Mark Kozak
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About
Mark is a talented creative Art Director/Graphic Designer who is passionate about design solutions. This is not work to me. Its what I love to do. I am able to turn vision into reality. Consummate team player. Coordinate multiple projects. Collaborate with inside contributors and outside vendors. I am an expert on the Mac and Adobe suite, strong attention to detail and the ability to change and adjust to any situation.
• 20+ Years of Creative/Art Director and management experience, in a high volume, corporate environment.
• Develop and maintain brand strategies. Concept and design corporate brand identities, publications and private label product (packaging) lines.
• Exceptional problem solver, offer new ideas for growth, budgeting and planning.
• Provide creative leadership, direction, vision, and motivation to team members.
• Coordinate, and collaborate with outside vendors and in-house resources to build consensus; ensure project targets, deadlines, and budget requirements are met. Prioritize and delegate, handle multiple projects simultaneously.
• Extensive experience and expert in print, online, prepress and all phases of design and production, from inception to launch.
• Expert in: Mac OSX; Adobe Suite CS6: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat Professional; Microsoft Office Suite; Quark XPress 8.5. Intermediate Knowledge in: HTML; CSS; Dreamweaver CS6; Flash CS6 and Windows.
Specialties: •Full Life Cycle Project Direction.
•Budget & Work Flow Strategies.
•Logo Design; Brand ID; Brand Style Guides;
• PACKAGING: Concept and design Packaging for over 10 new brand lines, with product lines of 2-15 SKU's; Expanded 6 current brand lines designing labels for an additional 2-20 SKU's.
•Developed 14 National Publications. Developed format and title logo design. Set up template files for features, columns, departments and developed style guide.
• Designed 200+ magazine covers.
• Designed 12 trade book covers. -
Education
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Bachelor of Fine Arts DegreeCalifornia State University-Fullerton1983 - 1987
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Experience
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Art DirectorAug 2009 - Present (15 years 3 months)Summary: Art Director of In-house Art & Design Department. Which includes: Manage Art & Design department; establish and stay on budget; establish and stay on schedule; coordinate and manage a team of up to 5 graphic designers. Collaborate and coordinate with outside vendors (printers, designers). Concept and design Corporate and Product Brand Identities, Logos, Catalogs, Advertisements, Label and Packaging, Brochures, Trade Show Booths, and all other marketing/corporate communication colateral.
• CORPORATE: Concept and design corporate Logo and brand ID. Which include Logo design for all divisions and marketing/communication materials.
• PACKAGING: Concept and design Packaging for over 10 new brand lines, with product lines of 2-15 SKU's; Expanded 6 current brand lines designing labels for an additional 2-20 SKU's.
• CATALOGS: Concept and design product catalogs. Manage production and design of over 90 catalogs per year, with page counts from 24 to 384.
• PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Set up and establish production work flows for Art and Design Department collaborating with other departments, which included routing system, scheduling, prioritizing and tracking.
• BUDGET: Establish and determine operating costs for the Art and Design department, which includes staffing, printing, design and materials for daily operations. Continuously looked for more effective and efficient processes to cut costs and still maintain the highest standards in quality.
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Art DirectorFreelanceAug 1988 - Present (36 years 3 months)Summary: CONCEPT, DIRECT & DESIGN: Logos; Brands; Brand style guides; Publications: New magazine, Redesign magazine, Title, Cover, Editorial Layout; Books; Directories; Catalogs; Posters; Newsletters; Advertisements; Brochures; Web; Graphics; Marketing; Promotional; Prototype; Mock-ups; Concepts; Sketching; Vector Art; Raster Art; PPT presentations; 2 Color; 4 Color (CMYK); 5 Color; PMS Color; Foil Stamping; Embossing; Dye Cutting; POP—Point of Purchase.
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Creative DirectorSMB CONNECTSFeb 2008 - Feb 2010 (2 years)Summary: Designed corporate logo and print collateral. Designed 3 Web sites, designed logos, bars, graphics, buttons, icons and all elements on site. Redesign of 3 National Magazines, which included concept, design, title logo, editorial layout, fonts, graphics and photography. Set up template files for features, column departments and style guide to maintain brand identity. Coordinated production cycle with editors and printer. Designed booklets and brochures used for promotional needs by sales staff.
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Creative DirectorEntrepreneur Media Inc.Sep 1989 - Aug 2008 (18 years 11 months)Creative Director for a broad range of revenue-generating design projects, including 11 national magazines from conception to launch, for print and Web.
Cover designs increase newsstand sales 33% from '04-'07 & helped make Entrepreneur mag the top selling "business magazine" on the newsstand from 2005 - July 2008
Defined the brand ID for 11 national publications. Format and title logo design.
Helped set up Entrepreneur brand internationally. In Mexico, Philippines, Russia, China, South Africa, Middle East and India
200+ magazine covers. 12 book covers including Start Your Own Business which is on Business Weeks bestseller list with over 200,000 copies sold.
Established cost effective plans to always stay under budget reduce costs and still maintain the highest standards in quality
Increased productivity by implementing specific work flow strategies. Met every deadline.
Provided superior leadership, direction and guidance for a team of 9+ diverse employees, mentored several staff members to obtain promotions. -
Instructor of Graphic DesignCal State FullertonJan 1997 - Jun 1998 (1 year 5 months)Create and develop course outlines, project guidelines, lectures and lecture materials and grade projects.
• GRAPHIC DESIGN 323A. Graphic design using Adobe Illustrator. Give lectures, assign and grade projects based on guidelines I set up for a class of about 40 students.
• GRAPHIC DESIGN 323B. Graphic design using Quark Xpress. Give lectures, assign and grade projects based on guidelines I set up for a class of about 40 students.
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Affiliations
AIGA
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Industries
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Skills
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Elsewhere on the Web
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On Coroflot@markkozak, member since 2008
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Following 2
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Followers 4
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