Graphic Designer Production Artist

RENEE KAPKE

Round Lake, IL ***** 847-***-****

*********@*****.*** linkedin.com/in/reneekapke/ Behance.net Portfolio

DIGITAL PRODUCTION ARTIST & MEDIA PRODUCER

Inspired, Artistic Self-Starter with Expertise in Design, Color Correcting & Photo Retouching — Ultimately Creating Brand Advocates

Detailed and highly organized professional with proven ability to design creative content and execute for digital projects. Ensures consistency of design from ideation to completion, leveraging technology and digital applications to successfully save in proper naming and file types. Participated in wireframes, design and export to Monday.com of all assets in proper file sizes and types with many email designs in Figma. Handles constructive criticism well and provides meaningful feedback to team members. Comfortable as both individual contributor and as a team leader.

Immediate Value Offered

Core Skills

Digital Production Artist Digital Assets Library Graphic Design

Typography Photography Multimedia Retouching

Technical Skills:

Adobe Photoshop Adobe Illustrator Adobe InDesign Adobe Lightroom

Premiere Pro Microsoft 365® Figma Adobe Dimension

Career Trajectory

LTD Commodities, Lincolnshire, IL

DIGITAL ARTIST & GRAPHIC DESIGNER 08/2021 – 04/2023

Produced engaging digital and print branding materials based on corporate design standards in partnership with content and marketing teams, planning, designing, and editing from concept to completion. Manipulated raw photos to create background, color, white sweeps and composition changes for web and print catalogs. Designed web banners, combining multiple images into horizontal and vertical formats as well as creating product ads to fit the specifications for selling on marketplaces such as Amazon. Worked with emails in Figma and exported to Monday.com. Oversaw the Digital Asset Management system for all departments and meta data, enabling easier search and product uploads. Uploaded product images to the website, entered data into the web system to publish and carry out back-end linking. Completed small product video edits to color correct, edit and upload to website ads, enhancing sales.

RESULTS:

Solved a crisis in the Connecticut office by recreating lost TIF files and utilizing low-res JPGs as a reference, helping the team meet an aggressive deadline.

Salvaged photoshoots by rebuilding photos and re-directing angles, finding solutions that kept shoots on track.

Improved collaboration and access while reducing email traffic, by building a sharable Excel spreadsheet to help coworkers track images received and complete daily status checks.

Constructed and launched a 2K+ image Digital Assets Management system, allowing teams to locate images using meta data and improving cross-functional access while decreasing frustration and saving time.

Appointed as SharePoint subject matter expert (SME) by the advertising department — designed, delegated to and trained peers/co-workers to reinforce collaboration within groups.

Renee’s Image Works, Scottsdale, AZ

DIGITAL DESIGNER, PHOTOGRAPHER, & PHOTO EDITOR 06/2019 – 08/2021

Collaborated with clients as a freelancer, overseeing projects from beginning to end, producing impactful logos, graphics and marketing collateral. Prepared projects for print and delivered technically correct, print-ready mechanicals for production. Employed prepress and printing standards — CMYK, RGB, color modes, conversion, tone structure, memory colors, flesh tones and multitone files. Cultivated and maintained strong, effective customer and partner relationships, fortifying business opportunities. Leveraged project management, organizational, and time-management skills, executing work in accordance with customer’s needs.

RESULTS:

Executed varied and challenging portfolio of projects, including:

oPartnered with families, shooting portraits/special events and retouching photos, ultimately creating beautiful memories.

oPhotographed luxury homes, shot aerial photos, and formed flag stone graphic designs in Rio Verde, AZ for leading real estate agents, adhering to tight deadlines.

oVideoed 26 segments of instructional equipment usage for a golfing community and developed in Adobe Premiere Pro.

oIncreased resident fitness club usage and understanding of the equipment by producing video and editing segments using professional video/audio equipment.

oAcquired skills shooting twilight photos.

oReceived a drone license to shoot aerial real estate views, capturing homes with mountain views for MLS.

oDesigned and finalized new logo and brand elements for an agent.

oPlanned and shot a memorial video with bag pipers, applying short video layering and audio.

LTD Commodities, Lincolnshire, IL

DIGITAL ARTIST & GRAPHIC DESIGNER 12/2006 – 06/2019

Created conceptual designs for catalog company website content, campaigns, and media projects, employing technical expertise to finalize assets for production. Edited footage in post-production, utilizing digital tools to produce images and videos. Directed camera operators to ensure all footage for projects was acquired. Worked with raw photos to create background, color and composition changes which bring layouts to fruition. Joined forces with the studio manager to find solutions to broken product shots, enabling use/final editing in Photoshop. Prepared image rotations for web animation for the web team, matching all products to samples for accurate color correcting. Uploaded products to the web and performed back-end linking to the website.

RESULTS:

Enhanced imaging department’s efficiency, retooling processes to remove redundant steps and more effectively grouping report outs.

Trained a peer on Photoshop, expanding department capabilities during busy peak seasons.

Collaborated with the Photo Studio to address products broken during shipment, rebuilding them in Photoshop to save photoshoots the cost and trouble of reshipping.

Researched missing art, uncovering critical images and allowing management to complete a key project.

Attended book reviews bi-weekly to input changes and fixes that were needed before final proofing.

Education

Bachelor of Art (BA) in Interdisciplinary Studies with concentration in Business

University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX

Certificate in Graphic Design, Adobe Applications, Design Layout, Art & Microsoft Applications

Elgin Community College, Elgin, IL

Contact this candidate