About Me - Jody Smith
I am an energetic designer seeking to expand career growth through a passion in project collaboration while bringing interdisciplinary experiences to the company with a graphic, fashion, and packaging design portfolio. I exhibit an immense understanding of current market psychology and design strategy. I have the ability to create effective trend foresights for product design solutions. I can offer experience with developing full product collections for various brands and thrives within team-based environments.
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University of Cincinnati B.S. in Design and Minor in Marketing
Work Experience
February 2023 - Current
Senior Designer
Galerie Candy and Gifts
Develops seasonal candy products and gifts with wide-ranging style guides. Composes expansive seasonal collections for the licenses and works directly with the licensor throughout the idea-to-aisle process. Lead Designer for the following licenses: Bluey, Hello Kitty, Disney, Tim Burton’s the Nightmare Before Christmas, LOL Surprise, Hallmark, and ELF: The Movie.
Lead designer for the company’s innovation team with the role of trend forecasting, customer insight development, and illustrate team ideas through 2D and 3D renders. Communicates directly with vendors on capabilities and value pricing. Oversees all projects within each season of the year and manages the design team on their workload.
May 2020 - February 2023
Graphic Designer
Galerie Candy and Gifts
Licensed Graphic Designer for the following licenses: Bluey, Hello Kitty (Sanrio), Miraculous, LOL Surprise, Trolls, Peppa Pig, PJ Masks, Transformers, Power Rangers, Blues Clues and Galerie Brand. Creates enticing PowerPoint presentations for the President and CEO for client, sales, and board member meetings. Leads training sessions for new members on the team and interns that are hired on seasonal. Develops training modules for the design team.
Janaury 2019 - May 2020
Graphic Design Co-Op
Galerie Candy and Gifts
Collaborated with the design team on Galerie brand and licensed product designs. Directly supported the president and CEO of the company by developing engaging presentations for client and board member meetings. Led the BLINK instillation project for Snoooze™ and designed the entire interactive store front space. Flowed seasonal projects through the internal system for projects to be developed by vendors on time.
May 2018 - August 2018
Fashion Design Co-Op
Paragon Clothing
Conducted fashion trend research and built captivating trend analysis boards for clients, including fabric and silhouette direction. Collaborated with the following brands: Urban Outfitters, Liberated Folk, Red Herring, Debenhams, Ivy Park, and small European fashion brands. Illustrated technical garment flats with articulated instructions, measurements, and sharp detailing. Interacted with local factories on developing client design samples for showcases. Assisted with Womens’ and Children’s wear development with graphic illustrations and runway research.
August 2017 - December 2017
Fashion Stylist Co-Op
Amazon
Began as a Stylist Assistant: learning the styling process, prepping garments, organizing the studio spaces, and participating in stylist meetings for future projects. Promoted to Stylist after a short period of time. Styled flat garments and accessories to be photographed for the Amazon Store Front website. Expanded personal projects with on site photographers to compose high quality product prints.