About Me

AREAS OF EXPERTISE
  • Conceptualization, Design and Implementation of Visual Communication Solutions and Imaging for the User Experience.
  • New Media Publicity & Social Site Development.
  • Experienced in curriculum development for higher education, studio classroom instruction, and professional instruction in industry standard creative software.

For a more detailed overview of what I do in the web & interactive world, click here.

Management & Design Capabilities
  • Corporate Identity Systems, Branding Design
  • Concept Development for Advertising Campaigns
  • Media Kits, Promotion Design, Event Collateral
  • Advertising Design, Layout & Production
  • Proposals & Business Presentations
  • Instructional Illustration, Information Design
  • Design for Direct Mail & Marketing Collateral
  • Design for E-Commerce & Interactive Experience
  • Social Media Publicity & Blog Development
  • Promotional & Showcase Websites
  • Online Marketing Campaigns
Specific Industry Experience
  • Radio Broadcasting. Entertainment Networks
  • Engineering: Cellular and Satellite Products, Mechanical
  • Pharmaceutical Branding, Salon/Beauty Branding
  • Real Estate; High-End/Private, Escrow, Pre-Fab
  • Athletics; Professional, Athletics; Events
  • Non-Profit Humanitarian, Non-Profit Animal Welfare
  • Artists and Photographers Showcases
CAREER SUMMARY

12+ Years as a Working Creative
Art Director; Legal Arts Aquent Talent Staffing, La Jolla CA
Faculty, Adv/Graphic Design (6 Years) The Art Institute of California –San Diego
Creative Director; Indigenous Media
Graphic Designer II (3 Years); Motorola
BFA Graphic Design; University of Illinois

ART DIRECTION ROLES

From July 2001 through 2007, I was a full-time college instructor at The Art Institute of California. As a result of teaching college upper-level studio design courses, I parallel this with the experience of art direction and management in its purest form. With this particular aspect of my career, I have a strong methodology with regard to the creative process as well as offering constructive critique. I am receptive to feedback on my own work and deeply value collaboration and the benefits of creative diversity.

Some courses I taught spanned across all majors offered in the 3 year Bachelor’s degree programs; Advertising, Graphic Design, Multimedia & Web, Media Arts & Animation, and Game Art. As a result of my classroom/student involvement, I sometimes hired interns to work with me on my professional projects. When appropriate, I also integrated non-profit organization needs into course assignments so the non-profit client received outstanding work they could not otherwise afford AND the students benefited from the real-world project experience and portfolio content under my direction.

CURRENT

pein_smPrincipal; 5thStage Art Direction and Advertising, Illinois/CA.
Instructor; Adobe Professional Training
Coming Soon: Publicity & Media Management

 

For over 12 years, I have been an independent designer and advertising coordinator (almost exclusively through referrals). I was a college instructor on the subjects of what I do and taught with the Art Institute of California for 6 years. I continue to work with clients all over Southern California, have worked on contract with various agencies, and am experienced in working remotely for projects not within driving distance. When my professional schedule allows, I consult, train, and tutor working professionals in software applications that fall within my area of expertise; Adobe and Macromedia (now part of Adobe) programs.

Currently, I am teaching 2 and 3-day Adobe Professional Training courses as a contractor with Ledet & Associates. Ledet classes are fantastic, as the maximum enrollment is no more than 6-10 students. This means the student gets serious individual instruction, and it enables me to customize the course material just for them and their respective jobs/objectives.

This also means that the pace of the instruction is customized as well. Best of all, we always have seriously fun times. I absolutely love the opportunities for frequent work-related travel this provides me, in addition to regular interaction with all kinds of different human beings.

Iwill admit that I am a bit of a technical nerd, at least on the software and aesthetic side of things. I have been using Adobe apps since the beginning of time. It’s true, I was a Quark Dork back in the day as well, but I abandoned it entirely when I installed InDesign vII, years ago. I will say that I am an expert, but with that I will also say that I don’t know every single thing in these programs there is to know. If you ask me a question I don’t know the answer to, I WILL find the answer if it’s the last pathetic thing I ever do.

Knowing everything in the programs is not high on my priority list. I spend the majority of my energy exploring ways to teach it. I am far more motivated by someone’s genuine desire to learn, grasp, and retain concepts, whether they are trying to learn the tools or expand their creative capabilities. I really enjoy being a part of someone’s ‘light turning on’ in an educational setting. What’s more fun than that!?

Before all of this professional training, I taught upper-level graphic design courses at The Art Institute of California–San Diego. I was there just short of 6 years. I learned A LOT from those years, not only about how to ‘teach’ (a lot of mistakes and trial and error for sure), but how to squeeze the absolute best out of the students that had so much potential. I really, truly loved being in the classroom (most of the time) and miss being with the students very much. View A Lecture/Course Sample

CORPORATE: MOTOROLA

motorola-logo1I was responsible for maintaining corporate styles and standards, ensuring the Motorola Brand was used consistently and effectively across all materials for consumers. I worked closely with Motorola’s Technical Communications department, Marketing Communications, Human Factors, and Translations to deliver project estimates as well as visual solutions for product release materials.

I specialized in the design of complex diagrams for satellite and cellular technologies. My focus was design of user guide phone menu structures that visually adjust to differences upon translation into 24 foreign languages. In addition, I created instructional illustrations in accordance with Human Factors and The Disability Acts to create product instructional material for consumers. Additionally, I created product user guide illustrations to demonstrate product usage after post-release testing showed frequent consumer misuse and product breakage. To reduce significant costs for user guide translations, I designed and illustrated ‘textless’ product guides for marketing communications.

Analyzed, designed and implemented visual flow structures for Motorola’s corporate intranet for all participants involved in product testing and market release. This allowed anyone involved in a particular product’s release (typically 50-100 key employees) to understand the entire protocol and process of the new product development and track progress.

Worked with engineering teams as visual communications specialist to translate complex engineering developments and proprietary software applications into ‘broad-audience campaign’ materials.

Created Symposium lecture images, booth display billboards, and respective brochures for 3-part series presentations made by authoring engineers. As a result, The Motorola Testing Technology Presentation was awarded the Highest Impact Presentation Award at the 1999 Symposium. The development proposed significant reductions in product release time and increased the accuracy of quality assurance.