Brenna Ramirez 946 Minnesota Street San Francisco, California 94107 Mobile: 415 794 9425 Email: beluv@mac.com Online Portfolio: http://www.bfreestudio.com/work.html // EDUCATION California College of Arts and Crafts | San Francisco, California B.F.A., Graphic Design December 1998 // QUALIFICATIONS * Campaign Management: Experienced in creating concepts and designs for seasonal campaigns and extending them through all types of marketing vehicles (online, print, packaging). * Photo Art Direction: Lead Art Director on shoots for seasonal campaigns and imagery in Home, Apparel and Food categories. * Project Management: Successful at working and prioritizing multiple projects under rigorous deadlines. Mindful of project and business objectives, budgets. * People Management: Hired, mentored and art directed four full time designers, four full time contractors and interns on web and print projects throughout the past four years. * Creative Development: Investigates and participates in conferences, training seminars and talks on current trends in design, product and marketing industries. Spearheads projects and design ideas outside the scope of role and project to provide the best possible solution and service for customer/client. // PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Brenna Ramirez Art Direction + Design (current) Freelance Art Director and designer consulting for Toyota, Fiel Shoes, retail boutiques, product lines and photographers. As well as custom invitations for events and weddings. Specialize in designing and concepting for print, online, identity and packaging. Wal-Mart West Creative Services Senior Art Director (Dec. 2006-present) Helped build a satellite internal creative agency for Wal-Mart stores. Directed a team of in-house and freelance art directors and designers on national seasonal campaigns for over 3500 stores including: Holiday '07/'08, Halloween '07/'08, Valentines Day '07/'08, Back to School '07/'08. Delivered two years worth of excellent campaign work in one year. This included initial concepting, design and creative direction of look and feel for in-store signage, POS systems, visual merchandising, print (advertising, circular paper, gifting catalogs), gift card programs, food packaging and product development for seasonal categories. Analysts, CEO, President of US Stores and marketing have all reported that all these campaigns have been the most successful to date for Wal-Mart. Walmart.com Art Director, Creative Marketing (2004-2006) Initially hired as a Senior Designer to contribute to concepts and designs for online retail campaigns (Holiday, Back to College, Back to School), and design all out bound marketing creative (emails, rich media banners, and print materials) promoting Walmart.com's merchandise. Promoted to Art Director within 10 months after leading a multi million-dollar online campaign advertising Walmart.com's digital circular for the holiday season. Helped develop mood boards and inspirational room solutions for Back to College product. Worked directly with buyers to help guide vendors in design of product. Proposed and created a four-page insert that was included in Wal-Mart stores circular, featuring online only "dorm" furnishing and decor solutions for the college student. In charge of developing look and feel of site assets, online campaigns and outbound marketing collateral for categories within the Home and Family Channel (Jewelry, Apparel, and Home). Delivered over 50 creative projects for site redesign launch (Oct. 2006). Designed look and feel of Holiday 2006 concept for both Wal-Mart stores and Walmart.com. Contributed to design and writing of the Holiday style guide for stores creative. As well, developed an online style guide of the Holiday concept for key online initiatives. Acoustic Disc Records Art Director (2002-2004) Designed all music packaging and print marketing materials. Handled print production and press checks for CD packages, annual newsletter and calendar. Produced complete CD packages within 1-2 week time frame due to high volume of releases and manufacturer deadlines. Palm, Inc. Visual Interface Designer (2002-2003) As an independent consultant, designed interface elements, icons, and layouts for software and hardware solutions. Created a suite of icons for Bluetooth UI, produced graphics and animations for Quick Tour application, completed detailed specs for engineers on a pixel level grid. Consistently delivered projects on schedule under aggressive timelines. Chronicle Books Designer (2001) Worked with in-house design department to design a specialized gift book. Created three interior concepts (overall layout, typography, choice of images) and five cover concepts. Implemented chosen design direction throughout the entire manuscript in Quark Xpress and prepared the digital files for print. Also managed color proofs and editorial corrections. The book, "Yiddish Wisdom For Marriage," is the top seller within a series of three that includes, "Yiddish Wisdom", and "Yiddish Wisdom for Parents". Interactive Bureau/Circle.com Senior Designer (2000-2001) Participated in design campaigns for large-scale Web sites such as Domain Chandon Winery, Applied Biosystems and Atomica. Created visual layouts from wire frames, graphics, identities and desktop icons for web clients. Also designed the style and brand guide for Circle's Corporate Web site. Worked closely with flash designers, interaction designers, copywriters, project managers and others in a collaborative team environment. Malmquist Design Studio Designer (1999-2000) Designed corporate invites and internal web sites for technology and healthcare based conferences hosted by Chase H&Q. Projects also included conference stationary systems, marketing materials and event signage. Designed several technical books for The Center for Health Professions at UCSF, which involved layout and electronic production of large-scale books. Created a brand for popular Sausalito restaurant and extended through stationary and menu design. Banana Republic Corp./Gap Inc. Production Designer (1998) 3 month contract during school Assisted in-house design staff and art director by producing comps and digital artwork for 2D and 3D projects such as store signage, corporate invites and retail packaging. Required an in-depth knowledge of software programs, typography/color, and strong hand and digital mechanics. Additional Projects: Contact High Art Director (2004) Spearheaded the creative direction for record label and boutique lifestyle brand. Designed identity, established the look and feel and carried elements through to e-commerce web site, presentation materials and merchandise. Elsewhere Advertising Agency Graphic Designer (2001-2004) Supported creative director in print campaigns for clients such as Cisco Systems, Oracle, Klutz, and Desert Heart Foundation. Projects included design layouts and production of magazine ads, invitations and benefit auction booklets. Required strong typography skills, layout composition and pre-press knowledge. Harmonic Advertising Graphic Designer (2001) Participated in launching and building Harmonic's brand. Designed letterhead system, marketing collateral and web site. Also developed presentation templates and graphics for use company. Managed print accounts for agency's clients. Tenspeed Press Book Designer (2001) Designed and produced two humor books. Similar process to chronicle-what can I do to not seem repetitive. Seven Entertainment Package Designer (2003) Surfdog Records Package and Web Designer (2002-2003) Created CD package and brand for Jason Newsted's first project after his departure from the band Metallica. Extended brand to posters, t-shirts, stickers, and an EP. Bravado International Group Graphic Designer Lollapalooza T-shirts, and designed merchandise (t-shirts, tour book) for Norah Jones' European tour. // SOFTWARE Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash, HTML, Fireworks, Adobe Acrobat, and Microsoft Office. // AWARDS AIGA 365 Design Award 2002 for Harmonic Advertising letterhead system. References available upon request