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 channel expertise and art direction for the 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 targeting tens of millions of prospective customers and generating up to $1-billion in deposits per campaign.
Specialized roles:
- Motion graphics subject matter expert (SME) and facilitator of a monthly animation workshop in 2023
- Social media, display ad, and online video campaign SME
- Illustration and photography exploration lead
- Host for team’s monthly creative and inspiration share
June 2017 - December 2019
American Reading Company
Design Lead, Regional Sales & Marketing
Planned monthly and yearly strategies for a regional sales team to promote brand awareness, products, and services to a B2B customer base. Marketing initiatives included in-person event promotion, webinar facilitation, and email campaign management.
Exceeded FY19 sales goal of $8.5 million with a 102% increase over FY18. Webinar attendance increased 73% from FY18 to FY19.
Notable contributions:
- Developed email template libraries for stronger cohesion across regional marketing.
- Proposed new, modernized physical product collateral.
- Led department-wide digital folder and DAM reorganization.
- Led flex-time task force to address concerns with associate accommodations.
- Facilitated training of new email marketing and video conferencing platforms.
July 2015 - May 2017
Cool Nerds Marketing
Graphic Design Lead
Art direction & people leadership:
- 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, and social media campaigns.
- Provided branding and identity development, including logo design, typography, color, and visual guidelines.
Workflow efficiencies:
- Created digital file organizational system, digital and physical creative asset libraries.
- Designed and managed production of agency’s branded materials (ie business cards, pamphlets) and merch.
- Developed client onboarding strategies for creative services.
- Managed team feedback and QA processes for the creative department.
Client relations:
- Attended sales pitches to encourage buy-in and discuss services.
- Presented work to clients, explaining concepts and decision-making choices.
- Directed the development and execution of creative strategies for large-scale clients including: Meiji America, TENA US, Troy Granite, Herr’s, AHAA (American Hearing Aid Association), BMSI (Business Move Solutions Inc), and Smith Volkswagen.
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