Mark Nicholas

About Mark Nicholas

Everyone has a story to tell. From graphic design to illustration, from photography to…

Experience

1. Graphic Designer

   San Francisco Environment Department

   Apr 2012 — Present · San Francisco, CA, US

   I am the Graphic Designer for the City of San Francisco Department of the Environment. As such, I am responsible for maintaining a consistent brand identity and voice across all graphic communications which span digital, print and video media as well as Power Point presentations. At the Department, our audience is the City and the world. Thus, my outreach is multi-lingual. I\'ve created designs in English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Vietnamese. My design aesthetic is rooted in simplicity, both visually and in crafting the message itself. I make no assumptions about the reading ability of my audience and leverage great images to communicate the story.My involvement begins on day one for campaigns initiated by the Department. I participate in brainstorming to develop the message, craft the look and feel, and visualize the resulting outreach strategy. SF Environment campaigns target various constituencies/audiences: city residents, the business community, our fellow government agencies. In fact, we have discovered our audience extends worldwide, thanks to the work we do as environmental advocates in the following areas: Zero Waste, transportation, energy, toxics reduction, urban agriculture, green building, climate change and environmental justice. I love my job. My daily work shifts among all these environmental areas and diverse audiences and above all, I truly believe in the message, and that the message matters!Beyond outreach campaigns, I support the Department by maintaining the print and web Brand Style Guide; I make the icons and infographics we use in communications; I create design templates in Word for standard fliers, posters and letterhead as well as Power Point Presentations; I train coworkers on the proper use of graphics and Department logo in presentations, print and on the web; I organize and catalogue our image database; I deal with print vendors directly and maintain the print budget for the Department.

Skills

• Quarkxpress
• Adobe Acrobat
• Traditional Animation
• Photo Illustration
• Digital Photography
• Animation
• Concept Ideation
• Scientific Illustration
• Art
• Logos
• Concept Design
• Rough Sketch Artist
• Graphics
• Premiere
• Web Design
• Color Correction
• Photo Editing
• Drawing
• Photography
• Digital Illustration
• Cartooning
• Image Manipulation
• Dreamweaver
• Illustrator
• Flash
• Books
• Vector Illustration
• Logo Design
• Character Design
• Sketching
• Layout
• Illustration
• After Effects
• Photoshop
• Retouching
• Graphic Design
• Adobe Creative Suite
• Indesign
• Web Services
• Storyboarding