As an experienced marketing professional, I specialize in creating compelling ad copy for a variety of platforms, including websites, email campaigns, and social media. I am highly skilled in crafting effective messaging and calls to action, and have a proven track record of success in creating content and analyzing metrics to measure performance. Additionally, I am proficient in using a variety of social media management tools to effectively manage accounts on platforms such as Twitter and Instagram.
UX / UI Design
As a UX/UI designer, I have experience in creating user-centered digital products that are both functional and visually appealing. My focus is on understanding the needs of users and creating a seamless experience for them by conducting research, creating wireframes and prototypes, and testing designs to ensure they are intuitive and easy to use. I strive to create designs that are not only aesthetically pleasing, but also improve the overall user experience and help achieve the goals of the business.
Graphic Design
With a BFA in Graphic Design, I have a strong understanding of visual communication and the ability to create sophisticated designs with sound design rationale. I am experienced in utilizing typography, photography, and negative space to create visually impactful designs. I stay current with the latest design trends while also pushing boundaries and setting new ones. I strive to meet the needs of clients by incorporating their feedback and vision into my work.
I grew up in Colorado in a small town and prior to pursing my education in Fine Art, I gained valuable professional experience working in the Insurance Industry. This experience working for a Fortune 500 Company gave me a sound and detailed understanding of Business Operations. This is an understanding I have carried into every position I have held.
2000 - 2006
An Education in Fine Arts
I've alwasy loved Art and Design. From an early age I loved the challenge of attempting to strike a balance between visual compelling work that was also conceptually rigorous. My education in Fine Art began at the University of Illinois - Chicago where I received a dual BFA in Graphic Design and Sculpture. Despite my love of Swiss Design, Josef Mueller-Brockman and the grid system, I decided to pursue an MFA in Sculpture at the urging of my professors. I applied to a number of top MFA programs in Sculpture and was fortunate enough to have been admitted into a number of programs. I chose the Tyler School of Art in Philadephia, PA. After completing my MFA, I made the decision to move to New York City and pursue a career as a Fine Artist.
2006 - 2015
A Decade in New York City
I spent nearly a decade working in the New York Art World for various art galleries and their vendors as an Operations Manager. During this time, I was also an active artist showing my work in various group and solo shows. I loved the ambition and drive of the city and the talent that resided there. I took full advantage of the world class creative institutions attending numerous lectures, seminars, museum shows and cultural events. I loved New York and the experiences it provided, creative and otherwise.
2015 - Present
Southern Florida
After nearly a decade working in New York City, I relocated to Deerfield Beach, Florida. With the move came the decision to transition into a new career in Design. My initial experience has been as a Project Manager for a small web development company. This role also allowed me to start as a UX/ UI designer assisting with the front end design of client sites creating the architecture, layout and user flows for sites. I attended the Palm Beach Code School and gained valuable technical skills used daily. I'm an avid learner and continually seek to develop my technical and design skills.
Be Part
Of My
Story!
My Skills
Project Managment | UX/ UI | Graphic Design
RJ Gallardo
Soft and Technical Skills
SOFT SKILLS: Communication, Creativity, Research, Teamwork and Collaboration, Leadership, Adaptability, Problem Solving, Analytical and Critical Thinking, Time Management, Resilience
TECHNICAL SKILLS: HTML, CSS, Adobe Creative Suite, Javascript(working knowledge), Bootstrap(working knowledge), PHP(Working Knowledge), My SQL(Working Knowledge), SEO principles(Working Knowledge)
SUMMARY: I am a skilled design professional with 5+ years of experience in Graphic Design, UX/UI Design, and Marketing. Proficient in Adobe Creative Suite and experienced in user research, wireframes, and interface design for web and mobile. Strong knowledge of marketing strategies, creating marketing collateral and executing campaigns. I have experience managing social media campaigns and am skilled in creating and implementing strategies to increase engagement and reach on various platforms. My ability to create visually engaging designs, create marketing campaigns and ad copy as well as manage social media channels makes me an asset to any team.
Message Board redesign to answer all of your fantasy football questions.
Project Details
The goal was to design a fantasy football message board where ff players can get advice about topics such as trades, injury rumors, player performance and other related topics. Many fantasy forums are very basic and bare bones, leaving them visually unappealing and also hard to navigate because or poor visual hiearchy leading to a less than intuitive experience. The main goals were to make a site that was more visual appealing and increase functionality through a clearer hierachy leading to a more intuitive navigation. User Experience is increased as users can communicate more effectively with each other. Added features such as personalized member pages will allow users to choose the colors and the logo of their homepage in turn creating a more personalalized experience. In addition to our design and user experience goals, I was also concerned with creating a site that stands out from the competition and creates a solid brand identity that also echoes the spirit of the NFL letting users know the site's main purpose. The redesign will be applied to both the full site and mobile application.
My Role
Research, user testing, ideation, visual design
Tools
User and Market Research, Persona and Scenario, Wireframing, Low-fidelity Prototyping, High-fidelity Prototyping, Sketch, Moqups, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere,
1. RESEARCH
Problem Statement
What I've identified as an immediate weakness is the overall design of most fantasy forums plagued by weak hiearchical and monotonous design. With the lack of clear seperation of site components, users are bogged down by poor visual design. This is common issue with most message boards that operate graphically like they have since message boards were first introduced. The challenge is mainting the spirit of a message board while bringing it up to date graphically.
Competitive Analysis | Heuristic Evaluation
Research: Who are the users? What is the product? What are the goals? In order to find this out,
we need to research our competitors, evaluate their sites and identify the useful and less than useful content and functionality of each site. By identifying the market's strength and weakness, we can create our own set of goals to achieve. I examined three competitor's websites as part of the Heuristic Evaluation.
Competitor 1: The Huddle
This is the best of the bunch that is on the web. It is a forum that is part of a site focused on Fantasy Football that contains a variety seperate articles and advice from fantasy experts. Despite being the best of the bunch, it suffers from a basic color scheme, lack of individualized homepages and weak branding that keeps it from standing out from the rest of the forums on the web.
Competitor 2: Fantasy Football Talk
This is a very generic site typical of most message boards. It's full of whites and greys which hamper the hiearchy and navigation of the forum pages. It's part of a much larger RotoWorld fantasy site catering to a variety of other sports, so it's not the focus or primary feature of the site. It lacks the branding and and a UX that would allow it to stand out from the crowd.
Competitor 3: Fantasy Football Today
Another bare bones site with little contrast to the design elements which in turn hurts the visual hiearchy of the page and hampers site navigation. The overall layout of the page is better than Fantasy Football Talk, but it could use a punch of color and contrast to seperate page elements and make navigation easier. Even adding stronger roll-over elements could help with the navigation. It too suffers from weak branding from the logo to the color scheme. All of which makes it another face in the crowd.
Site Map
CONCLUSION: The existing site map needed to be adjusted to remove sections that were not being used. Those sections could be removed entirely or placed in another section of the site, such as the user admin page, where they did not complicate the architecture of the main features that were being used. Because of the density and quantity of information of the site, any streamlining regarding unused features would increase user experience. For example, why have tabs for "Staff" on the homepage, when this is not a primary feature. Also, a list of online users is never helpfu because it's a jumbled list of 30+ names in paragraph format. It's monotous to read and adds a section to the site that is not used or needed. It appears to be a feature they are trying to add to make it similar to social networking sites where you can see which of your friends or contacts are online. I think this is a feature that is unnecessary and ill-adapted for forum sites.
2. DEVELOPMENT
PERSONA
Who are the people who play fantasy football? We quickly discovered there is no specific type of person that plays fantasy football. The demographics range far and wide for the nearly 60 million people that play fantasy. Men comprise 66% of the market, while women make up for the remaining 34%. The majority(66%) have college degrees with an average household in come of $75K. The average age is 38 years old, so as you can see it's a large market with buying power who uses technology. It's has become a multi-million dollar industry that has spread to televsion, the NFL and the NFL players themselves.
The questions we are asking, is what product can we create to help fantasy players. To hammer the point home even further, the industry has it's own Fantasy Sports Trade Association and the industry bring in a reported $15 billion dollars, not including advertising revenue.
MOOD BOARD
Now that the majority of the research has been done regading content. I began to focus on the overall look and feel of the project. To get me started I created a style/mood board to give myself some visual foundation to build from. After this stage I'll begin to create the overall architecture of the site and the content, design and layout will begin to take shape.
WIREFRAMES
Wireframes were created for mobile and desktop applications. The first wireframe is based on the many of the existing forums. My intent was to use a wireframe structure similar to existing competitor's architecture and see if we could create a better user experience by a simple adjustment of colors and eliminating unused features. Once this approach was examined, I redesigned the project entirely with a more up to date layout. I also tweeked the mobile apps for the site because of it's wide use.
3. PROTOTYPING
4. UX DESIGN
MOCK-UPS | ORIGINAL FORMAT REDESIGN
MOCK-UPS | VERTICAL REDESIGN
MOCK-UPS | MOBILE APP
Below are the application prototypes. The user is given the 3 options of visiting the site the first time: 1.Existing Member/Sign-In 2.Create a User Account 3.Browse as a Guest. The user is informed in order to have full access to the site, they will need to create a user account. I thought it was important to establish the 3 options the user had to navigate the site using the app. The competitor sites have the same options somewhat buried in the hamburger navigation. I felt this approach clearly establishes the parameter of the user's visit to the site and if their intent is to post and get a response, they can create an account right away. The goal for the application was the same as that for the full site. Create a branded site with better visual appeal and design and better functionality.
The approach to creating the app was the same as that for the full site. The information gathered for the full site was applied to the design of the application, no duplication of effort was needed. Some additional questions were asked about application and used to augment the research for the app.
5. FINAL THOUGHTS & RECOMMENDATIONS
6. WORKING METHODS
From hand drawn sketches to high fidelty prototypes, a number of different working methods were used to create documents during the research, layout and design of the project. The software ranged from Adobe Creative Suite and Sketch to Microsoft Office for data driven research. Pencil drawn sketches and notes allow for additional project discovery on the fly and real-time changes to occur.
Date: November 2017
Client: Self-Directed Project
Category: UX|UI Design/ Graphic Design
Legacy Martial Arts
Redesign
OVERVIEW:
Legacy Martial Arts is a gym located in New York, New York offering martial arts classes to both children and adults in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai and Boxing. My task was to examine their existing website and locate problem areas and identify solutions in a redesign. The overall goal of the site is to create a flow of information that translates to new clients and keeps current clients informed of class scheduling and event times, including changes to existing schedules. Apparel sales and online tutorials are also a consideration.
MY ROLE:
UX | UI, Visual Design, Project Management
AREAS ADDRESSED:
UI | Web Design | Logo + Branding | Collateral Design
YEAR:
SUMMMER | 2018
INTRODUCTION:
The Legacy Martial Arts site serves as one of the primary marketing tools for the gym and as an online accessory for current members where they can get updated information for: the New York location and other gyms affiliated with Legacy and it's related BJJ association.
The first step was to speak with the gym owners and define their goals regarding the site while also evaluating the existing site for instances where the site was not meeting their goals. Once the definition of the product(website) was defined and problems listed, solutions and the process towards a redesign could begin.
PROBLEMS:
By evaluating the site, problems were identified regarding the following: functionality, layout and visual design and content. Core users were identified and problems are listed under one of the following three categories.
1. FUNCTIONALITY: When a user first lands on the page, a pop-up window listing upcoming scheduling changes and events appears. It's a bit cumbersome and the information could be displayed or provided in a different manner.
2. FUNCTIONALITY AND VISUAL DESIGN: The overall layout of the site lacks an underlying grid or structure. More care should be given to provide seperate sections for seperate content. Either through individual pages or a longer home page format where design can be used to clearly denote seperate content sections.The homepage suffer from a lazy diagonal.
3. VISUAL DESIGN: The site layout suffers from a wrapping header and the logo and main content being justified left. The logo could benefit from Long heading titles are the source of the wrapping.
4. VISUAL DESIGN: More care could be given to individual design elements. The framing of photographs, photographs chosen, use of rule lines, etc.
5. VISUAL DESIGN: The site suffers from a lack of visual seductiveness. The site and gym would benefit from rebranding, starting with a new logo design. The rebranding could then be implemented into all elements of the business: website, collateral, the physical gym, uniforms and apparel.
6. CONTENT: The main content of a lot of the pages is split with a section of testimonials. This information could be provided in a seperate section of with a longer home page format.
7. CONTENT: Legacy is part of a greater network of gyms all affiliated with one another. This needs to be made clear to potential clients with additional content explaining this and more information given for each gym location.
SOLUTIONS:
1. FUNCTIONALITY: Consider a more elegant design for the pop-up, with proper cell-padding, layout and design. Inline expansion or a prominent call to action near or above the header could let the user know of schedule and event changes.
2. FUNCTIONALITY AND VISUAL DESIGN: The site needs to be laid out on a grid system with formal elements being used to create a visual hiearchy and organization. Similiar element such as photo contained in the same tags need to be the same dimension.
3. VISUAL DESIGN: Remove the logo from the box and contain it in it's own header. Use shorter heading titles and more sub-sections to keep the header organized.
4. VISUAL DESIGN: The site redesign should be rethinking of all formal elements: color, layout, textures, photographs, etc. Also, how and where information is presented. The layout needs to be more intuitive.
5. VISUAL DESIGN: The site and gym will be rebranded with a new logo, color scheme and font that is part of a larger system that can be implemented to botht he digital and physical realms.
6. CONTENT: What and where content is placed will be determined based on importance. The layout and hiearchy of the site will help provide more clarity and legibility for the content provided.
7. CONTENT: Descriptive text above or below the header will describe the fact Legacy is a network of gyms in the great New York area. The benefits of the network will also be communicated.
Below are 3 additional examples of the site. The images echoes the previous suggestions and solutions for a site redesign. You can see in the following examples how the site lacks structure and seduction.
1. RILLION GRACIE BJJ
SUMMARY:
The site uses professionally shot B&W photography and full bleeds to create a sophisticated, seductive layout. The primary site colors are black, white, grays and orange to provide a pop of color. The site's branding is consistent througout. Sections are clearly defined in the headings and site architecture, flow and content are clear and intuitive. Calls to action are easy to locate and actionable.
2. FIGHT SPORTS MIAMI
SUMMARY:
The site uses professionally shot B&W photography and full bleeds to create a sophisticated, seductive layout. The primary site colors are black, white, grays and red to provide a pop of color. The site's branding is consistent througout. The home page is shot in color and uses a 360 degree camera to display the new, world-class facility. Use of video is used again to provide a tour of the entire facility. The site's architecture is clearly laid out and sections and services clearly defined.
3. UNITY BJJ, NYC
SUMMARY:
The site uses professionally shot B&W photography and full bleeds to create a sophisticated, seductive layout. The primary site colors are black, white, grays and light blue to provide a pop of color. The site's branding is consistent througout. Overlays are used througout to provide an interesting presentation of the gym's information. A video gives the viewer a snapshot of the gym's culture. Larger text is used, making the site's content clear and legible. The site's architecture is clearly laid out and intuitive for the user.Calls to action are also clearly defined.
INTRODUCTION:
The "Ideate + Sketch" phase of design is comprised of two parts. First the logo and identity redesign. Second, the website redesign. In order to fully create an impactful site redesign, the Legacy logo and identity needed to be addressed. In doing so, a strong foundation from which to build the image of the business could take place. To continue to use the existing logo and lack of cohearant identity color scheme would have been both a missed opportunity and not served the site redesign well.
LOGO + IDENTITY: I used the creation of the new logo to begin the rebranding. From the logo, a clear point from which to build out from could begin. It's style, look and feel would help guide the look of both the brand and the site.
SITE REDESIGN: I should make clear when I say site redesign, that also means creating an app for the site as well. The existing site and competitor sites have been evaluated and the market research has been complete. I used this in combination with the logo and rebranding to begin the sketch and ideation phase of the project.
INSPIRATION
TOP PANEL: Riffing off the word "Legacy" I decided to use an old style font that represented the idea of maintaining a legacy. I wanted to create a logo that symbolizes an entity that has stood the test of time. As inspiration, I used variations of the "Olde English" font for the basis of the logo.
BOTTOM PANEL:The font is given a contemporary look and feel combining the qualities a slab serif with that of the Olde English font. Ascenders, descenders, changes in line weight and their transitions give the logo weight and movement. The logo is strong and powerful and provides a strong identity for the gym which can be used on apparel, uniforms, marketing material and the gym's interior.
The goal was also to break from the standard, martial arts logo using a "black belt" as the basis of the logo. This was an approach used for the previous logo. The legitimacy of gym can be established by means other than the placement of a black belt in the logo. However, their are instances where gyms have created successful logos with this approach.
FINAL LOGO DESIGN
PALETTE: The colors used for the logo and identity system are taken from the Brazilian Flag providing a bold, strong palette. Two, three and four color palette examples are used and a variety of options can be used.
TWO COLOR PALETTE
THREE COLOR PALETTE
FOUR COLOR PALETTE
APPLICATION
ENVIRONMENTAL | COLLATERAL | APPAREL | FLEET: Using the redesigned logo as the foundation of the rebranding, it is applied to all matters associated with the gym. The logo is used for digital, collateral, environmental and fleet advertising. The rebranding of imagery, fonts, colors and logo create a fresh, new feel that provides the business with visual structure and sophistication. It gets potential clients in the door. And with a great product being offered, the gym converts the potential clients to members.
ENVIRONMENTAL POSTER MOCK-UPS
POSTER DETAILS
ENVIRONMENTAL SIGNAGE
BRAND COLLATERAL
APPAREL
FLEET GRAPHICS
THIS PROJECT IS CURRENTLY IN PROGRESS
Rebranding of website, emails and social media campaigns.
Project Details
As the new Designer for KeatsCastle.com, I was tasked with redesigning major sections of the front and back end of the site, refreshing the homepage, creating new email campaigns and managing the social media for the brand. In doing so, it was necessary to create a style guide to solidify the brands identity and carry the branding through all channels.
My Role
Research, user testing, ideation, visual design, ad copy, logo design
Tools
User and Market Research, Persona and Scenario, Wireframing, Low-fidelity Prototyping, High-fidelity Prototyping, Sketch, Moqups, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Dreamweaver.
DESIGN PROCESS
1. SITE EVALUATION
Problem Statement
The original Keats & Castle website had several significant problems, including a lack of luxury appeal. The images appeared artificial, the use of textures was poor, the font choice was inappropriate, and the overall design did not align with the company's identity. The plan was to rebrand the company across all platforms, starting with the website as the primary focus.
SOLUTIONS:
1. SITE IMAGES: Choose seductive application/ lifestyle images that convey a feelilng of luxury. Stay away from images that look like poor set design.
2. FONT SELECTION: Select a combination of Serif and Sans-Serif fonts that work well together and communicate a refined aesthetic.
3. VISUAL DESIGN: Select background images with texture that convey a premium, upscale visual style. Examples include those found in high-end fashion, elegant wallpaper designs, and fine art pieces.
4. LAYOUT: Layered imagery and design elements will provide the site with a sophisticated user experience.
2. RESEARCH & ANALYSIS
Site Evaluation
While evaluating the site, it was determined that it was not cost effective to redesign the entire site. The end goal would be achieved through a mixture of page refreshes and adding new site section s and adding new banners to Product Detail Pages. The following decisions were made for the following sections:
1. INDEX: Refresh with refresh to Header, Footer and Hero Image. The remaining site architecture would not be changed on the index page.
2. KITCHEN & BATH SECTIONS: A new page with individual product sections would be created for the both Kitchen and Bathroom products.
3. PDP & MANUFACTURER PAGES: New main banner images would be created to highlight product pages and emphasize the manufacturer and their products.
4. PRODUCT PAGES: Product pages were redesigned and prototypes were made, but never implemented.
5. SHOPPING CART: Preliminary prototypes were designed for the shopping cart section, but never fully designed as it was determined this was not a cost effective strategy at the time of the project implmentation.
3. IDEATION & GENERATION
1. STYLE GUIDE:A style guide was create highlighting the primary and secondary colors used. It also reflects the choise of Serif and Sans-Serif fonts used. Patterns, buttons and icons were left off due to real time changes to site.
2. SITE ARCHITECTURE:The majority of the site remained unchanged, except the creation of a department section for bath, kitchens and bars. Each department also had it's own page with multiple links to product detail pages. User flows detailed below show the changes made and departments and product pages added.
Project Name
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Start Bootstrap's Agency theme is based on Golden, a free PSD website template built by Mathavan Jaya. Golden is a modern and clean one page web template that was made exclusively for Best PSD Freebies. This template has a great portfolio, timeline, and meet your team sections that can be easily modified to fit your needs.
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Escape is a free PSD web template built by Mathavan Jaya. Escape is a one page web template that was designed with agencies in mind. This template is ideal for those looking for a simple one page solution to describe your business and offer your services.
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Dreams is a free PSD web template built by Mathavan Jaya. Dreams is a modern one page web template designed for almost any purpose. It’s a beautiful template that’s designed with the Bootstrap framework in mind.
You can download the PSD template in this portfolio sample item at FreebiesXpress.com.
