Art Director / Graphic Designer

Dallas, Texas

214-738-6565 – cell

krmagr8@yahoo.com – email

Highly skilled in:

QuarkXpress 6.1     Photoshop CS4      InDesign CS4       Illustrator CS4

(currently learning Flash CS4)

2008 – August 2009 Senior Graphic Designer

The Dallas Morning News

In the fall of 2008, the advertising art department of The Dallas Morning News experienced reorganization. My position as Senior Graphic Designer remained intact, though the IN Magazine product was eliminated from our offered products for advertisers. My extensive knowledge of design and my creativity continued to be in demand for all other forms of advertising being produced by our department. I continued to develop high quality design for Quick, Neighbors, and the Guide sections and for direct mail products. I am very skilled with creating and manipulating vector images in Illustrator and with creating paths and color correcting photos in Photoshop, which became a larger part of my role with the department. I continue to expand my skills by learning Flash.

2005 – 2008 Graphic Designer

The Dallas Morning News

In 2004/2005, there was a restructuring of departments at The Dallas Morning News, at which time I became part of the Advertising Art department, now named The Agency. I was promoted to a team lead position for IN Magazine. I supervised ad design and production and provided updates to sales staff for that product. I provided project updates for supervisors at various stages of completion and made changes as necessary. I worked with on-staff advertising photographers for product shots, both in our studio and on location. There were four magazines, each distributed to a specific region: IN Rockwall/Heath, IN Park Cities, IN Southlake/Colleyville and IN West Plano. In addition, I worked from concept to completion on newspaper sections, magazine ads and standard newspaper advertising, with a strong presence in Quick.

2001 – 2004  Graphic Designer

The Dallas Morning News

Starting in 2001, I advanced to the position of advertising designer for the Total Market Coverage team of The Dallas Morning News (TMC). Our TMC team manages direct-mail and insert publications. I was one of three designers who provided creative services for the entire TMC sales staff. I often joined sales in meeting with clients and attended press checks for several of our custom printed products.  I was honored when chosen to design three consecutive Dallas Cowboys Preview Magazines, creating cover and story illustrations as well as all page design.

1997 – 2001 – Graphic Artist

The Dallas Morning News

When initially hired by The Dallas Morning News in March, 1997, my duties involved creating and coordinating a weekly, 8-page publication called The Neighborhood Shopper. It was sent to households in eight different zones in the metroplex via mail.  Advertising and editorial pertained to specific zones. My coordinating included building full-color ads, flowing editorial content for stories and calendar events and communicating directly with sales for client insights and proofing purposes for all eight versions each week.

1995 – 1997 Graphic Designer Production Artist / Typesetter

Falcon Express Graphics

In 1995 I used the Amgraf/Mecca III system for typesetting and composition. January of1996 marked the beginning of my Macintosh use: QuarkXpress, Photoshop and Illustrator. I was the sole artist on staff and created a wide variety of pieces, such as business cards, invitations, direct mail, postcards and brochures.

1993 – 1995 Proofreader Typesetter / Business Forms Designer

Falcon Business Forms

I began working for Falcon as a proofreader, checking spacing, spelling, leading, fonts, screen percentages and other details pertaining to business forms printing. By 1994, I was promoted to business forms designer. In 1995 the company opened a commercial printing division and I was promoted to graphic designer.

1992 – 1993 Proofreader / Typesetter Business Forms Designer

Image Resources, Inc.

I began designing business forms using the Unix-based Amgraf/Mecca III system. I also set type, proofread copy and output film and paper to the Linotronic imager.

1988 – 1992  Production Artist

Formcraft Business Forms

Using rapidograph pens, non-repro blue pencils, vellum art boards, acetate film and a waxer, I created art boards for printing. By 1989 the company purchased an electronic prepress system created by Purup. Before long, I did all of my work using the Purup system.I was also cross-trained as a proofreader.

Education

1986 – Associate Degree in Visual Communications, Art Institute of Houston

1984 – Honors graduate from Malvern High School, Malvern, Arkansas

Continuing Education

1996 / 1997 – Completed three Photography courses at El Centro Community College

2007 – Completed one course in Spanish at El Centro Community College

References are available upon request.

This client needed a full page ad that included a lot of information about the company and coupons. The layout is strong but the focus is clearly feminine. This ad design successfully meets the clients needs.