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Pamela Golafshar

Creative strategist and visual designer with over 20 years of experience, who understands the ins and outs of building and expressing a brand. Detail-oriented, skilled in blending storytelling and strategic thinking, I have a deep understanding of how to utilize the power of design to align business objectives with campaign strategy. I strive to inspire brand loyalty through hands-on visual design and user experience, and have an unending desire for continuous improvement. 

Experience

Design Director

August 2022–November 2022
Clario | Remote
  • Created, fostered and delivered creative concepts that met strategic briefs and expectations across all channels, digital and traditional, for global pharmaceutical contract research organizations (CROs) in the clinical trial industry
  • Managed creative studio operations including best practices for project workflow, strategic creative development, and asset management
  • Launched illustration guidelines to expand Clario’s new brand identity
  • Led and motivated creative team to produce best-in-class communications while ensuring consistent quality across all components
  • Developed visual concepts to address specific marketing objectives as defined by briefs, demonstrating an understanding of stakeholder business challenges
  • Worked with external vendors to provide creative direction on outsourced projects
  • Utilized data analytics to evaluate and improve campaign success
  • Researched, recommended and developed imagery to support impactful creative strategy and execution; presented concepts and designs to stakeholders
  • Collaborated with account services, web development and other functional leaders to align cross functional design strategies with business objectives
  • Created visualizations to help improve cross-functional communication and workflow efficiency for everyone throughout project lifecycle

Senior Art Director

September 2019–August 2022
Six Degrees | Scottsdale, AZ
  • Art direction, visual design and creative strategy in a fast-paced agency setting 
  • Produced high-quality work for B2B and B2C clients: branding and campaign identity, print collateral, digital media, advertising, websites, trade show materials, presentations, packaging, emails, banner ads, social media, video, animation, etc.
  • Provided critical feedback to other team members, mentoring junior designers and leading collaborative brainstorming sessions
  • Developed branding and creative visuals for clinical trials, HCP and DTC campaigns
  • Presented visual concepts and provided rationale for design executions
  • Collaborated with stakeholders at all levels
  • Projects include redesigning, wireframing, prototyping and overseeing development of the agency’s own website, improving the functional design and user experience, and elevating the brand in a competitive marketplace
  • Clients include healthcare/pharma, insurance, etc.: Johnson & Johnson, Abbott, Stryker, Genentech, Align, Nationwide, ThermoFisher, QSR, Varian

Senior Graphic Designer, Contract

April 2019–September 2019
Yeager Marketing | Scottsdale, AZ 
  • Art direction and visual design at an award-winning agency in the B2B/SAAS technology industry
  • Print, digital and web design, social media, infographics, branding identity and campaign collateral
  • Led a brand redesign project, working directly with client and stakeholders
  • Clients include Dell, CenturyLink, Cisco, Riverbed, NetApp, Puppet, Pure Storage, Veeam, TechData, Weka 

Creative Director

June 2018–March 2019
ITA Group | Remote
  • Developed communication strategies and provided creative direction to a team of project managers, art directors, writers, designers and video artists in a high-pressure agency environment
  • Collaborated with business teams to create incentive programs for clients that motivated and engaged their employees, channel partners and customers
  • Developed creative briefs that mapped campaign strategy and vision, ensuring alignment with the brand and business objectives across multiple touchpoints 
  • Created work informed by data and user feedback, working with user research to improve campaign effectiveness 
  • Managed campaign budgets and profitability on six-figure accounts
  • Created experiential event concepts and large-scale signage plans for events including conferences, sales meetings and business events
  • Clients include Red Hat, F5, Home Depot, Plantronics

Creative Director

September 2015–June 2018
Zoe Organics | Remote
  • Creative direction, omni-channel design and organic growth marketing strategy for an organic skincare company
  • Created the visual identity and creative vision for the brand, ensuring brand integrity across all platforms including retail POP, packaging, website, social media, advertising, photography and B2B presentations
  • Participated in strategic business planning at the executive level, developing customer-centric creative strategy in tandem with business strategy and goals
  • Art directed photo shoots for products and lifestyle photography
  • Created and implemented website redesign on Shopify, including customizing code, which helped improve customer experience and increase sales by 30%

Creative Director

Creative Director: June 2014–July 2015
Acting Creative Director: September 2013–June 2014
The Vine | Hong Kong
  • Creative direction, communications strategy and brand management for an in-house non-profit organization
  • Direct manager of a culturally diverse team, providing leadership through inspiration, coaching, collaboration and mentoring 
  • Managed team’s productivity, timelines and budget 
  • Oversaw deliverables for print, digital, video, animation, social media, illustration and photography, ensuring alignment with campaign vision
  • Increased audience engagement by developing thematic visual concepts and engineering execution of environmental and experiential designs
  • Grew the department into a full-service, in-house creative agency
  • Managed a team of volunteer creatives in the local community, empowering and fostering new ideas and leading the execution of experiential events
  • Hired, managed and provided creative direction for third-party creative vendors
  • Developed the branding and provided creative direction for an international conference; integrated an informal human-centered design thinking approach to improve the attendee experience YOY

Graphic Designer

October 2012–September 2013
The Vine | Hong Kong
  • Designed comprehensive branding for each speaking series, including deliverables: poster series, presentation templates, social media, digital collateral and supporting printed materials
  • Supported other in-house departments with graphic design needs

Graphic Designer

Graphic Designer: February 2002–November 2004
Assistant Graphic Designer: November 2001–February 2002
Portland Art Museum | Portland, OR
  • Provided in-house graphic design for a world-renowned art museum
  • Designed print ads, outdoor banners, posters, brochures and other printed materials for exhibitions, educational programs and events at the museum
  • Received a promotion within the first few months due to work ethic, learning agility, high quality standards and design aesthetic

Owner/Visual Designer/Consultant

1999–present
Yellow Heron Design
  • Freelance design services and consultation for clients worldwide
  • Industries include NGOs, publishers, product manufacturers, writers and artists
  • Clients include Thomson Reuters, Pearson Education Asia, Black Lawrence Press, Azusa Pacific University, The Hummingfish Foundation

Leadership qualities

  • Leads with authenticity and emotional intelligence
  • Honest and effective communication
  • Empowers team members
  • Supportive mentor
  • Active listener
  • Inspires big-picture dreaming 
  • Strategic/critical thinker
  • Responsible and dependable
  • Leads with empathy
  • Builds teams and culture
  • Teaches advanced design skills
  • Comfortable executing decisions
  • Current with industry trends
  • Intellectually curious; enthusiastic about continuous improvement at all levels

Skills

  • Creative direction, art direction
  • Creative and conceptual strategy
  • Design management
  • Flexible, adaptable
  • Agile learner
  • Motivated, driven
  • Creative problem-solver
  • Detail-oriented
  • Organized and analytical
  • Excellent ability to communicate and collaborate
  • Project management
  • Branding and identity, brand development, advertising, marketing
  • Typography, illustration, social media
  • Visual, graphic and digital design, web design, UI/UX design
  • Strong understanding of design thinking methodology

Software

  • Adobe Creative Suite (CS)
  • Adobe InDesign (LinkedIn Skills Assessment Badge: Top 5%)
  • Adobe Illustrator (LinkedIn Skills Assessment Badge: Top 5%)
  • Adobe Photoshop (LinkedIn Skills Assessment Badge: Top 15%)
  • Adobe XD, Figma, Sketch
  • WordPress, Webflow, HTML/CSS
  • Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook
  • Communication/collaboration apps (Teams, Slack, Google apps, etc.)
  • Project management apps (Asana, Workamajig, etc.)
  • Digital asset management apps (Frontify, Dropbox, etc.)

Education/Certifications

Greenville University

September 1996–June 1997
Greenville, IL
Major: Music Theory & Composition

George Fox University

September 1994–May 1996
Newberg, OR
Major: Piano Performance

LinkedIn Learning:

  • UX Foundations
  • UX Design
  • Design Thinking
  • Storytelling for Designers
  • Critical Thinking
  • Learning Design Research