Graphic Designer Customer Service

Preston Kirton

Graphic Design Professional

Brampton, ON

*************@*****.*** - 647-***-****

I am a graphic design professional that continuously looks for ways in which to use my ingenious, innovative creative spark to solve design problems. I live and breath creative solutions. WORK EXPERIENCE

Graphic Designer

The Award Store - Mississauga, ON - February 2013 to Present

*Designing and preparing artwork for output to trophy's and awards during the exceedingly busy athletics season for local high schools and colleges.

*Engraving medals, awards, badges, plaques, and specialty items upon customer request as well as maintaining an orderly and concise database of designs and client history backed up for future reference.

*Assisting customers in planning and organizing effective visual solutions for their products and helping to increase the amount of workload that business was able to handle during the hectic summer schedule.

*Extensive knowledge and troubleshooting experience with both lasering, engraving, sublimation, and custom designing and preparation for specialty items.

Freelance Graphic Designer

UAD Multimedia - Mississauga, ON - April 2007 to Present

*Extensive experience dealing with various clients from numerous industries including athletics, fitness, film, health & beauty, automotive, apparel, vehicle wraps, and packaging. I understand the intangibles and finer details associated with dealing with each industry and the requirements needed to produce an effective end result for each.

*Freelance story boarding for clients such as Sony (1st Sony Cybershot commercial in the U.S.), TD bank, Much Music & multiple West 49 spots with the creative direction of freelance film and commercial maker Manuel Neves.

*Experienced Creative Direction skills in both assessing, and creating, a functional User Interface and mobilizing a team of individuals towards producing a User Experience that is both user friendly and aesthetically appealing.

*Well-versed in creating powerful publication design that is both captivating and legible as well as creating, pushing, and striving for new and innovative ways of producing promotional and marketing materials that engross the audience.

*Expertly trained as a classical animator at the prestigious, world-renowned Sheridan College animation program. Offering this skill set to clients has proved quite essential and beneficial in this exciting digital age where fluid, clean animations have helped to even further assist clients in producing content that is appealing, fresh, and engaging.

Freelance Graphic Designer

MuzikTalk - Brampton, ON - November 2011 to January 2013

*Assisting the User Interface development of this social network (currently still in its beta testing stage) and helping, through design initiatives, the user interface experience.

*Conceptualizing new and improved ways of having users communicate and share information over the website that are both revolutionary and industry advancing.

*Creating a clean and concise corporate identity that relates well over various forms of promotional material and conceptualizing future ad campaigns and information graphics that target a wide array of demographics worldwide.

Assistant Graphic Designer

Wilson Trophy Company - Mississauga, ON - January 2011 to November 2011

*Designing and preparing artwork for output to trophy's and awards during the exceedingly busy athletics season for local high schools and colleges.

*Engraving medals, awards, badges, plaques, and specialty items upon customer request as well as maintaining an orderly and concise database of designs and client history backed up for future reference.

*Assisting customers in planning and organizing effective visual solutions for their products and helping to increase the amount of workload that business was able to handle during the hectic summer schedule.

*Extensive knowledge and troubleshooting experience with both lasering, engraving, sandblasting, sublimation, and silk screening as well as custom designing and preparation for specialty items. Supervisor Graphic Designer

Gorilla Bones Screen Printing - Mississauga, ON - August 2009 to September 2010

*Designing and preparing artwork for output to film and screens for the production team.

*Great administration skills in working with different people and creating an enjoyable working environment. Good at assigning tasks, and ensuring that my team is well prepared, fully equipped, and in complete understanding of the deadlines and quality of work that is expected of them.

*Excellent customer service skills in dealing with loyal customers and exceedingly well-versed in making new customers feel at ease and comfortable doing repeat business.

*Promoted to a Supervisor position upon weeks into hiring and charged with maintaining a schedule of consistency and rapid stream of work for days, afternoon, & midnight shifts while making sure to keep up with a 70% increase in the volume of work that resulted in establishing and maintaining new and lucrative company contracts.

*Responsible for upkeep of inventory and ordering of supplies for the production department during the company's rebuilding and improvement stage that helped pave the way for an increase in their productivity and increase in their profit margins due to better usage of supplies and less damaged and lost items.

*Keeping an extremely close eye on quality control, I was paramount in maintaining proper standards through proper sample productions for clients such as Pepsi®, Guinness®, Captain Morgan®, & Universal®. Creative Director Layout Artist

Crown Magazine - Toronto, ON - February 2009 to February 2010

*Conceptualizing & developing page layouts to the finalized, print ready stage for a 60-page high school basketball magazine (www.crownmagonline.com).

*Development of brand and its corporate identity as well as marketing material that established the brand as the go-to source for information on Canadian high school basketball prospects.

*Solely responsible in implementing the marketing and promotional material that peaked the interest of many athletic programs nationwide to take interest in having their athletes featured in the magazine.

*Construction, Development (in conjunction with assistance from the owner), and Design of their media kit. Junior Graphic Designer

Eye-To-Eye Clothing - Mississauga, ON - May 2009 to September 2009

*Conceptualize ideas for entire teams and associations in terms of design and logos for brands for both local and companies abroad within the sports wear industry.

*Dealing with and processing payments from customers for Eye-To-Eye Clothing and handling money for the company to help increase the volume of productivity for the company over their busy season (Spring to Fall).

*Researching new designs and trends for future product designs and merchandise and continually looking for ways to improve the versatility of the company and ways for it to brand itself and increase its profits month to month.

EDUCATION

BA in Classical Animation

Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning - Oakville, ON 2002 to 2005

Diploma

St Martin's Secondary School - Mississauga, ON

1998 to 2001

SKILLS

Logo Design, Brand Development, Image Manipulation, Ilustration, UX Design, Motion Graphics, Publication Design, Corporate Identity, Web Design, Mock Ups, Apparel Design, Fashion, Digital Art, Photography, Planning, Communication, Photoshop, Illustrator, CorelDraw X7, Affinity Designer, InDesign, After Effects,

(10+ years)

LINKS

http://uadblog.com

http://www.coroflot.com/uadmultimedia

http://www.instagram.com/uadmultimedia

CERTIFICATIONS/LICENSES

BAA of Arts in Classical Animation

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

I'm the designer that always asks why create a visual that your audience just looks at? Why not create something so compelling, so engaging--so palpable, that your audience is forced to ask the question out of sheer awe "Is image is looking at me?" That's the difference between turning wary viewers into a savvy and engaged audience--by being a designer that shows that I can place you in the hearts and minds of your audience.

Throughout my 10+ years in design education, related employment, and freelance projects, I have accumulated skills and experiences that have made me an adept sage at igniting that emotional spark that was missing between audiences and businesses.

As such, with the ever increasing progression of technology and new modes of artistic expression, I have trained myself to evolve and progress towards getting an even firmer grasp on the new and exciting tools needed to improve upon my skills and to be continually learning and applying what it is I've learned to solve the design dilemmas that today presents.

Contact this candidate