Summary
Cathleen Schaad is an accomplished creative professional and strategic thinker with 20 years experience in communication design and project management. Drawn to educational sector, cultural institutions, and organizations that are socially motivated or demonstrate corporate citizenship.
Employment
Studio Schaad Design, Melrose MA
Principal, Art Director and Designer, 2009–present
Established and independently operates boutique design studio located just north of Boston, MA.
Responsible for all facets of business and project management including budgeting, writing proposals, creative briefs, overseeing production, and when applicable the scheduling of and creative direction of sub-contracted talent. Maintains positive ongoing relationships with freelance illustrators, photographers and printers.
- Capable of translating complex concepts and producing communications for a wide variety of print mediums and digital platforms.
- Highly collaborative working style accompanied by energy, maturity and leadership qualities.
- Demonstrated success executing and overseeing comprehensive branding, marketing, and communications strategies for long-term clients.
- Possesses outstanding communication and writing skills.
- Able to manage change, meet fast-paced deadlines and complete projects from concept to completion within deadline and budget constraints.
- Life-long learner that stays abreast of continued advances in communications, marketing, and web best practices and technologies.
WGBH Educational Foundation, Boston, MA
Senior Designer, 2000–2009
Designer, 1994–2000
Designer Assistant, 1989–1994
Developed and maintained the visual identities for national television brands, in addition to internal and external marketing and communications for WGBH. Responsible for all facets of project management including, budgeting, production schedules and press checks. Art directed interns, freelance illustrators and photographers.
Design for various media including:
- print collateral: advertising, books, brochures, catalogues, direct mail, invitations, logos, magazines, newsletters, packaging, posters, premiums, presentations, press materials, reports, sell sheets, teacher guides and other marketing collateral
- multimedia projects: interactive PDFs, DVD menu interfaces, slide shows, motion graphic displays
- television: story boarding, animation, broadcast and set graphics, post-production
Massachusetts College of Art, Boston MA
Adjunct Faculty, 1989–1995
Instructed Design majors on how to use computer lab software to enhance the quality of their portfolios and produce polished work.
Education
Center for Digital Imaging Arts at Boston University
Web Design Certificate
Lesley University
Candidate for Masters Degree in Expressive Therapies
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
BA Graphic Design
Awards & Honors
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- Melrose Symphony Orchestra
Board of Directors, 2012–present - Graphic Design USA: Certificates of Excellence
for Publications Print + Online - APEX Awards: Grand Award for Publication,
Award for Publication Excellence - Clarion Award
- Communicator Award: Award of Distinction
- Melrose Symphony Orchestra
Computer Skills
- Proficient in Adobe Creative Suite software and Microsoft PowerPoint, Word and Excel
- Proficient in standards-based hand-coded HTML
and CSS - Proficient in theme building for WordPress, or customizing templates in CMS systems such as WordPress or Squarespace
- Working knowledge and trained in Adobe After Effects, Fireworks, Flash, JavaScript, jQuery, PHP and MySQL