Graphic Design | Art Direction | Illustration
Kristen DeFazio is a senior designer and art director with a passion for making thoughtful creative with a human touch in an ever-evolving tech-forward world.
As a senior designer and art director with 10+ years of agency and in-house creative experience, Kristen has collaborated with national brands including Capital One, Meiji America, Volkswagen, American Reading Company, and Herr's. She also loves helping reinvent and grow small local business and non-profits. From whimsical to sophisticated to boldly in-your-face identities, every brand deserves a special touch to build brand awareness, increase engagement, and grow sales—and look amazing while doing so.
Featured Work
Capital One: Ask an Ambassador
Role & Skills
Art Direction, Video & Digital Marketing, Social Ads, Interior Digital Signage, Motion Graphics
Contribution
Conceptualized and storyboarded multiple scripts for a video-led digital campaign. Prepared production guidance for casting, wardrobe, and location scouting. Provided art direction for post-production video editing team. Designed high-impact display ads for platforms including Meta, Reddit, and affiliate sites, as well as produced animated digital screens for cafes nationwide.
Tech for Troops Game Corps
Role & Skills
Art Direction, Web Design, Logo & Identity, Print Design, Pro Bono & Non-profit
Contribution
Developed creative identity and collateral to increase awareness of this non-profit organization and their goal of supporting veterans, active military members, and their families. Branded brochures, event banners, social media content, and a custom webpage were instrumental in promoting new events and participation in the online gaming community within Tech for Troops.
DCRAC Creative Audit & Rebrand
Role & Skills
Art Direction, Digital & Social, Logo & Identity, Pro Bono, UX/UI & Web
Contribution
Audited DCRAC's current assets to identify main areas of focus for our creative partnership: brand identity, messaging strategy, and social media best practices. Explored identity and branding and designed logo, print collateral, social media assets, and a website redesign.
Douglas Bee Apiary Logo & Web Design
Role & Skills
Logo & Identity, Web Design & eCommerce, Packaging, Freelance
Contribution
Worked directly with owner to develop his logo and unique brand identity. Provided art direction for product labels and other merchandise. Created and managed an ecommerce website allowing customers to purchase seasonal beehives (nucs) and honey products.
Abyss Coffee Branding and Grand Opening
Role & Skills
Art Direction, Branding & Logo Design, Digital & Social, Indoor Signage, Print & Apparel, Web design
Contribution
Explored branding that captured a blend of sophisticated atmosphere and aesthetic with an affordable, down to earth tone. Developed a clean and versatile logotype that represented the depth and moodiness of the "abyss." Additionally provided hands on design for signage, website, and print ads as well as art direction to agency's social media designers and illustrator.
Impact World Tour Video Campaign
Role & Skills
Digital & Social, Display Ads, Event Identity, Video & Animation
Contribution
Developed a bold, stylized event indentity featuring vibrant colors and a weighty slab serif. Designed all visual materials for their advertising campaign including social media and video assets. Directed and produced a hip, high-energy tv commerical that would appeal to gradeschool-aged children and families with children.
What I Do Best
Digital & Social Media
I provide digital marketing and social media creative campaigns that "stop the scroll" in a busy, high-competitive online space. Whether using minimalistic visuals or bold, eye-catching video or animation, successful ads are custom-made for each platforms and targeted audiences.
Logos & Branding
Your brand is your story, and I’m here to help you tell it visually. Are you starting from the ground up and looking for a logo and defining your brand's style? Or are you an established company seeking brand activation by sparking new life into tired, old print or digital creative?
Web & Interactive
In a world where screens come in all shapes and sizes, I ensure that your website looks stunning and works for you and your customers with ease. I provide hosting, design, e-commerce setup—mostly for small businesses—and specialize in front-end design.
Work Experience
January 2020 - Present
Capital One
Senior Associate, Art Director
Led creative strategy, art direction, and visual storytelling for Capital One’s Consumer Bank Creative team, developing integrated marketing campaigns across digital, motion, print, and experiential channels. Delivered customer-focused brand experiences and promotional marketing initiatives reaching tens of millions of prospective and existing customers while driving deposit growth.
Expertise & workflow efficiencies:
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Served as the team’s motion graphics and digital storytelling expert, incorporating animation, video, interactive digital experiences, and illustration systems into integrated campaigns that enhanced customer engagement across channels.
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Led monthly creative inspiration sessions and animation workshops to elevate team craft and knowledge sharing.
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Implemented an annual evergreen creative refresh cycle to combat in-market creative fatigue.
June 2017 - December 2019
American Reading Company
Design Lead, Regional Sales & Marketing
Developed yearly creative marketing strategies for a regional sales team, engaging literacy educators, school administrators, and district decision-makers through event campaigns, webinars, digital communications, print materials, and marketing collateral. Exceeded FY19 sales goal of $8.5 million with a 102% increase over FY18. Webinar attendance increased 73% from FY18 to FY19.
Achievements & workflow efficiencies:
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Built email marketing templates that improved campaign consistency and reduced production time across regional teams.
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Redesigned sales collateral that modernized the brand and strengthened marketing messaging targeting educators.
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Led department-wide digital folder and DAM reorganization to enhance workflow efficiencies.
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Led flex-time task force to address accommodation concerns, decreasing commute times and increasing performance.
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Facilitated training of new email marketing and video conferencing platforms.
July 2015 - May 2017
Cool Nerds Marketing
Graphic Design Lead
Led creative strategy and execution for integrated marketing campaigns, brand identities, and production design across retail, CPG, healthcare, automotive, home improvement, and B2B clients including Meiji America, TENA US, and Troy Granite. Promoted to Head of Graphic Design after demonstrating strong creative execution, client communication, and leadership.
Expertise & achievements:
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Directed multi-channel marketing campaigns from concept through production across print, digital, web, and video.
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Designed production-ready marketing collateral, packaging, large-format graphics, and vehicle wraps while maintaining brand consistency across multiple client accounts and campaigns.
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Streamlined onboarding, asset management, and QA processes to improve production efficiency.
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Mentored interns and junior designers while collaborating with web, social, and account teams.
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Presented creative concepts and strategic recommendations to clients, earning stakeholder buy-in while strengthening long-term relationships and supporting business growth.
Education
Sept 2009 - May 2014
Bachelor of Fine Arts
Graphic & Interactive Design | Printmaking
Tyler School of Art / Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Golden Key International Honour Society
Dean’s List 2009-2013
Graduated May 2014