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
Provided design, channel expertise, and art direction for the Digital & Prospect/Consumer Bank Creative team within the Brand department. Implemented an annual evergreen creative refresh cycle to combat in-market creative fatigue. Art directed always-on and special offer campaigns for bank products targetting tens of millions of prospective customers with up to $1-billion in expected deposits per campaign.
June 2017 - December 2019
American Reading Company
Design Lead, Regional Sales & Marketing
Planned and designed monthly and yearly marketing strategies for regional sales team to promote brand awareness, products, and services to a B2B customer base. Marketing initiatives included in-person event promotion, facilitation of webinars, and creation of email campaigns. The regional sales team exceeded their FY19 target revenue goal of $8.5 million with an 102% increase over FY18.
July 2015 - May 2017
Cool Nerds Marketing
Graphic Design Lead
Supervised and provided art direction for design interns, junior designers, and social media team members. Oversaw the development of creative projects including print, digital, video, social media, brand collateral, and logo & identity design. Directed the development and execution of creative strategies for national brand partners including Meiji America, TENA US, and Troy Granite.
Education
Sept 2009 - May 2014
Bachelor of Fine Arts
Graphic & Interactive Design | Printmaking
Tyler School of Art / Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Gold Key International Honor Society
Dean’s List
Class of 2014