Michael McAdams
Sr. Art Director / Motion Designer · Freelance
Richmond, VA
In My Own Words
Making shapes and colors move on glowing rectangles, like the one in your pocket or the one in your living room.
Video is a powerful weapon and I wield it for the good guys. If you have a story to tell, I know how to tell it for the right people.
Work Experience
Senior Art Director / Motion Designer
Self Employed2023 – 2024
Working freelance and contract positions.
Senior Art Director
SmileDirectClub2022 – 2023
Primarily worked in paid social media channels. Concepted and produced ads for international sales and announcement campaigns. Organized and art directed a video shoot to build a UGC-style asset library to be used in digital templates.
Senior Motion Designer
SmileDirectClub2020 – 2022
Oversaw the Art Direction of production agency teams, included training on brand motion guidelines and reviewing work. Concepted dynamic motion templates to solve production challenges for international campaigns. Increased brand awareness through story-based campaigns.
Motion Designer
SmileDirectClub2019 – 2020
Developed production methodology within versioning platforms and trained motion team on how to build a high volume of video ads efficiently. Produced static and video marketing for international out-of-home campaigns.
Production Designer
SmileDirectClub2018 – 2019
Extensive “versioning” and resizing of digital ads. Designed static and video marketing for social media, adhering to each platform’s best practices. Built animations that ran on Time Square NYC billboards during SmileDirectClub’s IPO announcement.
Graphic Designer and Marketing Strategist
Ralos Comfort2016 – 2017
Establishing identity and branding. Designing marketing and internal graphics: print and web. Creating/managing marketing campaigns. Social media management. iPad Pitchbook UX/UI.
Graphic Design Freelance/Contract work
Freelance/Contract in Los Angeles2016 – 2016
Custom Snapcodes, social media banners and advertisements, flyers, business cards, product promotion.
Graphic Design Intern
UT Institute of Agriculture, Department of Marketing and Communication2015 – 2015
Reformatting publications to fit the new brand (Typesetting, reorganizing layouts, updating letterheads and footers). Print design (postcards, publication covers). Basic video editing. Creating content for social media.
Graphic Designer
Classic Alterations and Monograms2014 – 2014
Logos, T-shirts, postcards, businesscards, storefront windows, banners, color separations for screen printing, updating Etsy store and writing item descriptions.
Graphic Design Resource Room Employee
University of Tennessee2014 – 2014
Taking print orders for large format and laser printers. Making sure the designs were ready to print and manning the machines to complete the orders.
Education
Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)
University of Tennessee, Knoxville2009 – 2015
I majored in graphic design but also studied many other subjects in fine art and communications: drawing, painting, printmaking, animation, art history, sculpture, marketing, computer science, etc.