Professional Experience
- Work in a lead role to provide supervision and guidance to junior designers.
- Conceptualize designs for the parent company, Guaranteed Rate, its subsidiary companies (Guaranteed Rate Affinity, Proper Rate, Guaranteed Rate Insurance, Qualifi, Origin Point, @Properties, LEAD, Stearns, and Grow), and its realtors.
- Demonstrate effective communication and teamwork skills by identifying and solving challenges with the Creative Directors and Art Directors during meetings.
- Establish trusting relationships with outside vendors and key clients.
- Experience working as the Interim Creative Director, ensuring all designs were delivered according to concept and consistent with brand and style guidelines.
Guaranteed Rate
Nov 2019 - Present
Web Developer/Graphics Designer
Design, develop, and maintain websites and email newsletters/blasts with an eye for cross-browser compatibility and standards compliance. Utilize exceptional graphic design knowledge to formulate innovative marketing collateral such as postcards, social media graphics, print ads, billboards, lawn signage, brochures, booklets/pamphlets, vehicle wraps, and GIF animations. Create over 200 assets monthly in a high-volume, fast-paced work environment. Ensure that campaigns are accurate and in accordance with quality specifications.
- Performed competitive audits, instilled color philosophy, and researched user interaction to enhance functionality and usability for key audiences.
- Conducted user research through interviews and usability testing for clients and company before and after restructuring the e-commerce sales funnel and point-of-sale (POS).
- Conveyed design concepts and deliverables to clients and team members through in-person and remote presentations as well as through detailed and easily understood documentation.
Certified Line
10/2018 - 06/2019
UX/UI Designer (Consultant)
Designed new brand visual identity system to effectively convey concepts and company messaging. Ensured mock-ups met both visual and textual branding standards. Defined and documented website design standards when needed. Delivered high-quality design documents by ensuring proper proofreading, spell-checking, and accomplishment of color correction procedures. Sourced, composited, and retouched images for print and digital projects.
- Redesigned college and high school logos to be prepped for printing.
- Worked closely with team members to ensure overall brand cohesiveness.
- Inspected file quality before, during, and after the output of each production job based on established quality controls.
Credentials Solutions
02/2017 - 09/2018
Graphic Designer/Print Operations
Reached and connected with target audience at an affordable cost by developing branded marketing materials and presentation decks. Generated creative ideas and concepts to fulfill the advertising and marketing needs of clients. Actively researched industry trends to bring new ideas and applications to the company. Provided designs for various schools and towns under extremely tight deadlines. Manage image library, creative work files, and archive materials.
- Design highly effective and user-friendly responsive websites and mobile applications by leveraging advanced practical knowledge of various programming languages, including HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap inline with layout designed in Figma, Adobe Dreamweaver, and Adobe XD.
- Gather requirements from clients to discover user needs.
- Prototype visual design concepts and provide solutions for a new navigation system, resulting in a better user experience.
Independent Contractor
09/2012 – Present
Senior Visual/UX Designer (Contract/Project-Based)
Utilize visual design and branding expertise to help clients reach their target audience. Create strong design concepts and develop design layouts for a variety of creative projects using Adobe Creative Cloud. Design mock-ups for potential and existing clients to show how our applications would look if integrated into their systems. Design and generate fully interactive HTML prototypes and click-throughs, which are used for client presentations, mock-ups, as well as user-testing studies. Produce top-notch user experience documents: sketches, sitemaps, user flows, wireframes, mockups, and specifications. Coordinate, design, and maintain Shopify, WordPress, GoDaddy, Wix, and CSS/HTML websites. Boosted brand awareness and user engagement by developing interactive videos for company’s website, app, and social media platforms.
Skills
Programming Languages
- HTML
- HTML5
- CSS
- CSS3
- Bootstrap
Software & Tools
- Adobe XD
- Figma
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe After Effects
- Adobe Dreamweaver
- Adobe Premiere
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe Character Animator
Key Skills & Expertise
- Storyboarding
- Branding Strategist
- User Journey
- Information Architecture
- Project Management
- User Research
- User Stories
- Mobile/Console App Development
- Human-Centered Design
- Interaction Design
- Usability Design
Education
Colorado Technical University
Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (B.S.I.T)
Graphic Design/Web Development Specialization
Certification
Google UX Design (Click to view certificate)
References/Recommendations
A few words from clients, co-workers and acquaintances
I had the privilege of working with Donny during his time at Credentials Solutions. Although we were in different teams, his passion, creativity, and ambition were always noticeable. He is hard-working and always brings a positive attitude and approach to problem solving. Donny motivated me to always assume positive intent and I know he motivated others to do the same. He is a valuable addition and resource to any team!
I have worked in the past with Donny many times. His expertise in web development, front and back end, is top notch. As both a partner and client in the past, I recommend him and his plethora of artistic skills to anyone in need of the graphic design services that Donny expertly provides.
Donny is a forward thinking and ambitious individual. His motivation to consistently create content and challenge himself is admirable and a great asset. I can't think of a time I didn't see him pushing forward a new idea and working on new graphic projects. He handled his workload with professionalism and communicated well with our team and other departments. I have no reservations with recommending Donny as any team would be lucky to have him.
Donny is the consummate professional. The process of working with him was smooth and seamless end to end. His pricing was more than fair, and his turnaround time was sensitive to our project needs. Overall, I left our experience very satisfied with both the business side, and product delivered.
Donny is a fabulous worker! Quick learner, and extremely talented in design and execution! Donny is absolutely amazing to work with and brightens up the environment with his cheerful demeanour!
Donny and I were students at CTU. I had the pleasure of observing Donny "Work His Magic". Donny has extraordinary work ethics, and a great eye for detail. Donny was one of very few students who was able to complete a Graphic Design/Web Development Project before the due date, always receiving high honors. Donny is a perfectionist when is comes to his craft and creativity. Any organization to have Donny on their team would definitely consider him a valuable asset! Check out his portfolio, reach out! You won't be disappointed...