Experience

Three Sixty Sales

• United States
• Manufacturing
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Director of Design

  • Jun 2018 - Present



Creative Design Limited

• Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

• Product Development and Trend specialist

  • May 2015 - Jun 2018

  A global decor company based in Asia with accounts in major retail including Target and Walmart. A global decor company based in Asia with accounts in major retail including Target and Walmart.



Target

• United States
• Retail
• 700 & Above Employee

• Lead Designer, Home and Hardlines - Seasonal

  • Dec 2011 - May 2015

  Created and developed inspiring, best-selling Seasonal Collections from concept through completion. • Determined the right trends to pursue, using both market and trend research. • Distilled selected macro trends into trends that worked for the Target guest and with Merchant strategies. •Created and/or directed creation of imagery and color palettes for selected trends; including print and patterns, and key icons for use in companywide Seasonal Trend Collections. • Presented Trend Collections at milestone meetings. • Worked with a Cross-Functional Team including Merchants, Product Managers and Technical designers to create assortments that delivered on the goals of design, quality, and price. •Traveled on vendor trips and overseas development trips to develop the trend collections.In preparation for these trips, I sent detailed design packets to the vendors. The objective of these trips with to work with the vendors on developing items that I designed internally and also items that the vendors presented to us that fit well with our trends. In most cases, the selected vendor items needed adjustments to fit with the established aesthetic. • Managed design communication with vendors at all stages of production, from giving initial direct to final approval. • Managed one designer and coached her on her professional development.



Department

• Manufacturing
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Design Director- Seasonal Holiday Products

  • May 2010 - Dec 2011

  • Led the seasonal product design team at Department 56. Team included both internal staff and freelancers. The team created Christmas decor collections, primarily Christmas trim, but also table top items and wall decor. Some of the trim lines I created at this time were Winter's Frost, Nutcracker Suite Treats and Coastal. Also worked on developing Seasonal collections with Licensed artists Tina Givens, Janell Berryman and Julien Chung. • Created and/or directed creation of imagery and color palettes for selected trim trends. • Communicated design direction to vendors and went on overseas development trips to work on initial samples and to select items from showrooms to complete and round out the assortment collections.



Snow Owl Studio

• Creative Director

  • Apr 2007 - Feb 2010

  • Managed digital art production of various software titles- primarily casual games and educational software. • Managed two internal designers and several freelance designers. • In addition to graphics, I ideated game concepts with the team and developed user interface techniques. • Managed digital art production of various software titles- primarily casual games and educational software. • Managed two internal designers and several freelance designers. • In addition to graphics, I ideated game concepts with the team and developed user interface techniques.



Department

• Manufacturing
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Senior Product Designer

  • Aug 2004 - Apr 2007

  • Designed a wide range of creative giftware items including many items for licensed artists Patience Brewster and Sandra Magsamen. Worked primarily on Christmas decor and trim but also on decor for St Patrick's Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day and Halloween. • Worked closely with marketing and vendors to ensure items worked with merchant strategies and hit the desired cost goals. • Made department more productive by spearheading technological solutions such as moving away from paper/fax based vendor direction to digital methods.



Edmentum

• United States
• E-Learning Providers
• 700 & Above Employee

• Senior Artist

  • Jan 2000 - Jan 2003

  • Developed interface, characters and animations for educational software products. • Worked closely with Instructional Designers to ensure Instructional goals were achieved with the graphic presentation of the content. • Developed interface, characters and animations for educational software products. • Worked closely with Instructional Designers to ensure Instructional goals were achieved with the graphic presentation of the content.



Mattel Interactive (formerly Mecc / The Learning Company)

• Brooklyn Center, MN

• Director of Art

  • Oct 1991 - Jun 1999

  Oversaw graphics production on several best-selling consumer software titles including Math Munchers and the Oregon Trail. Created graphics for many titles including Amazon Trail, Yukon Trail and Oregon trail. Managed a staff of 14 artists and several freelancers. Oversaw graphics production on several best-selling consumer software titles including Math Munchers and the Oregon Trail. Created graphics for many titles including Amazon Trail, Yukon Trail and Oregon trail. Managed a staff of 14 artists and several freelancers.