Senior Internet Art Director at Crate & Barrel
Greater Chicago Area
- Current
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- Senior Internet Art Director at Crate & Barrel
- Past
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- Director of Interaction Design at People Design
- Partner, Creative Director at Avenue Group, LLC
- Director of Design at iXL Scient - Chicago
- Director of New Media at VSA Partners
- Design Intern at VSA Partners
- Intern at Bernstein-Rein Advertising
- Electrical Engineer at McDonnell Douglas Training Systems
- Education
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- Kansas City Art Institute
- Washington University in St. Louis
- Recommended
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15 people have recommended Geoffrey - Connections
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232
connections
- Industry
- Design
- Websites
Geoffrey Mark’s Summary
Geoffrey Mark creates user-centered design experiences that help solve business problems. For over 12 years, he has served in senior design management and leadership roles advocating an approach that focuses on defining and driving measurable business results through the fulfillment of customer and end-user goals.
Geoffrey has a personal interest in providing his clients with a likable, personable resource that can also demonstrate solid expertise in leveraging collaborative design processes, relevant learnings from cognitive science, utilizing primary and secondary user research, brand and business analyses, marketing strategy, and best practices in graphic/interface design, software development, usability and information architecture.
Geoffrey's goals also include creating artifacts that demonstrate a mastery of fundamental visual design principles (typography, image and form), deliver meticulous attention to detail and quality in all deliverables, and ultimately shape behavior and attitudes. At both medium and large-scale consultancies, Geoffrey's goals as a manager help establish an encouraging, supportive and hands-on environment to produce inspired creative work efficiently, on message, and on budget -- resulting in high levels of client and team satisfaction.
Geoffrey Mark’s Specialties:
Interactive Account/Project Management
User Interface Design and Development
User research
Usability
Brand management
Graphic design
Geoffrey Mark’s Experience
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Senior Internet Art Director
Crate & Barrel
(Privately Held; Retail industry)
March 2009 — Present (9 months)
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Director of Interaction Design
People Design
(Privately Held; Design industry)
November 2005 — March 2009 (3 years 5 months)
Provide leadership in every aspect of the firm's interaction design practice (group strategy/vision/planning, team management, account direction and project management, business development, and delivery of user-centered design processes and deliverables). Grew team from 3 to 8 full-time staff in 2 years.
Partial list of clients: Dow, Herman Miller, Whirlpool, Grand Rapids Art Museum, Alliance for Health, Harden Furniture, Cumberland Furniture, Creative Byline, Spout.com -
Partner, Creative Director
Avenue Group, LLC
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Design industry)
August 2002 — October 2005 (3 years 3 months)
Partner, co-founder and member of management team. Started company with 4 employees, growing to over 25 full-time and contract employees within three years—with profitable performance year over year.
Chief user experience/interface design expert providing leadership in all facets of online projects, including comprehensive identity design, website builds and redesigns, e-commerce design/build, product launches and online marketing.
Duties included project and team management, proposals, design briefs/requirements, information architecture, visual interface design, copywriting, content strategy, programming and QA testing. Heuristic evaluations, usability surveys and user testing (online and offline), customer research (focus groups), prototype design, online marketing, Search Engine Optimization and Accessibility standards.
Partial list of clients: Weber-Stephen Products Co. (Weber grills), Academy of Achievement, Canyon Ranch, Loan to Learn, Joffrey Ballet, AFBA -
Director of Design
iXL Scient - Chicago
(Public Company; 201-500 employees; scnt; Design industry)
July 1999 — July 2002 (3 years 1 month)
Director of Design for the Chicago office of this global Internet consulting firm, with internal management responsibility as well as cross-disciplinary user experience team lead for client accounts of over $4M annually.
Defined design processes and comprehensive development methodologies, standard deliverables, managing work flow for multiple client accounts, and team resource allocation. Key contributor to creating the structure and operation of the User Experience department (50 UX professionals), the creation of job descriptions and formal 360° performance reviews. Guide and mentor staff daily in both client and internal issue resolution.
Served as Team/Design Lead and primary creative consultant for Discovercard.com, eArtGroup.com, and General Electric. Created and led client creative brainstorming, brand identity and interface design presentations. Helped structure and coordinate ongoing user research and usability testing of interface designs and Web site functionality. -
Director of New Media
VSA Partners
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Design industry)
August 1996 — July 1999 (3 years )
First New Media director for internationally-recognized design agency. Projects included comprehensive Internet/Intranet design and online event development, CD-ROM design and programming, interactive kiosk design, film/video production, editing, and title design.
Duties included writing of all proposals, creating new business tools, delivering new business presentations, budgets, project research and planning reports, account management, content strategy/management, information architecture, lead creative direction and design, web identity standards, and HTML development.
Internal duties included external promotion (magazine interviews / award entries), technical resource management and internal technical infrastructure consulting.
Partial list of clients: Harley-Davidson, Arthur Andersen, Time Warner, Leo Burnett, Weber-Stephen Products Co., Arthur J. Gallagher, Gallagher Bassett -
Design Intern
VSA Partners
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Design industry)
June 1994 — September 1995 (1 year 4 months)
Spent two summers as a design intern at VSA Partners. Key projects included design production of "Chicago Graphic Design", Macromedia Director and video-based presentations for Harley-Davidson, LaSalle Partners, and Helene Curtis.
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Intern
Bernstein-Rein Advertising
(Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)
1994 — 1995 (1 year )
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Electrical Engineer
McDonnell Douglas Training Systems
(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; Defense & Space industry)
June 1989 — July 1992 (3 years 2 months)
Design, test and integration of electronic hardware for the A-6E SWIP Aircrew trainer/flight simulator.
Duties included working in electronic testbench environment for the digital communications equipment components of the simulator, specification and procurement of engineering design parts, schematic diagram preparation and maintenance.
Geoffrey Mark’s Education
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Kansas City Art Institute
B.F.A. Visual Communications , 1992 — 1995
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Washington University in St. Louis
B.S. Electrical Engineering , 1985 — 1989
Additional Information
Geoffrey Mark’s Websites:
Geoffrey Mark’s Groups:
AIGA
Design Management Institute, Evanston Bible Fellowship, First Evangelical Free Church of Grand Rapids
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Interaction Design Association -
Boxes and Arrows -
Art & Design -
People Design -
User Experience -
User Experience Group -
Design Research -
DMI Design Management Institute -
Kansas City Art Institute -
EPIC: Engaging Philanthropy, Inspiring Creatives
Geoffrey Mark’s Honors:
AWARDS
AIGA Detroit 2007 Design Re:View
American Center for Design (ACD) 100
CIO Magazine 50/50 Award
Communication Arts
Critique Magazine Big Crit Award
Discover Card “Tenacity” Award
iXL “X” Award – Excellence in Delivery
Society of Typographic Arts
Internet Professioanal Publishers Association
PUBLICATIONS
Forbes Best of the Web
Communication Arts
Critique Magazine
HOW Magazine
In Your Face–The Best of Interactive Interface Design
Upload: Taking Pring to the Web
Graphic Design USA 2
Digital Chicago Magazine
Step Inside Design
Geoffrey Mark’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- new ventures
- job inquiries
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
