Art Director at Sugar
San Francisco Bay Area
- Current
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- Art Director at Sugar
- Art Director/ Lead Visual Designer for Video at Yahoo (Jumpcut)
- Photographer/ Videographer/Jewelry Designer/ Visual Designer at Elsakawai
- Past
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- Sr Lead Designer at Jumpcut
- Sr Lead Visual Designer - AIM / AIM Community at AOL
- Creative Director/ Lead Designer at Mediaweave/ Ri Soft System
- Creative Manager at Phonenix Commerce - Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malaysia
- Creative Head / Lead Designer at Ximnet Corporation - Malaysia
- Designer at Ximnet Corporation
- Graphic Designer / Advertising Consultancy at Fireballgraphic Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malaysia
- Education
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- California College of the Arts
- Rhode Island School of Design
- Saito Academy of Graphic Arts
- Recommended
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- Industry
- Design
- Websites
Elsa Kawai’s Summary
Elsa Kawai, Award-winning Art Director / Sr. Visual Designer highly skilled at Website, user interface, print, interactive, brand and product design. Excellent visual storyteller. Creative artist. Easy-going. Positive thinker. Tactful collaborator. Flexible and versatile. Also creates and markets her own product lines which include brand names such as Oddzballz and EK Jewelry.
My passionate in creating visual art that tells a story.
Elsa Kawai’s Specialties:
Interaction Design
Web User Interface
Visual design
Branding
Photography
Jewelry Design
Product Design
Photography
Concept / Advertising Campaign
Print Design
Softwares :
CSS/HTML, Flash, ActionScript, PHP, Dreamweaver,Photoshop,Illustrator,Freehand
Elsa Kawai’s Experience
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Art Director
Sugar
(Privately Held; Media Production industry)
July 2009 — Present (5 months)
www.shopstyle.com
www.popsugar.com
www.onsugar.com -
Art Director/ Lead Visual Designer for Video
Yahoo (Jumpcut)
(Public Company; YHOO; Internet industry)
June 2007 — Present (2 years 6 months)
*Creative Lead and managed to re-launch of Y! Video in Feb 2008 starting from user experience , design to development,
all the way through launch. Redesign resulted in an increase in site streams by 40 million streams over 4 months to become the #1 video streaming property in the Y! Network.
*Establish the brand guideline and voice for Yahoo Video. Manage and conceptualized the player for all Yahoo! including the homepage,that attracted at least 1.575 billion visitors annually.
*Executed a new video strategy and implemented new ads format that will change the competitive layout of the industry and gain sponsorship. -
Photographer/ Videographer/Jewelry Designer/ Visual Designer
Elsakawai
(Non-Profit Organization Management industry)
June 2005 — Present (4 years 6 months)
*An Experimental photographer / videographer, which encompass fine art, advertising, fashion, nature and landscape, architectural, food, abstract, lifestyle and portraiture.
*Creating new Metal and fuse glass jewelry design format that will change the competitive layout of the
industry. -
Sr Lead Designer
Jumpcut
(Broadcast Media industry)
June 2007 — July 2007 (2 months)
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Sr Lead Visual Designer - AIM / AIM Community
AOL
(Public Company; TWX; Internet industry)
October 2004 — June 2007 (2 years 9 months)
* Developed AIM social community for AIM Pages, AIM Today and AOL Photo Team and manage to generated 1M page views per month in 2006 and 2007.
*Redesign of the AOL.com 3.0 portal, more than $1 Billion revenue drawing website. Developed multiple prototypes with innovative ways to increase engagement and network growth.
*Manage and design lead for all the AIM.com co-brand efforts with many corporations like HP, AT&T, Walmart, Purina, Dove etc.
Identify and address technical problem as they relate to visual design, create specifications,templates, prototypes, sketching, moodboarding, and storyboarding.
*Work closely with the Design Director / engineers to create exciting visual concept designs, with alook and feel that supports and enhances the overall experiential design while meeting client specifications for project execution. -
Creative Director/ Lead Designer
Mediaweave/ Ri Soft System
(Online Media industry)
November 2002 — November 2004 (2 years 1 month)
*Direct in-house advertising unit and design team, working in
interactive and print media.
*Develop design solutions ranging from corporate
communications to information systems and interactive media. (e-commerce,websites, user interface, print, branding, screensaver, visual presentation)
*Work on 3-4 projects at a given time; successfully completed in excess of 40 projects in 18 months.
*Develop and maintain Mediaweave branding & identity; created
corporate style guide to ensure coherent visual standard for Mediaweave. -
Creative Manager
Phonenix Commerce - Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malaysia
(Broadcast Media industry)
2002 — 2002 (less than a year)
*Full responsibility for Phoenix Commerce’s marketing design materials and branding.
*Art Direction of creative department of 11 designers/programmers.
*Directed and worked with freelancers and overseas branches. -
Creative Head / Lead Designer
Ximnet Corporation - Malaysia
(Design industry)
2001 — 2002 (1 year )
*Extensive experience in advertising, promotion print publications, web sites,and multimedia application development.
*Conceptualized, planned and developed ideas for projects and campaigns.
*Key Positions included Art Direction, leading a team of 3 designer. -
Designer
Ximnet Corporation
(Online Media industry)
2000 — 2001 (1 year )
*Working closely with Print, web, and interactive project.
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Graphic Designer / Advertising Consultancy
Fireballgraphic Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malaysia
(Design industry)
1999 — 2000 (1 year )
*Design Execution.
*Created company’s image and advertising campaign. Succecfully launch Oral-B, Njoy, Brilliant Vision, Dave’s Deli , Latrend, King’s Ice cream, Taza Restaurant, brand within the Asia market, with fully integrated print and advertising campaign 2000.
*Designed new product packaging and P.O.P
Elsa Kawai’s Education
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California College of the Arts
Jewelry & Metal 2007 — 2007
Metalsmithing and jewelry processes. Study various techniques for cutting metal, methods of joinery, soldering, forming, fabrication, and various means of surface treatment.
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Rhode Island School of Design
Continuing Education 2004 — 2004
- Activities and Societies:
- Interactive Flash MX, Dreamwreaver
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Saito Academy of Graphic Arts
1 , Graphic Design and Advertising , 1997 — 1999
Additional Information
Elsa Kawai’s Websites:
Elsa Kawai’s Interests:
New technology, Visual design, Photography, product design, jewelry and fashion design.
Elsa Kawai’s Groups:
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Interaction Design Association -
Yahoo Employees and Alumni Group -
AOL CONNECTIONS
Elsa Kawai’s Honors:
2008 Nominated as Yahoo Superstar Award, The 2005 SXSW Web Awards, American Design Award 2005,AdesAward 2004, May 1 Reboot 2004 Award, 03-04 International Association of Web Master and Web Designer Award, E- Creative Awards - Website Of the day, Finalist in packaging design contest Nestle, Malaysia,1st prize winner in Mc Donald’s Mc Teddy Bears Creative Design Display 99, Malaysian Finalist in the “ Manchester in Malaysia T- Shirt motif design competition” 98 award by HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH The Duke Of Edinburgh, Best Student Award from Saito Academy of Art, Malaysia, AOLPHOTOBLOG - Interview, Best Off Portuguese magazine ( BestOff International Photographer), Published Work : Inaugural Issue FALL 2005, Published Work on Flickr.com - Most interesting/ Outstanding photos category, Published Product Design at Shiny Shiny, Heso Japanese Culture Magazine, Featured Artist Interview @ Project Three™, Featuring in a gallery in Italy –( FORMA / Centro Internazionale di Fotografia07)
Elsa Kawai’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- job inquiries
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
