I believe that good design is not only beautiful, but also discretely works hard—to communicate important information, tell a story, evoke an emotion…or elicit a purchase.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

With more than 15 years' experience across the globe, I excel at collaboratively solving design problems, whatever they may be.

SOFTWARE + SKILLS

Most of my work these days happens in Figma. Most of my career has been spent working extensively within most Adobe programs including XD, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and a bit of Premiere and After Effects. I used Sketch while it was the popular industry standard. I've experimented with Haiku animator to make Lottie animations for the web.

I also have working knowledge of front end programing languages including html5, css (yes, please!), javascript (no, thank you!), and experience designing and building custom wordpress themes. I've also made or managed websites built with SquareSpace and Shopify, and have recently been introduced to WebFlow. 

Tech I can't live without: Google, Dropbox, Slack and especially Spotify. 

RESUME / CV

Pinwheel Content

Remote (SF Bay Area, CA)
— Senior/Lead Designer

Pair of Thieves

Remote (Culver City, CA)
— Freelance In-House Digital, Marketing & E-Commerce Design Lead

RLD: Rick Lowe Design

Remote (SF Bay Area, CA)
— Freelance Lead Digital & Website Designer

Drive Marketing Group

Portland, OR
— Freelance Senior Lead Designer

MetaDesign Zurich

Zurich, Switzerland
— Freelance Senior Designer (2D) / Lead Digital Designer

Code + Theory London

London, UK
— Freelance Digital Art Director / Lead Digital Designer 

Merchant Cantos

London, UK
— Freelance and Permanent Senior Digital Designer

Unilever

London, UK
— Freelance In-House Designer, Global Marketing & Design HQ 

MetaDesign San Francisco

San Francisco, CA
— Lead Designer, Senior Designer, Designer

Method Inc.

San Francisco, CA
— Designer

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE

Academy of Art University
— Design Educator
While simultaneously working as a designer in London I was also a design educator for the Academy of Art University San Francisco's online graphic design department and led the course "Nature of Interaction" for 7 consecutive semesters. I stopped to make time for my then about-to-be-born daughter, Mia.

EDUCATION

Front End Web Development
General Assembly, London
2013–2014

BFA Graphic Design
Academy of Art University, San Francisco 
2003–2008

PERSONAL NOTES

London > Portland
— 2018

Mia Lahdesmaki
— born March 2017 in London

SF > London
— 2012

Napa > SF
— 2003

REFERENCES

Provided upon request.