Resume

JEANETTE J. NELSON*

EMAIL | jjndesigns@gmail.com     MOBILE | 202.251.1551     LINKEDIN | /jeanettejnelson    WEBSITE | jjnelsondesgins.com

*Creative, professional, friendly, team- and results-oriented art director who conceptualizes original, visual imagery and ideas and researches the history of design challenges to uncover untapped spaces for multimedia solutions.

CORE COMPETENCIES

  • Develop creative ideas, concepts and strategic plans for graphic and multimedia materials on message, with the capability to express their value for implementation and ensure an engaging and quality final product with focused attention to detail
  • Depth of experience cataloging and organizing creative print and digital asset and information files
  • Proficiency in problem-solving with the ability to manage multiple, shifting and competing priorities while communicating progress and timelines with relevant team members and stakeholders

EXPERIENCE

ART DIRECTOR| University of Maryland | College Park, MD

College of Arts & Humanities (ARHU) | 2017–present

  • Develop and maintain visual branding standards for ARHU, its units and initiatives: redesigned branding and swag for the development team’s alumni and student career networking event, which has increased student attendance and alumni participation from prestigious companies year-over-year; recorded live interviews to be used in recruitment sizzle reel;
  • Photograph and capture video of the dean, college programs, events and faculty and student profile subjects; amplify the stories on social media; maintain and organize related digital assets: developed visual collateral for university’s campus-wide Social Justice Day, proactively managed release to communication channels (print ads, posters, programs, social media and web calendar post) and stakeholders, captured photos and videos of awards ceremony, panel discussion and keynote address; selected, edited and submitted photos to editors for write-up in daily campus e-newspaper; curated and uploaded photos to Flickr gallery; 
  • Collaborate with MarCom teammates to produce and promote stories about signature ARHU events, initiatives and accomplishments based on our strategic plan; redesign the ARHU website and unit websites: after planning  the spring editoral calendar, colleagues and I divided responsibilities (interview, photo and video session) to bring stories relevant to the university’s messaging buckets to life and posted them to appropriate channels on social media and our website;
  • Administer design studio workflow and two design interns to maintain files and print samples, design standardized templates sized for web and social media graphics, develop efficient processes and excellent visual standards, negotiate and manage vendor and supplier relationships: recruited design intern with coding skills to staff the migration of information to our new web site, arhu.umd.edu.

Office of Strategic Communication | 2005–2017

  • Managed the development and production of the alumni magazine, Terp, and supervised a team of two to three junior designers, assigning magazine sections to each, evaluating their sketched concepts and guiding layout design; Simplified proofing and approval processes by training staff, which reduced production schedules by five days;
  • Redesigned business school alumni magazine resulting in a 20% increase in the number of alumni subscribers who attended events and engaged with fundraising representatives over the previous year;
  • Collaborated with university photographer and digital resources manager to organize web storage and search functions for a vast collection of the university’s photographic assets, allowing collaborators easier and direct access to images;
  • Contributed rebranding/design solutions to winning cross-functional marketing communications team competing against colleagues to conceptualize and implement strategies and tactics to attract alumni association members;
  • Routinely called upon to provide excellent customer service to communicate or clarify proposals, policies and work procedures to design staff, internal clients and work groups;
  • Comprised technical specifications and detailed requirements for magazine bid proposals according to state-mandated guidelines;
  • Supervised design team to develop, design and publish style guidelines and related materials for branding campaigns used to attract donors to a billion-dollar fundraising effort, according to the university’s strategic plan.

CREATIVE DIRECTOR | America’s Promise | Washington, DC | 2002–2005

  • Initiated and provided technical instruction for digital asset database of template media kits that included photos, videos, graphics and style guides and were made available for use to hundreds of organizations designated as Communities of Promise nationwide;
  • Strategized with communication team and created custom illustrations used to brand America’s Promise publications, raising awareness and attracting new donors and highly-engaged partners;
  • Coordinated production of large-scale set pieces based on illustrated branding elements for an annual gala event;
  • Developed interactive web display ads which were incorporated within media toolkits for each Promise Community;
  • Advised vice president for communications while planning fiscal year equipment and supply purchases for creative services department.

SENIOR DESIGNER | National Public Radio | Washington, DC | 1999–2002

  • Initiated and managed corporate gift and employee recognition strategies which resulted in $6500 saved annually through planned, volume purchases, and also fostered increased visibility of the NPR brand;
  • Conceptualized, planned, designed and illustrated the original NPR calendar, recognizing its value as an influential marketing tool for donor and listener relations, and a likely annual product to sell in the then-soon-to-open online store (shop.npr.org). Subsequent editions have attracted renowned artists and illustrators, and helped create a new income stream that added revenues from Other Sources from 0% to 6% over ten years;
  • Designed visual attributes of annual public radio conference and applied the developed branding to materials produced to support the conference, such as handbooks, banners, signage, infographics, audiovisual templates and slideshow, and custom giveaways and promotional items;
  • Designed 15’ X 30’ interactive exhibition “booth,” created to function as a “cyber café,” to promote the NPR brand and to solidify its position as one the top public radio media companies at the public radio convention;
  • Participated in day-to-day management of design studio, including assessing workflow, contracting freelance designers, photographers and illustrators, and maintaining digital archives, reference materials and printed samples.

DESIGNER | Supon Design Group | Washington, DC |1997–1999

  • Applied creativity to award-level concepts for a gamut of marketing materials for local, national and international companies ranging from industries like entertainment and sports to food and government. These projects helped to launch some companies and helped others to expand their reach;
  • Collaborated successfully with art directors and other designers on complex projects that required a wide range of creative ideas, design solutions while adhering to or developing consistencies across brands;
  • Translated creative briefs into conceptual ideas for visual identities (logos), brochures, magazines, stationery systems, branding guides, media kits, t-shirts, exhibits and new products;
  • Elicited quotes from printers and other vendors for various production needs;
  • Ensured design and print budgets were met on all projects and worked closely with printers and other vendors to meet clients’ project production schedules.

PRODUCTION DESIGNER | Caribbean Travel & Life | Silver Spring, MD | 1995-1997

  • Determined efficient production schedules, tracked ad materials and placed ads according to insertion orders.
  • Consulted with advertisers to develop advertising strategies with effective content and compelling calls-to-action;
  • Prepared text and display advertisement layouts by choosing color schemes, typography and choosing appropriate photography or creating an illustration to represent the product;
  • Proofread text and ensured accurate placement of all display ads in magazine layouts;
  • Optimized design layouts reserved for small advertisers, allowing more space for additional and larger ads, which brought the magazine more revenue;
  • Worked directly with the editor to create editorial illustrations and choose appropriate color schemes for the bi-weekly supplemental travel newsletter.

EDUCATION

Multimedia Journalism Graduate Certificate | Phillip Merrill School of Journalism | University of Maryland College Park, MD | 2017

MBA | Robert H. Smith School of Business | University of Maryland College Park, MD | 2014

BFA | Tyler School of Art | Temple University | Philadelphia, PA | 1995

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS + TRAINING

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RECOGNITION

  • 2013 MarCom Gold Award from the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals
  • 2011 inclusion in Letterhead and Logo Design publication
  • 2011 and 2010 CASE Circle of Excellence Awards, Excellence in Design, Gold
  • 2009 CASE Circle of Excellence Awards, Excellence in Design, Bronze
  • 2001 People’s Choice Webby Award for freshair.com, an NPR program starring Terry Gross
  • 1999 and 1999 Design Awardee: US Open souvenir and official memorabilia inclusion
  • 1998 Graphics and Print magazine design annual publication feature
  • 1998 Addy Award Citation of Excellence