Professional Summary

As a multidisciplinary creative technologist with a proven track record of producing on-target creative and developing junior associates into high performers, I enjoy training and mentoring others as much as I enjoy solving complex design and technical challenges. I pride myself on an iterative approach to problem-solving, and my ability to remain calm under pressure combined with my natural talent for demystifying complex technical topics to help others learn have led me to evolve into an empathetic and pragmatic leader. I am able to discern the individual strengths and weaknesses of those in my care, and I enjoy finding innovative ways to help them meet their professional goals while meeting the needs of our organization.

Work History

Independent Design Consultant Apr 2016–Current

Lindy Hues Design, Clover, SC

• Provided high level UX and Web design services including requirements gathering, content inventory, information architecture, content strategy, content generation and optimization, front end development, and user interface design.
• Maintained an active roster of loyal clients for design solutions ranging from print and marketing collateral to web and digital design, to training, mentoring, and coaching.
• Mentored junior designers in web design, content management systems, dynamic websites, branding, and brand management.
• Prepared and presented at multiple conferences on topics such as how to add web and digital to a traditional print design skillset, and how to effectively mentor junior designers in a remote setting.

Lead Instructor, Web and Design Software August 2015–Current

Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte, NC

• Trained students regarding current web design standards and practices, including design, development, SEO, hosting, HTML, CSS, PHP, and frameworks in less than four hours a week over a 32-week period by conducting weekly class lectures, hosting weekly office hours, and providing one-on-one mentorship so that each student completed the program with a custom built portfolio website.
• Trained 60 students per semester on Web design, Adobe Creative Cloud software, User Experience (UX) design, internal SEO, writing content for Web, keyword research and optimization, business skills, Bootstrap framework, Wordpress CMS, typography, drawing, and project documentation.
• Mentored students on extracurricular, real-world design projects, such as dynamic website design and development for a local non-profit organization (the result was a new website with a custom CMS).
• Within a week of stay-at-home orders, transitioned all classes to online learning and assisted other faculty with training and support via remote conferencing and on-demand video tutorials.
• Improved the success of the program by coaching students to be confident lifelong learners, increasing the number of graduates securing employment as web designers, UI designers, and UX designers by more than 300% through a combination of teaching, mentoring, and fostering a collaborative learning experience.

Principal Creative January 2005–April 2016

Solar Enterprises, LLC, Charlotte, NC

• Grew the number of new business leads by 100% by interviewing clients and determining their project requirements, supervising projects within defined budget constraints, and conceptualizing visuals based on existing guidelines or by documenting guidelines as needed.
• Managed business operations including vendor management, payroll, RFPs, bookkeeping, staffing, scheduling, budgeting, billing, and estimating.
• Designed brand identities, websites, and marketing materials such as business cards, mailers, catalogs, brochures, vinyl and neon signs, menus, trade show booth graphics, large scale graphics for wayfinding, etc.
• Introduced Google Analytics to monitor digital assets, including website traffic, user flow analysis, customer behavior, and demographics, and managed client requests for improvements, achieving a 20% increase in qualified website traffic in three months
• Crafted written content for web clients utilizing keyword research to elevate internal SEO, attaining a ranking of number 1 on the first page of organic search results for targeted keywords for several clients.
• Recognized with awards for web design, promotional design, and packaging design from GD USA and the Hermes Creative Awards.

Web Designer February 2013–July 2015

Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte, NC

• Updated sites within the College Web presence to be responsive by implementing Bootstrap framework on production and staging sites, and revising HTML and custom CSS as needed to revise content templates and static HTML pages for responsive layouts.
• Provided mockups, prototypes, diagrams, sitemaps, and wireframes for meetings with all levels of management to aid in clarity of communication, leading to more efficient decision-making.
• Crafted documentation of content strategy and brand standards, as well as a roster of content owners across the College to improve accountability for the accuracy of content available to the public.
• Formulated design systems that improved scalability and the consistency of the College Web presence across all channels.
• Known for taking the initiative to improve processes and procedures with the end user in mind, producing on-target creative direction, design artifacts, written content, and documentation.
• Mentored junior designers and developed training programs for non-technical staff to improve content creation and management
• Learned how to work with more obscure technologies, such as Plone CMS, METAL, and TAL, in order to create content templates within the CMS to standardize the brand aesthetic and page layouts within the College Web presence.

Graphic Designer July 2006–February 2010

Baker & Taylor, Charlotte NC

• Rebranded acquired companies to fit with brand aesthetic of the parent organization.
• Created a process for color matching of brand assets across more than ten independent locations following a rebrand of the organization.
• Created templates for generating in-house collateral that fit with the new brand aesthetic and trained non-technical staff in the use of the templates.
• Designed B2B2C marketing materials for a variety of business entities, resulting in client demand for the ability to customize those materials to use in their own businesses.
• Managed third party vendors in the creation of a new web-based platform that allowed for clients to customize materials we used to market to them in order to repurpose those materials for their own consumer marketing.
• Engineered workflows for incorporating existing e-commerce platform with 3rd party marketing platform.
• Devised a system for filling custom relational database tables to populate marketing materials with client information by non-technical staff using Excel spreadsheets.
• Executed training program for sales staff on using a third party marketing platform to generate client accounts with little to no technical expertise.
• Encoded marketing materials with variables to be used in the customization process and uploaded them to the customization portal.
• Responsible for developing and curating all marketing materials provided.
• Developed code to leverage client data provided for new marketing materials platform to generate custom links to products on existing, separate, e-commerce platform from custom email campaign templates.

Graphic Designer April 2005–June 2006

Pfahl Custom Builders, Charlotte NC

• Served as CAD Manager and Lead Drafting Technician for custom home designs and renovations.
• Measured and drew plans for existing houses for renovations and additions.
• Managed 3rd party vendors for production of websites and printed marketing materials.
• Produced digital illustrations of front elevations and floor plans of home designs for use in marketing online and in print.
• Photographed model homes and retouched as needed.
• Designed and maintained websites for neighborhoods and for the company brand.