Experience
Twenty years of helping creative work get clearer.
For more than twenty years, I've worked in design and creative direction. The job has included plenty of figuring things out, especially when the work needs to make sense for the business.
Today that means creative direction for Microsoft's global events and sponsorship programs, working with Microsoft teams through Simplicity Consulting.
Alongside that, I've run my own creative practice, Coloring Outside the Lines, since 2011. Some engagements are short projects. Others have become working relationships that last for years.
The scale has changed. I still need to understand what we're trying to do and make the decisions that move the work forward. And stay responsible until it's done.
2023–Present
Creative Direction at Scale
Since 2023, I've worked with Microsoft's global events teams through Simplicity Consulting, leading creative direction for sponsorship programs across Microsoft Ignite, Build, and AI Tour.
The work sits between strategy and execution. It has meant shaping how the sponsorship creative team organizes and delivers its work, developing sponsorship concepts into products that sales teams can sell and event teams can deliver, and coordinating multi-partner experiences like the Microsoft, AMD, and Red Bull program at Ignite.
The teams have different priorities, and the deadlines are real. I work through those priorities with them, make creative decisions, and stay involved through production and onsite delivery.
I take responsibility for the outcome. Time in meetings isn’t the measure of the work.
Selected workCreative Operating SystemSponsorship Product DevelopmentMicrosoft × AMD × Red Bull
2020–2023
Technology, Marketing & Brand Systems
During this period, much of my work focused on technology companies and organizations within the Microsoft partner ecosystem, while continuing to serve local and regional clients through Coloring Outside the Lines.
I worked across brand identity, campaigns, technical marketing, sales enablement, websites, presentations, and event experiences for organizations including Quisitive, OnActuate, eOne, and Pedigree Technologies.
The work often extended beyond individual deliverables. Teams needed consistent marketing and a clearer way to explain complex products or services. I worked with them on both.
I was taking on more responsibility for creative direction, drawing on my design background and experience running a business.
Selected workQuisitiveOnActuateB2B Marketing Systems
2011–Present
Building an Independent Creative Practice
I established Coloring Outside the Lines in 2011 and began building a business around helping organizations solve creative and communication problems.
Over the years, that work has included brand identity, websites, advertising, publications, print production, environmental graphics, and ongoing creative support for clients in technology, healthcare, education, events, and professional services.
Running my own business taught me to think beyond the design itself. I learned to manage relationships, understand budgets, work with vendors, solve production challenges, and take responsibility for getting projects across the finish line.
Many of those client relationships continued for years, and the business remains active today alongside my larger consulting engagements.
Selected workDynamic CommunitiesSPS CommerceHeartviewSouth University Dental
2008–2014
Digital Experiences & Building a Business
During this period, my work expanded into enterprise technology through Microsoft Dynamics, where I designed digital experiences across websites, customer and partner portals, and event-related platforms.
At the same time, I was building client relationships and setting up an independent creative business. Print brokerage and wholesale production relationships let me offer a broader range of creative and production services without running an in-house manufacturing operation.
I also developed brand identities for businesses and continued growing a client base that would become the foundation of Coloring Outside the Lines.
I was learning how design and technology fit into the business of delivering creative work, including the client relationships that made it possible.
Selected workMicrosoft DynamicsBrand Identity DevelopmentPrint & Production
2004–2008
The Creative & Entrepreneurial Foundation
My career started with hands-on design, but I was interested in building something of my own early on.
I launched a wedding invitation business that went on to serve 110 couples over five years. That experience taught me much more than design. I learned how to build client relationships, manage expectations, coordinate production, and deliver highly personal work where every detail mattered.
Alongside that business, I worked on branding, publications, websites, apparel, and print projects, helping clients establish and grow their own identities.
Those early experiences still shape how I work. Understanding the client comes first. Then solving the problem, paying attention to the details, and taking responsibility for the finished product.
What hasn't changed
The work has become broader over time, but I still care about the same things I cared about at the beginning.
Make it clear. Make it useful. Get it delivered.