A well designed print piece can serve as a scythe to cut through the daily digital clutter and put you front-of-mind.
Attractive design, prompt revisions, and evolving content keep digital media immediately relevant and super cost-effective.
Your brand identity is your promise and your calling card. It should reflect the values, qualities and unique differentiators of why your brand exists.
A picture is worth a thousand words. I am adept at digital and traditional illustration for anything from an album cover to an infographic or icon.
Design is a passion for me.
I get great satisfaction in crafting design solutions that not only meet, but exceed people’s expectations. Surprised and happy clients are the fuel for my creative motor.
Every little thing I see, touch, and hear influences my aesthetic. I absorb everything I like and store it for later reference. I’ll occasionally buy stuff I don’t really need because it’s in a “cool package”. I annoy friends while watching movies or TV because I pick out the fonts by name. Curiosity is one of my biggest allies and I am constantly sketching, taking notes, and shooting photos.
— I Am a Designer —
Some Recent Projects
Below is just a sample of what I have created for clients. Give me your challenge – I’m ready to rise to the occasion.
Brand Awareness OminChannel Advertising
Omnichannel advertising of Business Banking products and services. Shown are examples of META still and animated online ads, magazine ads, direct mail pieces and a downloadable informational book for small businesses.
In-Branch Collateral
In addition to outward-facing advertising efforts, all Southeast Bank products are promoted by materials that are positioned within the branches themselves. Shown here are a pull-up banner, a counter brochure, and a large screen rotating ad.
Project Details
Product Materials and Logos
During my 5+ year tenure at SouthEast bank, many of the projects I worked on involved branding and promoting their numerous excellent products and services.
Frame 1: A flexible and efficient product and promotional brochure folder that could easily adapt to either business or consumer banking purposes. I designed numerous brochure and buckslip inserts that could be quickly rotated for specific promotions and channel use.
Frame 2 and 3: Logos that I designed for product offerings. Thrive is an account that offers benefits to those customers aged 60+. Pathway was a mortgage program originally developed to assist in a specific type of home loan, and HERO was an account that was to offer special benefits to First Responders.
Frame 4: I was tasked with a rebrand of SouthEast Bank and Education Loan FInance’s parent holding company ELFI Inc.. Shown below these two logos is the resulting ELFI Inc. logo I created and the derivation of that same logo that was tweaked to represent the familial nature and more progressive look of the Education Loan Finance brand.
– Christel Swift
Quarterly In-Branch Publication
Available for free in our lobbies, Life magazine’s purpose was to inform our customers with new banking industry and security information. Different topics of community interest were also covered as well as highlighting local individuals of impact. SouthEast Bank product charts were included for ease of account type comparison and explanation for use by our tellers or for the customer to later refer to at their own leisure. Advertisements featuring various SEB products were also included.
In-Branch TV Screen Animation
An animated quiz shown on large monitors in SouthEast Bank branches to educate customers on how to maintain the security of their identity, bank accounts, and other online activities.
Various Clients
Frame 1: During my time as a contract designer at Jones Lang Lasalle, I was tasked with creating a logo for their environmental initiatives for the buildings they held. I devised a modular concept that could be used for each facet of this initiative as it was implemented.
Frame 2: Logos I created for some Florida businesses on a freelance basis.
New Product Website
Fortiva Financial products consist of credit cards, personal loans, and retail lines of credit. Working together with the VP of Marketing, our team chose to take ownership of both the word and the concept of “Confidence”, and to pivot our consumer-facing campaigns around this core message.
With steadfast adherence to this idea, Fortiva informs both potential and existing customers that it is reliably there when they need it. Using an approachable and convivial tone, attractive and relatable imagery, as well as easily accessed and transparent information, this site invites the user to investigate and interact. What would normally feel like a cold, somewhat impersonal financial transaction or research experience, then becomes a memorable conversation.
Customized Sales Collateral
Fortiva Retail Credit is a Second-Look Financing product offered by Fortiva. It allows partnered merchants and contractors the ability to offer another form of financing to customers should they not qualify for prime-rate financing.
The existing sales kit lacked brand uniformity, was unwieldy and expensive to produce, and had multiple purpose-overlapping materials in it. I designed a new brand-cohesive kit that proved easily customizable and cost-effective.
Kit folders, buckslips and irregularly sized pieces were fulfilled in bulk through our print vendor. Custom sales information sheets and counter signage were set up to be printed on-demand (and high quality) in-house. This cut the cost of the overall sales package by almost 50% and resulted in a more polished and consistent presentation by the sales staff. The materials are color-coded in such a way as to quickly indicate how they are to be used. Materials that lead with Fortiva Orange are merchant-facing. Those that lead with Fortiva Blue are for the consumer.
Digital, Print, and Event Advertising
In 2015 Fortiva Retail Credit sought to establish itself in the retail and service financing arena. This was an exciting chance for me to collaborate directly with the Marketing VP on an emerging brand.
First shown are examples of carousel ads that ran in digital trade publications and on event websites prior to our staff’s attendance at trade shows and symposiums. These served to pique interest by asking quick, compelling questions with a CTA that promised answers.
Next, print ads expanding upon the Q/A theme were simultaneously run in trade publications for various commercial channels.
Then came all of the trade show graphics that appeared around and within the actual event sites.
This campaign evolved throughout the year to educate merchants about the need for second-look financing and to keep the Fortiva Retail Credit front of mind. Visual clues such as punctuation marks used as design elements, owning the color orange and concise information helped gain attention in otherwise visually bland publications, reinforce brand recognition and build trust in FRC as a thought leader.
20 Year Anniversary Logo, Website, and Gifts
Atlanticus is the parent holding company Fortiva Financial. Their 20th Anniversary offered them the opportunity to both celebrate achievements and inform the stockholders of growth. I was tasked with designing a new logo, announcements and gift materials, as well as a new website.
I began with a modification of the existing Atlanticus logotype to highlight its anniversary without the need for a second mark – thereby eliminating any possible brand confusion. The gifts evolved naturally when the recipient profiles were carefully considered.
The old website existed for stockholder documents, notifications, and legal edification. It was visually sterile and offered neither intuitive navigation, nor responsive design. Working with a UX/UI developer, I designed a new site that provided all necessary information to fulfill the legal requirements of a NASDAQ listed corporation, and could also be effectively viewed and intuitively navigated on any device. New visually engaging creative now conveyed the company’s story, character and spirit of service. It encouraged lingering interaction with the site’s material and granted the user seamless access to the third-party provided stock and investor information.
Album Cover and Tshirt Art
Hand drawn and computer illustrated art and design for Ninja Witch, a Knoxville rock band.
This art is my original concept and no part of it is AI generated or AI assisted. The galaxy arm photo I used was taken by a NASA satellite and enhanced in Photoshop by me.
Tshirt Art and Album Single Art
Hand drawn and computer illustrated art displaying different styles that I am capable of. I created this art for Summoners Circle, a world touring Knoxville metal band.
All of this art consists my original concepts and none of it is either AI generated or AI assisted.
Frames 1 and 2: Shroud of Humanity
Frame 3: Thirst of the Vulture.
Event Graphics and Logo
The theme of this annual meeting was “Focus on Forward” as dictated by Kimberly-Clark executive management. My goal was to create an immediately recognizable symbolic representation of that theme and extend it into an exciting and motivating set of visuals that would carry through all printed, online, and environmental uses of the graphics throughout the entire week of the event.
I was informed by the marketing department directors of the enthusiastic response from the sales force to the graphics. This resulted in additional premium giveaways featuring these graphics being requested and ordered well after the event was over.
Product Information and Samples Brochure
Kimberly-Clark creates a large variety of non-woven fabrics to be used for everything from hospital gowns to HAZMAT suits. They also create a line of fabrics sold under the brand name Block-It TM, to be used to manufacture custom car covers. I was tasked with the complete overhaul of an outdated and expensive-to-produce brochure and sample book kit.
The new piece needed to appeal to the wide demographic that the custom automotive industry consists of; from the youthful Tuner-Car industry to the more urbane Historic Restoration audience, and everything in-between. It also needed to be more economical to produce in large quantities. I used a clean layout with custom paper foil stamping and a grommeted binding while incorporated the fabric swatches directly into the brochure. The result was resounding success that cost less than half of the older piece to produce and was still in use over seven years later.
Kleenex® Flu Awareness Online Campaign
This campaign consisted of animated ads featured during peak flu season on various websites (such as that of the NBC television show “The Office”). They were created for the Kleenex® online presence during Flu Awareness Month.
My concept was to show flu germs as aliens in a dynamic scientific context. The animated germs rolled and rotated around the background of the ads and proved eye-catching within the context of the web pages as a whole. The ads were very well-received – the click-through traffic and contest entry numbers far exceeded client expectations.
Kimtech® Print and Direct Mail Campaign
Kimberly-Clark released a revolutionary dispenser for KIMTECH PREP® Wipers in 2008. This dispenser was a unique innovation for the highly specialized Cleanroom industry; it allowed for a wiper to be dispensed using only one hand in a single step while maintaining zero contamination.
The “One Small Step” campaign was co-created by myself and a copywriter. The ad and audio card featured graphics from the first moon landing and the card had a modified recording stating: “That’s one small step for you, one giant leap in the cleanroom…” along with an offer for a sample. The ads were featured in Scientific and Cleanroom industry magazines and 5000 cards were mailed to specific professionals around the country.
I am a constant work-in-progress and honestly believe in learning something new every day.
I offer excellent, time-proven conceptual and design skills. I have years of expertise at branding: from initial creation and stewardship to maintaining brand relevance through an evolution. I enjoy contributing to marketing campaigns of any nature and media channel, and I listen carefully to feedback.
I’m Adobe Expert-Certified in Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator. I’m highly skilled in Adobe Expressions, Canva, and Acrobat. I’ve also worked in WordPress, Adobe Animate, and Microsoft Office Suite.
I continually use LinkedIn Learning courses to maintain and expand my skill set. So while I’m pretty darned good, I’ll never know everything! So, you won’t see any “100 percents” in the chart to the right.
I am an expert in print design so my files are always press-ready and accurate. I have strong experience in website design and collaborate well with programmers and UX/UI developers to produce robust site architecture and intuitive content organization.
I’ve worked on project management from conceptualization to completion. I lead by example, encouraging teammates to explore new ideas and techniques.
Give me a buzz
Tel.: +1 (770) 312-7966
Knoxville, TN USA
[email protected]
www.linkedin.com/in/christel-himes-designer