Collaborate with Business, Development, Marketing, and Editorial teams, as well as with any comic or publishing creators, to develop and manage digital products that grow audience and build long-term consumer engagement with our brands. Responsible for leading, defining and communicating the UX process for the digital business.

•Partner with cross-functional teams to plan, concept, and execute on creative deliverables.

•Proven ability to develop and maintain strong professional relationships with clients, colleagues and external partners.

•Ensure all touch-points are on brand, coherent in terms of style, quality and tone of voice across all channels.

•Reliably support multiple projects and client engagements simultaneously

•Responsible for growing in-house UX/UI teams through mentoring and oversight.

•Help establish and standardize process and deliverables.

•Participate in new business development.

Collaborate closely with the Creative and Development teams as well as Product Management to define features and contribute to the overall creation and direction of our product goals and initiatives.

•Work in close collaboration with Creative Leadership to inform and improve design processes and to create imaginative, delightful, entertaining web experiences.

•Thoroughly understand the nuances of our many different brands as well as consistently providing the team with multiple, winning design solution options that are thought-out, support product goals, and are visually striking.

•Lead by example and mentor those you work along side of.

Responsible for designing experiences across all digital products--from creating the experience of new site features, to the craft and finish of every detail.

• Empathize with the developer team more and demonstrate that by anticipating development limitations and opportunities.

• Communicate well with the tech team-members to make sure that the designs are getting it right on the first draft.

• Understand the nuances and differences of tone and visual styles of our many brands and require fewer rounds hitting the mark—providing multiple options that are all solid, allowing the team to pick among multiple good options.

• Think deeply, speak clearly, love collaboration and feedback, and have a solid collection of animated gifs.

Designing marketing assets for both print and digital in support of Andrew McMeel Universal’s Publishing group. Responsible for creating innovative, thoughtful designs for marketing campaigns, author events, physical convention spaces and more. After only working here for 6 months, was cherry-picked to become the only designer for the new Digital Department.

Responsibilities and Duties include:
Conceptualize, create and produce design solutions to meet strategic goals. Develop brand guidelines and rules for standardizing all design elements across multiple publication platforms. Convey information related to design and architecture prior to/during and post design processes. Create digital files for cost effective and time efficient production from initial brainstorming and file preparation to color proofing and on-press support.

I'm constantly freelancing a variety of graphic design projects with multiple clients and timelines. Most recent projects include: An Identity system for the Silver Springs Group. Rebranding of the Chicago-based Midwest Boom Football Club. Large-scale banners and graphics for the Truman Library Museum exhibit on America in the 1950's. Won a Telly award for animation that was in the Native American code talker documentary, "The Heart of a Warrior."

Selected for a highly competitive internship program with Kansas City’s third largest advertising agency. As the only designer in a 14 person intern team I developed a variety of visual communication solutions for client projects.

Responsibilities included: brainstorming ideas, meeting fast-paced deadlines, creating visually effective and stimulating advertisements, designing elements of a group presentation to a new business client, and using interpersonal skills to successfully represent the company.

Serve as the creative lead on all of our consumer facing web products, the largest two being www.gocomics.com and www.puzzlesociety.com, our comics and puzzle sites. Lead a small team of UX designers and content strategists to function as an internal digital creative “agency” to provide high quality experience design to all of our subscription web products:

•Coach, collaborate and lead a team of UX designers, and content strategists.

•Act in the role of lead product designer, providing end to end UX design and UI design to our consumer-facing subscription sites

•Work with cross-functional teams to prioritize and scope scheduled releases.

•Work with third party game developers and a pool of freelance designers to art direct game design and game branding.

•Communicate and present to large and small groups well. Was crucial in pitching Gary Larson TheFarSide.com premise and won an Audience Choice Webby for the site in 2019.

Majored in 3D Character Animation.
Final thesis film can be viewed at: http://shipleyanimation.wix.com/stumped

Worked heavily in video editing and animation software, such as Autodesk Maya, Adobe Premiere, Adobe AfterEffects, and Z-Brush. Coursework included traditional animation classes, nude and clothed figure drawing, storyboarding and preproduction work, as well as character design and illustration.

Double Major: Visual Communications & Publication Writing and Design