Rene Flores

Designer/Illustrator

Austin, TX, USA
Detail-oriented graphic designer and illustrator with extensive experience providing visual solutions in the high tech and public sectors. Segues a rich design skillset cultivated through more than 15 years of experience in graphic design and e-learning to deliver beautiful, innovative end-user content.

Work Experience

240 Tutoring

Digital Artist

Cross-collaborative environment in continued education, working to segue expert knowledge into digital study guides for a variety of teacher certification exams. Design original graphics and illustrations for embedded study materials in online exam prep courses.

• Delivered approximately 500 original digital graphics for coursework aimed at preparing educators for recertification.

• Ensured the development of critical, accurate e-learning materials by consulting a diverse set of subject matter experts in STEM, social studies, and language arts.

• Facilitated quality assurance of deliverables by cross-referencing subject matter expertise with existing standards in readability and accessibility.
August 2018 - Present Texas, United States

Macmillan Learning

Digital Artist

Partnered with curriculum specialists to develop design work with an emphasis on technical precision for online STEM coursework. Adapted design strategy across levels of learning and development, from high school to college.

• Developed approximately 1500 original illustrations for a smooth user experience.

• Utilized multi-sensory design principles through Apple iBooks Author to format e-textbooks; integrated typographic, image-based, and video elements in order to improve information retention.

• Cross-referenced company preferences with design best practices to create visual style guides, increasing design team’s efficiency by contextualizing graphics standards across STEM subjects.
May 2011 - February 2017 Texas, United States

NXP Semiconductors

Senior Art Director

Synthesized broad strategies across all areas of operations to create focused deliverables in web, multimedia, advertising, and special events. Emphasized brand specific strategies to ensure quality, consistent design work.

• Cooperated with internal sales and marketing specialists to facilitate the front-end development of a proprietary internal sales tool.

• Collaborated with marketing teams to adapt objectives into creative print and web collateral, clearly articulating unique messaging to customers.
January 2011 - May 2011 Texas, United States

Austin Community College

Multimedia Developer

As an established voice in educational multimedia, consulted with instructors to adapt learning objectives to multimedia products for offline curriculum. Utilized design best practices to enhance student experience and improve performance.

• Facilitated the back-end development of dynamic web content for college courses with HTML, JavaScript, and CSS

• Integrated front-end design by utilizing Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash, delivering immersive learning environments that improved students’ knowledge retention.

• Led faculty and staff on the benefits and applications of educational multimedia by facilitating original workshops and training.
October 2008 - May 2010 Texas, United States

Independent Contractor

Freelance Visual Designer

Cultivated experience in Adobe Flash animation and graphic design, seeing projects through to completion across contracts in education and marketing.

• CompassLearning: Cultivated interactive, online learning environments by developing original graphics and Flash animations for middle school level mathematics coursework.

• Springbox Interactive Marketing: Segued established branding guidelines into the development of an original, interactive marketing presentation.
November 2007 - March 2008 Texas, United States

University Of Texas

Web Graphic Designer

Used project management skills to oversee the design and user interfacing for the UTOPIA Web Portal – a collection of gateway sites to the online collections of the University of Texas at Austin.

• Collaborated with UI specialists to ensure exceptional readability and functionality, per usability and accessibility standards.

• Directed a team of two graphic designers and two webmasters to cultivate design consistency across a full network of gateway sites.

• Created graphics standards to shape branding and marketing collateral, which were implemented in all online and offline materials for UTOPIA.
June 2003 - June 2007 Texas, United States

Education

Yale University

B.A.

Art major with a focus in Graphic Design
New Haven, Connecticut, United States

Awards

American Advertising Federation (AAF) - ADDY Awards

Gold Addy Team Award, Website - "humancode"

National Association Of Government Communicators

First Place, Promotional Print Campaign - "Texas Coastal Wetlands"

National Association Of Government Communicators

First Place, General Interest Brochure - "E-Source"

Skills

Adobe Animate, Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Creative Suite, Adobe Flash, Adobe Fresco, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Indesign, CSS, Digital Illustration, Digital Photo Editing, Digital Scanning, Drawing, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Graphic Design, HTML, Illustration, Photoshop, Traditional Illustration, Windows,

Toolset - Design

•  Graphic design and illustration expertise
•  Branding design, prepress print design
•  Photo manipulation
•  Timeline animation

Toolset - Software

•  Advanced: Illustrator, Photoshop
•  Intermediate: InDesign, Dreamweaver, Audition
•  Working: Microsoft Office, Google Workspace

Toolset - Tech

•  Basic HTML
•  CSS, JavaScript
•  WordPress