Award-winning graphic designer/illustrator working in the stationery industry with over 7 years experience. I have produced artwork and packaging for stationery and party goods at both the retail and wholesale level. I am experienced in repeat design for roll wrap, tableware, tote bags as well as invitations and party accessories such as hanging decorations and centerpieces. I have also designed and directed packaging for various partyware clients. I am always seeking to increase my level of expertise in all facets of design and illustration by keeping up with trends and creating new ones.

SKILLS :
¥ Mac OS X ¥ Illustrator CS2 ¥ Photoshop CS2 ¥ Quark Xpress 6.0 ¥ Microsoft Office X

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
FREELANCE: Belleville, NJ (4/07-    )
Freelance design and illustration for MLB Designs, KidsArt, Inc., and Encore Studios. Custom Wedding invitation design for private wedding.

ENCORE STUDIOS: Clifton, NJ - JR. ART DIRECTOR (4/05-4/07)
Concept and design of personalized invitations such as wedding, bar/bat mitzvah, and holiday cards utilizing new papers, creative layering techniques and creative finishing with embossing and stamping. Design patterns and motifs, borders and logos for use as design elements. Concept new type layouts and research fonts. Manage production and oversee department of three designers when Art Director is away. Re-design of 2006 Expressions of Love wedding album, including new logo for album cover. Winner of a 2005 Louie Award for a personalized wedding invitation and nominated for two other awards in the same year under the categories of Holiday/Seasonal and Creatively Finished.

GLITTERWRAP, INC: Rockaway, NJ - DESIGNER/PACKAGING DIRECTOR (7/03-4/05)
Art Direction and design of custom packaging and overseeing designers on packaging projects. Conception and design of illustrations and graphics for giftwrap, tote bags as well as other stationery and party products. Create repeats for roll wrap and totes utilizing purchased or in-house artwork. Translate artwork into various products for planograms. Prepare files and art for production overseas. Work closely with overseas vendors and Product Development to ensure color accuracy and quality control.

VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS: Maynard, MA - FREELANCE (3/03-4/03)
Annual report cover illustration for Physicians for Human Rights utilizing traditional as well as digital art methods. Main focus was AIDS in Africa depicted through a quilt/collage with a handmade feel, picturing hope and physician support and downplaying the sad reality of the epidemic.

FLEXI PRINTING PLATE: Moonachie, NJ - PRODUCTION ARTIST (2/02-7/03) 
Pre-flight of all incoming customer files either from disk or email. Prepared files for film output to photopolymer and rubber plates using color correction, color separations, trapping, and/or step and repeat as necessary. Reset type, re-created logos and artwork from faxed or printed copies. Created art from customer instructions/measurements and templates. Created PDF and Epson proofs for customer approval. Range of work varied from spot coating jobs, stamp and embossing jobs, bags, labels, and pharmaceutical packaging.

M. ZIGMAN DESIGN: Woodcliff Lake, NJ  - DESIGN ASSISTANT (11/99-12/01) 
Assisted in the design of promotional materials for companies such as Health-Tech and Raceway Park. Handled the general organization of the office and implemented new filing system to increase productivity. Some duties included image manipulation, color correction, typesetting, creation of comps and stock photo research. Conceptualized and designed logo for SweetBreath Xtreme® Breath Mints and Spray. 

EDUCATION 
William Paterson University: Wayne, NJ  - BFA Graphic Design, May 2000
Nottingham Trent University: Nottingham, UK Study Abroad - Graphic Design, 1998-1999

AWARDS
2005 International Greeting Card Awards:
-Louie Award winner in the category of Personalized Invitation
-Louie Award Finalist in the category of Christmas/Holiday
-Louie Award Finalist in the category of Creatively Finished

LANGUAGES
Fluent in Spanish