When I was in high school, I never realized that I could make a living off of my hobbies. Entering college as a graphic design major I began to understand the broad possibilities of what my future could be. Here I am – many years older – still amazed by this concept that design is a profession.
“Every experience in life can be improved through intentional design.”
My formal school days have concluded but I continue to learn and master the skills that were initiated in my youth. I've now created many many logos, designed graphics for huge trade show booths and stages, whipped up more display and social ads than I can count, and created web and app experiences that have raving fans.
I live by the mantra that every experience in life can be improved through intentional design. It's my goal to aid in making as many of those experiences remarkable as possible.
I am a dad to 2 girls and a husband to 1 wife. I daydream a lot, carve wooden spoons, blog about dad things, read books from all genres, ride a bike (sometimes with no hands), and play a mean game of ping pong.
Work History
Reforge
Sr. Manager, Design & Production • July 2022 - Present
Leading cross-functional design strategy on all our learning products and marketing. Oversee creative direction and content delivery methods, including video, static, animated, and audio formats. Managing individuals responsible for executing the creative strategy across multiple teams.
Teams represented:
Leading a video production manager whose team is responsible for creating educational and marketing content across our platform. This team oversees the development of guidelines for self-serve video creation and edits full-length learning videos featuring a variety of visuals, talking head videos, and animation.
Lead creative direction for the marketing design team, including coordinating a successful rebranding effort across various digital marketing platforms (web, social, ads, email, and video).
Leading an information design manager responsible for all visuals used in learning materials, including member experience and blog content.
Design Manager • December 2020 - July 2022
Scaled and managed a team during a company hyper-growth phase of the company, 3x-ing the team in 13 months. Hired, onboarded, retained, and mentored the team.
Developed people and processes to provide efficiencies which enabled us to design at scale.
Continued to fill the marketing design gap with my team while we did not have a formal brand design team.
Sr. Visual Designer • June 2019 - December 2020
As the first design hire, I built the design system and visual strategy used to create our course learning materials. Mentored designers on how to utilize the system to clearly communicate with our learners.
In addition to those core responsibilities, my design system laid the groundwork to expand the visual brand. I worked on all aspects of marketing design, including the website, ads, social, and email.
OFC.tv
Creative Director • August 2018 - June 2019
Lead an internal and external team of designers, animators, videographers, and editors to produce compelling content for internal communications teams at some of the country's leading brands. From videos to office digital screens, the employee communication landscape is changing. My goal was to help elevate the stories and make them into something an employee would want to engage with.
Clients like PepsiCo, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and AT&T Cybersecurity trusted my team to come alongside their communications department and collaborate on effective and exciting design and video.
AWeber
Brand Design Team Lead • January 2018 – August 2018
Managed the marketing/brand design team of 4 people, mentoring them to ask good questions, conceptualize how to visually promote our services to customers, and be team players. Alongside the marketing team, I strategized how we could connect better with our prospects and communicate a better story.
Art Director • March 2016 – January 2018
Maintained consistency on all internal and external-facing collateral. Accountable for guiding the visual direction of the brand while working in collaboration with engineering, product, marketing & customer solutions. Mentored jr. designers to produce quality work.
Visual Designer • June 2013 – March 2016
Identified and vetted all print vendors to ensure high-quality and consistent results. Focused the efforts of the design team to create meaningful interactions with users. Collaborated with the marketing team to make sure all conversion materials were performing at an optimal level.
alphabroder
Graphic Designer • July 2010 – June 2013
Translated marketing direction into creative design solutions for emails, promotional materials, and sales collateral. Consistently delivered on-time production of print and web projects, including managing freelance designers. Designed customizable promotional materials that supported the sales team.