Aart Balk

Interactive Creative Director

Northampton, United Kingdom
Passion & elegance. Where it starts.
Design is my true passion. I find my drive and inspiration in the challenge to visually express a brand’s story and identity through experiences that engage the audience to connect and interact with the brand.

An esthetically pleasing, surprising or even shocking experience will capture the audience’s interest. However, relevance and functional elegance are required to effectively tell the brand’s story and entice the audience into a dialogue with a brand.

Details. How it's done.
I am patient. I take the time to understand the brand, business objectives, and user objectives. I set out to learn and speak the language of the brand. Nuance and relentless attention to detail is of the utmost importance to be able to speak that language persuasively, and tell an engaging and memorable story. A broad experience with interactive development ensures I am also fully aware of the technical possibilities and limitations of the interactive play field.

Work Experience

Skyword

Director UX/UI

April 2018 - January 2019 Pennsylvania, United States

Flying Cork Media

Interactive Creative Director

September 2014 - Present Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

EDMC

Interactive Creative Director

Leading the Interactive Creative team (interactive design and front-end development); Creative Director for marketing properties of EDMC's colleges (The Art Institutes, Brown Mackie College, Argosy University, South University)
July 2010 - September 2014 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Acclaro, Inc.

Manager Mulitlingual Web

Manager for multilingual website and multimedia projects. Art Director for Marketing department.
March 2008 - July 2010 Irvington, New York, United States

Mullen

Associate Creative Director

Design lead/Art Director for the Interactive Department of Mullen, Pittsburgh.
December 2007 - March 2008 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

EDMC OHE

Art Director

Art Director for marketing websites and other interactive properties for the online EDMC colleges, The Art Institute Online, Argosy University Online, South University Online.
August 2005 - December 2007 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

The Abreon Group

Senior Consultant eServices Dept.

Lead Web and Flash designer for eServices Team; Flash Actionscript programmer
August 2003 - July 2005 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

SafeStone

eMedia Manager

In-house designer and web developer
April 2001 - August 2003 Princeton, New Jersey, United States

AltaVista

Chief Web Editor

Project manager for the localization of the Dutch AltaVista Search site (http://nl.altavista.com/) and integration of local Dutch content; Design of new pages, art work, banners etc.
November 1999 - August 2000 Amsterdam, Netherlands

WordHouse Localisation Bv

Web Team Manager/Multilingual Web Site Consultant

Consultant multilingual web site design (AltaVista, Microsoft, SUN, Identica, ISI Interact, Planet Access Networks); Manager of WordHouse Design, a team of DTP and web specialists.
October 1995 - April 2001 Amsterdam, Netherlands

Acclaro, Inc.

Sr. UX/UI Designer

March 2019 - New York, United States

Education

Utrecht University

Masters Degree, Literary Theory and Criticism

August 1985 - March 1992 Utrecht, Netherlands

Marnix College Ede

College Degree

August 1978 - May 1985 Ede, Netherlands

Languages

English (Fluent),
Dutch (Native),
German (Conversational),
French (Beginner),

Awards

The FWA - Favorite Website Awards

FWA Photo of the day, Sept. 20 2014

2014

The FWA - Favorite Website Awards

FWA Photo of the day, Sept. 10 2014

2014

The FWA - Favorite Website Awards

FWA Photo of the day, Sept. 1 2014

2014

EDMC

Socrates Achievement Award

2007

Skills

Art Direction, Balsamiq, Creative Direction, InVision, Photography, Photoshop, Sketch, UI Design , UX Design,