the designer

California State University, Sacramento
August 1999 - December 2005
Bachelor of Science in Graphic Design, Minor in Communication Studies

Placer High School
August 1995 - May 1999
High School Diploma
Emphasis in studies on Art and Design
High honors and honors in English

Nielsen Norman Group
June 2007
Fundamental Guidelines for Web Usability

Human Factors International
March 2007
User-Centered Analysis and Conceptual Design

UC Davis Extension
Fall 2006
Intro to Project Management

Comfortable in both PC and Mac environments

Applications

Adobe: Acrobat Professional, After Effects, Designer, Dreamweaver, Flash, Illustrator, ImageReady, InDesign, Photoshop

Microsoft: Access, Excel, Frontpage, PowerPoint, Publisher, Visio, Word

Languages: HTML, Javascript, Actionscript, CSS

Design

Develops the concepts and compositions for promotional displays and marketing collateral for events, products and services to meet organizational requests; Develops the design and layout of publications for both press and online publication; Develops distinctive logos and sub-identities for projects, programs, units, divisions and branches to encourage team building and structure; Develops and implements guidelines for design, such as internal logo standards, etc.; Works with web maintenance and development teams to create graphics for web sites and web applications;

Facilitation

Facilitates meetings and focus groups to develop requirements for design concepts; Works with customer to identify internal stakeholders; Conducts research through focus groups, user interviews and surveys; Presents products to peers and management for review; Defines and conducts quality assurance measures for projects; Provides usability and design consultation and mentoring services to all levels of CalSTRS staff.

Communication / Marketing

Develops templates for documents, forms and presentations for staff; Communicates with business end users in order to determine needs, indicate progress and provide customer service; Analyzes user goals, target audience, long and short term goals to develop communication and marketing plans; Creates interactive materials for marketing and education; Collaborates with internal business partners to develop internal and/or external communication plans, as well as implement concept into final form; Facilitates meetings with internal stakeholders to review and gauge effectiveness of communication activities;

User Interface Design / Usability Analyst

Creates HTML eNewsletters and eFlyers for distribution electronically; Develops conceptual prototypes for user interface design of web sites and web applications by analyzing and interpreting business requirements, and working with the project team; Aids in the testing of web sites and applications for usability and accuracy; Applies principles of human-computer interaction, comprehension, learning, and aesthetics and works with business analysts to develop prototypes for web sites and web applications; Participates in quality assurance peer reviews of business requirements, business and technical specifications, test documentation, and code; Acts as technological specialist concerning human-interface design; Communicates with business end users in order to determine needs, indicate progress and provide customer service; Participates in discussions that involve design and layout of products; Reviews, edits, drafts and revises reports, project documentation, user guides for proper content, composition and layout, in addition to reviewing other products for team members.