Portfolio: Creative Design

★ Overview

April 2012–Current

Volunteer Web Developer/Designer (Volunteer/Freelance Role)
ChiDAES Canada | Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Volunteered time and skills to do a full website redesign for the ChiDAES Canada, a not-for-profit organization that raises money for children in need living in Eastern Sri Lanka. The website went live in May 2012. Website maintenance is done on an ongoing basis upon the request of the client.

The creative design aspect of this role:

• Designed the website from scratch. Planned out the website with wireframes prior to moving to Adobe Photoshop. Came up with the colour scheme, typography, and look ad feel of the site.
• Created, sliced, and optimized the layout design.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS3, Mac OS X

★ View the original staging website created for ChiDAES Canada
★ View the live site that has been turned over to ChiDAES Canada
★ Learn about the web development aspect of this volunteer/freelance role

June 2013–July 2013

Graphic Designer (Freelance Role)
BrandFire Marketing Group Inc. | Markham, Ontario, Canada

BrandFire is a advertising agency with large clients based in Markham. Responsibilities included producing mock-ups for retail packaging, side blades/wings, valances, and Facebook graphics for several high-profile brands known both nationally and internationally.

• Designed mock-ups that follow the guidelines set by each of the brands under the guidance of the Creative Director.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS6

June 2013

Graphic Designer (Freelance Role)
Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, P.C. | Dallas, Texas, USA

Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, P.C. is 20+ year old law firm with over 100 attorneys in 3 offices. Assisted by designing an email signature that meets the needs of the firm's new branding strategy.

• Designed two mock-ups for potential email signatures that conform to the firm's branding guide. One was selected and recreated for use on the web by the firm's IT department.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS3

March 2013–May 2013

Email Marketing Coordinator (Freelance Role)
Ariad Communications | Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Ariad Communications is a marketing agency with high-profile clients. Joined the Email Team as a Freelance Email Marketing Coordinator to help with temporary overflow work. Responsibilities included building and testing HTML email templates, working together with Account Managers and Project Managers to execute projects, and creating written pieces (including a training document). Worked on projects for high-profile financial agencies, property management firms, and consumer goods corporations that are household names in Canada.

The creative design aspect of this role:

• Edited, sliced, and optimized design files and assets. On occasion, completed creative design edits and additions if requested.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS6

★ Learn about the email marketing aspect of this freelance role

July 2012–March 2013

Web Developer (Full-Time Role)
Trimark Sportswear Group | Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada

Worked as the sole, in-house, web developer and email marketer at Trimark Sportswear Group, a corporate leader in the development and manufacturing of logo/decorated apparel. Trimark Sportswear Group's parent company is Polyconcept North America, the same company that also owns Leed's, a leader in logo/decorated promotional items. As a member of the Marketing Team, responsibilities included designing and developing web content, building and deploying email campaigns to internal and external audiences, and coordinating projects with the ERP provider for software updates that affect the website's content management system. Also assisted with creative design edits and overflow design work. Most projects were for Trimark Sportswear Group with the exception of the development of an email template for Trimark Powered By Leed's brand in the United States.

The creative design aspect of this role:

• Created, edited, sliced, and optimized design files and assets.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS5.1, Windows 7
• Proofed design files provided by colleagues. Edited and manipulated provided files when necessary before slicing and optimizing them for use on the web.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS5.1, Windows 7

★ Learn about the creative design aspect of this full-time role
★ Learn about the email marketing aspect of this full-time role

October 2012–November 2012

Front End Developer/Email Marketing Specialist (Freelance)
Trump International Hotel & Tower Toronto | Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Trump International Hotel & Tower Toronto is a luxury hotel/condominium building located in Toronto's financial district. Helped out with overflow font end development, graphic design, and email marketing projects. Projects included a micro site for the Chocolate Lab at Stock Restaurant Bar & Lounge, a landing page for a holiday gift card campaign for Stock Restaurant and Quartz Crystal Spa, and an email campaign for Trump International Hotel & Tower Toronto.

The creative design aspect of this role:

• Used Adobe Photoshop to edit, slice, and optimize design files provided by the client.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS3, Mac OS X
• Edited and optimized product photography for the web
  Software: Adobe Dreamweaver CS3, Mac OS X

★ Learn about the web development aspect of this freelance position
★ Learn about the email marketing aspect of this freelance position

November 2010–July 2012

Email Marketing Specialist, Global Marketing Online Services (Full-Time Role)
Infor | Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Infor is a global leader in enterprise software with 70,000 customers globally. Worked with Global Field Marketing, Corporate Communications, Creative Services, and Editorial Services to compose and deploy over 500 email campaigns and newsletters to global internal and external audiences. There was a focus on user experience and user centred design with the goal of generating opens and clicks. Worked on emails for managers representing all of the following product lines: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), Enterprise Performance Management (PM), Financial Management (FM), Human Capital Management (HCM), Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Supply Chain Management (SCM), Expense Management (XM), and Workforce Management (WFM).

The creative design aspect of this role:

• Edited, sliced, and optimized design files and assets provided by Creative Services and Global Field Marketing
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS5, Windows 7
• Designed a layout concept for a newsletter for the Email Marketing department. The design included corporate fonts and assets provided found in the style guide in order to follow branding guidelines set by Creative Services.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS5, Windows 7

★ Learn about the email marketing aspect of this full-time role

November 2011–December 2011

Graphic Designer – Holiday Greeting Cards (Freelance Role)

• Designed two festive greeting card designs that feature vector graphics.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS3, Adobe Kuler, Mac OS X

★ View Christmas 2011 greeting card
★ View Holiday 2011 greeting card

September 2010–November 2010

Web Developer/Graphic Designer (Freelance Role)
Grand & Toy (an OfficeMax company) | Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Grand & Toy is a large Canadian business-to-business office solutions company that has been around for over 130 years. OfficeMax, a global leader in office supplies, now owns the company. Took part in front end development and design for the new Grand & Toy corporate website (launched in late 2010) as well as graphic design work for the "G&T Big Deals" (English) / "G&T Giga Promos" (French) online campaign.

The creative design aspect of this role:

• Sliced and optimized graphics for the website from .psd layouts provided by the design team.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS3, Adobe Illustrator CS3, Mac OS X
• For the "G&T Big Deals" (English) / "G&T Giga promos" (French) campaign, created multiple versions of banners with small modifications for logged in and logged out users for both small business and large business customers in English and French using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Worked with photography supplied by the client. Created reflection effects for the images.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS3, Adobe Illustrator CS3, Mac OS X

★ View Grand & Toy® G&T Big Deals (English) / G&T Giga Promos (French) Campaign - Example 1
★ View Grand & Toy® G&T Big Deals (English) / G&T Giga Promos (French) Campaign - Example 2
★ View website for Grand & Toy
★ Learn about the web development aspect of this freelance role

February 2010

Graphic Designer – Birthday Posters (Freelance Role)

• Designed two posters for a couple of milestone birthday events. Both were professionally printed. One was mounted on a foam board with lamination and one was autographed by the guests of the celebration. Used Adobe Kuler to help plan out the colours to be used. In both cases, the palettes were used throughout the party planning process (balloons, decorations, etc.)
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS3, Adobe Kuler, Mac OS X

★ View 80th birthday celebration poster
★ View 75th birthday celebration poster

May 2009–July 2010

PHP Developer/Designer (Full-Time Contract Role)
Therefore Interactive Inc. | Newmarket, Ontario, Canada

Worked as a PHP Developer/Designer for Therefore Interactive Inc., a boutique agency in Newmarket, Ontario. Responsibilities included managing projects with clients, front and back end development, building and distributing email campaigns, and training clients on how to update web content and send email campaigns on their own. Took part in the management and development of multiple projects for agencies and partner companies as well as projects with these clients: Canada Lands Company (arms length federal Crown corporation of the Government of Canada), Saint Elizabeth Healthcare (Markham), and FonAngle (New York). Also worked on projects for clients in the food and beverage, adult beverage, legal, energy solutions, healthcare, not-for-profit, and life coaching industries.

The creative design aspect of this project:

• Edited and sliced assets provided by the design team with Adobe Photoshop.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS3, Mac OS X
• Composed static banner ads (leaderboard, square, and vertical rectangle) in a wide variety of designs for FonAngle. The ads were created to match the look and feel of the client's website.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS3, SyncroSVNClient (subversion), Mac OS X
• Took part in the design and front end development of a survey website for a North American restaurant chain. Used subversion
  software to work at the same time as the developers working on the server side development of the website.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS3, Mac OS X
• Added design input and created assets as needed while developing various client websites.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS3, Mac OS X

★ Learn about the web development aspect of this freelance role
★ Learn about the email marketing aspect of this freelance role

December 2008

Graphic Designer (Freelance Role)

• Designed a colourful geometic design that combines vector and pixel graphics.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS2, Windows XP

★ View geometric design

March 2008

Graphic Designer – Poster (School Project)
Fanshawe College | London, Ontario, Canada

• Created a 20's themed poster for Les Années 20 L'âge des Metropoles.
  Software: Adobe Illustrator CS2, Windows XP

★ View Les Années 20 L'âge des Metropoles poster

February 2008

Web Developer/Designer (Collaborative School Project)
Fanshawe College | London, Ontario, Canada
EK3 | London, Ontario, Canada

Took part in a collaborative project with Fanshawe College and EK3 for 4OUR Mobile Communications. The goal for this project was to create an advertising campaign for a telecommunications company. Was responsible for the development and some design of the website. Finished in the top five out of eighteen groups. EK3 is an agency based in London, Ontario, Canada that specializes in in-store digital merchanding and has high-profile clients all around the world.

The creative design aspect of this project:

• Took design elements provided by the client and other team members and changed their colours to create a theme for every web page. Used Flash to design the animation in the header area. Other team members provided the mobile device and banner imagery.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS2, Adobe Flash CS2, Windows XP

★ View website for 4OUR Mobile Communications
★ Learn about the web development aspect of this project

June 2007–July 2008

Web Design/Developer (Freelance Role)
Blue Lemon Media Inc. | Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada

While in college, freelanced for over a year both remotely and in-office at Blue Lemon Media, a boutique agency in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Helped out with overflow graphic design, front end development, and content population. Took part in projects for healthcare-related clients including Queensway Carleton Hospital and Foundation (Ottawa, Ontario), Queen Elizabeth II Hospital and Foundation (Grand Prairie, Alberta), St. Joseph's Healthcare Toronto (Toronto, Ontario), and Bridgepoint Health (Toronto, Ontario).

The creative design aspect of this role:

• Designed two website concepts for Queensway Carleton Hospital Foundation's 2007 glf fundraiser. One was chosen for use. The design was sliced so that it was ready for the development team to work with.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS2, Windows XP
• Designed multiple festive ecards for healthcare various websites. Searched stock photo websites to find imagery that could be used within the designs. Created mock ups of the ecards with low-resolution images for approval. Upon approval, the creative director provided higher quality images that could be used for the ecards. Once the eard designs were completed, they were sliced and built in HTML documents.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS2, Adobe Dreamweaver CS2, Windows XP
• Created multiple header banner images for many websites. Often provided with assets such as design files and fonts that were used for the website so that the new banners would have the same look and feel that the website designer intended for. Searched stock photo websites to find photographs that could be used with the banners. Created mock ups of the banners with low-resolution stock photography for approval. Upon approval, the creative director provided higher quality photos that could be used for the header banners. Often the photos required editing (cutting figures from a background) for use in the banners.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS2, Windows XP
• Designed/skinned multiple virtual tour interfaces. Provided with assets including website design files and logos to help maintain the look and feel of the client's website.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS2, Windows XP
• Designed/skinned multiple ecalendar interfaces. Provided with assets including website design files and logos to help maintain the look and feel of the client's website.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS2, Windows XP

★ Learn about the web development aspect of this freelance role

December 2007

Web Developer/Designer (Collaborative School Project)
Fanshawe College | London, Ontario, Canada
Toronto Zoo | Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Took part in a collaborative project with Fanshawe College the Toronto Zoo. The website was created as part of a promotional package for a competition to create an web application for the zoo. Was responsible for the development and some design of the website. The team placed in the top two in the competition. The Toronto Zoo is considered on of the largest zoos in the world.

The creative design aspect of this role:

• Responsible for some design and for building the website of this project. Used header image and animated character elements provided by other team members and made edits in Adobe Photoshop to create the purple background, dropshadow effects, and banner ads.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS2, Windows XP

★ View website for "Komodo Kid" for the Toronto Zoo
★ Learn about the web development aspect of this project

April 2007

Web Developer/Designer (Freelance Role)
Riverside | London, Ontario, Canada

Riverside is a band based out of London, Ontario, Canada. Was given the opportunity to design and develop a website for the band.

The creative design aspect of this role:

• Created the design for the website. Assets including photography and album art were supplied by the band. These were edited to work with the look and feel of the website.
  Software: Adobe Dreamweaver CS2, Adobe Photoshop CS2, Adobe Flash CS2, Windows XP

★ View website for Riverside
★ Learn about the web development aspect of this project

October 2006–April 2007

Web Developer/Designer, Graphic Designer (Freelance Role)
The Diverse Attraction | Markham, Ontario, Canada

The Diverse Attraction was a band based out of Markham, Ontario, Canada. Was given the opportunity to create a look and feel for the band that was used in the album artwork design in the website design. The album artwork and the design and development of the website were both created from the ground up.

The creative design aspect of this role:

• Designed album artwork from scratch. Also shot the photography that was used in the album artwork.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS2, Windows XP
• Designed the website from scratch. Planned out the site in wireframes prior to moving to Adobe Photoshop. Came up with the colour scheme, typography, and look and feel of the site. Shot and manipulated the photography that was used in the design.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS2, Windows XP
• Created, sliced, and optimized the layout design.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS2, Windows XP

★ View album art for The Diverse Attraction
★ View website for The Diverse Attraction
★ Learn about the web development aspect of this project

October 2006–February 2007

Graphic Designer (School Projects)
Fanshawe College | London, Ontario, Canada

• Created a gradient mesh of Christy to resemble a photographic portrait.
  Software: Adobe Illustrator CS2, Windows XP

★ View gradient mesh portrait (with original photograph comparision) of Christy

• Created digital graffiti art and placed on a wall in a photograph.
  Software: Adobe Illustrator CS2, Adobe Photoshop CS2, Windows XP

★ View graffiti art

• Developed a vector self-portrait (pixel by pixel) that was based on a photographic self-portrait.
  Software: Adobe Illustrator CS2, Windows XP

★ View vector self-portrait (with original photograph comparison)

• Shot a self-portrait and created a tattoo design. Created a piece that features the two together.
  Software: Adobe Photoshop CS2, Windows XP

★ View tattoo art

★ Some Sample Web Design

Scroll over the thumbnails to view details. Click on them to view the websites. Projects that contain more than one example link include text links.

★ Some Sample Vector Design

Scroll over the thumbnails to view descriptions. Click on one to open a larger image in the photo viewer. Within the photo viewer, click on the left or right side of the photo to scroll through the gallery.

★ Some Sample Print Design

Scroll over the thumbnails to view descriptions. Click on one to open a larger image in the photo viewer. Within the photo viewer, click on the left or right side of the photo to scroll through the gallery.

★ Some Sample Assorted Design

Scroll over the thumbnails to view descriptions. Click on one to open a larger image in the photo viewer. Within the photo viewer, click on the left or right side of the photo to scroll through the gallery. Projects that contain more than one example link include text links to access the photo viewer.