philipgordon

Personal Statement

As a “Web Multi-disciplinarian” with skills in graphic design for offset and large format printing; front-end web design and coding; content creation of video, and motion graphics; as well as the user experience principles of design thinking, visual design, interaction design, and information architecture I can combine these diverse abilities and merge them with years of real-world experience to plan and create constructive projects. My goal is to design successful communication in both an organized and creative way.

The style that best best describes my work is “Artistic design with a practical sensibility.” I take influences from many sources and often explore facets that are interesting, but are always tempered by the needs of the client, the medium, the message, and the market.

I see myself as a creative problem solver. I approach each new project as a challenge for which I seek the best possible solution: to organize the important ideas effectively; to create content that will present the message in a way that will inform; to use the tools that best get the job done. I also bring years of experience as a business person who understand the demands of a production setting. All of this combines to allow me to create a positive user experience that will help the user find the information they are looking for and complete their tasks quickly.

Biography

I have been working in the computer graphics field for over 25 years and have gained experience in diverse areas including offset and large-format printing, environmental graphics (signage), web design, motion graphics, video editing, and visual effects for motion pictures. I graduated from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona with a degree in Business Administration and worked for a number of years in manufacturing management acquiring valuable business experience in production management and inventory management. After starting at a graphic design studio in San Diego and completing a second degree in Graphic Design I worked as production artist then worked my way up the ladder to Art Director, collaborating on a wide range of projects for small business and non-profits, large set designs for the San Diego Opera Scenic Studio, as well as print campaigns for Wells Fargo and Home Depot.

during that period I had the pleasure of collaborating with an Emmy Award winning filmmaker on some of her video projects, creating visual effects, motion graphics and titles as well as graphics, advertising, and a website in support of video sales. Sometimes when one door closes, another door opens and because of that video experience I was able to start a job as Stereoscopic Compositor, converting major motion pictures from 2D to Stereographic 3-D. For much of the past 10 years I had the opportunity to work with a host of extremely talented artists at two of the largest conversion houses in Hollywood. I am proud to say I worked on several films in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, the Transformers franchise, the Spider-man franchise, the Hunger Games franchise, as well as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Ghostbusters, Ant-man, Man of Steel, and The Avengers, among others. But that door has now closed and I am now open to new opportunities.

During my time in the digital arts and even before that while in manufacturing management, my business background has helped me solve the challenges of every new project. I have learned the importance of staying organized. I've learned to break each new project down into its basic components, identify what are the required elements, what outcome is to be expected, and the steps needed to get there. Using the principles and techniques learned over many years, I have been able to produce effective and attractive designs in a production environment. And through years of working with clients and customers I have learned that it is important to listen carefully and set ego aside. It is very important to establish a professional and honest basis for communication.

Skill Set— Technology

Software Experience:

• Adobe CC
• Photoshop
• Illustrator
• InDesign
• Dreamweaver
• XD
• After Effects
• Premiere Pro
• Sublime Text
• Axure RP
• Storyboarder
• Blender
• Sketchbook

Scripting & Programming

• HTML
• CSS
• JavaScript
• Bootstrap
• PHP
• MySQL