As part of the Hobsons brand team, I developed and supported a global company brand refresh. This initiative consisted of development, internal communication, distribution, and maintenance of a global brand tool kit for nearly 1,000 employees worldwide including brand guidelines, design templates, logos, color palette, fonts, photos, icons, and other creative assets as well as refreshing the design of all client-facing marketing communications including trade show booths, product data sheets, case studies, reports and white papers, users conferences promotions, infographics, email and web graphics, advertisements, social media, and more.
I served as a brand steward and go-to resource for creative leadership and design strategy among employees, with special emphasis on partnerships within the Hobsons marketing and external relations, user experience, product management, events, sales, internal communications, and talent acquisition teams. I art directed and coordinated photo shoots to develop a proprietary brand image library of more than 1,000 images. I led the design of hundreds of international print and digital marketing communication projects from concept to completion, and championed the use of Redbooth, a project management tool, among the marketing team to encourage clear and consistent team collaboration, communication, and task management and trained more than 15 teammates on its use.
I was instrumental in leading the design and strategy for Hobsons' global trade show presence. From a massive 20' x 50' booth to smaller 10' x 10' pop-up panels and retractable banners, I led the charge with design concepts to meet all size and communication needs for Hobsons US, EMEA, and APAC markets.
The largest and most complex of these booths was completed in just two weeks from project kickoff to delivery of final art to print and required partnering with multiple stakeholders across the business to develop copy and gather art approval for use at Hobsons' largest annual national trade show. In this timeframe, I designed more than 20 graphic panels as the first design applications in the new brand while my team was in the middle of defining a global brand refresh which required me to establish the design and photography style we would later carry through all future marketing collateral.
I led the design and creative strategy for three of Hobsons' annual users conferences: Naviance Summer Institute, Hobsons University, and Hobsons University EMEA for 2 1/2 years.
In 2015, the newly reorganized Hobsons marketing team was tasked with full marketing responsibility of both of the company's US users conferences. With little background nor experience with how the users conferences were organized and having never attended one myself, I was given the sole responsibility of the design and project management of all creative deliverables for both Hobsons University and Naviance Summer Institute, including programs, name badges, all signage, tickets, social media graphic templates, PowerPoint templates, email and web baners, advertisements, and other supporting promotional materials in partnership with event planners, copy writers, product managers, and many other internal stakeholders.
In 2016, I was again charged with leading design and training fellow brand teammates on the design process for both US conferences, but this time with consideration for a global brand refresh our brand team had just introduced, with an increased volume of deliverables, and with the addition of a third users conference in the Hobsons EMEA market.
Together with another brand teammate, we led the design style of all of Hobsons' reports and whitepapers as an extension of defining the Hobsons global brand refresh. These reports and white papers served as premium gated content on the Hobsons corporate website, trade show leave-behinds, and sales tools and positioned Hobsons as an education industry thought leader. Many report projects involved collaboration and project management with highly valued education and research partners such as the American Council on Education (ACE) and National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC).
This report focusing on Hobsons research conducted during a pilot study for the Naviance | Curriculum product, Development, Validation, and Impact of the Naviance College & Career Readiness Curriculum, is just one of many others I had the sole responsibility of designing from concept to completion. The report features an exploration at adding a new texture element to the Hobsons brand design element toolkit and demonstrates my ability to translate multiple pages of content into a dynamic and visually appealing layout.
Bundy Baking Solutions is the baking industry’s global leader in providing baking equipment, custom and stock baking pans, and pan coatings. I was instrumental in managing the Bundy account during the majority of my 4 1/2 years with Redmark Agency, designing marketing materials for all 6 of its brands plus its sister company, USA Pan. With Redmark’s role as agency of record for Bundy, I had the opportunity to lead the design of nearly everything Bundy – from ads, sales sheets, brochures, and catalogs, to tradeshow graphics, packaging, websites, and e-mail newsletters.
In addition to managing the design of the Bundy brand, I worked directly with Bundy’s Marketing Manager to organize her many marketing projects. Because of my extensive knowledge of the Bundy brand, I was often entrusted to write and edit copy for Bundy marketing pieces. I directed the Bundy websites developer on a regular basis to build all of the Bundy websites as well as many printers and other vendors. I also assisted with art directing several Bundy photo shoots.
Incline Brewing was a start-up brewery in Cincinnati, OH whose goal was to brew Belgian inspired craft beers. Incline turned to Redmark for initial brand consultation and design. I had the opportunity to participate in the business pitch that won the account, and I presented these design concepts in the initial logo and package design phase. One of my concepts is based on the inspiration for the Incline Brewing name – the inclined planes of Cincinnati, which transported streetcars up steep hills by cable from inclined platforms on rails. My other design concept is inspired by the Art Deco style, which was prevalent during the repeal of Prohibition in the United States.
The Andersons Market is a specialty grocery store located in Sylvania, OH. I had the opportunity to work on the first phase of the project which included store naming, competitor store research, and logo design. My logo design was selected by the client, altered slightly, and served as the illustration style that appears throughout the store. In the second phase of this project, I collaborated with a team of graphic, environmental, and interior designers and store planners to design many in-store graphics.
USA Pan, a Bundy family company, offers a complete line of industrial quality bakeware made in the USA for home use. I was part of a team charged with researching the retail bakeware market and brand identity development including conceptualization of logo and package design. From there, I helped to design the entire line of packaging, print collateral, and trade show graphics. I managed much of the client relationship and printing as well as assisted in styling and art directing some of the brand's photography.
The Madison Scouts are a world-class drum and bugle corps in Drum Corps International, a youth performing arts activity known as “marching music’s major league.” I was charged with helping to redesign the Scouts identity. I designed show-specific and Scouts branded graphics including icons, brochures, posters, VIP passes, CD and DVD packaging, T-shirts and other merchandise. The brand refresh re-engaged fan interest which resulted in a significant increase in both merchandise sales and patron support for the organization.
Procter & Gamble (P&G) is a global provider of consumer products and services. With thousands of employees worldwide, P&G needs seamless internal communications to keep its business running smoothly. Collaborating with internal business units such as Acceleration Zone (AZ), Global Business Solutions (GBS), Global Consumer Relations (GCR), North America Customer Business Development (NA CBD), and North America Shopper Centric Supply (NA SCS), I designed identities, posters, pocket folders, one sheets, banners, brochures, promotional items, website graphics, and digital media graphics and templates to help create clear and concise methods of internal P&G communication.
My role in P&G internal communications varied from project to project. For groups such as AZ, GBS, and NA CBD, I often collaborated with their project leaders and managed their design projects in full or in part. In other cases, such as with groups like GCR and NA SCS, I mostly provided a supporting design role with some project management.
Gravy was a family friendly casual dining restaurant in Goshen, OH that specialized in southern comfort food at affordable prices. I was entrusted to be on a team assigned to name the restaurant and build its brand from scratch. The result was an approachable brand interwoven with an element of humor with the mantra, “Ain’t life GRAVY?” With the exception of the final name and logo that was selected, I had full creative license to design the restaurant menu, interior signage, ads, coupons, and gift certificates. I had the opportunity to write most of the communications as well.
Drawing is the skill that delivered me into the design field and as such, it is an integral part of my design process. Most, if not all, of my design thinking begins as a hand drawn sketch to get an idea quickly out of my head and into the world.
