About

I’m a happy designer. I draw, build and eat with a smile.

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I also like traveling, camping, coffee, shoes, sandwiches, and mowing the grass.

 

I think it started in sixth grade.

I got in trouble for drawing some slightly crude illustrations of my teachers in sixth grade. I still feel guilty for making them feel bad, but it's nice to know that the detail I put in those character drawings was pretty important to me at just 12 years old.

After graduating from the University of North Texas with a Bachelor Arts degree in Communication Design, I found myself in a small design shop in Dallas, The One Group. There, I created logos, branding, clothing tags, food packaging, experiential graphics and cut out tons of comps. I was my own designer, art director, copy writer (gasp!) and production artist. Those first 3 and a half years were very eye opening as a young designer.

I wanted to move on to something more ad agency-like and bigger so I joined Square One in 2007. I stayed there for almost 7 years and my design world opened up to many possibilities. My primary responsibilities were to create sets, art direct photoshoots and design marketing catalogs for Daltile and American Olean, a Dallas based tile company. However, I got the opportunity to pitch logos and branding concepts during the slow times as well. Eventually, the company moved forward to the future! We had to go digital and measure KPI's and click-thru rates, etc. etc., so that's what we did. I started creating flashy banner ads, their respective landing pages and getting deep into how to connect with customers on social media. Our team had a small developer/UX group to brainstorm with and when we got together, it was magical. Everything clicked, clients were happy and we accomplished our goals each quarter.

Eventually, I needed to move up and onward. I wanted to check out an even bigger company and landed myself at Publicis Hawkeye in 2014. I was hired to work on the Capital One account. I had never worked on a financial account before and figured it was about time. My primary responsibilities were to create direct mail letters and brochures for credit cards, but I never thought that would allow me to meet so many interesting people across the country. We observed focus groups that allowed us to communicate with our audience better and more efficiently. This made for many successful packages. In between times, I was able to work on experiential projects, like their SXSW branded house, illustrate infographics for Capital One content articles, design logos and create awareness campaigns. All the while, getting the opportunity to share some design skills and techniques to younger designers and art directors, which always makes my heart happy. And then, of course, I encourage them to try starting their next project with a sketch.

 

 

 

 

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