Monica Gussow
Designer
Seattle, WA, United States
Member since February 9, 2017
Monica is a multidisciplinary art director and designer bringing a decade and a half of experience to the table. She's spent the first part of her career designing for national magazines like People and CosmoGIRL. More recently, she's been building brands through visual design and art-direction—creating websites, identities, various digital and print collateral, and more.
Monica is now available for hire
Employment
- Senior Designer | Art Director2015 - PRESENTHammerquist Studios
- Worked for clients including Hydro Flask, Kokatat, Sea to Summit, Polartec, CMH, K2 Skis, and more.
- Acted as the lead creative and designer on efforts large and small including website builds, tablet apps, product launches, ad campaigns, brand strategy, and identity creation.
- Completed day-to-day duties including a mix of UX, graphic design, art direction, and photo shoot planning.
- Handled all the aspects of creative direction including everything from initial conceptualizing through to final production.
- Conducted UX discovery and design of various eCommerce website redesigns.
Technologies: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Adobe DPS, InVision - Freelance Art Director2013 - 2015Outdoor Research
- Laid out a direct-to-consumer catalog including selling spreads and storytelling spreads.
- Created master pages and detailed style sheets for all typography throughout the books.
- Planned and art-directed all the still-life photography.
- Completed the final production work; including preflighting the document and shipping to printer.
Technologies: Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop - Art Director2012 - 2013Eddie Bauer
- Art-directed and designed special issues and sections of Eddie Bauer and First Ascent catalogs; including page layout and seasonal creative concepts.
- Partnered with merchandising/photo teams to ensure that the creative execution should be based on business needs.
- Developed styling and shot lists for still-life and on-figure shoots.
- Handled and was responsible for final production which included approving color correction and maintaining specs and libraries.
Technologies: Adobe InDesign - Freelance Senior Designer2010 - 2012Prevention, The Knot, All You, and Dash Magazines
- Handled and was responsible for the entire layout and design including: high-level design concepts; layouts; editing film from photo shoots; flowing, styling and routing all text, and completing the final production checklists.
- Crafted the tablet design for All You and Dash including: conceptualizing prototype editions, adapting the existing print content for digital media, and programming various interactive features.
- Revolutionized, built, and maintained style sheets, style guides, design libraries, and master templates for All You and Dash (both print and tablet editions).
Technologies: Adobe InDesign, Adobe Digital Publishing Suite - Associate Art Director2009 - 2010People Magaine (Time, Inc.)
- Designed features, special sections, and special issues of the magazine.
- Worked creatively under strict weekly printing deadlines.
Technologies: Adobe InDesign, Adobe Digital Publishing Suite
Education
- Bachelor's degree in Communication1999 - 2002Boston College - Brighton, MA, USA
Experience
- Graphic Design14 years
- Catalog Design5 years
- Art Direction5 years
- Web Design4 years
- Visual Design4 years
- eCommerce Design4 years
- User Experience (UX)4 years
