Kirk-Robert_C- Portfolio

24 Nimitz Street, Huntington, New York 11743 631.374.5095 [email protected]

Senior Art Director

Digital Artist/Retoucher

Vector Illustrator

And So Much More

Professional SummaryI am a Senior Art Director with extensive experience in working directly with clients, marketing directors,

brand managers and copy writers. I have proven experience managing and directing staff, hiring and directing all talent groups needed for assignments and completing projects efficiently and within budget. I have directed

a wide range of photo shoots, including fashion, tabletop and on-site. Brand experience includes fashion, cosmetics, retail (hard and soft goods), consumer and industrial products, as well as business-to-business materials.

My vision and style is deeply rooted in my editorial and exibition design training in the original Parsons School Of Design and can be seen in my advertising, catalogs, brochures and collateral materials.

Industry AwardsHarman International Marketing & Design Center: Received multiple art direction and design awards

for promotional materials. Collaboration included design, digital art and production on a number of Infinity promotional materials.

John Paul Mitchell Haircare: Interviewed by ART DIRECTION MAG., APRIL ’94 (JPMS “Creatives” Campaign);Art Direction Awards for Paul Mitchell – Award of Distinction: ’95 Awapuhi Trade Campaign Ad Series;

Gold Medal: ‘94 Best Trade Campaign: Creatives Trade Ad Campaign; Honorable Mention: ’94 Presentation Folder.Saks Fifth Avenue: Retail Advertising Awards for New York Times ads.

Introduction

Employment Experience

Harman International Art Direction/Digital Artist and Production Design 2003–Present

Design and production of promotional materials, owner’s manuals, packaging and display/trade-show pieces, digital art/retouching and vector graphics on JBL, Infinity, Harman Kardon and Audioaccess brands.

• Part of a professional team that saved a proven $4M annually over outside agency fees (www.inhouseforhire.com)

• Helped create brand images to market product lines to a specific demographic while maintaining brand consistency

• Utilized Internet servers to work directly with European marketing offices in producing and releasing assignments for European distribution quickly

• Utilized the use of FTP servers to release assignments directly to printers foregoing the use of making and sending film around the world

• Reduced vendor costs and assignment turn-around time by doing more digital retouching and vector graphics in-house

• Promoted the experimental use of “paperless” assignment approval routing, thus reducing the amount of paper consumed


Marke Communications Agency Art Director 1990–99

Concept and design of ads, catalogs, promotional/direct-mail graphics materials, package inserts, POP. Digital retouching. Worked directly with marketing directors and brand managers to set up catalog pagination.

Directed illustrators, photographers, stylists, models and hair/makeup artists. Supervised layout and mechanical staff. Directed fashion, cosmetic, hard and soft good photoshoots.

• Spearheaded agency utilizing digital photography for hard/soft goods

• Initiated agency’s in-house digital retouching program

• Designed consumer and business to business ad campaigns

• AnnTaylor • John Paul Mitchell Haircare

• Madam Alexander Dolls • Metropolitan Museum Of Art

• Pantone Color Systems • Fortunoff


Freelance Accounts Art Director/Digital Artist 1986–2003

CDA (Communications Design Associates): Audio/video engineering firm. Design corporate identity and brochures

1-800-FLOWERS.COM: Collaborated on the first in-house catalog design, promotion design, digital art and retouching

The Seiden Group: Art direction and digital art on various accounts

Grey Healthcare: Digital art and retouching for concept presentation and reproduction

HDM Muldoon Agency: Graphic Designer – Lenox China, Perkin-Elmer Laboratory Equipment, Betty Crocker, Ellesse, Prodigy, Kodak Commercial Products, NBC Print

Mark Cross Inc: Art Director, catalog design

Korey, Kay & Partners, Advertising: Art Director – New Business Division

Sunday Inserts: Art Director – newspaper inserts

Lord & Taylor Advertising Department: Art Director – Special Projects

Bally of Switzerland: Art Director – Concept and design of national magazine ads, New York and regional newspaper ads.

Hired and directed photographers and stylists; directed all print production


Previous Employment 1971–86

Concept and design of ads (national magazine and newspaper), catalogs, promotional/direct mail graphics materials, package inserts, POP, posters and magazines; worked directly with marketing directors, brand

managers and owners to set up catalog and magazine pagination; hired and directed all illustrators, photographers, stylists, models and hair/make-up artists; supervised layout and mechanical staff; worked up production budgets and schedules and directed fashion, cosmetic, hard and soft goods

photoshoots and directed print production.

• Romance Today Magazine – Creative Director, 1985–86

• Lord & Taylor Catalog – Senior Art Director, 1980–85

• Estee Lauder – Art Director, 1976–80

• Revlon – Art Director, 1974–76

• Saks Fifth Avenue – Art Director, 1971–74

Computer SkillsHighly skilled in Quark, InDesign, Photoshop (digital art creation and retouching), Illustrator (graphics and vector art),

Acrobat PDF PRO, barcode software, prepress software and FTP software; experienced in Apple Pages/Keynote and Microsoft Office (Mac and PC platforms.

This portfolio was created in Keynote then exported to Acrobat PDF and made interactive.

Hands On

Art Direction Magazine Interview April 1994

“I’m more of a technical art director,” Bob Kirk says, his claim borne out by these photo setups. “My expertise is in tabletop.” To open a herbal hair product launch, he wanted plants “exploding upwards” – potentially the most corniest thing since Nancy met Mickey. The page is inviting. Kirk “sat and ‘painted’” on a 3' piece of creamy, underlit Plexiglas. “I started with the hedgerow on the bottom, then added the little sprinkles, then went back and placed the larger ones in. I had a grand time playing. The whole thing took about four hours. I’m happy with the way it captured that upwards motion.” The following spread, aside from the contrast of its clean, white look, adds a little surprise distortion, under the manufactured splash. “Twisting the letters,” Kirk continues, “made it believable. You know it couldn’t exist – but your eye tells you that bottle is liquefying in front of you.” Most surprising to us was the way 20-year tabletop AD Kirk built up the image – on Photoshop, in “a couple of hours.” Drip, splash, bottle and counter are separate photos, with the twist and the reflection both created on Mac. The final was on Paintbox, using Kirk’s low-res output a “dead-on,” pixel-for-pixel template, cutting machine time by half.

Art Direction Awards:Gold Medal – ’94 Best Trade Campaign (Creatives product launch)Honorable Mention – ’94 Presentation Folder (front-back folder created from the opening ad)

Portfolio Contents

Brochures

Catalogs Advertising

Editorial

Packaging – Harman Consumer Group

Digital Art

Brochures and Catalogs – Harman Consumer Group

Harman International — Harman Consumer Group

Brochures And Catalogs

WORKED AS A GRAPHIC DESIGNER AND PRODUCTION ARTIST ON THE JBL, INFINITY, HARMAN KARDON AND AUDIOACCESS BRANDS. WORKED DIRECTLY WITH THE ART DIRECTORS AND BRAND MANAGERS AND ALONE TO DESIGN BROCHURES AND COLLATERAL MATERIALS AS WELL AS DISPLAY AND TRADE SHOW MATERIALS. ONE OF THE MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS WAS CREATING HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTO COMPOSITES AND RETOUCHING FOR REPRODUCTION.

Infinity BrandTSS Models Brochure

JBL Brand Cinema SpeakersWon an American Inhouse Design Award from Graphic Design USA Mag/2007



Infinity Brand Auto Full-line CatalogsWon an American Inhouse Design Award from Graphic Design USA Mag/2006

JBL Brand Brochures



AudioaccessProduct Catalog

DigitalArt

Digital Retouching Ralph Lauren Fashion

Original Final

Write-up

3D Presentations

Digital Retouching

Created these for a presentation to a client by taking the original Illustrator CS created printer's mechanicals, importing them into Photoshop, cutting them apart and creating a perspective recreation of not-yet-manufactured cartons (including the plastic outer wrap). I photographed the sample headphones with a 10 year old point-and-shoot digital camera, imported the photos into Photoshop, composited them into the packages after retouching and color correcting them to fit into the overall color scheme of the image.

La Prairie Cosmetics Advertising

Digital Retouching

WORKED DIRECTLY WITH THE CREATIVE DIRECTOR, JOHN KLIMO, IN RETOUCHING THESE ORIGINAL STUDIO SHOTS INTO FINAL FULL-PAGE AD ART.

Originals

1-800-FLOWERSDigital Retouching

RESPONSIBILITY INCLUDED TAKING ORIGINAL GENERIC STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHS AND RETOUCHING THEM TO MATCH THE EXISTING CATALOG ART WE WERE USING.

Original

Original

Original

AnnTaylor

Catalogs

WORKED DIRECTLY WITH THE V.P. CREATIVE DIRECTOR, JOAN KLIMO, IN DESIGNING THE CATALOGS, ATTENDING THE MERCHANDISING MEETINGS, WORKING ON THE PHOTOSHOOTS WITH HER, EDITING THE FILM WITH HER, PUTTING THE CATALOGS TOGETHER, SUPERVISING THE SUPPORT AND PRODUCTION STAFF, WORKING UP THE RETOUCHING AND FINAL RELEASE DIRECTIONS AS WELL AS WORKING ON THE COLOR SEPARATION OKs.

Lord & Taylor Catalog DivisionCatalogs

WORKED DIRECTLY FOR THE V.P. CREATIVE DIRECTOR, JOAN KLIMO, AS SENIOR ART DIRECTOR FOR THE HOME FURNISHING DIVISION. I DID THE CONCEPT, DESIGN AND PRESENTATION FOR ALL THE HOME FURNISHINGS CATALOGS, ATTENDED ALL MERCHANDISE MEETINGS, WORKED UP THE PAGINATIONS AND SHOOTING SCHEDULES, DIRECTED THE PHOTOGRAPHERS (AND HIRED THE OCCASIONAL MODEL) AND WAS THE SET STYLIST AS WELL. DIRECTED THE MECHANICAL STAFF, WORKED WITH THE PRODUCTION DIRECTOR TO APPROVE THE COLOR SEPARATIONS AND ATTENDED THE PRESS RUNS.

CatalogsMark Cross

WORKED DIRECTLY WITH THE V.P. CREATIVE DIRECTOR, JOAN KLIMO, IN DESIGNING THE CATALOGS, ATTENDING THE MERCHANDISING MEETINGS, WORKING ON THE PHOTOSHOOTS WITH HER, EDITING THE FILM WITH HER, PUTTING THE CATALOGS TOGETHER, SUPERVISING THE SUPPORT AND PRODUCTION STAFF, WORKING UP THE RETOUCHING AND FINAL RELEASE DIRECTIONS AS WELL AS WORKING ON THE COLOR SEPARATION OKs. Lord & Taylor Furniture Catalogs

CatalogsMadame Alexander Dolls

WORKED DIRECTLY WITH THE V.P. CREATIVE DIRECTOR, JOAN KLIMO, IN DESIGNING THE CATALOGS, WORKING ON THE PHOTOSHOOTS WITH HER, EDITING THE FILM WITH HER, PUTTING THE CATALOGS TOGETHER, SUPERVISING THE SUPPORT AND PRODUCTION STAFF, WORKING UP THE RETOUCHING AND FINAL RELEASE DIRECTIONS AS WELL AS WORKING ON THE COLOR SEPARATION OKs.

CatalogsSalvador Dali Museum Store

WORKED IN DIRECT CONTACT WITH THE MUSEUM DIRECTOR, DESIGNED THE CATALOGS, PRESENTED THE CONCEPTS AND PAGINATIONS, DIRECTED THE PHOTOSHOOTS, DID THE SET STYLING, EDITED THE FILM, SUPERVISED THE SUPPORT AND PRODUCTION STAFF, PRESENTED THE FINAL MOCKUPS, WORKED UP THE RETOUCHING AND FINAL RELEASE DIRECTIONS AS WELL AS WORKING ON THE COLOR SEPARATION OKs.

Pantone Color SystemsCatalogsWORKED WITH THE ORIGINAL ART DIRECTOR TO TAKE OVER THE PROJECT MIDSTREAM, DESIGNED THE MAN PANELS AND MADE THE PHOTOSHOP COMPOSITES, WORKED WITH THE ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE TO MAINTAIN THE PROJECT ON SCHEDULE, SUPERVISED THE SUPPORT STAFF AND SET UP THE CATALOG FOR FINAL RELEASE.

1-800-FLOWERSBROUGHT IN FREELANCE TO START THE IN-HOUSE CATALOG DEPARTMENT AND TO ASSIST IN THE PUBLISHING OF THE FIRST CATALOG. HELPED DESIGN, PAGINATE IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE NEWLY HIRED ART DIRECTOR AND DID MOST OF THE RETOUCHING. WAS BROUGHT IN AGAIN FOR THE SECOND CATALOG.

Bally Of Switzerland

Advertising

WORKED DIRECTLY WITH THE NEW YORK SALES MANAGER (AS THERE WAS NO "ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT" AT THAT TIME). AFTER PRESENTING THE CONCEPT, THE PHOTOGRAPHER AND I WOULD SHOOT, I WOULD BUILD A MOCK-UP AND DO THE FINAL RETOUCHING DIRECTIONS AND THEN DO THE PRODUCTION FOR FINAL RELEASE

VOGUE MAGAZINETHE CAIRN TERRIER IN THE BACKGROUND BELONGED TO THE PHOTOGRAPHER AND SPENT MOST OF THE TIME DURING SETUP JUST WANDERING AROUND UNTIL HE LAID DOWN IN JUST THE RIGHT SPOT

GENTLEMAN'S QUARTERLY

PAUL MITCHELL HAIRCARE

WORKED DIRECTLY WITH VP OF MARKETING IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND WOULD PRESENT MY CONCEPTS VIA FAX, FEDEX OR TELEPHONE.

THIS CAMPAIGN WAS BASED ON THE CONCEPT THE PRODUCTS WERE ALL MADE FROM ALL NATURAL BOTANICAL INGREDIENTS. AT THE TIME THIS LINE WAS LAUNCHED – THIS WAS A RADICAL NEW IDEA IN THE HAIR CARE INDUSTRY, SO I WANTED THE IMAGES OF EACH PRODUCT TO REFLECT THIS. THE OPENING AD TO THE RIGHT WAS ALSO MADE INTO A PROMOTIONAL KIT FOLDER WHICH WON AN ART DIRECTION AWARD.

THIS CAMPAIGN WAS CONCEIVED THE WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS. SKETCHES WERE SENT BACK AND FORTH TO CALIFORNIA DURING CHRISTMAS–NEW YEARS. THE PHOTO SHOOT WAS SET UP THE WEEK AFTER THE HOLIDAYS. FILM WAS IN AND APPROVED THE VERY NEXT WEEK. PRODUCTION,RETOUCHING AND SEPARATIONS WERE DONE AND BY THE THIRD WEEK OF JANUARY, THE CAMPAIGN WAS RELEASED TO THE MAGAZINES. NOT ONLY WAS THIIS CAMPAIGN DONE IN RECORD TIME, BUT WAS ON-BUDGET AND EARNED THE CLIENT THE MOST EARNINGS FROM ANY SINGLE LAUNCH.

THIS TRADE AD CAMPAIGN WON AN ART DIRECTION AWARD

Advertising

Creatives CampaignBusiness-To-Business

This ad was a composite of individual photographed pieces put together in Photoshop. Bottle – reflection – splash (a plaster model made form my sketches) –drip – droplets – botanicals and background were all photographed separately. I composited them in a low res version with copy for approval, then the Paintbox operator scanned my version and used it as a pixel-to-pixel template to output the high res final release version.

The promotional folder of this ad won an art direction award

PAUL MITCHELL HAIRCAREAdvertising


This ad was photographed on set as you see it on set


PAUL MITCHELL HAIRCAREAdvertising



Advertising

Awapuhi Campaign/Business-To-Business


THIS CAMPAIGN STARTED OUT AS A SMALL BROCHURE SENT OUT TO SALONS AND WAS SO SUCCESSFUL IT WAS THEN TURNED INTO A NATIONAL AD CAMPAIGN. THIS CONCEPT OF THIS BROCHURE/AD CAMPAIGN WAS TO SHOW THE SALONS THE MAIN INGREDIENT OF MANY OF THE PRODUCTS – AWAPUHI GINGER. PAUL MITCHELL GROWS THIS PARTICULAR INGREDIENT IN ONLY ONE PLACE – A SOLAR POWERED FARM IN THE JUNGLE, ON THE SIDE OF A DORMANT VOLCANO, ON THE BIG ISLAND OF HAWAII. IT WAS GROWN, HARVESTED, DRIED AND NATURALLY PROCESSED USING ONLY SOLAR POWER. I SPENT THREE DAYS ON THE FARM WITH A PHOTOGRAPHER.

THIS TRADE AD CAMPAIGN WON AN ART DIRECTION AWARD

Advertising

PAUL MITCHELL HAIRCAREBusiness-To-Business Single Ads

Ethnic Ads

PAUL MITCHELL SALON LOGO

Advertising


Consumer Ads — 1994 CampaignConsumer Ads — 1995 Campaign

GREYSCALE SERIES DUOTONE SERIES

Packaging

PACKAGE DESIGN AND PRODUCTIONCREATED IN ILLUSTRATOR AND INDESIGN,MOST EMPLOYING FULL-SIZEDPHOTOSHOP-CREATED COMPOSITES.

ALL THESE PACKAGE DESIGN RENDITIONSWERE USED FOR PRESENTATIONS; THEY WERE CREATED IN PHOTOSHOP FROM ORIGINAL, FULL-SIZE ILLUSTRATOR AND INDESIGN MECHANICAL DOCUMENTSFOR PRINTING THE ACTUAL CARTONS.


Infinity Brand TSS Series Master CartonsWon an American Inhouse Design Award from Graphic Design USA Mag2007

Romance Today MagazineEditorial

A STYLIST WAS HIRED TO GET THE PROPS FOR ALL THE STILL-LIVE SPREADS, BUT I DID ALL PHOTO SET STYLING MYSELF.

Paul Mitchell Haircare

Brochures

WORKED DIRECTLY WITH VP OF MARKETING IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND WOULD PRESENT MY CONCEPTS VIA FAX, FEDEX OR TELEPHONE.

Brochures Saks Fifth Avenue

Lord & TaylorCatalog Division