Resumé

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Crystal Nichols – Graphic & Web Designer

Address: Upon Request
Phone: 612.423.6740
Email: crystal.arcticlotus@gmail.com
Portfolio: www.arcticlotus.com

Summary
Graphic Designer by Day, Mommy by Night, Geek Always.

With a BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design,
I love a good challenge; work and play often overlap for creative minds.
Advertising, Graphic, Packaging, and Web Design pay the bills,
while I work on wedding invitations and website maintenance for friends and family,
as well as personal projects and various freelance opportunities.

Specialties: branding and identity; digital image editing, correction, and manipulation;
web design and coding; design and layout; pre-press; client presentations

Experience

FREELANCE
• Fantasy Flight Publishing – 2014 - Digital Manipulation, extend artwork, creative crops and masks, and refined text wrap
• grokEarth – 2010 - Logo design for Bob MacNeal’s project to gain understanding of the earth and natural phenomenon
• Niedorf Visuals – 2008 - Design and Layout for a self-mailer to promote photography project “Real Working People”
• The Wee Mad Road by Jack & Barb Maloney – 2007-2008 - 230pg Memoir Design, Text Flow, Cover Layout, and Pre-Press
• WyzAnt.com Tutoring – 2009-2010 - Beginner to Professional Skill Level in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and DreamWeaver

CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Log House Foods
Plymouth, MN – August 2010 – Present
Drive Sales and Website Traffic through Graphics:
• Advertising and Packaging Design, Recipe Cards, T-Shirts, POP Display Graphics
• Corporate and Recipe Websites, SEO
• Sustain Brand Integrity through Printed and Digital Media
• Project Management for Private Label Packaging between B2B customer and printer
• Update and Modernize old Brand Segments to increase consumer interest
• Theme, Design and Layout of Trade Show Graphics

SENIOR DESIGNER / MARKETING COORDINATOR
Chromatic Concepts
New Hope, MN – February 2009 – August 2010
• Catalog design for 2 internal companies and for large customers and vendor
• Designing and coordinating eBlasts and mailers
• Writing, Photographing, Formatting Assembly Instructions for trade show displays
• Management of small design team (2) during implementation of urgent projects
• Being Awesome

GRAPHIC / PRODUCTION DESIGNER
Chromatic Concepts
New Hope, MN – June 2007 – February 2009
• Creating Purchase Orders outlining specs for custom table throw production
• Checking customer submitted artwork meets print specifications
• Pre-Press, Proofs creation for customer approval
• Artwork Vectorization / Digitization
• Photographing new products, prepping photos for catalog and website use
• Creating banner artwork for display images in catalog and website

GRAPHIC / WEB DESIGNER
Minneapolis College of Art & Design: DesignWorks
Minneapolis, MN – August 2006 – March 2007
• Small Team Collaboration comprised of students, recent graduate, and instructor
• Logo and Identity redesign for the Minnesota Film and TV Board
• Design, Layout, and Code for website: http://www.mnfilmtv.org
• Data Entry to populate “Locations” search on website
• Client Presentations for In-Progress Meetings and Final Unveiling

Education
Minneapolis College of Art & Design
Minneapolis, MN – Class of 2007
BFA in Graphic Design
GPA 3.7

Software & Skills
• Adobe Creative Suite: Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Dreamweaver
• XHTML and CSS, intermediate JavaScript, beginning PHP
• WordPress setup, theme code editing
• Mac and PC, with strong troubleshooting
• 50+ wpm
• Customer Service

Community Service
Golden Living
St. Louis Park, MN – August 2007
Painted mural to beautiful Alzheimer’s Unit and promote calm amongst patients

Second Hand Hounds
MN – June 2009 – December 2013
Short-Term Fostering, Financial and Supply Donations

Human Milk 4 Human Babies
MN – February 2013
70 oz donation