My name's Ellen and I'm a graphic designer and photographer.

My portal to the art world opened when my parents gifted me my first DSLR camera in high school. Nothing could compare to my obsession with my camera. 

In college I studied both photography and graphic design, with the former as my passion and the latter as my "back-up plan." Little did I know that I had enough room in my heart for both art forms, and I quickly became pretty obsessed with design too.

As a graphic designer, I’ve worked across the board — packaging, illustration, branding, web & email. As a photographer, product shots, lifestyle photo shoots, portraits of loved ones and Photoshop composites are where my biggest passions lie.

I love both art forms and the way they can be used to complement one another. Enjoy this hodgepodge of a portfolio, and reach out if you ever want to chit chat about creative things.

EXPERIENCE

DELOITTE
Lead Designer — Chicago, IL October 2021 — present
I work with Client Service Teams to deliver thoughtful and refined proposals and presentations. As lead designer, I develop design themes to resonate with clients, ensuring all the deliverables fit the design theme while building a visual story that allows the team to put their best foot forward.

PUBLIC REC
Senior Designer — Chicago, IL January 2020 — October 2021
As one of the first designers at this startup, I helped establish the overall brand look and feel and worked to redesign the website, emails, and product packaging. My role evolved to mostly digital design, with my focus on designing our weekly emails, but I also regularly worked on photo shoots, photo editing and art direction for our new product and seasonal campaigns.

EQUATOR DESIGN
Packaging Designer — Chicago, IL May 2018 — January 2020
Conceptualized and designed packaging — primarily grocery products — for private retail brands, including Aldi, Walmart, Schnuck’s and Sam’s Club. Process typically involved creating mood boards, sketching and ideation sessions, designing and refining concepts, proofing for production, and art directing photo shoots when necessary.

NEWELL BRANDS
Graphic Designer — Chicago, IL July 2017 — May 2018
Junior Designer — Chicago, IL May 2016 — June 2017
Illustrates patterns and graphics to be printed on kids and adult water bottles, designs print packaging for new water bottles, travel mugs and coolers, works on logo explorations for product lines, refreshes and redesigns existing packaging for brand repositioning, and acts as in-house photographer for image needs, including lifestyle, product shots, and social media.

MARK ANTHONY BRANDS + AMERICAN VINTAGE BRANDS
Contract Photographer — Chicago, IL October 2015 — July 2017
Composed, shot and edited product photography for Mike's Hard Lemonade, Cayman Jack and their other brands to be used on social media platforms.

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO, LOYOLA PHOENIX
Photography and Design Editor — Chicago, IL Spring 2015 — Spring 2016
Photography Editor — Chicago, IL Fall 2013 —Spring 2015
Responsible for weekly Photo Briefs spread of student newspaper, shooting and editing a visual story and writing accompanying text. Shot photos for other sections as needed and posted content online. As design editor, created in-house ads, illustrated graphic elements, and worked on designing layouts for all sections.

CHICAGOLAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Graphic/Visual Design Intern — July 2015 — December 2015
Designed newsletters and email marketing collateral to go out to members, designed graphics for mailers and web, photographed networking and business events, edited photos for website, designed header images and collages for web and email.

RADISH
Photographer — Chicago, IL June 2015 — August 2015
Photographed the daily changing menu at Radish, a healthy meal delivery app based in Chicago. Shot and edited photographs each week of the different food items to be uploaded to the app so consumers could see and select which items they wanted to order.

KENSHOO
Graphic Design/Marketing Intern — Chicago, IL March 2015 — July 2015
Designed and edited marketing collateral for Kenshoo, a marketing software company, including brochures, onesheets and print ads. Regularly updated the website with new images and collateral translations for international sites. Helped transition website to the new corporate branding.

EDUCATION

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO, MAY 2016
B.A. in Visual Communication and B.A. in Photography, magna cum laude
Minor: Marketing
 

SKILLS

• Adobe Creative Suite, working primarily in Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, InDesign. Firefly/Generative AI enthusiast.

• Digital photography: studio & on-site photography experience. Advanced editing & retouching skills.

• Microsoft Office Suite – designing for Powerpoint has become a recent specialty!