Hey, I'm Stephen. I love bringing brands to life through digital, product, print, and environmental experiences. I began my career in 2009 managing design teams at successful startups in the Seattle area before jumping into agency work. This quickly led to client-side roles at Nike, Microsoft, Oracle, Amazon, and currently Axon, a Fortune 500 public safety technology company.
As the Global Art Director at Axon, I plan and execute photoshoots around the world, work alongside our go-to-market teams to localize global content into 30+ languages, and travel all over meeting with business partners and customers to understand how Axon can better empathize with each unique culture and region through meaningful design.
I believe my 15+ year career trajectory has been successful not only because I'm well-versed in design theory and the tools to bring big ideas to life, but because I'm able to creatively pivot during difficult situations and eagerly take on new challenges. With every project, big or small, I unwaveringly put the customer first to put forth my best design and direction possible.
Work history
Art Director,
International
Axon Enterprise
June 2023 - present
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Led creative for Axon’s first global brand campaign including the curation of dozens of concepts starting with ChatGPT + Midjourney then polishing in Lightroom + Photoshop for idea exploration in executive leadership pitch decks and collateral pieces.
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Successfully planned and executed global video series across eight European countries. With my thorough vendor management, this launched two weeks ahead of schedule and thousands of dollars under budget.
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Led creative design for Axon’s Tier 1 launch of their flagship AI software product, Draft One. Created all launch assets including branded collateral, digital banners, PDF case studies, and event graphics.
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Flew to eight countries (CA, UK, FR, DE, IT, ES, MX, AU) to plan and direct global marketing photo shoots for Tier 1 product images and videos implemented across all owned media.
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Led creative direction for global trade show booths pivoting Axon’s current darker militarized brand into a brighter more tech-forward brand leading to hundreds of millions of dollars in global pipeline sales.
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Contributed the Global Considerations chapter of Axon’s global brand guidelines.
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Manager of in-house jr. designer in Amsterdam and mid-senior level freelance designers across the U.S.
Art Director,
Last Mile
Amazon, Inc.
June 2021 - March 2023
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Led art direction for Last Mile global photography including planning, budgeting, vendor management, execution, and implementation across North America, Asia, UK and Europe. With empathy at the core, I made sure each photo acted as a mirror in which the customer could see themselves.
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Brand Design for global fleet including e-bikes for Europe, livery vehicles in the Middle East, semi trailers in Canada and EV charging stations across North America under strict DOT regulations.
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Visual design for infographics, OOH signage, training materials and driver app UI components (atoms+molecules+organisms) in the Last Mile Design System in Figma, Illustrator and Photoshop.
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Designed and polished Executive Leadership presentation decks in PowerPoint
Brand Experience Designer, CX/Advertising
Oracle (contract)
March 2021 - June 2021
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Created net-new content for Oracle Advertising including vector icons, patterns and logo treatments.
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Designed CX marketing collateral on Oracle.com that flowed seamlessly from social to web to print.
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Built patterns and graphics for corporate design system within Figma using atomic design theory.
Design Director + Partner
Half Lion Brewing Co.
July 2019 - March 2021
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Designed flagship product lineup for beer cans into scalable design solution across 12 SKUs including seasonal and special edition releases.
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Successfully led the product design, brand and launch of industry-first “American Hard Seltzer" sold in retail, stadiums, and restaurants.
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Hired, managed, and mentored social media marketing team fostering teamwork to push engaging content.
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Established and managed vendor relationships for packaging, merchandise, video production and graphic design while keeping projects on time and under budget.
Sr. Graphic Design,
AI Marketing
Microsoft (contract)
November 2024 - March 2021
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Created digital marketing assets in 224 global markets attracting over 300 Million users.
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Designed the materials for Microsoft's first AI products across international markets, six years before the launch of Microsoft Copilot.
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Collaborated with global teams to create localized emails, banners, videos and social assets in 55 languages. Localization included custom imagery, copy, cultural references and content.
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Redesigned Microsoft Rewards newsletter to improve UX reaching 1.9 billion customers annually, worldwide.
Art Director,
Freelance
Vossler Studios
September 2015 - December 2020
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Hands-on art director for print, digital and TV spots for clients like T-Mobile, Microsoft, Metro, and INRIX.
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Ideated and illustrated physical storyboards based on Creative Director scripts for use in television and print production.
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Created mood boards which aided in direction for principal photography, video and key art.
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Partnered with animators and editors in post-production to bring original concepts to life.
Brand Designer,
Global Finance
Nike, INC
September 2013 - December 2014
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Created the logo, identity, and brand guidelines for Nike’s Global Finance Division, FutureFi.
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Designed the large-scale graphics for Nike’s Global Finance summits featuring Alberto Salazar and Allyson Felix.
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Designed internal marketing collateral for Nike campuses in Shanghai, Taiwan, and Hong Kong in both Traditional and Simplified Chinese.
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Created several turnkey presentation templates used in seven geographies worldwide.
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Designed UI elements, site maps, and wireframes for FutureFi’s Wordpress and SharePoint sites.
Graphic Designer,
Worldwide Retail Marketing
Microsoft (contract)
January 2013 - August 2013
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Worked as a production designer to create thousands of online marketing assets for Microsoft’s worldwide retail partners in 36 countries.
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Worked with global marketing teams at Best Buy, Costco, Walmart, Amazon, Target, and more to customize their existing online banners.
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Ideated, created, and implemented the UI/UX for interactive landing pages and category pages on MicrosoftREC.com — an internal staging platform for third-party marketing teams.
Jr. Art Director
Cole & Weber United
October 2012 - January 2013
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Designed Powerpoint presentations for international campaign pitches often turning them around within 24-hours to beat deadlines.
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Created Keynote templates and infographics for internal agency presentations, RFPs and RFIs.
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Created large-format prints for clients including The National Olympic Committee, Washington’s Lottery, TreeTop, Nike, and Microsoft.
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Worked with Creative Directors and Art Directors to design concepts to send to clients.
Design Lead + Co-Founder
College Hill
May 2011 - September 2012
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Started a multi-million dollar custom apparel company in a 4-bedroom apartment above a bar in the middle of Washington State University's campus.
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Created and managed the graphics for over $1MM worth of custom designed apparel and promotional products.
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Ideated and implemented all corporate identity and graphics standards for print and web.
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Designed corporate website proposal using wireframing and mindmaps through HTML, CSS and Wordpress.
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Hired and managed five in-house designers along with 15+ design interns while adhering to local and national labor laws.
Design Lead
Destiny Worldwide
September 2009 - May 2011
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My first job out of college, I led the design team at Destiny Worldwide — a record label, apparel printshop, and live entertainment company.
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Designed album artwork and touring collateral including t-shirts, posters, stickers, and magazine ads.
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Modified the design of the company’s Flash website, streamlining the site structure starting with wireframing prototypes.
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Designed over $500k worth of custom apparel graphics. Prepared pre-press artwork while adhering to strict 3rd party margins.
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Hired and managed six in-house designers and 25+ interns while adhering to local and national labor laws.