Designer I created dynamic digital experiences for multifaceted clients. I crafted social campaigns to capitalize on the transforming landscapes of technology and communication. I worked to modernize the digital presence of mature brands and developed guidelines for providing continuity throughout future efforts. I helped define frameworks to provide coherently structured creative for a diverse family of brands. In particular, our work for Hilton Hotels provided a unified approach for their broad catalog of properties while maintaining the unique personalities of each individual brand. I was fortunate to participate in Camp Organic, spending a hyper focused week with colleagues banging out forward thinking ideas aimed at revolutionizing the consumer shopping industry. The wildly creative culture at Organic renewed my sense of passion to tell stories through well crafted experiences. I’ve grown convinced successful creative is fueled by the undeniable power of connecting with users through relatable, engaging stories.
Level Studios was a moderately sized digital agency with a strong history in technology. The company was acquired by Rosetta Advertising shortly after my departure, which was eventually acquired by Publicis.
As an Interactive Designer, I worked across offices to create engaging, user centered experiences and products for our clients. I lead global localization efforts for BlackBerry, managing the impact of wide ranging character count variance during the transitioning development of responsive design. I produced diverse creative across media types to advance the presence and experience of Disney’s Digital Books platform. Inspired by the talent and efforts of those around me, I poured extra effort and hours into successful pitch work to strengthen our flow of business and broaden our client relationships. This position led me through a period of fine tuning my creative senses, sharpening and enhancing career related capabilities along the way. I gained valuable exposure to 3d integrated workflows and even developed new personal processes to integrate this extra level of dimension in new opportunities moving forward. I fostered a renewed sense of personal growth, facing down temptations to quietly settle into familiar routines. Level provided an incredibly supportive community of talented colleagues and leadership, all driven to excel while challenging each other to do the same.
The Traffic Agency was a small agency that managed to grow quickly once established by winning a major account.
As an Interactive Art Director for this newly formed company, I developed a culture of creative exploration and growth. I worked closely with company leaders to define process, mentoring and inspiring young talent along the way. I developed creative for our company marketing to display our mission, values and culture, generating market awareness. I built beneficial relationship with vendors and developed client relationships through some challenging transformation. This opportunity led through the redefinition of Mitsubishi Motor’s North American branding. Collaborating with multiple teams, I created integrated campaigns for vehicle launches and seasonal promotions. I worked to centralize client advertising and marketing efforts in the digital space, aware of the persistent need for thoughtful alignment in all media types. This position brought me closer to the practice of strategic research. Our work was well informed by significant research efforts, refined into strategic directives which guided our decisions and success. The experience reinforced the importance of seeking to thoroughly understand customers in order to create experiences that meet their needs.
Planetwide Media was a startup offering digital tools to create customized comic books and e-cards.
As a Senior Interactive Art Director I worked to refine and enhance the user experience for the MashOn! Comic Book and E-Card Creators. I explored interaction models and workflows through persistent iteration to streamline the user experience, providing what was essentially a playful content management system. I worked with our small and incredibly talented design team to create eye catching marketing and entertaining experiences for our users. Through the process of customizing the application for multiple clients I provided a source of creative leadership and guidance. I supported the growth of young talent, expanded my own capabilities, and promoted a culture of excellence within our team. Spending time with our clients, I sought to understand their unique needs, worked to satisfy them through the MashOn! platform, and developed stronger relationships to partner with them for continued success. Since our product provided a specialized digital experience, I sharpened my capacity to fine tune elements relentlessly with a heightened attention to detail. I grew more sensitive to the importance of iterating and identifying opportunities quickly while working in a startup environment to encourage business growth and investor confidence.
Spacedog was a boutique interactive agency with plenty of bark and bite. The company was acquired by Mendelsohn Zien shortly after my departure which was later purchased by Hakuhodo.
As an Interactive Art Director I was tasked with generating bold ideas and creating interactive experiences to support a wide array of client and user needs. I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have joined such a hard working team with a passion to produce great work and have plenty of fun in the process. Working on the forward thinking Carl’s Jr. living room website and related advertising, I contributed creative solutions to increase customer growth and retention. I collaborated with teams from other agencies to produce broadly integrated campaigns, supporting key client needs and strengthening relationships to ensure successful outcomes. I also provided specialized solutions directly to various clients to support company growth. Crafting logos, websites and more, I developed corporate branding for our company to enhance market awareness. I expanded my capacity to provide modern solutions by learning to build engaging, rich media ad units for maximum impact. Working with my brilliant and talented colleagues encouraged me to refine my understanding of the creative process. I learned to generate expansive ideas through wild and broad exploration, reaching beyond common boundaries to effectively solve design problems. I developed stronger passion for capturing an audiences imagination with thought provoking subject matter and exquisite execution wrapped in captivating stories.
Saatchi & Saatchi is a large advertising agency, primarily managing Toyota’s consumer marketing.
As a freelance Art Director I provided creative support for the redesign of the Totota.com website. I contributed designs and workflows for user centered vehicle browsing and customization tools. I also provided approaches for a unique event browsing system which empowered customers to connect more personally with the Toyota brand. I gained valuable perspective on this brief assignment, working on my second major automotive account with a completely different company and team. It was a pleasure working on some familiar creative challenges with some new and thought provoking perspectives.
Questus is a digital agency offering well crafted digital experiences for a wide array of clients.
As a freelance Motion Designer I produced engaging promotional pieces for a handful of clients. This was a unique opportunity to focus my energy more specifically on interactive animations. I was able to quickly upgrade my capacity and tool kit for creating motion based work. The culture and teams encouraged me to move at an incredible pace to produce high quality work. The experience taught me to keep my eye on how I work at all times, looking for any and every possible way to enhance my workflows for better output.
Studio 361 was an in house design studio for Commerce Printing Services and their clients.
As a freelance Designer, I managed the company website and provided print solutions for our parent organization, government agencies and a handful of local businesses. I modernized our identity with updated designs and an improved interactive presence. After several years of designing interactive experiences, this role provided a healthy challenge in generating tangible works like posters, greetings cards, event tickets, program booklets and more. With our studio situated in close proximity to multiple industrial scale print presses, I refreshed my familiarity with the ins and outs of designing for print and developed a deeper understanding of the entire print production process. Working across diverse forms of media heightened my senses to be more keenly aware of the universal principles of good design which reach across all mediums.
Page Design Group is a small creative studio providing traditional and modern services directly to clients.
As a freelance Designer I managed website updates and generated online advertising solutions for our customers. I provided stability for the creative team, supporting the company’s growth into the interactive design space. I helped expand our creative solution offerings, increasing customer loyalty and confidence in our services. This position marks a significant time of transition, moving across the country from a full time position to freelance, from large organizations to a small studio. I developed a new sense of ownership in my work, a stronger appreciation for creative environments, and some fresh perspective on collaborative relationships as a result of these transforming conditions. The tight knit family of Page Design Group instilled in me a new sense of courage to continue exploring my creative interests and refine my professional pursuits.
J. Walter Thompson (Detroit) was one of many offices for the full service advertising agency and primarily managed Ford Motor Company’s consumer marketing.
As an Interactive Art Director, I continued developing an understanding of the advertising space through a new lens. I worked with much larger teams to create some impressive, award winning work. Our projects were highly engaging and consumer focused, often leveraging relationships with noteworthy vendors like Fantasy Interactive, 2Advanced, and Barbarian Group to name a few. I developed highly integrated campaigns working across multiple teams to produce unified creative and results. With some incredible colleagues and leadership to learn from, I developed a strong appreciation for storytelling in creative work. Applying the power of personal connection with well crafted, story based creative became central to my process as a result of this position. I take great pride in the creative work we produced during these years. What I continue to find especially remarkable is the high level of focus we all had on crafting user centered experiences well before the language of UX became industry standard.
Ogilvy & Mather (Detroit) was one of many offices for the full service advertising agency and primarily managed Ford Motor Company’s service division.
As a Jr. Art Director, this position was my introduction to advertising. Under some incredible leadership I quickly got my footing and thoroughly enjoyed developing quality creative work with our teams. I grew comfortable generating ideas, refining concepts, and producing well crafted experiences for our clients. I was responsible for creating a range of interactive materials including websites, newsletters, software and more. I learned to work across multiple teams, even guiding the efforts of our incredibly talented studio artists on occasion. I met frequently with clients, gaining some valuable experience building healthy relationships along the way. The company culture opened my eyes to the importance of generating quality ideas that are worth bringing to life. It was an incredible honor to be part of such a reputable organization so early in my career.
Alive City offered a template based web hosting service with the option to customize.
As the sole designer of the company my primary role was to support customers through guidance, customization, and implementation. I also provided internal design support for company branding and marketing materials. In large part, this position expanded my interest in the interactive design space by requiring me to engage deeply with development practices. Designing new and custom templates required me to integrate designs with a java based systems. As this was early in my career it provided a foundational understanding of the need for design and technology to work hand in hand.
Mastermind offered internet service, installation, and support as its core business.
With the primary role of serving customers through technical support, I also provided design services to the company and several clients. Spending time on the phone helping people troubleshoot internet connectivity problems taught me the value and importance of quality customer service. As high speed internet was relatively young, it was an exciting new world for me requiring a wide range of responsibilities. Along with taking customer calls, I prepared ethernet cables and installed networks for businesses near and far. I also provided design solutions for customers in need of web sites as well as for internal branding and marketing materials.
