creative director > art direction & design
Creatively driven strategic brand storyteller.
I design and direct meaningful and unique experiences that influence consumer behavior and solve brand problems.
Over twenty years of experience in Advertising and Design with twelve in senior creative leadership roles and fifteen in university level teaching. I believe that ideas should come first and drive platform solutions that bring a convergence of any and all forms of media to connect with people in a true and authentic way.
CONTRACT EXPERIENCE
Carvalho Creative,
Principal Creative, ‘08-Current
Started a boutique agency from the ground up functioning as the primary creative force behind projects and campaigns of all sizes, including many start-ups and print publications. Pitch and land new business, develop and lead interdisciplinary creative teams, manage project work-flow, and oversee print production.
Received multiple ad/design awards including AAF ADDYs, IABC Bronze Quills, and the PRSA Pinnacles.
MAJOR CLIENTS/PROJECTS:
Boyd Gaming,
Art Director (Contract), ‘23
Provided art direction and design for a major gaming pitch presentation.
MAV Films/Odyssey: A Star Wars Story,
Creative Director (Contract), ‘17-17
Creative consultant for a three month fundraising campaign to raise $12,000 for the production of the short fan-film Odyssey: A Star Wars Story. Built and led advertising creative team preceding a May 4th fundraising launch event. Provided film branding as well as concepts and proposal for the advertising creative strategy, print and digital campaign, social media plan, video content treatments, promotional give-away items, and several live event ideas.
Efforts contributed to the production raising over $14,000 to create the film.
Pinnacle Entertainment,
Senior Designer / Art Director (Contract), ‘12-16
Created and oversaw the design and production for MyPNK Magazine - a quarterly publication distributed to over 15,000 team members in 9 states. Provided branding, design, art direction, and print production management.
Diamond Cake Magazine,
Creative Director (Contract), ‘11-12
Creative Director and Executive head for a start-up luxury lifestyle magazine catering to the Las Vegas market. Provided original creative concept, branding, design, and art direction for all editorial and advertising in publication. Led creative aspect of executive team, studio design department, print production, and oversaw a variety of photographers and writers contracted on magazine.
Mike Ferry Organization,
Creative Director (Contract), ‘09-12
Creative Director for all products, programs, and publications including their SELLING Magazine - a quarterly publication distributed to their clients and members worldwide. Provided branding, design, art direction, and print production management for publication.
UNLV,
Art Director (Contract), ‘08-12
Provided art direction and design of various ad campaigns, photoshoots, and print collateral projects for the university.
Central Christian Church,
Art Director (Contract), ‘08-12
Provided branding, print, and digital creative for several departments of a multi-campus mega church including Small Groups, Reach, Serve, Grow, and God Behind Bars ministries. Art directed the launch of major initiatives including new church campuses and ministries, worship albums, small group teaching materials, and an online small group management tool for members to connect with group leaders.
AGENCY EXPERIENCE
Consumer51,
Creative Director, ‘22-23
Creative Director and part of Executive Leadership Team helping to shape the creative vision and elevate the excellence of all creative services for a global consumer-experience agency with clients ranging from startups to Fortune 50 brands.
Lead and grow award-winning creative team with multiple direct reports to create high-impact and compelling consumer-centered digital solutions to brand challenges. Work includes digital advertising, social media, web design, UI/UX design, mobile apps, branding, and fully integrated marketing campaigns.
&Barr,
Senior Art Director, ‘18-20
Lead art director at one of Orlando’s biggest and most exciting ad agencies providing high level concepting and design for a mix of brands that span education, entertainment, hotel, medical, restaurant, retail, and tourism.
Published several campaigns on industry websites and received multiple ad/design awards including AAF District Gold and Local Gold ADDYs, as well as HSMAI Gold Adrian awards for Rosen Hotels & Resort’s Ask Rosen digital creative innovation and packaging design work.
Disney's Yellow Shoes Creative Group,
Art Director, ‘17-18
As a capstone to grad school, worked an extremely competitive one year Art Direction program with Disney's in-house Ad Agency performing conceptual advertising, design, branding, social/digital content creation, and photo/video shoot art direction for assigned global Disney Destination brands.
Art Directed several large social media and integrated campaigns, created several new special branded experience and in-park event concepts, designed a couple of large-scale rebranding campaigns, named Epcot’s Holiday Event International Festival of the Holidays, and designed the agency's animated Christmas card.
Received AAF District Gold, Local Gold, and Best of Show ADDYs for Disney Cruise Line’s Very Merrytime Cruises campaign work.
MassMedia,
Creative Director, ’06-08
Director of all creative services for full-service ad/pr agency in Las Vegas, Reno and Phoenix markets. Hired, trained and provided direction to a team of creatives. Pitched work to clients, led brainstorms, managed work-flow and print production, ran an internship program, and designed the remodel of a new loft-style studio for the creative department.
Received multiple ad/design awards including AAF ADDYs, IABC Bronze Quills, and the PRSA Pinnacles.
M&M Group,
Art Director, ’05-06
R&R Partners,
Graphic Artist, ’04-05
Virgen Advertising,
Graphic Designer, ‘03
Encore Productions,
Graphic Designer, ’03
DesignPLEX,
Graphic Designer, ’99-00
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Over eighteen years of Advertising and Graphic Design instruction to students from high school to college level performed in-classroom, virtually, and through e-learning content delivery systems. In addition, I actively mentor aspiring designers and art directors through portfolio reviews, guest speaking engagements, tutoring, and leading workshops. I bring my professional experience into the classroom through topical lectures and examples leading to projects with real-world criteria and expectations.
University of Texas at Arlington,
enure-Track Assistant Professor, Design Area Coordinator (Program Lead), ‘23-Curr
Provide leadership, curriculum development, budgeting, advising, instruction, and mentorship in one of the largest majors in the A&AH Dept with 15+ Faculty/GTAs and a highly diverse body of over 300 undergrad and graduate students in the Design Area. Serve on the Chair’s Advisory Committee, oversee program curriculum, provide strategic recommendations for technology improvements, and represent design program faculty. As a Tier 1 research institution, received a $50k research budget to support lab equipment and field research into topics of Creative Use of Technology, Interactive Brand Experiences, and Emerging Tech Developments to Impact Art & Design (AR/VR/XR/MR and AI).
Courses: Advertising and Portfolio Prep,.
Savannah College of Art & Design,
Professor of Advertising, ‘20-22
Provided curriculum development and instruction to undergrad and graduate students in the Advertising & Branding and Graphic Design & Visual Experience departments. Researched and curated course material, wrote syllabi, planed out projects, created lecture materials, hosted extra help sessions, and delivered course content via live on-ground, hybrid, and virtual classroom models via Zoom.
Served as a Professor in the SCADpro program mentoring/leading cross-departmental interdisciplinary teams of students on a quarter long campaign to produce real-world solutions for partner brand challenges. Clients projects included Dynacraft and Google. Also served as the department Technology & Software Resources Coordinator, SCADday Workshop leader, Summer Seminar Professor, Rising Star Professor, as well as occasionally an Internship Supervisor for select students.
Student projects from my classes saw top awards in both professional and student advertising competitions including multiple Golds and Best of Show honors. In my final year, projects from my classes won 2/3 of all of the awards across the entire program including top awards in Emerging Tech, Experiential, Film, Integrated, Mobile, and Use of Social categories as well as overall Best in Show for 2022.
Courses: Art Direction: Typography and Persuasive Design, Brand Experiences in Interactive Environments, Brand Innovation: From Physical to Virtual, Career Strategies for Advertising, Collaborative Studio: Creating the Brand Solution, Creative Technology Capstone, Designing the Brand, Intro to Advertising: Concept to Content, and Typography I: Anatomy, Form, and Space.
LA Film School,
Professor, ‘19-20, UX/UI Program Lead, ‘22-23
Provided online instruction to four year degree seeking students in the online Graphic Design program. Developed curriculum, created video lectures, held live class lectures and help sessions via Zoom video conferencing software. Courses: Concept Design, Concepts in Advertising, Digital Image Making, Overview Graphic Design Industry, Type & Layout I, and UX/UI Design I & II.
Savannah College of Art & Design,
Summer Seminar Instructor, ‘16
Provided instruction of week long summer workshops for high school students. Developed curriculum, wrote syllabi, and planned out projects. Courses: Advertising and Poster Design.
University of Nevada, Las Vegas,
Adjunct Professor, ‘13-14
Provided instruction to four year degree seeking students at the 200-300 college level. Developed curriculum, wrote syllabi, and planned out projects. Courses: Graphic Design I, II, and Typography I.
International Academy of Design and Technology,
Adjunct Professor, ‘05-14
Provided instruction to two and four year degree seeking students at the 100-300 college level. Developed curriculum, wrote syllabi, and planned out projects. Courses: Color Theory, Drawing I, Design Fundamentals, Desktop Publishing I, Digital Imaging I & II, Graphic Design II & III, and Typography I.
EDUCATION
M.Ad School of Ideas (Miami Ad School)
Post Grad Certificate - Creative Direction, ‘23
Savannah College of Art & Design
MFA - Advertising, ‘17 (3.88 GPA)
MA - Graphic Design, ‘16
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
BA - Fine Art Graphic Design, Minor in Theatre, ‘02
ChoiceCenter Leadership University, Las Vegas
Advanced Graduate, LV25, ‘01
Workshops, Seminars, and Conventions
SCAD Ad Club, Copywriting Workshop, Savannah, '16
AIGA Gain Conference, Design Educators Workshop, New York, '14
Photoshop World, Las Vegas, '08, '14
Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas, '08-10
RESEARCH AREAS
Graduate research topics across my two Master’s programs have been broad. Some of my most significant work has explored the following topics:
Social Awareness - Today’s designers have the capacity to use their talents as more than just a tool of commerce. Creative practitioners can work to express meaningful solutions to contemporary social issues such as Child Sex Trafficking, Gender Issues, Sexism, Discrimination, Inequality, ESL Education, and Social Media Safety. By practicing greater human empathy for diverse people groups, and being thoroughly informed about cultural issues, we can address some of the most difficult problems facing our society and affect the world around us for good.
Design Style Literacy - Another area of significant research and interest has been the communication and knowledge gap that exists within the creative community regarding design styles. In a fast-paced creative studio the ‘just Google it’ mentality is common place in a quest for instant answers. However, Wikipedia references and Pinterest visual research methodologies have fostered a complacency about the true contextual meanings and cultural underpinnings of stylistic references in creative research. This has led to an epidemic of limited visual literacy among many members of the Creative Class and a fundamental lack of regard for historical Visual Culture, which prohibits an informed expression of historical forms and design styles in contemporary practice. My thesis work focuses on design style literacy and the critical role that visual culture plays in establishing contextual meanings that underpin historical forms and style adjectives in contemporary advertising and design practice.
ADDITIONAL TOPICS OF CONTINUED RESEARCH:
Branded Experiences Over Ads - The world is full of traditional advertising messages that people largely ignore. Don’t make ads that fail to break through the clutter. Instead, do something interesting, invite the audience to participate. Capture and share the experience.
Conversation is King - Social/digital work where brands are coming up with fun and different ways to create meaningful engagement and connections with their audience. Concept + Content = Conversation.
Crafting Remarkable Ideas - Brand concepts and solutions that are worthy of remark and drive sharing.
Platform Hacking - Making things out of the internet instead of for the internet. Creative and innovative uses of social and digital platforms that make the most of the native tools and functionality of the platform to authentically engage an audience.
Target Audience to Tribe - Market research that shifts away from generic demographic and psychographic descriptions of target consumers to a deeper understanding of real networks of people gathered around shared beliefs, unwritten rules, rituals, and social norms.
Technology as a Brand Tool - Innovative and creative ways that brands are using social media, new and emerging tech, virtual reality, augmented reality, 360 degree content, gamification, and brand-led product innovation to connect with consumers.
Creating Student Engagement in Virtual Learning Environments - In today's educational landscape, virtual or online learning is becoming more and more prevalent. One of the biggest challenges to this is replacing the in-classroom face-to-face personal experience that students are accustomed to with an asynchronous curriculum without sacrificing quality and engagement. In order to keep students participating, minimize attrition, and foster a rich and meaningful online experience, instructors must learn to adapt their thinking, increase their student outreach efforts, and evolve their teaching methodologies.
PUBLICATIONS
Adweek, December, ‘18
Project: 40forMore Campaign - Best Agency Holiday Cards
Ads of the World, December, ‘18
Project: ADA Tour de Cure It’s In My Blood - Teaser Poster
Ads of the World, August, ‘18
Project: Nemours Make Music Day - Branded Experience
HOW Magazine, Spring Issue, ‘18
Project: Google ESL - Brand-led Product Innovation
Red Dot Communication Design Annual, ‘17
Project: Mitchum #BroBurn - Integrated Ad Campaign
Applied Arts Magazine, December Issue, ‘16
Project: Monopoly Play to Win - Traditional Ad Campaign
Googie Style-Exploring the Typography
of the Atomic Age,
Self-Published Academic Research, ‘15
Topic: A review and analysis of the origins and influences of Googie Style typography popularized in the late 40s to mid 60s.
IADT-X Magazine, August Issue, ‘13
Feature: Professionalism in the Classroom
The Evolution of Vegas Style: Typography and Signage from 1940-2013,
Self-Published Academic Research, ‘13
Topic: A review and analysis of the typographic movements and treatments applied in Las Vegas signage throughout roughly the past 70 years.
Mastering Design Style, Self-Published Academic Research, ‘13
Topic: MFA Thesis research and Limited Literature Review presentations on the topic of Design Style published in SCAD GRDS 701 Design Methodologies Course for future MFA student reference.
EXHIBITIONS
SCAD Savannah, Juried Exhibition
Student Showcase, Multiple Entries -
Ad Series, Brand Experience, Mobile App, ‘15, '16
SCAD Lacoste, Juried Exhibition
Exposition Des Étudiants, Multiple Entries -
Ad Series, Design Series, Photo Series, ‘14
SCAD Savannah, MFA Midway
Evolution of Vegas Style, Type Retrospective, ‘14
Emergency Arts, MFA Midway
Evolution of Vegas Style, Type Retrospective, ‘13
City of Las Vegas, Juried Exhibition
Our Las Vegas, Photo Series, ‘13
Emergency Arts, Group Exhibition
CMYK, Photo Series, ‘12
UNLV, Solo Portfolio Exhibition
A Word From Our Sponsors, Ad Series, ‘02
UNLV TAM Alumni, Juried Exhibition
Student Showcase, Photo Series, ‘01
GUEST LECTURES
SCAD Advertising Guest Lecture,
Topical Lecture and Portfolio Presentation, '20
Topic: Creating Unique Brand Experiences Using Technology
&Barr What's Hot Series,
Department Presentation, '19
Topic: Conflict in Advertising
&Barr What's Hot Series,
Department Presentation, '18
Topic: AR & VR in Advertising
SCAD Branded Entertainment,
TA Class Instructor, '16
Topic: Technology as a Brand Tool
SCAD Branded Entertainment,
TA Lecture, '16
Topic: Crafting Remarkable Ideas
IADT Lunch and Learn Series,
Guest Lecture, ‘12
Topic: Portfolio Preparation
UNLV Student Association of Graphic Arts,
Industry Guest Speaker, ‘11
Topic: Ad Industry in Las Vegas
AWARDS & RECOGNITION
AS A PROFESSOR:
Students of mine have taken class projects on to win over 35 awards in both professional and student advertising competitions including multiple Golds and Best in Show honors. In my final year at SCAD, projects from my classes won 2/3 of all of the awards across the entire program including top awards in Emerging Tech, Experiential, Film, Integrated, Mobile, and Use of Social categories as well as overall Best in Show for the 2021/2022 academic year.
SELECTED AWARDS:
Applied Arts Magazine. '22
Tripadvisor Ticketless Mobile App Concept
Brianna Rios
SCADDY Awards, '22
Awarded 6 silvers, 6 golds, and Best In Show Overall
Best in Show
Nike Jessy
Sarah Foreman
AAF ADDY Awards, '22
LOCAL ADDYS
Awarded 2 Golds, 2 Silvers, 1 Judge’s Choice Award, Best in Show Digital, and Best in Show Overall.
DISTRICT ADDYS
Lola - Dirty Has Never Been So Fun
District GOLD
(won Gold and Best in Show Overall in Augusta)
Brenda Romero, Madison Laake, Isabela Sena
Apple Music Merge
District GOLD
(won Silver in Augusta)
Moira Ward
AS A PRACTITIONER:
Work has earned over 45 awards across numerous local, regional, national, and international Ad/Design competitions, including multiple Golds, Silvers, 2 Judge’s Choice, and 1 Best of Show. Honored at HOW International Design Awards, AAF ADDYs, Red Dot Comm Design Awards, IABC Bronze Quills, PRSA Pinnacles, HSMAI Adrians, and the SCADDYs. Published work in Adweek, Ads of the World, Applied Arts, IADT-X, Red Dot Annual, and HOW Magazine.
SELECTED AWARDS:
AAF ADDY Awards, '08-19
Over 25 awards received in Local and District AAF competitions (including 2 Judge's Choice Awards and 1 Best of Show).
HSMAI Adrian Awards, '19
Awarded Gold in Innovation for Ask Rosen Campaign for Rosen Hotels & Resorts.
HOW International Design Awards, '17
Won award for Google ESL Brand-led Tech Innovation and published in the HOW Magazine Spring 2018 issue.
Red Dot: Communication Design Awards, '17
Won award for Mitchum #BroBurn Integrated Advertising Campaign and published in the Red Dot Communication Design Annual 2017/2018.
SCADDY Awards, '17
Awarded 1 Gold in Brand-led Product Innovation and 3 Silver awards in Copywriting, Experiential, and Integrated Advertising.
SCADDY Awards, '16
Awarded 1 Gold in Experiential, 1 Silver in Video, and 2 Judge's Choice Awards (judged by DDB, 72andSunny, and SS+K agency creatives).
SCAD Ad Club Copywriting Workshop, '16
Won "Best Branded Solution" for the Oreos Branded Content Series Scriptwriting Challenge.
Applied Arts Magazine Student Awards, ‘16
Won for Monopoly Advertising Campaign.
PRSA Pinnacle Award, '10
Won award for annual report design.
IABC Bronze Quills, '08-09
Won awards for print collateral and annual report designs.
SELECTED CLIENTS
American Diabetes Association
Andre Agassi Foundation
Attack Poverty
Badcock Furniture
Bealls Department Store
BJG Architecture & Engineering
Catholic Charities
Central Christian Church
Circus Circus Hotel
City of Henderson
City of Las Vegas
Diamond Cake Magazine
Disney Cruise Line
Disney Dreamer's Academy
Disney Parks and Resorts
Disney Springs
Dollheads Salon
Euphoria Salon
Excalibur Hotel
Florida Virtual School
Globe Salon
Google Edu
Hard Rock Hotel
Hilton Hotel
Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority
Luxor Hotel
Martin’s Guitar Strings
Merlin Entertainments
Nathan Adelson Hospice
Nemours Children's Hospital
Penta Building Group
Pinnacle Entertainment
Regional Flood Control District
Rosen Hotels & Resorts
Ruth's Chris Steakhouse
Silver State Bank
Sonny's BBQ
Southern Nevada Water Authority
Star Wars
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Vegas Water Sports
Walt Disney World Parks & Resorts.