Chris Szostek
cszostek (at) gmail [dot] com
www.szostekdesign.com
My creativity, dedication, and quick learning skills will make me an asset to any team or project. I have handled projects of various sizes and styles. I am looking for a position as an in-house creative or as a long-term freelance agent. Having three years experience designing and producing large format prints has given me a new approach to designing for new projects.
Education
The Illinois Institute of Art
Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree
Multimedia and Web Design, 2002
Northern Illinois University
One year Focus in Fine Arts
& Traditional Design
Elgin Community College
Associates Degree in
Visual Art 1999
Technical Skills
Illustrator, Photoshop, Drupal, Dreamweaver, Quark, In Design, Microsoft Office Suite.
MAC & Windows.
Traditional Skills
Airbrush, Ceramics, Graphic Design, Illustration and Sketching, Life Drawing, Oil Painting, Photography, Sculpture, Video Art, Storyboarding, Typographic Design.
General Work History
Signs Now in South Elgin
I was the graphic designer at a sign shop from 2007-2010. We made everything from basic landscaping signs out of cut vinyl to banners, indestructible park signs, vehicle wraps and any other sign beyond neon. My designs won the 2007 contract for pole banners around South Elgin as well, I have designed signs for East Avenue Park in South Elgin that will be up for the next 20 years. Every day presented me with a new project and a new challenge.
Digital People Creative Staffing
Assignment History
Black Dot, magazine publishing services.
Pre-press, assembly, imaging, and data security.
Freelance Work History
http://orangealert.net
Orange Alert (or, What to Wear During an Orange Alert) is a Chicago based arts and culture blog run by a friend. In January 2009 I handled transitioning Orange Alert from a blogger account to its new hosting site and integrated the drupal cms. This also involved polishing up the image of the site, I I also customized the layout of the theme and designed a majority of the ads on the site.
Orange Alert Press is the independent publishing offshoot of the arts and culture website; the first release was Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine by Ben Tanzer. I handled the book layout and design as well as promotional media and designed the logo
www.thedelimagazine.com/chicago
I am a part time contributing writer and editorial artist.
www.realdropzone.com
Real Dropzone is a software package being developed for drop zones to help them streamline the process of online registrations and pre-payments as well as internal office management in the skydiving community. I created the logo and identity for the software and worked hand in hand with the developer on the graphics and layout of the website.
www.negativegain.com
-NGP+ or Negative Gain Productions is a Chicago area record label that I have had a long and wonderful work relationship with. My most recent project was the layout design for the debut CD for the band DEFCON as well as handling their t-shirt design and promotional materials.
www.optiodesign.com
Optio Design was started in 2005 owned and run by myself and two other individuals, it is a source of freelance work in the form of web design and graphic design. I have created the logo for this collective, I have developed logos for a variety of companies through Optio Design, from a custom home renovation company to a travel agency.
www.preciousltd.com
I was the lead for the graphics end of this company, everything from graphic design for print and web to content management of products being sold. As well I was the liaison between the company owner and the web developers based in Chicago and the Ukraine. www.preciousltd.com the sister site www.marketeersamerica.com of which I handled the complete graphic development.
In 2008 I was on a discussion panel at the first Chicago Pilcrow Lit Festival. In 2008 I a drawing of mine was published on the opening page of the Dresden Dolls book The Virginia Companion.
