Graphic Designer / Production Artist
Resume:
DAVE GRAF
GRAPHIC DESIGNER / PRODUCTION ARTIST
********@*****.***
KNOCK, KNOCK!
Who’s there? A creative who also happens to be practical and production-oriented. Loads of experience but always open to learning something new. An innovative problem-solver who delights in finding efficiencies that streamline workflow. Top-notch writing, editing, and proofreading skills. A keen understanding of the interface between design and print production. On top of all this, a genuinely nice person fun to be around and gets along with everyone. STRENGTHS
• Handle heavy workloads and juggle multiple projects in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment. Just like the employment ads always say. Been doing this for years.
• Expert user of the leading graphics software. Adobe Creative Cloud is my best friend that’s not a person. Or a dog.
• Building and using templates and styles to maintain consistency over multiple versions of a document.
• Brand maintenance for Caribou Coffee, Leeann Chin, D’Amico & Partners (since about 1998 and ongoing), and many others.
• Excellent writing, editing, and communication skills. As a former proofreader and copy editor, I am not afraid of working with text-intensive material in fact, I enjoy it!
• Breadth of experience. From business cards to billboards, on both sides of the creative/production fence.
• Team player. I’m not in this for the personal glory. I love collaborating with others to create outstanding work. PROGRAM EXPERTISE
• Page layout, Illustration, Image editing: Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Acrobat
• Mail merge and variable data: DesignMerge (works with InDesign), Print Shop Mail
• Prepress workflow and proofing: Preps Imposition Software, Prinect Workflow, Prinergy EVO Workflow, PitStop Pro, Alwan CMYK Optimizer, Best Color, Epson, and Fuji proofing
• Other: Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; Filemaker (project management, time & billings) EXPERIENCE (more details available on next page, if you’re really curious, or just nuts about reading)
• Production Artist, Digital and Direct Mail Operator / Resolution Graphics, Minneapolis, MN / Oct 2013–Mar 2017
• Graphic Designer and Production Artist / UpFront, Minneapolis, MN / Aug 1996–Oct 2013
• Mac Operator and Reprint Services / Print Craft, New Brighton, MN / Jun 1994–Aug 1996
• Magazine Layout Artist / RCM Enterprises, Wayzata, MN / Jul 1993–Jun 1994
• Freelance Proofreader / Self-employed, Saint Paul, MN / Apr 1987–Jun 1993
• Project Editor; Editorial Assistant / Basic Books (division of Harper & Row), New York, NY / May 1984–Dec 1986 SPECIFIC JOB DETAILS
Production Artist, Digital and Direct Mail Operator • Resolution Graphics, Minneapolis, MN • Oct 2013–Mar 2017
• Page layout and design catalogs, directories, brochures, fliers, business cards, stationery, bank drive-up envelopes.
• Led the digital print department. Operated Konica-Minolta BizHub 1085 Color and 1250 Black & White Digital Presses.
• Created mail-merged variable data files to run on digital presses.
• Wrote and illustrated a 22-page tutorial for training others to use our mail-merge software, DesignMerge. Graphic Designer and Production Artist • UpFront, Minneapolis, MN • Aug 1996–Oct 2013
• Wide range of design and production, from business cards to 12-foot banners. Ads, brochures, direct mail pieces, menus, complex illustrations, signage, packaging and dielines, logos, business stationery systems.
• Extensive design and brand maintenance duties for Caribou Coffee, D’Amico & Partners (restaurants and catering), Tail Tamer (horse and pet products), Dean Health System (HMO), and many others.
• Set up templates to be used repeatedly for changing content while maintaining consistent style.
• Experienced at planning and laying out long documents, like catalogs and directories, and working with mail lists.
• Provided solid customer-service. Clients regularly contacted me directly. I got to know them and their products, they got to know me as someone who could understand what they needed and deliver it consistently.
• Wrote and illustrated instruction guides for workplace procedures and for use of large-format plotters. Mac Operator and Reprint Services • Print Craft, New Brighton, MN • Jun 1994–Aug 1996 This was a prepress and production position. Roughly two-thirds was preparing electronic files, including trapping, color correction, and outputting color separations to film. The other one-third was page layout for the Reprint Services division of the company, which had contracts with a number of publications to provide article reprints. Magazine Layout Artist • RCM Enterprises, Wayzata, MN • Jul 1993–Jun 1994 First job after completing computer graphics training. Responsible for the design and layout of three trade magazines, two of which were start-up publications. Two-week production cycles, back to back.
• Created logos and established design specs for new publications.
• Flowed in copy and handled subsequent revisions. Placed (sometimes created) ads. Freelance Proofreader • Self-employed, Saint Paul, MN • Apr 1987–Jun 1993
• Proofread typeset galleys against marked original manuscript for accuracy, correcting any obvious errors and alerting production editor to inconsistencies or unresolved queries in manuscript. Provided fact checking where possible.
• Clients included ASAP, Basic Books, Coda Music Software, CompCare Publishers, Facts On File, Free Spirit Publishing, Henry Holt, St. Martin’s Press, and the Southwest Journal. Project Editor; Editorial Assistant • Basic Books (a division of Harper & Row), New York, NY • May 1984–Dec 1986
• Oversaw all phases of production, from manuscript to bound book.
• Contracted freelance proofreaders, copy editors, and indexers and ensured that their work conformed to house specs and The Chicago Manual of Style.
• Trafficked proofs to and from author; transferred author alterations and house corrections into master proofs.
• Obtained permissions to reprint copyrighted illustrations and text passages.
• Daily interaction with the managing editor, senior editors, designers, and production manager. EDUCATION
• Certificate in Computer Graphic Design, School of Communication Arts, Minneapolis
• Music Education major, University of Minnesota
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