About me

Visual storytelling is my brand.

From capturing an authentic attitude through a color palette to balancing intimate whispers with delicate details and punctuation, I combine a wide range of artistic techniques, analytic problem-solving, cultural intuition, and marketing experience to personify the nuanced wonder of brands who have a story to tell, a truth to spread, and a culture to inspire. As a traditionally trained visual artist, I bring an energetic curiosity to my methodology of navigating the systematic world of design by finding new solutions to withstanding roadblocks and approaching fresh opportunities with vigor and innovation. With over twenty years of artistic training and creative experience, ten years of professional design, and five years of creative leadership, I have learned the bounds of color theory, visual composition, creative process, brand development, and social media strategy, in addition to advancing technical skills in painting, writing, illustration, photography, sculpture, web development, and video using the Adobe Creative suite, fabrication, printing technologies; including printing on various fabrics, and new media such as laser cutting and 3D printing.

My passion for combining artistic principles with creative strategy to produce impact-driven design propels the desire to cultivate stories of companies and organizations through artistic leadership and creative management. Working as a Creative Manager at United Way of the National Capital Area I gained valuable experience in both managing brands and creative as I led the organization through a global brand refresh by implementing new standards and guidelines across all marketing collateral and digital channels and localizing the brand for maximum efficiency within our area that served three unique communities. This position birthed the passion for using art techniques and cultural intuition in the form of creative strategy to make a lasting social impact. It was my daily mission to discover innovative ways to make our organizational mission matter to larger audiences by forming and improving relationships with key companies, organizations, and government bodies in the communities, which increased social engagement, as well as staff involvement. To do this I tried to infuse as much humanity as possible across all of our touchpoints including social media, paid media; digital and television, social campaigns, community events and services, as well as donor engagement and fundraising efforts to create a truly active and engaging brand that the public could trust, support, and rely on.

After managing the United Way brand, I then went on to work at an association management company by the name of Verto Solutions in which I managed eight association brands simultaneously. Originally I was hired as the Digital Communications Associate in charge of managing and developing each association's creative but my passion for branding compelled me to exracurricularly modernize each brand. For each organization, I started fresh on every project to capture and exude the spirit of the associations at every opportunity. This position gave me incredible creative strategy experience in addition to brand strategy as I was responsible for branding the conferences hosted by the associations, of which were about three to four annually per organization. It was thrilling for me to compose innovative event branding that sought to inspire members who had attended the same annual conferences for the past decade new motivation and excitement for participation. By seeking imaginative creative approaches to event collateral, email marketing, and web design, each association saw an increase in conference participation as well as received positive feedback from key stakeholders including executive staff, board members, and trustees. Impressed by the tenacity and level of my work ethic, leadership and creative passion, the management team offered me a promotion to Creative Services Manager within my first year.

In each position, I have felt I left the departments with better tools for creative management and production. Each day, with each task, I will seek creative innovation through ideation and process to develop and evolve stunning global brands. It would be a privilege to bring my talents to and learn from your extraordinary team!

I look forward to the opportunity of speaking further.

Skills

Art Direction, book binding, brand development, budget management, Color Theory, creative writing, crisis management, data visualization, digital drawing, Digital Marketing, Event Branding, Illustration, infographics, Large-format Print Design, logo design, Multi-page Layout Design, Painting, Photo Editing, photo manipulation, Photography, presentation design, Print Design, project management, risk assessment, Scholarly Writing, social media graphics, social media strategy, Visual Ad Campaigns, Web Development, web graphics

Sector Experience

Charity / Not for profit, Communications, contemporary art, digital design, Fine Art, Painting & Sculpture, Marketing, Social Network / Community

Awards

Art on Paper Painting Exhibition, 2nd Place, Columbian College of Arts & Science Scholarship, Connect the Dots Art Exhibition, Best in Show, Dedulas Fellowship, Nominee, Graduate Fellow of the Year, Nominee, GW Student Employee of the Year, Nominee, Kate & Harry W. Davies Memorial Award, Mentor of the Year Award, Morris Lewis Fellowship, Oschman Endowment Scholarship, Resident Advisor of the Year

Recommendations
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Currently No Recommendations
Availability
Looking for work
Achievements
Annual 2021 ShortlistWhat Freedom?Social Good
Project featured:What Freedom?
on 8th September 2021
Contributor:

Danielle Smith has been a Contributor since 25th November 2015.

Invite x3
Contract
Perm, Freelance, Temp-Perm, Part time, Remote
Location
London, United Kingdom
Skill Level
Middleweight, Senior, Director
Languages
English, Spanish, French, Mandrian
Creativepool member since 8 October 2019