My name is Christie. My friends call me CK.

In elementary school, when I was asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” the only thing I knew with certainty was: I want to make posters for the rest of my life. Between my involvement in student council and athletics, I had countless opportunities to create event signage, and I volunteered for every one. Playing with colors and lettering and the hierarchy of layout elements has always come naturally to me. (Growing up in the 2000s, you can be sure that my AIM profile, Xanga, and MySpace had thoughtfully curated color palettes and font treatments, all brought to life with some rookie HTML I learned on LissaExplainsItAll.com.)

After researching the job title of Graphic Designer in a project for Consumer Education, I remember thinking, “THIS IS IT! This is how I get paid to make posters all day.”

What I have enjoyed most about studying to be and working as a graphic designer for the last decade is the thrill and gratification of solving a visual problem. I find enormous satisfaction in taking a mess of content and imagery and transforming it into order and beauty that guides the viewer's attention to digest the message the creator intended. I think successful design is human-centered and focused on ease of user experience, which connects me to the impact and service I can provide to the world. When I complete a challenging project, I feel like an alchemist.

I have an innate passion for brand integrity. Working to define and execute one brand over the last several years has taught me that visual consistency and stylistic unity across all deliverables are vital to building trust, credibility, and a healthy emotional connection between a brand and its audience. For every client I work with, I believe it is my ethical duty as a designer to be the guardian and champion of their visual brand image. As a consumer, I know how the smallest discrepancies can cause me to doubt the reliability and professionalism of that service or product.

When I'm not nerd-ing out over color palettes and typefaces, you can find me rollerblading the 606 Trail, reading in the corner of a used bookstore, or playing fetch with my cats, Carl and Ralph.