Christina Valicek

Art Director / Graphic Designer / Digital Marketer

Toronto, Ontario, Canada
As a seasoned art director / graphic designer / digital marketer, I cultivate fresh impactful designs on-brand, on-budget and on-time for the horticulture and landscaping industry — and together, we create a brighter world!

Work Experience

Christine's Touch Gardening

Horticulture Maintenance — Seasonal

• Maintained 25+ high-end properties weekly on the ground and in the sky within budgeted time; operated light equipment during fall clean up (backpack blower, line trimmer and mower); cultivated, deadheaded, edged, fertilized, lawn care, mulched, pruned, weeded, watered, and spring and fall cleanup.
• 15+ Planting Projects in a wide variety of spaces within the GTA.
2022 Ontario, Canada

IBlossom Creative

Business Owner: Art Director / Graphic Designer / Digital Marketer / Coach

• Created a proprietary branding and design process specifically
to support business owners to magnetize their dream clients. This process empowers and builds the confidence and clarity required to step up and increase their visibility, raise their fees to reflect their expertise, to launch the right programs or packages for their niche audience.
• Hired and managed creative talent: designers, illustrators, photographers and writers to successfully fulfil project objectives and deliverables.
• Cultivated 12 positive client relationships by delivering exceptional service, evaluating and implementing creative solutions on time and within budget with 100% satisfaction.
• Decreased money spent on print budgets by 50% via social media and email marketing, resulting in increased customer ROI.
• Rebranded three enterprises and launched six new brands and businesses with success coaching, research and development, UX (user experience) evaluation and implementation, logo design and brand rollout, website design, SEO, Google Analytics, sales/promotions and social media launch across multiple channels, and set up (Jane App) to manage clients/patient scheduling, appointments and data.
2015 - Present Toronto, Ontario, Canada

MERRITHEW

Senior Graphic Designer

• Integral member of the organization with scope of work ranging from the rebranding process from logo ideation/creation to designing brand touch-points for corporate communications and design, brand guidelines, retail design, point-of-purchase displays, package design, equipment instruction manuals, education training material, template designs, sales tools and corporate communications for the International Licensed Training Centers, web design, change communications for 100+ employees, plus an HR employee handbook design and advertising campaigns for onsite pilates studio: studio signage; newsletters; schedules; internal forms; and more.
• Lead Designer in event branding for in-house International COE Events with multiple touch-points: awards, certificates, invitations, and custom binders with training notes, white papers, menus, PowerPoint presentations, point-of-purchase displays, signage and more.
• Lead Creative in Merrithew Equipment, Accessory and DVD Catalogue — 24-page catalogue to showcase the latest products. Assisted in the art direction of the photoshoot and attended press approvals.
• 15+ Package redesign of Deluxe DVD Sets, DVD interface design and Small Equipment Packaging.
2005 - 2014 Ontario, Canada

Education

Humber College

1st Year Horticultural Technician, Apprenticeship

2023 Toronto, Ontario, Canada

RED Academy

Digital Marketing Diploma

2018 Toronto, Ontario, Canada

How University Online

Archetypes in Branding

2014 Texas, United States

George Brown College

Three-Year Graphic Graphic Design Diploma

1992 Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Languages

English (Native),
Croatian (Conversational),
Finnish (Conversational),

Skills

Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Indesign, Adobe Photoshop, Art Direction, Brand Development, Concept Development, Design, Digital Campaigns, Digital Marketing, Digital Presentations, Events, Logo Design, Page Layout, Photo Editing, Photography, Print Design, Project Management, Promotions, Signage Design, Typesetting, Video Story Boarding, Web Design,