INTRO
I've been delivering creative campaigns for over 19 years, formally trained in the visual arts (BFA/HONOURS_MSC_UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA), graphic design (DEC _GEGEP) , interactive media / UX (POST GRAD_SHERIDAN COLLEGE), and CX/UX design strategy (POST GRAD UX DESIGN_IIT INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, CHICAGO), focusing on engaged online experiences with some of the world’s most recognized brands and also some up-and-coming brands too!
I love to help people solve their problems big or small. I work as a FT & Freelance Creative Thinker and live in GTA. I work remotely across the globe (Canada, UK, New Zealand, USA, etc.) and in person within the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). I share my studio space with my Weimaraner, and when not creating I love paddling, hiking, walking my fur baby and donating my talent to great causes.
DEV KNOWLEDGE
I love learning new things and working with teams and building my knowledge of backend developments in agile environments and what we can do with them from a design and CX perspective. Some of the languages used to develop the projects were done in PHP, Bootstrap, CSS, JQuery, Javascript, Java, Python, Wordpress, Drupal, SASS, Flash, Domino, Lotus Notes, WebSphere, Visual Basic, HTML 5, Perl, C++, Ruby, M2M and IOT products.
RELATED SKILLS
UX research and testing, Team Leadership, Project Management, excellent communication skills, problem solving aptitude, analytical, creative thinking, and presentation skills.
APP KNOWLEDGE
Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, InVision, Zeplin, Sketch, AdobeXD, Axure, Framer, Flow, Origami, Pengendo, OmniGraffle, Visio, Balsamiq, Lucidchart, Fluid UI, Justinmind and more.
ACCESSIBILITY
W3C web standards, including voice recognition. Experienced designing web responsive application which are WCAG 2.0 AA+ (or higher) .
CLIENTS
Some of the great people and teams I have worked with over the years!
AWARDS
A few awards and some nice things people have said about me!
Coffey International Award // World Community Grid
IBM Top 100 Innovations // World Community Grid
Bravo Award IBM
Applied Arts Magazine Award // New Media // Web site design educational_Toronto Maple Leafs
Applied Arts Magazine Award // New Media // Web site design Mirco site_Toronto Maple Leafs
High Demand Skill Award_IBM
IBM Team Success Awards_Intrawest
IBM Team Success Awards_Toronto Maple Leafs
IBM Team Success Awards_CIBC
Global Web Design Award_Pet site_Happy Paws
Award of Excellence in Studio // GEGEP
Award of Excellence in Graphic Design Arts // GEGEP
Humane Society of Ottawa-Carleton_Community Services Award
“Chris is very thorough in her work and investigates beyond requirements to produce quality work. Thank you for a great design.” (A Very Happy Client)
“I have no hesitation to recommend Chris to any employer. During her tenure with us, Chris distinguished herself as an exceptionally talented & skilled professional. Her aesthetic judgment and flair, plus her proficiency with graphical software, were supplemented by her dedication, efficiency, and good nature. She was given a number of difficult, high profile assignments with tight deadline constraints, and met the challenges superbly. Her hard work, talent, and grace under pressure she will be missed.” (Daniel D.)
“Chris is an excellent Creative Director. I’ll miss working with her.” (JW)
“After the design presentation to our department this morning, it is clear that you have taken all the business requirements, all of the complicated navigational requirements, all of the UI requirements, and all of the design requirements and magically wrapped them into a stunning corporate look and feel. In a very short time frame. Not an easy task. Congratulations from all of us Chris, for a job very well done.” (client, JD)
"Christine has done amazingly creative work for quite some time and in a variety of markets. In her own words " I love to solve problems big or small." In a world where it's hard to stand out, Christine makes it easier no matter what kind of organization you are. You should give her a try." (Peter Lehman, PromotionWorks)
"Chris is very thorough in her work and investigates beyond requirements to produce quality work. Thank you for a great design."
"I enjoyed working with you and your team Christine, and hope to again some time in the future."
"Over the last 2 months I've been working with Chris and her team. At this midpoint of the project, I want to express my pleasure in working with Chris. She has the ability to take ambiguous concepts and express them visually. Her sense of color and mood is outstanding. She conveys with image our complicated concepts and has (with her team) designed some rather elegant web pages. Her advice and counsel on how we might represent things like results of assessments has been invaluable."
"Hi Chris, I just wanted to let you know that both Andrew and myself are very impressed with the quality of the graphics that we have been receiving for the FaxFirst site. Given the importance of aesthetically pleasing graphics as a major selling point for a site, I am sure you can imagine how happy we are to be able to show these to our customers, and how happy they will be in turn to show them to their own clients." (A. Knight)
"Chris - It was a pleasure working with you. I would like to thank you and your team for your patience and flexibility. I am sure we were not the easiest of clients (is there such a thing as an easy client?) As a result of everyone's hard work, I think that the final product is substantially better than what we started with and is an excellent first step to where we need to go." (J.Osler)
Chris was a key contributor to our internet project development team. Her creative talents greatly exceeded our expectations. Chris worked extremely well with her co-workers and managed time sensitive situations both professionally and effectively. We would love to work with her again in the future." (J. FitzGerald)
CV
Education
GEGEP / Plastique Arts / Graphic Design // University of Ottawa BFA / Honours // MSc // Sheridan College Post Grad / IM /UX Design // IIT Institute of Design / Post Grad / CX/UX Strategy
Experience
CX DIRECTOR / PRODUCT DESIGN LEAD / UX / GRAPHIC DESIGNER // CB3creative I 2005 - current 2024 (FREELANCE) (REMOTE) (EMBEDDED) Available for 2024
C0 FOUNDER / CX DIRECTOR // TRITO I 2017 - current 2024
PRODUCT DESIGN LEAD // Würth Group I 2021 -2023
PRODUCT DESIGN LEAD // ALMEX HOPE FOUNDATION I 2020 - 2022
PRODUCT DESIGN LEAD // ALMEX GROUP I 2018 - 2020
CREATIVE DIRECTOR / PRODUCT DESIGN LEAD // RBC SmartATM I 2016 - 2018
SENIOR UX DESIGNER / UX RESEARCHER // RBC ONLINE 2015 - 2016
PRODUCT DESIGN LEAD // YUKON HOSPITALS
UX STRATEGY CONSULTANT / UX RESEARCHER // AutoTrader (Mobile Project
UX STRATEGY CONSULTANT / UX RESEARCHER // Desjardin (Zag Mobile Project)
CREATIVE DIRECTOR // Monster Canada I 2010 - 2012
CREATIVE DIRECTOR // VerticalChaos Agency I 2005 - 2010
CREATIVE DIRECTOR // IBM INNOVATION CENTRE TORONTO I 1999 - 2005
ART DIRECTOR // IBM INTERACTIVE MEDIA I 1998 - 1999
ART DIRECTOR // The Learning Edge Agency / HHOF PROJECT I 1997 - 1998
VOLUNTEER
Just a few groups I love to give my time and talents to over the years!
World Vision of Canada // CFID // Red Door // WCG // National Geographic_Human Genome Project // Weimaraner Rescue of Canada // Festival of the Arts_Ottawa // NGC // Rowing Canada // ORC // Special Olympics // Applied Arts Jury // CMA Awards // Ottawa Arts Court // NFB // St-Francois Studio Co-op // Humane Society // Weimaraner Association of Canada // BurlOak Canoe Club // Heritage Campus CEGEP // Studio 115 Gallery // TBM Team Sport & Fitness Events // Bytown Rowing Club // National Equestrian Park // ACTRA // Cincinnati Weimaraner Club // Nashville Weimaraner Club // ADCC // Yavir Ukrainian School of Dance // ROAR TEAM // BASEF // 25th Anniversary Les Miserables // Hope Foundation // MULTI RESCUE SPRING AUCTIONS // Lifeline Dog Rescue // Senior Moments Weimaraners Rescue // Ontario Weimaraner Rescue & Assistance (OWRAssist) // Hosts & Supporters of Ukrainians in Guelph // Ontario Special Olympics
Volunteering is very important in my life. Some of my favourites would be climbing Mont Kilimanjaro for infectious disease research, being part of the Special Olympics, animal rescues, and designing websites for medical research. This is what I love to do (Asante Sana!)
PUBLISHED
Muse Magazine // Summer |1988|”Art Deck: The Game of Modern Masters-Impressionism to Surrealism” The Ottawa Citizen // Arts/Entertainment “Children’s Show Sparkles with Originality”, September 20, 1988 Insight Magazine // IBM Publication “Building the Ozone” Strategy Magazine // CMA Publication “The Canadian Marketing Association Awards” Applied Arts Magazine // “VOL.17, NO.1|2002| Awards Annual-The Best In Advertising, Design, Photography, Illustration, Printing & New Media” e-business Services IBM Publication // “Finding Fluffy on the Internet-Happy Paws’ Web site reunites owners and Pets”. Applied Arts Magazine // “VOL.21, NO.1|2006|Design & Advertising Annual 3H Blog // Nov 09 / 2012, ”Decoding Colour and How to Preserve Your Brand Identity in Design”. 3H Blog // Nov 19 / 2012, ”Is your Brand a “Social” Listener?”. 3H Blog // Nov 22 / 2012, "Social Media Skills: Is Your Brand Proactive Socially”.
FILM, ANIMATION, VIDEO AND BROADCAST
Romper Room // Children series on CTV (1970) “My Artwork”
Hi Diddle Day // Children series on CBC (1969) ” Basil & Me at the Ottawa Exhibition”
The Contour Connection // NFB Documentary (1983)
CityTV News // CityTV Interview “Toronto Maple Leafs new website design” (2001)
Toronto Maple Leafs/IBM // Promo video (2000-01)
Media Launch ACC // Live Press launch for the TMLSE web site (2001)
Alternative Radio // CKCU FM Radio Interview “Women and Art Today” (1987) Video // 2013, "Stand Still I for Solo Violin" by Michael Oesterle / performed by Aisslinn Nosky. Directed, created and edited by Christine Brown. Video // 2013, J.S. Bach's "Partita in E Major, Loure", performed on the violin by Aisslinn Nosky. Directed, created and edited by Christine Brown. Photo image of Aisslinn Nosky credited to Matthew Marigold.
Hi Diddle Day // Children series on CBC (1969) ” Basil & Me at the Ottawa Exhibition”
The Contour Connection // NFB Documentary (1983)
CityTV News // CityTV Interview “Toronto Maple Leafs new website design” (2001)
Toronto Maple Leafs/IBM // Promo video (2000-01)
Media Launch ACC // Live Press launch for the TMLSE web site (2001)
Alternative Radio // CKCU FM Radio Interview “Women and Art Today” (1987) Video // 2013, "Stand Still I for Solo Violin" by Michael Oesterle / performed by Aisslinn Nosky. Directed, created and edited by Christine Brown. Video // 2013, J.S. Bach's "Partita in E Major, Loure", performed on the violin by Aisslinn Nosky. Directed, created and edited by Christine Brown. Photo image of Aisslinn Nosky credited to Matthew Marigold.
Short Film // 2013, "Insect" written and directed by Cherelle Higgins. Assistant and Art Director Christine Brown.
Video / Animation // 2018, "Almex Holiday Video sequence"
EXHIBITIONS
Explorart Exhibition (Group Exhibit/Children) *Curator // Arts Court, Ottawa A Way with Art (Group Exhibit) // Gallery 101, Ottawa Heritage College Alumni (Group Exhibit) // Le Café 4 Jeudis, Hull Seen Unseen (Solo) // Stirling Gallery, Ottawa Art and Politics (Group Exhibit) // St. Francois Gallery, Ottawa Women’s Group Show-Photography // Gallery 115, Ottawa In Museology Twenty Stand Alone (Group Exhibit) // Gallery 115, Ottawa Print Show (Group Exhibit) // Gallery 115, Ottawa Les Travaux Recents de Femmes Graduees (Group Exhibit) // Gallery 115, Ottawa The Next Wave (Group Exhibit) // University of Ottawa, Ottawa Women In Visual Arts-A Contemporary View (Group Exhibit) // Gallery 115, Ottawa
Heritage Campus-Faculty and Student Exhibition (Group Exhibit) // CEGEP de L’Outaouais, Hull
Necessary Arts Collective / 50 Artists 50 Artworks (Group Exhibit) // Guelph, ON
That's it for now!!!