Who am I?

I am a Creative Lead with more than 10 years of experience who drives product sales by leading the ideation and execution of successful marketing campaigns. Skilled in organization, people management and mentoring. Hands-on art direction. Effectively communicate with cross-functional teams. Successfully handle multi-stakeholder projects from concept to completion within tight deadlines.

Experience

 

SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Rakuten Kobo | Apr 2017 - Present

Toronto

  • Drive device sales by conceptualizing and art directing the execution of product launch campaigns based on customer research and product positioning (emails, product pages, social media assets, and launch videos)

  • Effectively manage, train, and schedule the work of graphic designers, contractors, and external agencies.

  • Increase brand awareness by ensuring consistency in marketing materials and product packaging through brand stewardship.

  • Streamline projects by implementing creative briefs cross functionally in the packaging process.
    Encourage employee retention, commitment, and fun by holding weekly team meetings.

  • Ideate and design the packaging line up for Kobo devices, supporting retail and digital marketing collateral.

 

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Traffik, an SGSco Company | Feb 2016 - Apr 2017

Toronto

  • Effectively execute projects from concept to production.

  • Designed, formatted, and executed marketing and retail collateral for field leading brands.

  • Effectively revised and created Ads, Banners, Stands,

  • Logos and Social Media posts designs. Worked closely with Art Directors.

  • Contributed with graphic solutions for advertising and print media.

 

FREELANCE GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Tigercat Industries | May 2015 - Sep 2016

Toronto

Successfully redesigned a wide line of brochures and user manuals. Enhanced the UX by creating content-friendly pages.

 

FREELANCE GRAPHIC DESIGNER

2014 - 2015

Toronto

Created brand identities. Revitalized website styles with fresher looks. Designed monthly sliders and banners. Photographed products and edited for optimum quality. Increased sales by executing marketing campaigns in social media.

 

FREELANCE GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Galeria Inventiva | 2012 - 2014

Caracas

Attracted new customers by redesigning/managing the website. Advertised the store on social media. Directed jewelry and merchandise photoshoots and retouching. Improved merchandise displays.

Skills & Tools

 

  • Finding creative solutions to problems is what I do best, not only professionally but also in some aspects of my life, and I say this because I love to hack Ikea furniture to maximize space, functionality and storage - if you are a person who lives in a tiny apartment in Toronto you’ll get it.

    But you are not here to read about my interior design skills right? Right.

    The best example I can give you about my creative thinking skills is when the company I work for, decided to launch 2 devices, very similar in looks, at the same time, in 1 campaign, but also, they had to be visually different, enough for customers to understand its features at a glance.

    After a lot of research, brainstorming sessions, discussions and concepts, the “Where Reading Takes You” campaign.

  • What I love the most about Art Directing is, seeing how every decision, every little tweak can make a huge difference in bringing ones ideas to life. I am a control freak, I do not rest until projects come to life and exactly how I’ve pictured it, except if there’s budget restrictions of course, or if we are in the middle of a pandemic.

    My favourite project to art direct was Kobo Nia’s launch campaign, not only because it was such a fun and light concept to create, but also because it taught me how to do it remotely. Kobo Nia launched a few months after the pandemic hit in Ontario, right when we were about to shoot our lifestyle imagery and video, we were all sent to work from home “for a few weeks”. Soon after, we realized we couldn’t keep waiting. Working together with the Creative Director and an external agency, we were able to shoot lifestyle remotely.

    Art directing the sets, wardrobe, facial expressions and even how models held the device, from the comfort of my couch, was how “Love The Way You Read” came to life.

  • My day-to-day responsibilities aren’t just concepting and reviewing peer’s work. I am a hands on designer still, I don’t hesitate when design support is needed in production, specially if it means that my ideas will come to life on schedule and as I’ve pictured them.

  • Figma has become my number 1 tool nowadays, specially since digital has taken over the advertising world, however, one can’t deny the power of Adobe Creative Suite: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and After Effects are my go-to.

    Microsoft Office, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Drive and Box