About

Hiya! My name is Mel (Melissa to my family, Mel L Cool G to Amazon.com).

While growing up in Tacoma, WA, my first foray into creative communication began with selling custom greeting cards for .50 a pop from a converted lemonade stand. After finding my passion for graphic design in high school I moved to Portland, OR in 2007 to pursue a BFA in Communication Design from Pacific Northwest College of Art and graduated with honors in 2011.

Since that time, I’ve gained a wealth of experience through freelance advertising, branding & illustration as well as in-house-everything for a small, upscale grocery chain.

A master of both hands-on analog creation & all things Adobe software, my style & skill set varies widely. If you’re looking for a jack-of-all-trades designer for your next project, I may just be your gal.

In my spare time you can find me: drawing, cooking, antiquing, running, gardening, learning Spanish and playing with my dog Rita.

fluent-in

Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign
Final Cut Pro & Premiere Pro video editing
Microsoft Office (Outlook, Excel & Word)
Branding & identity principles
Print production/prepress
Keynote & Powerpoint presentation building
Digital product photography & photo editing
Type design & typography principles
Handlettering & Illustration
Social media management
Copywriting

Mid-Level

HTML & CSS coding Wordpress CMS
Motion Graphics & .gif Creation
Letterpress & Screenprinting
Email Marketing
Currently learning Spanish