Dari FitzGerald

703-989-8809 | darifitzgerald@gmail.com | in/darifitzgerald/ | portfolio: www.darifitzgerald.com

A Graphic Designer who asks smart questions, takes risks, and champions thinking deeply on work that drives results, tells a story, and advances the mission. An impeccable design sense, and a keen eye for detail and craft, combined with a passion for all things visual and an expert grasp of user-centered design (UCD). Skilled with collecting and interpreting client requirements to meet goals and disseminate information.

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PROFESSIONAL EXPERTISE

Collecting Design Requirements | Client Interface | Illustration | Information Graphics | Data Visualizations | Wireframes, Mockups and Prototypes | Time Management | Print Work | Product Branding | Adobe CC (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign) | AdobeXD| Dreamweaver | InVision | Atlassian Products (Confluence & Jira) | Coaching & Mentoring | Freelance Management

SELECT ACCOMPLISHMENTS

  • INNOVATIVE THINKING - Created ads to beat ads placed against a control group, resulting in a new suite of ads to drive revenue and advance the business. Earned CEO recognition for the new Darial typeface.

  • TACTICAL EXECUTION – Sketch initial ideas for digital user experience flows to create production-ready wireframes and comps for mobile app and website experiences, to deliver physical and digital marketing materials including information graphics and iconography for proposals, presentations, and white papers.

  • CREATIVE APPROACH – Employed “guerrilla user testing” to quickly determine viability of design or process. Reduced overhead by testing in-house rather than using an outside agency and received real-time feedback.

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Fine Arts | Illustration | Rhode Island School of Design

MAXIMUS / ATTAIN | Tysons Corner, VA | 10/2021 – Present

SENIOR SPECIALIST, UX/UI – Recruited to guide user centered design (UCD) and craft interface solutions and improvements while working with the Maximus / Attain team and the United States Government to develop software solutions that strive to enhance the lives of all Americans.

EASY DYNAMICS | Tysons Corner, VA | 1/2019 – 09/2021

SENIOR CONSULTANT, UX/UI – Recruited to deliver user centered design (UCD), conduct user research, user testing, AB testing, rapid prototyping, usability and accessibility of software solutions for clients. Conceive and conduct user interviews and surveys, and translate them into sitemaps, user flows, customer journey maps, wireframes, mockups, and prototypes to drive product development.

  • Serve as the ultimate user advocate, collaborating to refine and simplify software solutions, crafting UX solutions, documenting user flows, journey maps, wireframes, and mockups integrated into customer’s digital and traditional marketing experiences.

  • Talk with customers one-on-one, empathizing with the user and employing a design thinking process to consider each step of their interaction and get feedback on initial new product designs.

  • Sketch initial ideas for digital user experience flows to create production-ready wireframes and comps for mobile app and website experiences, to deliver physical and digital marketing materials including information graphics and iconography for proposals, presentations, and white papers.

  • Partner with product managers and engineers to oversee the cradle to grave user experience of a product from conception until launch.

  • Manage side-of-desk requests for proposals and PowerPoint decks, translating complex charts or processes into a visual format to simplify comprehension of information and visually tell a compelling story.

  • Spearhead a solution to address a client’s Adobe Flash file support set to disappear from the browsers they use which will delete a large body of educational material that currently exists as Flash-formatted content; identify the best method for facilitating a conversion. by researching software options and processes, while interviewing different stakeholders to determine the possible scope of the project.

Key Accountabilities: Facilitate stakeholders’ product vision by researching, conceiving, sketching, prototyping and user-testing experiences for digital products. Responsible for spearheading the development, implementation, and communications of digital design roadmap strategies to ensure scalability, reliability, accessibility, supportability of technical systems and achieve clients’ business, IT performance, and budgetary objectives. Oversee evaluation and prioritization of customer/ user requests, feasibility studies, and the establishment and implementation of new or revised programs.

DARIFITZGERALD.COM | Arlington, VA | 4/2016 – Present

HEAD DESIGNER, FREELANCE – Design and deliver exceptional designs that intuitively anticipate the needs of clients while also meeting business objectives. Work throughout the design life cycle from ideation through development support and into testing, taking a user-centered design approach to rapidly test and iterate on designs.

  • Design infographics, marketing materials, logos, document layout, and illustrations, synthesizing insights into compelling, creative, and actionable digital products for diverse corporate clients.

  • Clients include: The Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Global Energy Center, Africa Center, South Asia Center, and the Adrienne Arsht Center for Resilience, the Bertelsmann Foundation, and Dig In.

  • Proactively mitigate the use of copyright-protected photos and images when those photos have been presented, ensuring copyright compliance all source materials are appropriate for use to protect the rights of the copyright owners and protect clients from possible adverse action in the event of violation.

Key Accountabilities: Partner with clients to convey design ideas in tangible forms like sketches, prototypes, annotated comps, to create flow diagrams, storyboards, wireframes, and/or prototypes. Plan and implement usability tests throughout development lifecycle and analyze results for design issues. Identify, recommend, and prioritize new user interface features and applications in conjunction with end-user requirements and/or client business needs. Make strategic design decisions related to core and new functions and features.

THE MOTLEY FOOL | Alexandria, VA | 4/2007 – 4/2016

MARKETING DESIGNER, PHOTO EDITOR, UXD – Hired to oversee creative and design services to significantly accelerate global digital growth of the brand. Built configurable features and capabilities, and brand-specific products, features, and capabilities to continually drive an enhanced end user experience and greater business performance. Provided subject matter expertise (SME) and design guidance, staying up-to-date on advertising, branding, and design trends; and offering new ideas to improve as an organization.

  • Collaborated across all departments and stakeholders to create advertisements, books, landing pages, photographs, illustrations, and built a library of 13,500+ business-relevant photographs for editorial and commercial use.

  • Demystified complex financial information and concepts by designing and delivering visual information graphics.

  • Designed experiential research and conducted and moderated empathy research sessions with users, sketching initial ideas for digital user experience flows for production-ready wireframes and comps for mobile apps, websites, and digital marketing collateral.

  • Conceptualized and designed digital advertisements, emails, videos, gifs, web banners, mailers, website landing pages, information graphics, presentations, signage, brochures, booklets and books, logos, style guides, illustration, and photography.

  • Tasked with creating ads to beat ads placed against a control group, resulting in a new suite of ads to drive revenue and advance the business.

    • Focused on existing text-heavy ads and recreated the ads with my own handwriting resulting in ads beating the control hands down and being asked by developers to collaborate to create a new style of typeface ads based on my handwriting.

    • Earned CEO recognition for the new Darial typeface during an all-hands meeting.

  • Created a series of PowerPoint (PPT) ad templates with dummy text which was formatted correctly, and also had editable buttons and calls-to-action to enable non-design team members to create their own web-friendly ads.

  • Spearheaded and launched a PPT template user manual to empower team members to successfully create a number of ads without additional assistance.

  • Leveraged and managed a large network of freelance talent to build a collection of 15,000+ wholly-owned photographs from around the world that the Motley Fool could use to support their editorial efforts and which the editorial team could draw from.

  • Employed “guerrilla user testing” to quickly determine whether a page or process was headed down the right path.

    • Conducted testing in an empty conference room, set up a computer for the test, and asked a random passing colleague to complete a task on the computer.

    • Saved money by testing in-house rather than using an outside agency; quickly determined whether the solution would work, and through talking with the tester, learned what they were thinking as they used it.

  • Shared a 2011 Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) prize for a piece documenting Jon Corzine and the collapse of MF Global.

Key Accountabilities: Collaborated with enterprise partners to create technology, capabilities, and processes that allow for efficient set-up, monitoring, and management of digital experiences. Advocated for the learnability, efficiency, memorability, and desirability of new or enhanced features and functionality across the breadth of the user journey-both for enterprise partners and customers. Led design strategy and execution of projects and initiatives that spanned multiple product teams and required the coordination of effort amongst cross-functional teams. Drove user research and testing by gathering assumptions and writing hypotheses, contributing to questions and scenarios for tests, and observing sessions to help extract key learns for area of focus and the user journey at large.

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE

Doceus | Washington, DC | SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER

The George Washington University | Washington, DC | SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Ventera | McLean, VA | GRAPHIC DESIGNER