SKILLS
THE TOOLS I USE MOST
My tool set. The percentages represent my familiarity with each application or technology and ability to work within them.
Adobe Creative Cloud
I live in Adobe products. Illustrator and Photoshop practically run around the clock on my machine. I’ve used the software for so long that I remember when Photoshop only had one Undo and no History palette.
I use them together or individually. It all depends on the project. I have deep experience with image creation, manipulation, and cleanup of photos and vector graphics. Due to short timeframes on many projects, I often customize stock graphics and photos for the task at hand.
InDesign makes up the third part of my daily, Adobe tool set. For the past 12+ years I have used InDesign, on dozens of projects both large and small, for print projects and interactive PDFs.
From 1999 to 2003, I worked heavily in Flash and Dreamweaver. Flash was used primarily for creating interactive presentations vs the obligatory intro movies of that era. I mention it here to indicate that I’m familiar with timeline-based software which I see as basic gateway to assist with learning AfterEffects (the next target on my skill radar). My use of Dreamweaver over the years has been about 95% code view vs WYSIWYG. Straightforward coding without using the wide variety of features the app provides.
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Illustrator
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InDesign
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Photoshop
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Dreamweaver
MS Office 365 (+earlier), Google Slides/Docs, & Keynote
For the past 15 years PowerPoint has been a heavy focus for me. I have been involved in producing instructional decks and presentations to support product and sales teams. Creating executives’ presentations for both internal and high level meetings/events has been an important part of my responsibilities. Word is ubiquitous in business and I have used it for many years but not at the same level as PPT.
Global enablement efforts at ExactTarget, Return Path, and Jobvite made production of PowerPoint and Word templates a necessity in order to maintain consistent branding across the wide number of documents. Setting up templates that are as “unbreakable as possible” has given me much deeper insight into both programs.
My Excel experience is not nearly as deep as the other two Microsoft programs. I have used it to setup charts for PowerPoint decks and the occasional, basic spreadsheet.
The majority of my experience with Google productivity tools has been in Slides. Since 2019, I’ve worked on multiple freelance projects that involved Slides. At Return Path, I gained experience setting up templates for Google Slides, and to a lesser extent, Google Docs, since the teams outside of Marketing did not receive Microsoft licenses.
During my last couple years at ExactTarget/Salesforce, we began using Keynote for high-level presentations and for the main stage presentations at Connections 2014. I have used it on some freelance projects since then. The ease of use and shallow learning curve have made it an easy adaptation.
Figma and Canva are the latest apps I’ve added to the tool kit. I worked on several projects that utilized both in the past year. The ease of use and popularity of both ensures I’ll be using them for more upcoming projects.
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MS PowerPoint
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Google Slides
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Keynote
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Figma
%
MS Word
%
Google Docs
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Canva
Web and OS
Although my focus has been primarily print and onscreen work for the past 16 years, I have a strong foundation in HTML and CSS. Between 1999 and 2004, I worked for tech consulting firms where that was my focus. My jobs involved constructing HTML shells on which developers based the dynamic sites. In the early years at ExactTarget, building HTML-based mockups with modal dialog boxes for product demos was a large part of my job.
Obviously using any skill day to day is the best way to become an expert, but I’ve at least kept my hands in it with both personal and freelance work. Sites like SmashingMagazine and A List Apart have been helpful over the years.
I certainly don’t claim to be an expert in writing code beyond HTML, however I have had experience tweaking code in Javascript and PHP. Thankfully, code snippet sites and blogs make such edits possible when used properly.
In 2014 I began working heavily in WordPress. I am not a developer but have become adept at using themes as the basis for sites and making alterations to fit the needs of the project. This site uses the Divi theme which I’ve adapted and customized as needed. As part of the new branding launch for Return Path in 2015, I was tasked with setting up the brand site on this platform. I’m learning more all the time and love the challenge.
I am neither a Mac nor Windows zealot. I have worked extensively in both and can use either environment to get the job done. I’ve been primarily on Mac for the last 16 years but during that time have owned a couple PCs and a SurfacePro as well.
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HTML/CSS
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Mac OS
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Wordpress
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