Mike Swenson, Art Director, Graphic Designer in Houston, TX

About

I am an art director and graphic designer with an ad agency and print background. I’m a creative and flexible designer, experienced collaborating with other team members to create design and branding strategies that are relevant, dynamic, client-driven and consistent.

I have extensive experience at an expert level using the Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat) in fast paced, deadline-driven environments. I have the print production knowledge, photo retouching experience, accuracy, speed and attentiveness to create high caliber design from concept through completion. I also have extensive experience working closely with commercial printers and external vendors on the final press checks and print proofing.

Education

BFA Graphic Design

Texas State University

1978 - 1981

Experience

Art Director

The Em Group

Advertising design and concepting in a contract freelance capacity for new home and new community developers including Cinco Ranch, Eagle Springs, Johnson Development, Sienna Homes, Taylor Morrison, Tuscan Lakes, as well as others, for an ad agency whose focus is this industry. I created new concepts for Cinco Ranch and Taylor Morrison that were selected by the clients to be the final ads from several concepts that were submitted. I also did a lot of print production alongside the art direction.
Designer of Marketing and Promotions

Alley Theatre

Design for play visual identities, artwork and collateral marketing materials: advertising, posters, internal and external signage, banners, and billboards. Press proofing of all jobs. In this position I used QuarkXpress, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, MS Word and Office, working closely with marketing directors and creative directors to create projects from concept to completion. J. Walter Thompson Specialized Communications
Advertising Designer

Design

newspaper and magazine recruitment advertising for agency clients Compaq, Tenet, Duke Energy and others. In this position I used QuarkXpress, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, MS Word and Office. I would receive a new ad order, then would resize and layout the new ad using the existing ad master format for that client. Then send it for changes and client approvals, then to the newspaper or magazine running the ad, all within two days.
Graphic Designer

Contract freelance positions

Present

The Lee Group Advertising design and print production for an advertising and marketing agency consisting of newspaper and magazine print ads, web banner ads, email blasts, direct mail and marketing collateral for the following agency clients: Broadway Bank, CommunityBank of Texas, First Victoria Bank, KelseySeybold, St. Luke's, The 100 Club, and others.
Assistant Art Director

Vacation Publications Inc.

Magazine design and layout, as well as all print production, on three travel magazines ('Where To Retire', 'Vacations' and 'Travel 50 & Beyond') for a company that specializes in online cruise discounting (Vacations To Go), in a contract freelance capacity.
Art Director

StollerUSA Inc.

Art direction for a global corporation that specializes in plant growth enhancement. I did corporate, branding-directed art direction as well as graphic design, creating files in QuarkXpress, selecting and modifying photography in Photoshop, with occasional logos, maps and other artwork created in Illustrator on Pc platform. I designed direct mail, product labels, ads, brochures, promotional pieces, as well as the branding for a new product line aimed at the golfing turf market (rollout promotional items, a folder/sales packet, product labels and direct mail).
Graphic Designer/Production Artist

Invesco Inc.

Graphic designer for a global investment advisory firm (formerly AIM Management) designing and revising investor relations print collateral. Working mainly with InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator, creating logos, maps, charts and graphs as needed. I worked very closely with management and print production staff to design and revise all investor relations and corporate print collateral for the global markets this company serves. Stewart Title
Production Artist

Fogarty Klein Advertising

Print production on corporate and consumer advertising and collateral for an ad agency. Creation and revision of all agency client advertising and marketing materials using QuarkXpress, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, MS Word and Office. I worked closely with creative directors, art directors, ad executives, and production managers to create projects from concept to completion.
Full-time positions

University of St. Thomas

Skills

On Coroflot

@mikeswenson, member since 2011

Followers 1

Mike Swenson

Design Manager

Visiting Instructor of Graphic Design/Visual Arts