Who is Carmen McDonald?

Why the horizontal website? Just a few questions you may be wondering as you visit my website. Well let me start by saying, I am a former high school math teacher turned designer, interested in a career in Interaction Design & Information Architecture. Enrolled as a graduate student at IIT, this web portfolio was a project for my Standards-Based Web Design course. The assignment was to create "a solid and sound representation of yourself and your skills, based on your career or field of study/area of expertise" - in addition to being inspired! I have a passion for marketing & design and I was most interested in presenting my portfolio as a "showcase" - thus the horizontal layout. Hesitant because this defies the norm, I wanted to create a usable, accesible site that is unique, compliant and gracefully degrades in nonsupporting browsers. Hope you enjoy!

brand

To brand a service or product is to label it by a distinctive word or symbol, to indicate exclusive rights. What is showcased here are samples of logos and business cards that I created for clients as a freelance designer. When approaching logo design it is very important for me to consider the overall image and values of the business in which I am creating the logo for. Trying to stay away from anything too trendy, I usually opt for a clean "less is more" look. I also try to make use of bold, solid colors and typography to give it the extra appeal.

print

Though nearly extinct as the web has become our information super highway and number one resource, print is still one of my favorite mediums to design for. I envision print probably as most designers - an open two-dimensional canvas offering limitless possibilities with regards to size, color, shape and texture. Above are samples created for various clients including the African Festival of the Arts, photographers Jeff and Julia Woods, and Burrell Colour Imaging.

flash

Flash - Flash - Flash! WHOOOOOOOOOO - gives you shivers right!? A very exciting concept years ago as the web was progressing and constant movement on the internet was trend. I think now the flash "craze" has died down and user's aren't nearly as excited to see dancing Jesus' move across their screen when surfing the web. Flash is still cool in my opinion especially when it's done in moderation and used to enhance a site rather than dominate the message or purpose. I have often taken the suttle approach when using Flash for animation and the above movie was created for a client to be used within his website for custom closets.

e-blast

Email, E-blasts, all the same right?! Email has become one of the most popular forms of communication to date and most people don't even know that email was around long before the internet. With the world wide web, email has evolved from it's simple beginnings and made available to us with friendly interfaces provided by Yahoo and Hotmail (to name a few). The E-blasts(name given to email campaigns "launched" to masses of people) displayed in my portfolio were designed for some email marketer's whose lists include up to 60,000 addresses. I currently work at United Airlines where I produce email campaigns with as many as 4.5 million per launch.

WHEN & WHERE

• Web Campaign Producer

  United Airlines -- Elk Grove Village, Illinois -- January 2008 - Present

  • Populate links for tracking as well as edit content within HTML emails including international languages
  • Extensive use of segmentation tools, mass deployment and content management systems (Yesmail and Exact Target)
  • Utilize internet marketing principles to maximize success and profitability of Mileage Plus marketing initiatives
  • Manage multiple client/business owner expectations and generate reports of campaign details and launch accuracy

• Freelance Web/Graphic Designer

  120overRED -- Chicago, Illinois -- October 2003 - January 2008

  • Communicate details of the design process as well as implement solutions that support client goals
  • Supervise and collaborate with outside vendors to ensure consistency and quality of work on each project
  • Instrumental in acquiring accounts for small business owners through the creation of innovative visual materials
  • Design and re-design websites and e-marketing campaigns to drive business and meet consumer needs

• Web/Graphic Designer

  Burrell Professional Labs -- Crown Point, Indiana -- April 2006 - September 2007

  • Assisted Director of Marketing with B2B marketing strategies, industry research and program incentives for clients
  • Designed cross over campaigns and developed products resulting in an additional 2% revenue growth/month
  • Spearheaded company's web presence and redesign to improve interface usability, functionality and features
  • Created mass web templates and effectively managed client e-mail database and e-marketing campaigns

  HOW

  Software skills & Programming languages

  • Windows and Mac platforms ... Adobe CS5 (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash), Microsoft Office
  • Extensive use of CMA's and Social Media tools including Drupal, Wordpress, FaceBook and Twitter
  • XHTML, XML, HTML5, CSS3, jQuery, MySQL, JavaScript and GIT
  • Concrete knowledge of SEO, SEM, PPC, Webtrends, Google Analytics, Affinium Campaign Management, Yesmail and Exact Target.

  Education

  • M.S. Information Architecture (Tentative - 2011) -- Illinois Institute of Technology -- Current
  • School of Architecture Study Abroad -- Tongji University, Shanghai, PRC -- Summer 2000
  • B.S. Architecture -- University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign -- May 2000