BRANDSMART CONFERENCE MATERIALS

As a volunteer Graphic Designer for the American Marketing Association-Chicago, I was responsible for the materials that were distributed at their annual BrandSmart conference. Following brand guidelines and previous iterations, I did the sponsor brochure highlighting those who contributed to the event as well as details of a photo scavenger hunt and a M&Ms Ice breaker. I also updated the table tents and two sided name tags. New this year was a punch card I designed which people took with them when they visited sponsor tables, got a hole punch next to the sponsor logo when they visited each sponsor, and then when it was full they turned it in for a prize drawing. 

CANVA-American Marketing Association Chicago

As a member of the American Marketing Association, I volunteer for the Communications Committee offering my Graphic Design talents. I design numerous graphics for their social channels using Canva. Some are static but I also excel at motion graphics. Below are a few examples of graphics I have produced for them. I was also recognized as Volunteer of the Month in December 2023.

INVITATION-Kohler Golf Outing

This invitation was used to invite top clients to a golf outing in Kohler Wisconsin. I wanted to present a unique and memorable invitation that would grab the recipient's attention. The finished product was a square shaped invite which arrived in a square envelope. But the printing was done on a 45-degree angle so it could be folded from the corners. The corners met and created the golf ball in the middle with the venue, landscape, course, and food highlighted on each triangular panel. The details for the event were on the inside. 

EMAIL MARKETING & DESIGN

As the Programming source for our company, I was tasked with communicating this information to all sales teams nationwide. It began as a bi-weekly message from my own Outlook email account. Eventually we graduated to the SubscriberMail platform for a few years before we migrated to Marketo. This is where I built my deliverables every three weeks. Emails were designed with programming images from specific shows as well as static images that were integrated with the Effectv "color box." I created all of these images and each one contained a hyperlink to more info about that subject. This one is an internal email. Most relevant or important info is at the top. All of the links either led to our proprietary SharePoint site or to external network websites. We were able to track number of opens, clicks, click-throughs, forwards, engagement and more. Over the years this allowed us to determine the best type of content to include and when to send it. Occasionally we would offer contests which were designed for employees to open content and read it in order to get the answers to enter the contest. Those were opened and forwarded more often. 

PowerPoint-The Programming Outlook Deck

These are sample PowerPoint pages which I curated content for and then laid out. This was client facing and included hyperlinks in all images linking to content about the specific television shows. It also included dates, times, descriptions and schedules. Four different versions were produced using macros to convert times to each of the proper time zones. This is just one of MANY PowerPoint decks I created over my career. Others include sales positioning, branding, integrated marketing, internal meetings, trainings, and more.

INVITATION and MORE-Night on the Town Client Event

This was the last of 11 similar events I managed for Comcast Spotlight. This was a party and concert at the House of Blues for 900 people. Phillip Phillips was the talent so I decided to approach this from a singer/songwriter perspective. The invite was a two-sided invite printed on a clear heavy plastic which was die-cut into the shape of a guitar. One side was the outside of the case, and one was the inside with the details of the show incorporated throughout. Guests were asked to bring the invitation to the show. When they arrived, we gave them a lanyard to which the invite was attached. This acted as their "VIP pass" for the concert.  Numerous other graphics and materials were designed around this theme including check-in signage, posters, table tents, a 30-foot sponsor banner, photo booth backgrounds, and guitar picks. The guitar picks we produced were featured throughout the materials and at the event. We were able to get the ice sculpture creator to incorporate them into the centerpiece.  And Phillip Phillips himself used some of them and tossed them to the crowd. 

SALES BOOKLET-What's the Big Idea

This was a 28-page booklet produced for the annual Presidents Club gathering which rewarded Account Executives for stellar sales achievements. I was tasked with gathering ideas for successful sales tactics from all four divisions across the country. The booklet included one big idea as well as several other smaller ideas from each division. I gathered quotes from leadership, filled the pages with content and graphics, and kept a consistent theme throughout the book. The layout for the book requires extra consideration when printing four different pages on the front and back of each page which get folded with a middle staple. The cover was designed to look like leather and was printed on a soft-touch paper to also give it the feel of leather.

Tri-Fold Brochure-Comcast Spotlight Capabilities

I produced many sales brochures over the years for my company. At times they were generic, and other times they were customizable by market or even by Account Executive. Most were designed as capabilities brochures which could be left at a cold call or sent in the mail in an envelope. It's a simple concept, but layout is important with full bleeds often needed. Here is a sample of one such brochure. 

Trade Show Kiosk Background Display

This is the design for a 7' x10' kiosk backdrop display that was used at trade shows and conventions.  It highlighted the many ways advertisers could reach their target audience by partnering with Comcast Spotlight. I designed it following the corporate brand standards of the time.

Ticket Envelope for events

I designed a number of different Event Ticket Envelopes over the years. They are designed to get the recipient excited about the tickets inside, be it to a sporting event, live theater, or other ticketed show.  They were custom die-cut, scored, folded, and then glued.

ten years of "night on the town" posters

Above I showed one of my Night on the Town invitations. Below are samples of the previous ten events which I worked on. I designed all the graphics for each event and based all invitations, emails, name tags, signage, table tents, banners, posters, ice sculptures, on-screen graphics and give-a-ways based on the theme. You can see how they progress over the years.

Event Direct Mail Pieces

These are two of the invites I created over consecutive years for the Unity in Chicago's annual fundraiser.  These were mailed to congregant's homes in themed envelopes. These themes were carried over into the website promotion, tickets, event signage, silent auction bid booklet, and more. 

Bike Jerseys-Team Shaine

For many years I rode in the AIDS Ride Chicago to help support those living with HIV and AIDS. I belonged to Team Shaine and designed their logo and jerseys for many years. I incorporated sponsors into the design and tried to make them visualy interesting to stand out from the other teams that were participating. Other riders usually expressed interest in getting their hands on an extra jersey. 

Logos and Jerseys-WICKED

I designed these logos which were used over consecutive years for a softball team in Chicago. They wanted a tattoo style theme. I am capable of setting up designs for multi-color offset printing on give-a-way items as well as screen printing which often requires nuances like extra outlines or color underlays. 

Marketing Materials-The Nocturne Trio

I belonged to a trio which sang 30's and 40's swing music in the a' Capella style. I oversaw all publicity for the group and for our numerous concerts. I designed the logo for the group and shot all the publicity photos. I then incorporated consistent stylistic themes into the CD as well as all concert posters and flyers. 

video creation/Editing

here are a few links to videos I have created and/or edited.