Gary Smith, Partner/Art Director

General Creative Design Skills Include:

The ability to develop creative concepts guided by marketing objectives and enterprise goals, including publications, brochures and travel guides, annual reports, display materials, sales and presentation materials, advertising, signage, promotional and point-of-purchase materials and other collateral materials; static and dynamic web design and production; digital print production; print production purchasing and supervision.

Accustomed to meeting budgets and schedules for concurrent projects.
Lead staff and freelance artists, editors, illustrators and photographers to develop optimum creative solutions. Capable of training all levels of employees, from entry level to advanced, in design, production, preflight, and web design and production.
Expert use of QuarkXPress, Adobe Creative Suite and other common graphics software. The latest versions of all software is currently used.
Expert knowledge of Macintosh system (9.2.2 and OSX), including troubleshooting; excellent knowledge of Windows systems and software, including data migration between platforms. Experience in establishing and managing workflow servers and tracking databases (ACT!, FileMaker, FullPress Xynet OPI).
Able to translate printed products, such as publications, into effective and informative web sites, using industry-standard web production and authoring software (QuarkXPress, Adobe Creative Suite, GoLive/Dreamweaver).

General Creative Management Skills Include:

Expert in design and implementation of creative management systems, including organization of efficient workflow (traffic) systems; development of vendor bidding procedures; creation of work-in-progress database for more effective project management, traffic systems and digital asset management and version control.

Implementation of standards for digital design and production; training artists in procedures and production techniques.
Experience in implementation of quality assurance procedures to ensure accuracy and accountability.
Substantial experience in estimating expenses of print and prepress projects, preparing and presenting proposals to customers and prospects; cost tracking, budget compliance, profit-and-loss responsibility and financial and production reporting.
Experienced personnel manager: write job descriptions, solicit candidates, review and make hiring decisions, manage performance and discipline, terminations.
Excellent presentation skills to all levels of employees and management.

Employment History

Summary: Continuous employment in commercial graphics, including positions as graphic artist, production manager, art director and creative director for publications, agencies and design studios, handling greater authority and scope of work.

Principal/Creative Director
Wells-Smith Partners, Lilburn, GA

Company: Content development firm specializing in travel, tourism and hospitality industries, but also significant general graphics and marketing projects.

Duties: Produce editorial and graphic content for marketing and other collateral materials. Print and web-based design, production, programming and manufacturing.

Creative Director/Creative Services Director

Company: Periodicals publishing company; primarily tourism and hospitality. Creative Services Department provides digital design and production services for company-owned and contract publications.

Duties: Supervision of eight creative/production and five editorial employees, including creative direction, production scheduling and management, business management (including pricing and billing of services), liaison with account representatives and customers. Provide creative concepts for publications and collateral material, collaboration with editors, sales reps, advertisers and customers.

Web thematic concepts, interface design, graphic appearance and coding.
Established pricing, estimating and billing system for creative and production services.
Created and managed team to redesign ad production workflow; developed procedures for daily use.
Developed cost/benefit scenarios for the successful acquisition of in-house scanning, production file server, film (contract) proofing capability and digital proofing.

Director of Creative Services

Company: Commercial printer. Creative Services Department provided digital design and electronic production and prepress services to external and internal customers.

Duties: Supervision of three employees. Creative direction; management of production and digital prepress services; liaison with account representatives and customers; scheduling; services development, specification and pricing; estimating, billing, and profit and loss accountability.

Creative concept, copywriting, design and digital production of collateral
Web creative design, copywriting, and programming
Managed planning, specifications, configuration, and upgrades to Novell, Macintosh, and PC/Windows networks, including design and maintenance of ACT! multi-user sales database and remote mail server. Develop procedural guidelines for technical support, troubleshooting, and evolution of new services.
Achievements: Established standards for digital production; specified and supervised acquisition and installation of new equipment; implemented scheduling, timekeeping and reporting procedures (resulting in an increase in billable hours); created pricing guides.

Graphic Services Manager
Company: Company specializes in warehousing and fulfillment of promotional literature for Fortune 500 companies. Graphic Services Department supports marketing campaigns of customers.

Duties: Supervision of five employees. Department capabilities included Macintosh and PC graphic design, digital production and prepress, offset printing and bindery.

Departmental pricing and billing
Corporate purchasing
Production management and traffic
Coordination and liaison with account executives and customers.
Member of Quality Steering Committee, with specialization in process flow diagramming of workflow processes
Write and edit company newsletter

Achievements: Established electronic production standards; supervised acquisition of new equipment and software; created centralized scheduling and timekeeping. Implemented centralized purchasing processes.

Project Leader/Digital Textbook Composition and Production
Company: Company specialized in digital production of textbooks.

Duties: Included extremely accurate digital artwork production from approved designs provided by major textbook publishers.

Project management of large-scale textbooks (up to 900 pages in length); established work priorities and scheduled other typesetters and layout artists; monitored quality assurance; generated status reports to customers.
Established template files to customer’s specifications; created libraries and standing art from supplied files; trap files as required and prepare for imaging; general typesetting, layout and production.

Art Director, and Print Production Manager
Contract positions for marketing and advertising agencies

Duties: Responsible for graphic design and art direction of print collateral materials for marketing and promotions; direct photographers and illustrators; prepare digital art files for imaging; supervise print manufacturing.

Prior to 1990: art director for consumer and trade magazines, marketing group art director, corporate communications art director for newspaper publisher and co-founder of advertising/marketing agency in Northern Virginia.

General Web Design and Development Skills Include:

Design concept; user interface development; graphic design and production for web; HTML/CSS/XHTML/JAVASCRIPT coding for static and dynamic sites; installation, content loading, customization and maintenance of HTML, SHTML and PHP sites; search engine and code optimization; web host maintenance.

The sites listing were produced using the skills noted above:

Your Employee Handbook: www.youremployeehandbook.com
Office Employee Handbook: www.office-employee-handbook.com
Contractor Employee Handbook: www.contractor-employee-handbook.com
Manufacturer Employee Handbook: www.manufacturer-employee-handboook.com
Retail Employee Handbook: www.retail-employee-handbook.com
Restaurant Employee Handbook: www.restaurant-employee-handbook.com
Feline Follies: www.felinefollies.com
Douglasville Convention & Visitors Bureau: www.visitdouglasvillecvb.com
Douglasville Downtown Development Authority: www.douglasvilledda.com
Keep Douglasville Beautiful: www.keepdouglasvillebeautiful.org
DEC Internation, Inc.: www.dec-international.com
Where to Live and Golf: www.wheretoliveandgolf.com
Gwinnett Commnunity Band: www.gwinnettband.org
Penny Mac Hydrangea Festival: www.pennymchydrangeafestival.com
Plus 1 Micro: www.plus1micro.com
Escape to the Southeast Travel: www.escapetothesoutheast travel.com

Professional Awards:

Magazine Association of Georgia, 1998 MAGGIE Awards
General Excellence, Silver, Atlanta On the Go Magazine
General Excellence, Bronze, Southern Lifestyles Magazine
Best Single Issue, Gold, Southern Lifestyles Magazine
Best Design, Gold, Atlanta On the Go Magazine
Magazine Association of Georgia 1999, MAGGIE Awards
General Excellence, Gold, Southern Lifestyles Magazine
General Excellence, Silver, Southern Lifestyles Magazine
Best Single Issue, Gold, Southern Lifestyles Magazine
Best Design, Bronze, Atlanta On the Go Magazine
Best Single Issue, Silver, Target Atlanta Magazine
Numerous additional awards for HABITAT Atlanta Magazine (Atlanta Apartment Association) and Buckhead Guide Book (Buckhead Coalition).
Mature Media Awards
General Excellence, Silver, Southern Lifestyles Magazine, Summer 1998
General Excellence, Bronze, Southern Lifestyles Magazine, Fall 1998
General Excellent, Gold, Georgia Generations and Michigan Generations, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007 (several issues)
General Excellent, Silver, Georgia Generations and Michigan Generations, 2003, 2006, 2007 (several issues)
General Excellent, Bronze, Georgia Generations and Michigan Generations, 2007 (several issues)
American Public Transit Association, Gold Award, Atlanta On the Go Magazine.
Print Magazine Regional Design Annual, Regional honors for three logo designs.
Tennessee Metro Association, Gold Award for Sevierville Outlet Factory Signage design.

Want more information about the companies Gary has worked with? Just e-mail us.