Hi, I'm Chelsea, an Atlanta-based creative visionary specializing in Art Direction, Graphic Design, Brand Development, and Product Packaging.
I enjoy telling long stories, creating meaningful work, and getting lost – both in thought and in nature.
Four years ago, I became the first in-house graphic designer for American Tombow Inc., where I've had the unique opportunity to work with the marketing team to develop the Tombow brand and create a visual language that resonates with B2B and B2C audiences.
I gained a ton of new experience in a variety of marketing communications and was responsible for designs from concept through to creation. I designed product packaging and in-store POP displays for major retailers (such as Walmart, Target, and Michaels), developed branding for new products and designed graphics for full-blown product launch campaigns (including social media graphics, email marketing, website landing pages, print and digital ads, catalogs, and sell sheets), and created short-term branding for consumer shows and B2B sales events.
I am now the Creative Manager at Tombow and work closely with our Marketing Manager to establish creative direction. I manage two graphic designers and oversee the execution of 30-50 design projects each month by creating concepts and providing art direction documents to clearly communicate with artists, designers, and photographers to bring creative visions to life.
Work Experience
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2020 – Current
American Tombow Inc.
Creative Manager
2020 Employee of the Year
Establish creative direction in collaboration with Marketing Manager and oversee execution of all creative to ensure designs meet set objectives.
Formulate creative concepts and provide art direction for product campaigns and packaging artwork. Lead internal meetings to present concepts and communicate vision to artists and photographers.
Manage 2 Graphic Designers and delegate responsibilities for designs needed to support marketing and sales (Advertising, B2B and B2C Email Marketing, Web Design, VIP Club and Product Launches, Sales Literature and Presentations, Trade Show Materials, and Online Banner Ads).
Assist Graphic Designers in choosing the visual style, typography, images, color palette, and other visual vocabulary to achieve B2B and B2C communications.
Manage the internal process, from concept through to creation, for 210+ product packaging projects, retail displays, and POP designs, including 131 new product designs. Ensure designs speak to target audience, stand out on retail shelves, and adhere to internal and external guidelines.
Create standard operational procedures for product packaging processes and marketing materials resulting in increased production.
Implemented a packaging development and approval process involving cross functional teams to ensure all SKUs remain up-to-date with brand standards and compliance regulations.
Developed visual messaging strategy for Holiday Gift Guide for B2B and B2C audiences; including a digital catalog, email marketing, e-commerce landing page, and promotional graphics for web and social media.
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American Tombow Inc.
Senior Graphic Designer
Product Packaging:
Implemented a packaging approval process involving cross functional teams to ensure 120+ SKUs remain up-to-date with brand standards and compliance regulations.
Designed 20+ new product packaging items for e-commerce and global retailers such as Michaels, Walmart, Hobby Lobby, Target, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. Design process includes vision boarding, determining product color palette, artist selection, content development, and overall design.
Redesigned product packaging for four major product categories (Art Markers, Pencils and Erasers, Adhesives, and Correction Tape) by defining a grid structure that displays artwork and product information consistently across all categories to improve hierarchy of information and brand recognition. Each product category was assigned a unique color for packaging and correlating promotional materials.
POP Displays:
Designed an end-cap retail display that was featured in 1,022 Walmart stores nationwide during the 2019-2020 holiday season. The colorful POP display featured five custom Dual Brush Pen 6-packs curated specifically for the Walmart customer.
Conceptualized an exclusive Tombow Brand Store to be featured inside Michaels stores nationwide. Integrated creative storytelling into retail displays by strategically arranging products fused with signage to educate customers on product usage and highlight the difference between flagship water-based markers and new alcohol-based markers.
Conceptualized an exclusive Tombow Brand Store to be featured inside Michaels stores nationwide. Integrated creative storytelling into retail displays by strategically arranging products fused with signage to educate customers on product usage and highlight the difference between flagship water-based markers and new alcohol-based markers.
Marketing & Advertising:
Redesigned product catalog to tell Tombow’s brand story by showcasing lifestyle photos and art.
Design print ads and web banner ads for Stationery Trends, Creative Scrapbooker, Artists Magazine and more.
Design print ads and web banner ads for Stationery Trends, Creative Scrapbooker, Artists Magazine and more.
Product and Program Branding:
Developed branding for new ABT PRO Alcohol-Based Markers to elevate the product as a professional quality marker. This was accomplished by combining sleek, saturated gradients with custom icons to communicate product features. Designs include social media teasers, a website landing page, product launch graphics for social media, email and web, “Get to Know ABT PRO” educational series, “Behind the Design” artist highlight email promotion, retail displays and product packaging for 12-pk and 5-pk marker sets.
Plan visual messaging and art direction for Tombow VIP Club monthly subscription box program. Map out images for photoshoots and design social graphics for product launch (Instagram, Instagram Stories, Facebook, Twitter, Email, Homepages Web Banner and product listing images) as well as printed inserts and project cards.
Design comprehensive website landing pages for new products and programs, including content creation, visual messaging and art direction. (i.e. Tombow VIP Club, Tombow Workshops, Tombow Scholarship Program and #SharingArtMatters Campaign)
Plan visual messaging and art direction for Tombow VIP Club monthly subscription box program. Map out images for photoshoots and design social graphics for product launch (Instagram, Instagram Stories, Facebook, Twitter, Email, Homepages Web Banner and product listing images) as well as printed inserts and project cards.
Design comprehensive website landing pages for new products and programs, including content creation, visual messaging and art direction. (i.e. Tombow VIP Club, Tombow Workshops, Tombow Scholarship Program and #SharingArtMatters Campaign)
Events and Shows:
Design short-term event branding for various in-house events (such as Coffee & Crafts and Tombow Pop-Up Shop), consumer shows (Pinners, America’s Mart, Japan Fest, Alt Summit) and B2B events (Binders, National Stationery Show) including banners and signage, program ads, printed product inserts, custom contact cards, shopping bags, t-shirts and social media and email promotions.
Social Media:
Re-branded promotional graphics shared on Tombow’s social media accounts to better connect with the target audience of artists, crafters, and hobbyists.
Designed product launch graphics for more than a dozen new products promoted via social media and email to 460K followers.
Designed nearly 100 custom social media graphics and B2B Email Marketing templates for Jr. Graphic Designer.
Designed product launch graphics for more than a dozen new products promoted via social media and email to 460K followers.
Designed nearly 100 custom social media graphics and B2B Email Marketing templates for Jr. Graphic Designer.
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Performance Administration Corp.
Graphic Designer
Worked directly with CEO to construct storyline and design sales presentations and collateral.
Developed brand identity system, revamped logos, and designed visual vocabulary for product and service offerings to better communicate with customers.
Designed brochures, flyers, pitch kits, direct mail samples, web pages, landing pages, content offerings, and email campaigns.
Worked closely with outsourced content marketing agency to oversee direction for monthly blog posts, social media management, and linking strategy.
Worked with a web developer to improve UX for software application.
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Caler & Company, Inc.
Graphic Design Intern
Assisted the creative team in a developing brand messaging and corporate communication materials.
Gained experience designing for a variety of mediums: logos and letterhead, die cut brochures, trifold mailers, newsletter layouts, drip marketing campaigns, PowerPoint presentations, banners and large format posters and product sell sheets.
Learned basic organizational and time management skills such as implementing a consistent file naming system to organize projects, tracking and recording design time and how to create an InDesign data merge.
Exposed to designing and documenting a corporate brand identity system.
Involved in meetings and brainstorming sessions for client needs.
Gained experience designing for a variety of mediums: logos and letterhead, die cut brochures, trifold mailers, newsletter layouts, drip marketing campaigns, PowerPoint presentations, banners and large format posters and product sell sheets.
Learned basic organizational and time management skills such as implementing a consistent file naming system to organize projects, tracking and recording design time and how to create an InDesign data merge.
Exposed to designing and documenting a corporate brand identity system.
Involved in meetings and brainstorming sessions for client needs.