Info

mary@marywages.com

773.456.6001

Chicago, IL

Art Direction & Design

A graphic design professional with more than 20 years of successful design experience looking for freelance or full-time projects utilizing my creativity and design management skills. I am flexible and I strive to make the client happy while maintaining a beautiful design. I am calm under pressure and like to make it a comfortable work environment for everyone, even with the pressure of a deadline. I am budget conscious without letting it be a limitation.

SKILLS

¦ Concept exploration.

¦ Visual communication: ability to organize information in a highly visual, but clear presentation

¦ Education processes and styles of learning: Over 20 years of experience in the publishing market and thorough understanding of how information is turned into knowledge

¦ Project management: ability to lead, supervise, and direct a team; ability to keep various project elements on target; maintain budget and deliver results

¦ Excellent team leadership.

¦ Great sense of humor.

EXPERIENCE

Mary Wages Design - Design, Marketing, and Production – Ongoing

Designer of marketing and publishing materials. Design and production from conception through final production.

¦ Research and development of new products, research trends. ¦ Design of all visual elements, including marketing materials such as websites, html ads, brochures, banners, logos, business cards, direct mailers as well as multi-page publications such as books.

¦ Collaborate with clients including various internal stakeholders including company owners, editors, art buyers, and photo researchers to work from the intial brainstorming stage through final concepts and final products. Implement guidelines to ensure that the product follows the final concept from beginning to end. Implement processes in order to ensure accuracy. Create and approve master graphics and design templates to ensure branding consistency throughout the product.

¦ Determine cost benefits of different ways of producing a product. Create excel documents to track costs and progress and to be able to update clients quarterly. This enables me to foresee potential overspending to trouble shoot in advance.

¦ Work with stakeholders to create art concepts, select illustrators, and oversee art through production process. Work with international vendors and illustrators. ¦ Manage and mentor in-house design staff and freelance designers. Manage and direct projects with various vendors. Vendors include web, design, printers, online magazines and organizations.

¦ Direction and selection of photography. Provide art direction for photo shoots including the selection of models. Selection of final photos, setup shots as well as researched stock images. Retouching of photos for final production. Clients include Texas Construction Company, AHIMA, and Tighe Production & Design Services.

rosa+wesley, Wheaton, IL - Design Manager July 2006–October 2008

Design Manager of a small design studio. Work with stakeholders on the development of conceptual design. Plan and create thumbnails. Create action plans and budget needs; conduct meetings, review estimates, schedules and budgets. Review and provide quality control for designs and production. Prepare and implement design and production work for in-house and freelance staff. Implement image program from the selection of images through color separation process. Create and approve master graphics and design templates.

Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Austin, TX - Developmental Designer July 2000–June 2006

Member of the book design department of a large education book publisher. Plan and direct all visual elements, including interior designs, art, and photography. Collaborate with the editorial department on schedules and workflow. Oversee in-house design staff and monitor and direct freelance designers. Monitor and direct vendors to insure quality of final products. Provide thumbnails, page layouts, and directions for vendors. Create art concepts, select illustrators, and oversee art through production process. Provide direction for photo shoots including the selection of models and coordination of clothing and props. Create and approve master graphics and design templates.

GTS Publishing Services/Graphics, Los Angeles, CA - Art Director October 1998–July 2000

Member of the publishing services division of a large textbook composition and pre-press company. Planned, directed, controlled, and purchased all visual elements, including interior designs, cover designs, art, and photographs for products produced for elementary, high school, and college publishers. Manage in-house design staff and hire and monitor freelance designers. Provide and manage page layout.

GTS Publishing Services/Graphics, Los Angeles, CA - Project Coordinator May 1997–October 1998

Member of the production team. Serve as the only direct contact between publisher and the in-house production team through all stages of production. Handle scheduling, and art and photo coordination; supervise in-house and freelance production staff; traffic page, film, and printer proofs.

Northland Publishing, Flagstaff, AZ - Designer January 1995–April 1997

Design covers and interiors of children’s and adult trade books and marketing pieces. Handled design from conception through production. Produced precise electronic files for printer. Examined press proofs for overall design accuracy and production considerations. Coordinated and managed photo shoots.

EDUCATION

Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ — BFA in Visual Communications December 1995

Software experience ¦ InDesign ¦ Photoshop ¦ Illustrator ¦ Acrobat ¦ K4 workflow ¦ SCEnt workflow ¦ QuarkXPress ¦ Microsoft Word ¦ Microsoft Excel ¦ Microsoft PowerPoint