Skills
Photoshop
Illustrator
Indesign
Canva
SQUARESPACE
Wix
google slides
figma
Wordpress
Specializing in Avada and Elementor
Macintosh
Windows
Advertising
Layout
Typography
Corporate Identity
Social Media
Web Design
Favorite Animal
Jagger the dog
Favorite Mountain
Black Mountain
Favorite Tree
Redwood
Favorite Hot drink
Coffee, so much coffee
Favorite Brewery
Modern Times
Theme song
“Wild Wild Life”
by The Talking Heads
Creative visionary with over 15 years of experience crafting high-quality, imaginative, and on-brand assets across diverse mediums.
Combining expertise in user-centric design principles with a passion for innovation, Jessica delivers impactful visual solutions that drive engagement, growth, and conversion.
Art Director • San Diego Reader
July 2015 – February 2025
Played a key role in enhancing the visual appeal and branding consistency of print, digital, and social platforms for a monthly audience of 1.4M. Each week brought a new story to tell, while managed multiple projects with varying deadlines.
Coordinated cross-functionally with writers, editors, photographers, illustrators, and sales managers to generate innovative, contemporary visuals for digital and print materials, including corporate marketing collateral, direct mail, display ads, flyers, ebooks, email, video, websites, and social media (static posts and motion design).
Directed the successful redesign and continuous UX/UI enhancements of sandiegoreader.com, leading a team of skilled web developers to create a modern, responsive news and events platform aligned with the latest industry standards and best practices. Consistently drove improvements to serve the site’s monthly audience of over 557,540 viewers.
Ideated and delivered branding, advertising, website, and event collateral designs for the Reader’s annual food festivals, Tacotopia and Burgers & Beer, attracting over 5,000 attendees each.
Developed and executed creative concepts for compelling magazine covers and engaging interior story layouts, captivating a broad audience of over 517,500 readers monthly. Oversaw the entire design process—from initial concept development, coordinating photo shoots, and commissioning illustrations, to finalizing and preparing high-quality files for print production.
Designed, developed, and maintained Squarespace, Wix, and WordPress websites for in-house needs and local small business clients, spanning industries such as healthcare, clinical trials, restaurants, and eCommerce. Refreshed and managed sites, including updates to themes and plugins, for both new and inherited projects at Reader Digital Agency.
Additional Experience
Advertising Graphic Designer at the San Diego Reader and Metro Publishing
Education
Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design, San Diego State University
Google UX Design Professional Certificate, Coursera, 2024
Technical Skills
Adobe Creative Suite, WordPress (Avada, Elementor), Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, Canva, Google Workspace, Basecamp, Jira, Figma
Core Competencies
Strategic Design Thinking, Communication, UX Design, Photo & Video Editing, Color Theory, Layout, Typography