Della Gilleran

About Della Gilleran

I am a Senior Creative Director and Project Manager who helps clients communicate with…

Experience

1. Creative Design and Marketing Project Manager

   Marketing By Design

   Jan 1988 — Present

   As a partner, and now owner of Marketing by Design (MbD) for 37+ years, I\'ve enjoyed excellent client relationships and diverse problem/project challenges. We\'ve served clients in print, trade show display and digital work for many sectors: state government, associations, institutions, foundations, industry, and nonprofits.I love thinking of interesting, creative, efficient ways that build a brand which accomplishes the client\'s goal— to increase market presence, to save costs while remaining impactful; or to increase revenue or profits. By listening to the clients initial ideas we expand the thinking for bigger results; and then, put together the team to make it happen!Keys to my success include:• Mentor new staff (over a multi-project, multi-year period) toward making good design decisions in balance with deadlines and budget. Result is long-term employees who understand context and weight of projects, and grow in confidence and independence.• Grow teams (internally and externally) through communication, consideration, appreciation, and fairness of reasonable time and budget expectations, resulting in my being able to credibly ‘lean on’ people when needed.• Solicit input from client-side team members and designer-provider team members to continuously improve processes and working relationships.• Build capabilities in designers through art direction, instruction on technical subjects and direct contact with clients, resulting in increased responsibility and ownership of relationships.• Sharpen designer’s capacity to anticipate printing/manufacturing issues by taking ‘field trips’, seizing learning moments and (when applicable) post-problem reviews for improvement.• Grow students by providing internship opportunities that balance useful work to benefit the company with exposure to conversations and processes inside a design studio.

Education

• University of California, Davis

  Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Design, Graphic Design, Textile Design

  1975 — 1977

• California State Polytechnic University-Pomona

  Lower division studies for Nutrition major

  1973 — 1975

Skills

• Email Marketing
• Art Direction
• Nonprofits
• Newsletters
• Nonprofit Organizations
• Social Media
• Corporate Identity
• Advertising
• Web Design
• Marketing
• Indesign
• Brochures
• Graphic Design
• Branding & Identity
• Logo Design
• Marketing Communications
• Illustrator
• Creative Direction
• Adobe Creative Suite
• Meeting Facilitation (Toward Decisions and Action Items)
• Packaging
• Design Team Leadership
• Personal Branding
• Strategic Planning
• Photography
• Brand Development
• Layout
• Corporate Branding