Clifford VanMeter

Current

• Owner at Arctos Media

Past

• VP & Interactive Director at ZGH Design
• Instructor at Kalamazoo Valley Community College
• VP & Interactive Director at ZGH Design & Advertising

• Interactive Producer at Copper Advertising
• Director of Web Services at Playbox Media
• Interactive Programmer | Sales Engineer at Sorenson Media
• Instructor at Learning Tree University
• Production Manager at VanHook Studios
• Art Director at Topps, Inc.
• Creative Director at Comicolor
• Special Projects Manager at Valiant Comics | Voyager Communications
• Owner/Publisher at StarChilde Publications

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Recommended

13 people have recommended Clifford

Connections

174 connections

Industry

Publishing

Websites

• My Website
• My Company
• My Blog

Clifford VanMeter’s Summary

While working at a visual effects studio in Hollywood, I was asked to create a serial web video entertainment site to showcase the company's skills. I worked with outside sources like Adobe, Apple, Sorenson, and Terran to develop the necessary skills in web design and programming, as well as video compression and delivery techniques.

For the last several years I have worked as an independent consultant, trainer, and designer/developer on projects for many companies -- including Warner/Reprise Records, Apple, Ford, HoMedics and Automobile Magazine.

While a web producer for Copper, an advertising agency in Kalamazoo, Mi. I developed new business and oversaw web projects for major national and regional clients.

In my position at ZGH Design, I did much the same as at Copper, taking the lead on all interactive projects. That included budgeting and proposals, client contact, project management, and filling in where needed as a designer, illustrator, copywriter or video director.

My new company Arctos Media, is acts as an umbrella for the many different fields I am involved in, primarily in providing web and marketing consultation, technical support, training, publishing, and e-commerce solutions.

Clifford VanMeter’s Specialties:

Web Designer, Interactive Producer, QuickTime & QuickTime VR expert, web video expert, technical writer (reviews for MacDesign contributions to several books on web design and streaming media). Editorial Director/Creator QuickTiming.Org, and author of a book on web video. Formerly VP & Interactive Director responsible for project and client management and business development for web and interactive (including video production).

Clifford VanMeter’s Experience

• Owner

  Arctos Media

  (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Internet industry)

  February 2008 — Present (1 year 10 months)

  Arctos Media is my umbrella company for a lot of different things I do. This includes; graphic design, web design & development, technical writing, interactive and video production, consulting, marketing, publishing, and fine art.

• VP & Interactive Director

  ZGH Design

  (Publishing industry)

  2004 — 2008 (4 years )

• Instructor

  Kalamazoo Valley Community College

  (Government Agency; 201-500 employees; Professional Training & Coaching industry)

  September 2007 — December 2007 (4 months)

  A ppart-time instructor at the KVCC Center for New Media, I was teaching two classes; Introduction to Interactive Design (focusing on Adobe Flash) and Introduction to Painting. These two classes are themselves an example of what makes me, somewhat unique. The first is strictly a new media class with a heavy emphasis on interactive and web development. The second is an "old media" painting class; brushes, easels, paints and canvas.

• VP & Interactive Director

  ZGH Design & Advertising

  (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Public Relations and Communications industry)

  September 2003 — November 2007 (4 years 3 months)

  I work on the front end with clients to define their interactive needs, choose and recommend appropriate technologies, and documentation. I act as a liaison between the clients, account services, creative and programming, ensuring that daily scheduling goals were met, and that necessary assets were available. I also contribute as a copywriter, storyboard artist, illustrator and web designer/developer as needed.

• Interactive Producer

  Copper Advertising

  (Partnership; 11-50 employees; Internet industry)

  March 2003 — April 2004 (1 year 2 months)

  I scheduled, budgeted and defined interactive projects for the company, as well as oversaw all aspects of production as a general project manager throughout. I worked closely with the clients, interactive, account services and creative. Acting as a kind of liaison between them. I also worked on new business development with regards to interactive, including new business pitches and RFP responses.

• Director of Web Services

  Playbox Media

  (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Computer Software industry)

  September 2001 — July 2002 (11 months)

  Playbox Media was at the cutting edge of webvideo and VR integration and V-Commerce. We pushed the envelope in developing custom integrative solutions for clients such as Ford, Subaru and Automobile Magazine.

• Interactive Programmer | Sales Engineer

  Sorenson Media

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Media Production industry)

  February 2001 — July 2001 (6 months)

• Instructor

  Learning Tree University

  (Non-Profit; 51-200 employees; Internet industry)

  September 1998 — March 2001 (2 years 7 months)

  I taught basic and advanced Photoshop, Design Theory, Illustration and Web Typography.

• Production Manager

  VanHook Studios

  (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Internet industry)

  February 1998 — January 2001 (3 years )

  I acted as line producer and production supervisor for a number in-house and contract projects for television and film and created and maintained our web presence. I also had a hand in the creation, working closely with Apple, of a QuickTime TV channel and a serial web fantasy series called Kyra: The Cursed.

• Art Director

  Topps, Inc.

  (Public Company; 51-200 employees; topp; Publishing industry)

  January 1997 — May 1999 (2 years 5 months)

  During this period I oversaw design on several of Topps flagship lines, including Topps Baseball, Topps Football and Topps Basketball, as well as several smaller lines such as Topps CHL Hockey.

• Creative Director

  Comicolor

  (Public Company; 1-10 employees; Publishing industry)

  March 1994 — December 1996 (2 years 10 months)

  This was one of the first companies in the US to offer digital coloring, electronic lettering and film separation services for comic books. We worked on comics for Image and Marvel Comics, as well as a number of independent titles such as Ash and Shi.

• Special Projects Manager

  Valiant Comics | Voyager Communications

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Arts and Crafts industry)

  June 1993 — February 1994 (9 months)

  The title above is my final title, but over the course of the time I spent at Valiant Comics, I was started as a production artist, worked as the production manager for a time, and finally as head of special projects. This included overseeing design and production on cards, trade paperbacks, t-shirts and anything else that was not specifically a comic book. While there I was also involved in developing a system for color and lettering comics by computer. This greatly sped up production and led to the founding of my own company Comicolor. I also did some writing and penciling where needed to fill in for other creatives.

• Owner/Publisher

  StarChilde Publications

  (Public Company; 1-10 employees; Publishing industry)

  November 1989 — May 1993 (3 years 7 months)

  I created, wrote and illustrated a science fiction role playing game, Justifiers RPG. Over the years we published, we also added three other game products to our line up. In this small operation, I acted as everything form marketing director to primary illustrator and editor. I promoted the games at conventions across the country and worked with our sales representatives to expand distribution nationwide. It is a testament to the longevity of the Justifiers brand that less than 2-years ago, after being out of publication for more than 12-years, the rights to the games were acquired by a major video game studio.

Additional Information

Clifford VanMeter’s Websites:

• My Website
• My Company
• My Blog

Clifford VanMeter’s Interests:

Computers, technology, music (all kinds), art, painting, wild life art

Clifford VanMeter’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch