I believe the true value of a digital product is in its ability to feel inevitable—an experience so intuitive and fluid that it seems to have designed itself. Like a timeless song, it arrives complete, effortlessly concealing the work behind it.
The challenge of distilling a mission statement, idea, goal, or just a quick promotional message into a concise and memorable graphic element is something I truly enjoy. Especially the collaborative part and also the arrival at a product that both client and designer are happy with.
ART DIRECTION:
• CRM, GTM campaigns, photoshoots, owned channels, POS, experiential & promotional material
• Design for and oversight of front-end development for hi-visibility conversion pages, eCommerce landing pages and SEO-driven properties.
• Direction, design and data visualization for board meeting & sales conference presentations
Leadership of impactful, comprehensive, cross-functional digital marketing for experiential, physical and digital products alike.
• Targeted paid & organic initiatives
• Performance media
• Launching new digital products
• Front-end development
• Display & owned banner campaigns
• IAP & multi-platform transactional
• CRM lifecycle & growth
• UI/UX design
I lead the creative team for the Fender Play digital subscription business.
I’m responsible for:
• Briefing, RFP, selection, oversight and on-boarding of creative production partners, photographers, agencies and freelance.
• Art direction for GTM campaigns, photoshoots, performance media, social media, owned channels, POS, experiential, and printed promotional material across all physical product.
• Design for and oversight of front-end development for hi-visibility conversion pages, eCommerce landing pages and SEO-driven properties.
• Direction, design and data visualization for board meeting & sales conference presentations
Still lifestyle photography credit Rennie Solis.
Role: Art Director
Fender Songs gives you instant access to chords and scrolling lyrics for any song on Apple Music. You can practice your favorite songs on guitar, ukulele and piano with real-time, scrolling chord charts and voicing. Build Setlists to group songs and structure practice time. Use helpful tools like metronome, backing tracks, speed slow-down and capo mode.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_F_J5YNi0w
Directed the full creative strategy for the FAT Brands Franchise Summit 2024 at the Wynn Las Vegas Convention Center, hosting 2,000+ franchise partners, operators, suppliers, corporate sponsors, and staff.
Spearheaded end-to-end creative strategy for FAT Brands Franchise Summits 2022 & 2024, transforming the 200K+ sq. ft. Wynn Las Vegas Convention Center into a fully branded, immersive experience for 2,000+ attendees.
Led theme ideation, developed key art concepts, and oversaw production and installation of hundreds of print and digital assets from guest badges to oversized wraps & banners to a custom 75-foot digital screen centerpiece.
Managed all creative vendor relationships, collaborating with agency production partners, print vendors, AV teams, hospitality staff, talent management, sponsorship teams, and offsite event groups to ensure seamless execution.
Wrote, developed, and produced a thematic :60 sec animated hero video piece in partnership with award-winning animation studio Pixel Park, setting the tone for the overall event experience.
Enhanced guest experience by providing live entertainment–performing two 45-minute sets during the 2024 opening night celebration with my cover band of 15 years, The Whispering Eyes.
• OOH
• Publication advertorial & spreads
• POP collateral
• Retail marketing
• Experiential
• Direct mail
• Full-scale publication layout (notably the 2016 Costa Mesa Visitors Guide and several comprehensive company strategy guides)
I ran point on all event creative for the entire year leading up to and during the execution of this truly momentous event for our organization. From establishing and selling in the brand of the event to thoughtfully designing signage plans to the lanyards & swag to a 100-ft wide video wall to creative partnerships and everything in-between, I designed, produced, delivered and oversaw the entirety of the creative effort for a meaningful and successful 3-day, 5-million dollar summit with 3000 attendees. We took over the entire convention promenade at the Wynn which included two massive 50,000 sq ft+ ballrooms. Keynote speakers included Magic Johnson, Mel Robbins and Gary Vaynerchuk.
Front-end wireframing, development, design & art direction for responsive web properties – from carefully targeted landing pages to comprehensive content experiences.
Art direction for apparel, experiential, signage and social collateral for Galaxy Life Fest 2016 at SXSW featuring Sia, The Strokes, The Arcs, Public Enemy, Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz (ColleGrove) and Elle King.
Conceptual creative for Rihanna x Samsung ANTI album release concert ticket sweepstakes with purchase of a qualifying device. Holiday 2015.
Creative concepts and ads for the Samsung x Zoolander 2 promotion.
Select projects for Samsung while working as Senior Designer at PMK•BNC.
Digital and print collateral for the 325th anniversary celebration and family-style tasting dinner at Lombardi House in Hollywood. Includes invites, signage, placecards, menus and tasting mats.
Also includes design for their one-page EOY report.
CONVERSATION PREDICTIVE MODEL CALENDAR
This is a globally and internally circulated piece for Diageo. The client approached us with an issue: employees were simply throwing away the previous years' calendars. They wanted to commission something more exciting and interesting to look at. Something more premium. Our goal was to create something that communicated the legacy of the brand, is elegant, informative, and noteworthy, and a piece that one would be proud to display. Upon seeing our 2017 calendar, they immediately asked that we do 2018 as well.
It's a large-format piece that tells a story as it folds out 8 ways. Each panel is A4 size and each quarter can be folded back and displayed individually.
Internal sales incentive creative.
Music composed for :30 spots for a BVI tourism rebrand. Commissioned by Myriad Marketing. You'll find 2 versions of the same track. One is essentially half the tempo and communicates an entirely different aesthetic while accomplishing the feel that the client was looking for.
MISSION STATEMENT: to create genuine, un-interfered and original music by exploring the freedom of, and constantly building upon the experience gained from home-recording.
Gunmetal is not confined to a particular genre, but acts more as label under which I can place original material that is separate from my more commercial stuff. The music has shifted over the years from more blues-inspired, vintage rock to a poppier, electronic style. I do imagine at some point the new material will require it's own label, which is something I continue to explore.
Producer/Instrumentalist Matthew Jones and drummer Rich Widmer have been playing and recording music together since 2004. Both musicians share a common interest in the "Gunmetal" methodology, and are excited to see where it takes them.
Thanks for listening… Check back soon.
R. Widmer - Percussion (selected tracks)
M. Jones - Guitar, Keys, Bass, Percussion
I'm a self-taught, multi-instrumentalist and producer/engineer. I've been a guitar player/drummer for nearly 15 years. Over the past 12+ years, I've built a library of over 300 original songs, having produced all of them myself and played in multiple bands at countless shows. Music is a huge part of my life, and I am admittedly obsessed with guitars.
Find selections by clicking on the links to the right ->
• Self-taught multi-instrumentalist: Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Drums/percussion, Keyboard/MIDI, Ukelele
• Production
• Engineering
• Composition
• Mixing
• Mastering
• Live Performance
• Venue/Talent management
It all started when the late Shitty Beatles were formed as 1) a reason to celebrate and learn some great music and 2) to bring a gang of friends together and have a strictly puritanical collegiate weekday summer afternoon, the latter part of that goal being a massive failure.
Thus The Eyes were born. They threw out their sober drummer and replaced him with Demolition, who is truthfully one of the best musicians you’ll ever meet outside of a Whispering Eyes show.
Since their inception in April 2010, the Eyes have played garage driveways, a booth at Sharkeez, a stage at Sharkeez, non-traditional destination pop-up weddings, traditional weddings, standing-room-only bars, charity and corporate events, and private parties.
The band brings a brought a fun, high-energy, interactive performance, marking selected cover material with unique style and respect for its original concept, performing a dynamic range of songs that inspire audience participation, ranging from the 1950’s to the present. The majority of the fan-base sits in the 25-35 age range.
I was fortunate enough recently to take a trip to South Africa. We visited the Londolozi game reserve and spent over 3 days in the bush with wildlife. It was the trip of a lifetime, and I'm just happy that some of the over 3-thousand photos I took turned out OK.
Shot on a Canon 7D with 100-400mm lens.
