Stephen Whalen
Art Director / Graphic Designer · Skechers USA
San Clemente, CAIn My Own Words
I'm a California resident with a BFA in Illustration from the Laguna College of Art & Design, my work experience has taken me from Photo Re-toucher, to Production Artist, to Graphic Designer/Illustrator.
Work Experience
Art Director / Graphic Designer
Skechers USA2019 – Present
- Design of marketing campaigns, print ads, lookbooks, catalogs, in-store signage and event collateral - Use Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign and MS Office on a daily basis to create high end graphics for world distribution - Prepare press ready files and deliver to vendor - Work within tight brand guidelines and tight deadlines - Retouch images and make selections from photoshoots
Art Director
Aluminati Skateboards2017 – 2019
- Manage all aspects of the Art Department from asset and product creation to file organization and marketing - Created new company branding, logos, style guides, based on updated customer profiles. - Made 2 new websites first with an outside agency designing a Wordpress site with custom BoardBuilder Section, then a Shopify site managed internally. - Created Skateboard art, apparel, and accessory art and marketing assets for 4 seasons. - Managed other artist, gave assignments, set up processes and file structure for archiving and working on projects - Updated templates and improved color fidelity - Designed Licensees' products for NHL and NBA, adhering to team specific style guides and collaborating with the license reps to get approvals on designs. - Helped with extra design work from 2 other sister companies and custom internal projects when needed. - Traveled to meet with important Accounts to discuss custom art and graphic requirements. - Created trade show booths, event specific collateral, and custom one-off products for give aways. - Created marketing for all products, scheduled social media posts, managed several social accounts, and create a social calendar for holidays and sports seasons.
Production Artist / Graphic Designer
Terris Barnes Walters2016 – 2016
- Performed quick revisions and final pre press on a wide array of political collateral, from multiple mailer formats to lawn signs graphics and large hand out posters
Production Artist / Graphic Designer
Charlotte Russe2016 – 2016
- Updated their 2016 Marketing Library with promotional items to be rolled out to the stores throughout the year - Performed pre-press on all in-store collateral, ranging from banners and window displays, to gift cards and flyers
Web Design & Production Artist
Pinterest2016 – 2016
- Assisted the PinFactory team with their 2016 Pin designs for brands like JustFab, Beta Brand, etc. - Created Pin layouts using clients existing assets and direction from the Art Director and Copywriter
Play Music Web Content Coordinator
Google2015 – 2016
- Support users for Google Play Music Artist Hub, as well as manage their images and bios on Google Play Music - Work with representatives from large music partners, assisting them with the maintenance and organization of their various artist pages - Review incoming artist pages, podcasts, and other content to ensure that all of Google’s policies are adhered to - Provide support for all international markets that support Artist Hub
Mid-Level Graphic Designer
TaylorMade-adidas Golf Company2015 – 2015
- Assisted the art director with the final output of the 2015 catalogs - Participated in strategy meetings with the entire apparel marketing and distribution teams - Designed print and web collateral for various 2015 campaigns - Pitched design mock ups for media kits that were to be mailed out to various golfing press outlets
Mid-Level Graphic Designer
WSS / Eurostar, Inc2015 – 2015
- Created the 2015 Scholastic Hoops Jam Logo - Designed web and print collateral for various retail locations - Handled over flow print production projects and updating old collateral
Production / Graphic Artist
DC Shoes2011 – 2014
- Design window, in-store, and web ads for the various DC re-sellers around the globe - Deliver print and/or web ready files to our vendors while working directly with them to ensure files specs were optimal for their output method - Manage completed job and make sure that all relevant files are properly archived on the server according to company policy - Create line-books for the US and international regions that DC shoes has a market presence. - Manage all of the digital assets to ensure that the project files are organized on the company server for other departments to access - Make all corrections and updates to the text and images a requested by the different merchandisers for each region - Create final print ready files for press as well as a web compressed versions to be uploaded to a Web Magazine Publisher or sent as email attachments. - Improve the efficiency and accuracy of the Line-book proofing process to ensure that more mistakes are caught early on - Part of the team that is developing a digital Line-book solution to move into an iPad or android tablet environment - Create new EasyCatalog templates to automate the page flow of catalogs - Assist the other brands and departments with internal design projects
Freelance Production / Graphic Artist
Quiksilver2011 – 2011
- Assisted in final push for the 2012 Fall linebooks for Quiksilver - Organized the Linebook assets on the server so that the catalogs were archived and lied remotely and could be accessed by any future artist - Processed product CADs and Photography after they came from the color department - Scanned and color corrected fabric swatches
Assistant Production Manager / Production Artist
Trisoft Graphics INC2009 – 2011
- Assist Production Manager in coordinating every aspect of plate production from the ordering process to plate delivery - Assign jobs and answer questions for 5 in-house artists and 4 overseas artists - Perform pre-flight procedures on incoming art work, and output straight-to-plate orders - Set up PDF proofs, create die lines, make corrections to customer's art as well as perform clean up on the art files uploaded by our overseas artists - Integral part of the team that guided Trisoft Graphics through the best year of the companies history in 2009, as well as their highest grossing month in October '09
Pre-Press / Graphic Design
OvernightPrints.com2007 – 2008
Pre-flight each incoming design to ensure it meets the specifications for being output on their four-color offset press - Modifications would vary from quick quality checks to complicated design work - Communicate with clients through e-mails and instant messenger for any necessary design changes - Received awards in three different months for having the highest number of files processed with complete customer satisfaction
Designer / Customer Service
Orange County Printing & Graphics2006 – 2007
Design business cards, large scale posters, magazine advertisements, as well as delicate photo restoration and retouching - Assist walk in customers by making copies of architectural renderings or legal documents - Set up Fine Art reproductions for local artists, color correct files, output posters on large format printers, also cut and mount the final product - Take phone and online orders, assist with the walk-in customers and operate the cash register PHOTO MANIPULATION & RESTORATION, GRAPHIC DESIGN, VISUAL DEVELOPMENT
Illustrator / Designer
Cogstone Archeological Society2007 – 2007
Hired on for freelance projects - Using several photos of a restored excavated tea pot I made a decal of the design on the tea pot that would be adhered to a mock tea pot that they had made for display purposes - Created several vector traces of their excavation site notes using Adobe Illustrator
Education
Interests
Industries
Activity
Recent posts, comments and shares.