I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.
— Eleanor Roosevelt
Freelance Graphic Designer
4/04 — Present | Alexandria, VA and Baltimore, MD
A variety of independent and agency assignments; graphic design, project management, image retouching and color correction. Projects included work for L’Oreal, Reebok, United Way, Constellation Energy, T. Rowe Price, Brandywine Publishing and more.
Publication Design Manager
6/02 — 04/04 | AAO-HNSF, Alexandria, VA
Conceptualize, design, and produce annual meeting materials, magazine covers, ads, catalogs, posters and other graphic materials. Assist with the development and implementation of online surveys. Negotiate print bids, award and oversee print projects, review and approve bluelines, press sheets. Provide training/mentoring, art direction, design and technical assistance for design unit as well as internal and external clients. Research and expand digital assets/image and supervise photoshoots. Co-chair, Products and Services Marketing Team.
Freelance Graphic Designer
4/00 — 6/02 | Alexandria, VA
A variety of independent and agency assignments, many for Strategic Partners Group; art direction, design, retouching, photo manipulation, silhouettes, electronic prepress, etcetera. Projects included work for Nextel, Skytel, British Airways, Geico Direct, and Choice Hotels.
Graphic Designer
11/98 — 4/00 | Strategic Partners Group, McLean, VA
Design, production and disk preparation for a variety of Fortune 50 clients including MCI WorldCom and MasterCard. Direct mail package versioning with as many as 24 versions. Image searches and usage negotiations; photo manipulation and silhouetting. Screened and supervised freelance designers and production artists; provided direction to outside illustrators to create logos and illustrations. Secured print bids and wrote purchase orders; approved bluelines and color proofs and attended presschecks. Maintained inventory and ordered creative supplies; archived completed jobs onto CD. Specified, secured bids for and ordered Macintosh workstations and peripherals as well as the creative department’s Macintosh G4 server; organized and supervised setup of server and worked directly with IT vendors to keep creative workstations running smoothly.
Freelance Graphic Designer
6/98 — 11/98 | Springfield, VA
A variety of independent and agency assignments; design,project management, photo manipulation, silhouettes.
Senior Computer Artist
8/97 — 6/98 | Stackig Advertising and PR, McLean, VA
Prepared digital mechanicals for a variety of high-quality print and advertising projects with the 5th largest agency in the metropolitan area. Created layouts from art directors’ thumbnails, prepped files for printers and service bureaus. Designed support collateral that conformed to existing styles and refined concept layouts. Manipulated hi-res images, created duotones and resolved various potential production problems (created smooth blends, trapped files, created layouts conforming to templates supplied by packaging converters, etc.)
Freelance Graphic Designer
5/97 — 8/97 | Springfield, VA
A variety of independent and agency assignments; design, project management, photo manipulation, silhouettes.
Preflight Specialist/Electronic Prepress
5/96 — 5/97 | Colorcraft of Virginia, Sterling, VA
Instrumental in the setup, organization and operation of the preflight department. Preflighting and troubleshooting customer files using FlightCheck, client consultations and technical support, graphic design, web page design, troubleshooting and maintenance of the preflight and desktop department’s Macintosh systems. Digital file preparation, trapping and troubleshooting for output to Agfa and Screen imagesetters. Web page committee member, corporate identity committee member.
Graphic Designer
11/95 — 5/96 | Fannon Color Printing, Alexandria, VA
Design, preflighting, customer technical support, trapping, and film imaging; halftone and color scanning on a Linotype-Hell Chromagraph S2000, color correction and retouching.
Graphic Designer
6/94 — 11/95 | Charter Printing Service, Alexandria, VA
Design and page layout; preflighting; digital file preparation and troubleshooting for output to Linotronic imagesetters and high-end Scitex systems; proofing film; maintenance and troubleshooting for the desktop department’s fleet of Macintosh systems; training desktop publishing operators in the use of Quark Xpress, Photoshop and Illustrator; design and program consultations with customers; file and system backups, and billing small press desktop work.
Freelance Graphic Designer
9/92 — 6/94 | Arlington, VA
Freelance typesetting and design, primarily with Quark Xpress, Photoshop, and Illustrator. Most projects also involved paper specification and purchase, print or high volume copy brokering, as well as approval of bluelines and color proofs.