viridian city media

• vitae
• resumé
• portfolio

Experience

16 years in graphic design (print, web, software, animation)

6 years in an art director/managerial role

Skills

Creative problem-solver, quick learner, and expert communicator.

Highly organized and passionately self-motivated.

Deep interdisciplinary design knowledge, including:

• user experience
• interface design
• information architecture
• motion design
• branding
• hierarchical composition
• color theory
• typography

Expert in: Adobe CS5 (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash), HTML5, CSS3, WordPress.

Also practiced in: Microsoft Office, Visio, Omnigraffle, JQuery.

Principles

User-centered design, web standards, rapid iteration, extensible architecture, clean code, semantic HTML.

Selected Employment

Senior UX Designer

Allyis (Microsoft vendor)

May 2011 – present

• Led UX initiative for creation of a new international support web site with small-business focus.
• Followed persona- and scenario-based user experience design procedures; incorporated ‘One Microsoft’ branding and Metro-style design. Illustrated original icons in Metro style.
• Studied existing user research and designed original ‘diagnostic flowchart’ workflow.
• Designed paper prototypes and co-conducted studio usability research with rapid-response iteration of study materials.
• Consulted and coordinated with development, localization, content, and business teams.
• Produced storyboards, Visio wireframes, Photoshop mocks, and HTML5/CSS3 prototype pages.

Founder & UX Designer

Thrivvy

August 2009 – December 2010

• Founded tech startup to create social web and mobile application for local grocery price comparisons.
• Recruited developer cofounders. Devised business strategy and wrote business plan.
• Designed logo and branding. Created video demo of early-stage features.
• Designed and coded front-end (HTML, CSS, JQuery) of database-driven price-comparison web application. Populated MySQL database.
• Recruited and organized cohort of alpha test users; collected feedback and iterated product development.

Principal

Viridian City Media

March 2003 – present

• Designed original logos, corporate identities, book covers and interiors, flyers, marketing sites, e-commerce sites, blogs, web applications, and iPhone content. Incorporated JQuery, PHP, and MySQL. Utilized assorted CMS platforms. Created digital illustrations and Flash animations.
• Prototyped user interfaces for web-based software tools and mobile devices. Consulted on information architecture and user experience. Integrated usability test data into approach. Evaluated content and wrote copy for improved SEO.
• Worked solo, in collaboration, and directed small teams; clients ranged from sole proprietors to Fortune 100 companies.

Art Director

ING DIRECT | ShareBuilder

February 2006 – October 2008

• Developed and maintained a unified, relevant, and unique identity for Small Business division materials while evoking the ING DIRECT brand. Translated marketing objectives into creative strategies.
• Directed all creative projects from initial concept through final production. Estimated project timelines and scheduled deliverables. Communicated effectively with development, marketing, and product management representatives.
• Trained, directed, and evaluated junior designers in all aspects of design and production, and mentored skill and career development. Hired and managed staff and freelance resources.
• Designed and produced comprehensive marketing sites, including information architecture and user experience. Concepted and created original illustrations and animations. Designed print marketing collateral and trade show displays.
• Collaborated with internal clients to develop concise and directed marketing copy; provided detailed editing and proofreading for all marketing materials.
• Researched and documented standards for design and code across current browsers, platforms, and email clients. Studied best practices for lead conversion and incorporated learning into new designs, contributing to increased product sales. Initiated adoption of technological improvements such as tracking analysis and site search.

Senior Designer

Trusted Media Networks

July 2003 – June 2004

• Provided all web and print design needs for software start-up. Designed trade show collateral, company web site, and interactive technology demos.
• Improved usability of Windows-based software client with detailed evaluation and feedback.

Art Director & Multimedia Lead

The Cobalt Group

March 1999 – November 2000

• Managed teams of up to eight people to create extensive Flash-based training sites and demos, including studio sound recording and original illustrations, animations, and music.
• Mentored junior designers in all aspects of design, code, and production. Hired and managed freelance resources.
• Directed design and implementation of web sites for major automaker clients. Led department-wide implementation of web site template product for dealerships.
• Handled project estimates, client consultations, team scheduling, and design deliverables. Coded HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and ActionScript.

Download PDF resumé

Recommendations

“Clearly designed, straightforward single-page info site.” (Daily Dead Birds)

“Karawynn’s work is nothing short of excellent. She holds a high bar for ensuring the work — be it a web site, landing page, white paper, sale support piece, advertisement, DM piece, banner ad, you name it — is communicating the message and delivering on the business objectives. She is always open to learning, testing, and incorporating best practices into our work. This has quickly moved us to best-in-class B2B email response rates and landing page conversion rates.”

“Karawynn has shown herself to be an invaluable asset for our team. She has proven herself to not only be able to develop intelligent design solutions, but also have a critical eye to content, and skillful perfectionism in programming. Karawynn is one of those people that you just can’t live without on any design team.”

“I found Karawynn to be exceptionally creative and timely in her response to our ongoing and evolving needs. She made it very easy for people to get a solid introduction to online media delivery with her interface design and human factors skills. She was in charge of all graphic design, including client-side support crafting individually appropriate interfaces for all of our specific ‘channels’. Karawynn was an invaluable member of our team!”

“Karawynn’s greatest contribution as Art Director was her enthusiasm for exploiting new technology to create unique and interesting user experience. Proficient with the tools and possessing a vision for engaging design, she was particularly adept at working under time pressure and could always be counted on to deliver quality.”

“Karawynn worked on a very time-sensitive project at Cobalt, the key designer of a suite of website design templates for automotive dealership websites. Because of Karawynn’s fantastic work, Cobalt was able to streamline website creation and assure a better and more consistent presentation of design elements. Her commitment to this project was simply amazing! Karawynn has a great eye for design, works well under the pressure of unreasonable deadlines, and gets the job done.”