Pamela Golafshar

Design Director

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

George Fox University

LinkedIn Learning:

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