KEVIN HERR—Background and Goals.

For the last decade or so, my career has been focused in the B2B sector of advertising and design, more specifically within the arena of strategic branding. I have had the pleasure of working with some of the brightest minds in our industry, a rich tenure of training for me, for which I am truly grateful.

The B2B world can be rather straight forward—creatively challenged perhaps—so my core focus has always been to create aesthetically pleasing, functional design. Design that is first and foremost on strategy, embodying the brand expression throughout every point of execution, while attempting to maintain that ‘wow’ factor creatively. A sincere challenge and usually anything but straight forward.

Throughout my career I have had the great fortune to work within various verticals in the B2C sector as well. A diverse client list that represents everything from actions sports to consumer electronics. In reality, many of the B2B clients I’ve worked with, do sell consumer facing products, and many times the B2B overflowed into the B2C.

In the future, I would love to have the opportunity to take what I’ve learned in multi-level corporate branding and apply it within a company more befitting my lifestyle and love—ideally, in the action sports industry. None the less, I will continue to expand my knowledge of design within every medium and strive to create design that is both beautifully and powerfully effective.

CAREER experience.

KMHDESIGN—Freelance Design and Creative. Laguna Beach, CA
May 2009 - Present.

Freelance Agency projects include: KNT DESIGN– Avery Dennison-microsite design, flash banner ads, brochure design, social media campaign, iphone application design. California Churros- website design.

Freelance Client projects include: Eagle Roofing Products—New brand product launch including: Ads-both print and online, Dealer support collateral, Contractor support collateral, tradeshow graphics, web integration. New Corporate brand styling and marketing materials.
Baron Hockey Academy– integrated branding including: ID package development, Brochure Design, product sheets and ads. Project Artisan– integrated branding including: brand logo, ID package development, website. The Closet– early website design and interactive promotions. Tavik– early interactive site development. various small brochure sites.

Pro-Bono work: Laguna Art Museum– various exhibition ads and
DM promotions. Outdoor signage. Trails4All– Inner Coastal Watershed Cleanup Day promotional Icons (hand sculpted trash animals-past 5 years) posters and T-shirt designs. Laguna Presbyterian Church–website, and Microsite designs. 



RIECHESBAIRD—Associate Creative Director. Irvine, CA
Sep 1998 - May 2009

Primary Responsibilities: Senior Print Designer/Design Director. Oversee the design and production of all print material. Art Direct photo shoots, design teams and production teams. Maintain clients brand integrity within all creative work proposed and produced. Develop client style guides and aid in the creation of brand guidelines and brand expression books. Design brand identities, Identity packages, brochures and various integrated marketing materials. Design tradeshow exhibits, POP displays, and customized DM and promotional items. Design websites, microsites and other online/offline media campaign materials.

Clients Include: GT Bicycles, Monier Lifetile, Custom Building Products, Avery Dennison, Pacific Life & Annuity, Iron Grip, HireRight, Survivair, Star Trac, Toyota Industrial Equipment, Irvine Chamber of Commerce, The Irvine Company, Bosch Home Appliances, Rohl Faucets, Bertazzoni Ranges, St. Thomas Creations, Villeroy & Boch Bath and Wellness, Entergy Energy, Sharp Solar Division, Edwards Life Sciences, Toshiba Medical, Nihon Kohden Monitors, Newport Laser Optics, Printronix, Quantum and more.

KMHDESIGN—Freelance Design and Creative. Laguna Beach, CA
Apr 1996 - Sep 1998.

Freelance Agency projects include: FCB–Taco Bell-LSM book design and various POP merchandising designs. Alcone Marketing—Mitsubishi Motors- design dealer marketing brochures and promotional items. Alcone Marketing—Burger King-POP design, promotional campaign projects, LSM book design. Alcone Marketing—Battlefield Earth promotional campaign. Poster design concepts, Promotional DM concepts. RiechesBaird—GT bicycles-Design MTB and Road Bike colorways and decal graphics for 1999 line. Koll Advertising—Hearthside homes brochures, ads and DM campaign design.

Freelance Client projects include: Sony Interactive—Package design and POP design, distributor promotions sheets. Metagenics—Package design, Labeling, Promotional design. Sonance—Package design, brochures design, data sheets and collaborative product design. Interim Art Director.

HBRA— Art Director. San Clemente/Newport Beach, CA
Sep 1994 - Apr 1996.

Primary Responsibilities: Print Designer. Design and production of all print material in association with the Creative Director including, weekly retail ROP’s, Client B2B promotions, Private label packaging, and POP displays and signage. Design customized presentation packages (RFP’s) for prospective clients. Art Direct photo shoots, coordinate packaging and POP production with vendors. Occasional direction for radio spots in internal studio.

Clients include: ABCO Foods, Ralph's Grocery, Alpha Beta, Food 4 Less, Weiss Markets, Universal Studios. Pitches include: Ralph's Grocery, Food 4 Less, Weiss Markets, Universal Studios, Jack in the Box, Earl Schibe, Arizona Lottery, Prime Ticket Sports Network, Thrifty Drug/Ice Cream.

CAPABILITIES and strengths.

Design/Execution: With an extensive career in both print and online design, I have been recognized by my ability to execute at many levels of any medium.

Art Direction: I have directed teams of designers/production artists in both small and extremely large, time sensitive projects.

Photo Direction: From extensive large set shoots to individual product shots, It’s one facet of being an art director that I truly enjoy the most.

Project Management from concept to print/online: From comps to final product, I have extensive experience in specifying resources and technologies as well as sourcing unique production vendors for customized projects.

Brand Guidlines: Brand consistency and guideline adherence has been my life for the past 10 years. Beyond visual communication, I have quite a bit of experience building brand expression boards/books, as well as short to extensive style guides.

Eagerness to Learn and Explore new Applications: I have always desired to stay current, especially when it comes to design applications. Recently diving into building sites with online CMS applications such as Joomla!

Tools of the Trade:

Adobe Creative Suite–(humbly) Considered by most of my peers as an expert in Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. I have tutored many people in all 3 applications.

Proficiency in these industry applications: Flash, Dreamweaver, Final Cut Express, Office suite, iWorks, iLife.

Markup literacy: (X)HTML, PHP, .NET (ASP), XML, CSS, and JavaScript.

EDUCATION and extracurricular.

Book Shop Torrance and LA, CA
Sep 2000 - Apr 2001.
2 courses completed. 


LBSU– Long Beach, CA
Aug 1986 - Jun 1987.
2 semesters completed.

Saddleback College–Mission Viejo, CA
Aug 1982 - Jun 1986.
Associate degree in Communication Arts and General Ed

THANK YOU!

If I didn’t happen to cover an area of interest, capability, or a concern you might have, let me know. In Advance, forgive my online mess—I am in the process of organizing my online portfolio into something more befitting a designer with a strong background in branding. But for now, if you want to see pretty much everything visit my site on the left.

Forgive my online mess—I am in the process of organizing my online portfolio into something more befitting a designer with a strong background in branding.