Graphic Production, QA & Proofing for creative services

Frances Drew

Graphic Production Artist & QA Specialist

Manchester, CT 06040

***********@***.*** - 860-***-****

Graphic Designer/Layout and Production Artist

Graphics professional experienced in desktop publishing for commercial printing, layout, pagination and production of publications, design of newsletters, brochures, direct mail pieces, flyers, mailers, inserts, tabloids and booklets, as well as updating existing files, and creating new files from brand templates. Designed posters, promotional materials, spec ads for sales, publication covers and digital photo illustrations, managed diverse products from conception to completion. Also experienced in proofing, scanning, quality assurance/proofreading and mark up of copy by annotating PDFs, job tacking via Workamajig.

Created, organized and maintained client image libraries. Silhouetted, adjusted, named, and saved appropriate image file formats. Backed up House jobs and images from server to be archived. Additional experience includes customer service to both internal and external advertising clients during concept, design, correction and sign off. Streamlined processes to create a user-friendly workflow. Authorized to work in the US for any employer

WORK EXPERIENCE

Freelance Graphic Designer/QA

TCG - Hartford, CT

Responsibilities

Freelance onsite Quality Assurance and layout specialist for corporate retirement services company. Proofread print materials for accuracy against submitted copy, and graphic specifications. Annotated PDFs with copy and layout/graphic changes before final production printing. Created files from brand templates. Did graphic edits. Created high res PDFs for print. Tracked jobs in Workamamjig.

Skills Used

Creating and modifying jobs in InDesign, Photoshop, as well as QA of edited files, and annotating PDFs Job Coordinator/Text Programmer

Data - Mail - Newington, CT - January 2010 to February 2014 Job coordinator and text programmer for variable data print production company. Checked job orders, files, mock ups and materials for clarity, completion and quality. Verified data files against submitted data layouts. Labeled mock ups for data file positions and text specs. Proofread client proofs before submission. Marked up client corrections and verified corrections. Checked registration, cut and fold, content and quality before final production printing. Converted graphic files for variable data programming. Prepared files in GMC software for programming. Proofread copy.

Adjunct Faculty Instructor

Middlesex Community College - Middletown, CT - September 2009 to December 2009 Taught two 'Introduction to Computer Graphics', (covering 5 weeks of Illustrator, Photoshop, and In Design). Prepared and presented lessons, demo files and in-class exercises, created and used PowerPoint slide shows to coincide with lessons, and developed Acrobat PDFs as visual aids, initiated a learning activity for each class, created handouts, and assessed student learning.

Graphic Artist

Connecticut Blues Society - Hartford, CT - May 2008 to August 2009 Designed and production of quarterly newsletter, layout pages, select, edit and adjust photos, write captions for photos, make print ready and send to printer. Design posters, flyers, ads and promotional materials. Graphic Artist/Coordinator

Affinity Express - Windsor, CT - January 2007 to April 2008 Graphic Artist for Direct Mail Company. Designed direct mail pieces and made print ready. Coordinated files and orders with outside production vendor. Maintained client libraries. Checked incoming jobs for completion and clarity

Ad Compositor/Graphic Designer

Hartford Courant - Hartford, CT - December 1987 to August 2003 Layout and Pagination of tabs and booklets, ad creation and direct mail composition, organized, maintained and backed up files, created cover illustrations for special sections. Proofread daily ads, composed daily ads, lead person for ads department, lay in type for daily news pages. EDUCATION

Certificate in Multimedia

Middlesex Community College - Middletown, CT

BFA

Minneapolis College of Art and Design - Minneapolis, MN MFA in Computer Graphics/Animation

Rochester Institute of Technology - Rochester, NY

SKILLS

InDesign, Acrobat, Photoshop, Illustrator, Word, Quark, Suitcase, Mac and PC literate, ad composition, typesetting, & page layout, Production Artist.

LINKS

http://www.linkedin.com/in/francesdrew

AWARDS

Recommnedations

"Frances Drew worked as my direct report in the Pre-Press Advertising department of the Hartford Courant. She impressed me immediately with her intelligence, excellent work ethic and commitment to our collective mission, both as a department and as a major metropolitan newspaper. Frances was instrumental in developing procedures and best practices using our ad composition system in the time-critical production of a major daily newspaper. She was an outstanding trainer and mentor to many of our junior department members and can be credited with developing her trainees into capable, versatile and well-informed department members. The quality of her work was meticulous and she was one of the most focused and productive persons in our group. I would give her my highest recommendation, secure in the knowledge that her commitment to excellent performance, her intelligence and work-ethic as well as Frances' extensive background as an artist, a graphics professional and teacher/trainer will enhance the operations of any future employers fortunate enough to hire someone of her caliber.”

Susan Hackett, Senior Graphic Artist, The Hartford Courant, managed Frances at The Hartford Courant

"This letter is my personal recommendation for Frances Drew. I have been Frances’s immediate supervisor for several years. I found her to be consistently pleasant, tackling all assignments with dedication and a smile. Besides being a joy to work with, Frances is a take-charge person who is able to present graphic creative ideas and communicate the benefits. She has successfully developed several graphic process workflow plans that have resulted in increased revenue. During her tenure, we saw an increase in profits based on workload. The new revenue was a direct result of the workflow plans that were implemented (and helped to impliment) by Frances. Frances was also extraordinarily helpful in other areas of the company. In addition to writing effective training modules for sales representatives, Frances assumed a leadership role in graphic projects, inspiring and motivating other Graphic Designers. I highly recommend Frances Drew for employment. She is a team player, thinks on her feet and running and would make a great asset to any organization.

Michael Thurow, Operations Manager, AFFINITY EXPRESS, managed Frances at Affinty Express Affinity Express employed Fran Drew full-time as a Graphic Artist. For more than 16 months she managed the content and delivery of our complex ads. Fran has demonstrated that she is an intelligent and motivated individual. She is more than capable of managing several projects at the same time. As Graphic Artist, Fran managed several complex and lumpy accounts and did it very well. Fran produced a high-quality product every week and never missed a deadline. As part of her former responsibilities, Fran worked directly and indirectly with 3 party customers and end users.

Mark Gebler, Operations Manager, AFFINITY EXPRESS, managed Phi Theta Kappa, Multimedia Excellence Award

May 2006

Middlesex Community College, Middletown, CT.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

1. Design and computer graphics experience.

2. Experience in Quark, InDesign, Suitcase, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat. 3. Ad composition, page layout and advertising experience. 4. Ability to typeset advertisements.

5. Experience in 4-color printing and graphic production knowledge. 6. Customer service experience, with both internal and external advertising clients. 7. Ability to understand written and verbal instruction. 8. Ability to scan and and adjust photos.

9. Preflighting of incoming and outgoing ads.

10. Generation of high resolution PDFs.

11. Experience with Macintosh OS and platform.

12. Creativity and color sense.

13. Ability to use standard proofreading symbols to proofread and mark up ads and copy. 14. Superior organizational skills and time management. 15. Ability to and adhere to customer standards.

16. Troubleshooting files, replacing/matching corrupt fonts, retouching photos 17. Created files for printer with folio information, and size requirements. 19. Created print ready, high complexity ads for white glove clients. 20. Worked on complicated revisions for customers needing personalized service. 21. Performed review of jobs. Made sure layout was understandable, and could be followed with a minimum of confusion, pulled images from the image source website, made sure all parts of job are included and usable. 22. Streamlined processes to create a user-friendly workflow. 23. Created and refined job templates.

24. Created and Maintained client image libraries. Silhouetted, adjusted, named, saved in appropriate file format, and added new images that come in with each job

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