I spent five years at Zynga and had a wonderful journey where I grew from a senior level marketing artist to an Art Director to a Marketing Art Director.
Adhering to the standards of so many different properties gave me behind the scenes perspective on how brands are built and maintained. Working with top tier agencies to create marketing content for Zynga’s games clued me into the creative processes used by leading creative groups. I hope to bring my insights and experience to smaller companies and people with personal brands. Partnerships included: 7-Eleven, Cascadian Farm, McDonald’s, Green Giant, Dreyer's, Stouffer's, Farmer’s Insurance, DreamWorks’ ‘Mega Mind’, Blue Sky’s ‘Rio’. Lady Gaga, Brides Maids, Wizard of Oz, Sex and the City
FarmVille Art Direction
I started on the FarmVille team as the marketing artist and was involved in a great many in game advertising projects with all kinds of brands. I later took over as Art Director of a team of eleven artists. We produced all the assets for the game, a huge volume, and supplemented with outsource teams to produce them and keep them on brand. At the time, with millions of players, the assets sold for huge amounts of money and our game team supported much of the company. It was pretty crazy!
Zynga.org
Within Zynga was a non-profit organization involved in some really impactful programs ranging from disaster relief to building schools. One project I was involved in was in service of neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley’s research with how games can improve mind quality. I created the logo for this project and teamed up with other artists and designers to create the game itself.
Zynga Casino
After Farmville, I worked with a great team of veteran game makers creating quick-turn Casino games. Leveraging outsource, we were able to make and ship several games in just one year and had working prototypes for five more.
Brand Guidelines & Marketing Art
Next I joined a central art team in service of multiple teams and departments. I worked with the Marketing Department providing Art Direction and brand documentation for the Casino division’s out of game advertising, and the FarmVille Franchise as well.
Zynga Art & Tech Lecture Series
One of my favorite roles at Zynga was hosting a company wide lecture series called Zynga Art and Tech Talks. I helped find the speakers, assist with their visit, introduce them and make flyers for the events.
