Design nerd seeks remarkable opportunities.
I'm a senior-level freelance creative, looking to collaborate on meaningful ideas with talented small teams.
- Recent freelancing: Gravitytank for design research and exploration for patient-centric healthcare portals... VSA Partners for creating apps, interactive, and print projects for healthcare and energy clients.
- Interaction designer with strong chops in visual design and solid experience with information architecture and UX methods.
- Well-versed in integrated marketing campaigns and brand strategy, and the creative friction that brings messages alive.
- Successful track record in a range of roles – from managing a design team, delivery, and process for multiple brands – to designing iteratively for sites, apps, and printed materials.
- Well versed in complexity, but a champion of simplicity and usability.
- Motivated but detail-oriented, passionate but patient, broadly curious but focused.
- Savvy with print production; hands-on nerdy with typography in CSS, snappy with collaborative tools.
- Declarative and transparent about process, progress, and unknowns, for clearer collaboration.
- In freelance mode: professional, easygoing integration with in-house teams.
- Work has been featured in The Chicago Show, The One Show, the Mohawk Show, Graphis, and Print's Regional Design Annual.
CAPABILITIES + NOTABLE WORK
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Identity
Tech exec Leon Chism sought an identity that would align with his passion for actively building technology and teams.
App / Web app
This prototype app for the Kellogg Foundation helped at-risk youths connect to jobs and services, via intelligent matching and rich media.
Promotion
Viewpoints' high-performing holiday campaign leveraged incentives and competition to engage customers.
Comprehensive redesign
Consensus-building discovery exercises tackled serious issues in usability, SEO, content, layout, and brand.
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Rapid prototyping
Better neighborhood context in this mapping prototype helped clarify and simplify price trends and meaningful landmarks.
Integrated marketing
Niketown needed a marketing toolkit to clarify the nationwide production process of approved designs and assets.
Print collateral
The identity for interactive studio twohundredtwelve° featured unexpected rhythm and imagery, to stand apart from the crowd.
Advertising
Nike paid homage to its elite athletes and linked them to their world-class retail experiences.
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Identity
Tech exec Leon Chism sought an identity that would align with his passion for actively building technology and teams.
App / Web app
This prototype app for the Kellogg Foundation helped at-risk youths connect to jobs and services, via intelligent matching and rich media.
Promotion
Viewpoints' high-performing holiday campaign leveraged incentives and competition to engage customers.
Comprehensive redesign
Consensus-building discovery exercises tackled serious issues in usability, SEO, content, layout, and brand.
SKILLSETS
Work experience
VSA Partners · 2011 · Senior designer
Designed multiple touchpoints – including iPad apps, touchscreen kiosks, multi-screen motion graphics, and environmental displays – for a showcase Smart Grid Experience environment for GE Energy. Visitors used iPad apps as remote controls to navigate presentations and control large-scale, multi-user simulations of homes and control centers.
Created a Product Finder webapp and iPad app for Avery Dennison Medical Solutions that organized a diverse product portfolio and provided powerful filtering tools to their sales force and clinical customers. Wireframed multiple approaches to filtering and making connections among product attributes.
Designed a corporate-suite book that visually defined the brand principles and explored the story of ADMS’ scientific heritage. Illustrated key products, for use in the book, in the Product Finder, and in large-scale tradeshow wall graphics.
Created storyboards, featurettes, and screen exploration for First Data, Thompson-Reuters, Foley Lardner, GE Healthcare, and KKR, among others.
gravitytank · 2010 · Information architect, designer, cub front-end developer · Recommendations
Worked with small team on an advanced job-matching prototype for the Kellogg Foundation, which connected at-risk youths, employers, and service organizations. Identified audiences, site goals, interaction behaviors, and visual/interaction best practices.
Created user stories, sitemaps, pageflows, and detailed wireframes. Iterated quickly, with input from design team, partner programs, and participating Baltimore youths. Teamed with strategist on comprehensive profile structures and criteria to match youths, jobs, and services.
Explored visual design of key site interactions with team designers. Wrote html and css for a working prototype, following lead of senior front-end developer.
Viewpoints · 2009 · Senior designer
Designed emarketing campaigns, partner-marketing materials, and site-design templates for multiple retailers on the Viewpoints technology platform. Viewpoints campaigns garnered significantly higher performance over previous years.
Connected design and development with consistent, structured workflow for multi-brand standards, comps, and assets. Specified and mapped out self-service workspace extranets.
Orbitz Worldwide · 2003 – 2009 · Associate creative director · Recommendations
Led redesign initiatives for multiple online travel brands, using collaborative stakeholder workshops to build design and strategy consensus.
Created intuitive experiences from complex systems and championed user-centered design. Designed standards for multiple brands across web, mobile, and desktop platforms.
Supervised ideation for rapid prototyping and user testing of new features. Supervised ongoing project development for UX designers. Specified job descriptions, responsibilities, and workflow standards.
Designed a Flex travel-management site for agents and dynamic brand extranets. Designed and coded a knowledge-sharing portal and a gallery of recent work.
Collaborated with Production Manager to realize huge efficiency gains from a dynamic publishing process that used self-service brand extranets for comps, standards, patterns, and assets.
Researched best practices for integrating pre-development UX concept exploration into Agile development.
twoundredtwelve° · 2001 – 2003 · Design director · Recommendations
Led design discovery and exploration phases for a comprehensive redesign of Orbitz.com, using collaborative consensus-building workshop sessions with stakeholders.
Partnered wtih designers, IAs, and technologists in concepting and developing consumer websites. Brainstormed and sketched with strategists for corporate and entertainment proposals.
Developed a unique, comprehensive identity program that could differentiate twohundredtwelve° from other players in the category.
Quantum Leap / Leapnet · 1998 – 2001 · Art director · Recommendations
Concepted and designed integrated marketing campaigns, print advertising and collateral, online advertising, and promotional microsites.
Commissioned illustration and art-directed photo shoots for online and offline projects, working with Robert Neubecker and Jeff Sciortino, among others. Managed the scouting, selection and shoot for the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business.
Developed a unique, comprehensive identity program that could differentiate Leapnet from other players in the category.
Contracted in Sophia Antipolis, France, to art-direct a hotel-booking site for Andbook, a European hotel consortium. Designed comprehensive site templates, assets, and brand/production standards guide.
The Leap Partnership · 1995 – 1998 · Designer, associate art director · Recommendations
Concepted and designed advertising campaigns, executing in print, out-of-hand advertising, packaging, and early web sites
Supervised photo shoots on location around the U.S., working with Richard Corman and Walter Iooss, among others. Also supervised high-volume print production and press checks.
Designed comprehensive brand identity toolkits for clients, with content-ready template files and high-level standards.
Concepted and created integrated marketing materials and packaging.
Related experience
Prior freelance, pro-bono, volunteering
American Center for Design
Dennis Ayuson Photography
Cabrini Youth Tutoring
Celebrity Players Tour
Chicago Advertising Federation
Chicago Public Schools
Cookoorikoo
Hermitage Design
I-Space Gallery
Karl Vogel Realty
Kirzeder Photography
National Alliance for Excellence
Pixel Party
Shampton Industries
UIUC Campus Honors Program
UIUC College of Fine Arts, Dean's Office
UIUC School of Art & Design
Professional associations
American Institute of the Graphic Arts · Design Management Institute · Interaction Design Association
Recognition
The Chicago Show (Merit) · The One Show (Merit) · Print's Regional Design Annual · The Mohawk Show · Graphis
Skillsets
Primary: IxD and UI
Concepting, ideation, user flows, interaction patterns, visual exploration, UI components, art direction of photography/illustratoin, brand/site guidelines, brand identity development, print collateral
Secondary: IA
Site structure, labeling/categorizing content, user flows, wireframing, navigation
Tertiary: IA
Basic-level HTML, CSS for rough prototyping. Minimal experience with Flash/ActionScript development
Education
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Design · 1995
Highest undergraduate honors (Bronze Tablet) · Six scholarships · Outstanding Senior of 1995 ·
Graduate-level assistantship · Ten semesters Dean’s List
“Andrew's thorough understanding of information architecture, interaction design and wireframing abilities made him a great partner on a very large web project with very tight deadlines. His design skills and attention to detail helped the entire team tackle a massive job-matching site which included many complex features and functionality. I look forward to collaborating with him again soon.”
Antonio García
Design associate · gravitytank
Orbitz Worldwide
Top of page“A superlative design professional and rare talent, Andrew possesses the keen ability to assess project complexities, draft a solid means of approach, collaborate effectively, and provide insightful direction to achieve objectives and project deadlines. He has an exceptional command of subject matter, including branding, marketing, online travel and e-commerce.
“At Orbitz, he was a benchmark for creativity and problem-solving, instilling a pursuit of excellence in others. A champion of best practices, he was tireless in his pursuit of process improvements and brand standards consistency. Quite privileged to have worked with Andrew, I highly recommend his expertise.”
Melissa Moore
Creative director · Orbitz Worldwide
“Andrew is a great creative director to collaborate with on the design of new and complex transactional systems. He is able to take rough functional ideas described via wireframes or brainstorming sessions and design a series of creative alternate approaches. He is very detailed oriented and designs rich, engaging, and contemporary interfaces for even the most challenging and information-laden websites/applications. If you are lacking design leadership on either a new product or an existing product, Andrew will be able to help you.”
Nick Iozzo
Principal, UI design consultant · TandemSeven
“Even when his primary role is management, Andrew is always producing as well as managing to ensure he understands what he is managing as well as or better than his team. Andrew doesn't have to live within the traditional boundaries of a graphic designer and is equally adept at designing user experiences or understanding the business or communication problem his designs are trying to solve.
“He is a great collaborator, always striving to produce the best possible outcome. He has the insight and creativity to operate in the strategic realm while also having the chops to define and deliver comprehensive design systems.”
Matt Hanson
Director of information architecture · Orbitz Worldwide
“Andrew is one of the best I have encountered in his ability to clarify and document the design delivery process. His ability to be flexible, yet adhere to a process, always ensured high quality deliverables. He has a high degree of organization at every level: project deliverables, process definition, design standards and guidelines (to name a few).
“He was a leader in group knowledge-sharing through presentations, blog posts, individual interaction with designers and others outside our group. He routinely collaborated with cross-competency teams (back-end/front-end dev, product analysts, marketing, and IA).”
Brian Hunt
Design production manager · TandemSeven
twohundredtwelve°
Top of page“Whether leading a team as the design director (managing collaboration, process and timelines) or hands-on designing, with an eye and creativity that is uniquely Andrew – he is the consummate professional. Andrew is passion-driven, both creatively and in taking on hands on approach to business success...
“Andrew was a master at process and managed his team’s creative productivity to be beautifully effective, while meeting deadlines and budgets. What I love most about Andrew is his sense of adventure and wonder, and how he brings that to his work. I loved working with Andrew and look forward to working with him again.”
Colleen Egan
Chief operating officer · twohundredtwelve°
“There are only a handful of great designers that i personally know who i think are first round knock-out amazing, and Andrew is one of them. Andrew's work is simultaneously meticulous and organically gorgeous, while still satisfying all the points of the creative brief.”
Jef Lear
Senior designer · twohundredtwelve°
“I’ve had several opportunities to work with Andrew. When a few colleagues of mine and I started a design and technology company we immediately sought out Andrew. We felt that Andrew was the ideal creative talent to provide not just hands-on design but a strategic vision for how we should grown as a creative force and a business.
“Andrew understands that in order for design to succeed in business it must be backed up by rigorous planning, comprehensive design standards, integration with other teams and a deep understanding of the business. Whether it was marketing campaign or an extremely complex, technology driven, transactional consumer web site Andrew applies the same rigor in balancing design trends, user tastes and user needs with brand standards, business goals and underlying technologies.”
Mark Hines
Senior information architect, founding partner · twohundredtwelve°
Leapnet, The Leap Partnership
Top of page“Andrew is hands-down one of the most talented art directors I've worked with anywhere. He possesses a spirit, talent and depth of character that are rightfully described as singular.”
Miguel Gonzalez
Creative director · Leapnet
“I’ve always been impressed with Andrew’s disciplined approach to any task he undertakes. Beyond his obvious design talent, he is a thoughtful verbal communicator. I look forward to the day I collaborate with Andrew again. He will be a valued addition to any creative team.”
Brent Riley
Senior designer · Leapnet
“As a compliment to his raw creative talent, Andrew is also incredibly well-organized – from managing and art directing complex photo shoots, to overseeing the production of complex print and digital projects. From my experiences with Andrew, there is no task he seems intimidated by. It came as no surprise to me that Andrew continued to grow into more impressive roles with increasing responsibilities over the course of his career. And I expect more of the same in the years to come.”
David Hernandez
Co-Managing director, chief creative · The Leap Partnershp
