MARICELA JOHNSON

Art Director & Visual Designer

Charlotte Metro, NC

Results-driven Art Director and Multifaceted Designer with over 10 years of design expertise and leadership. Proficient in Adobe Suite and Figma, I’ve successfully designed for and managed multiple brands, ensuring cohesive design strategies aligned with unique brand identities. Known for fostering innovation, I bring technical mastery, mentorship, and a strategic mindset to deliver impactful visual solutions. My leadership style emphasizes mentorship, skill development, and achieving collective goals. Excited to contribute my skills to drive creativity and success within any team.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

Creative Director + Experiential Designer (Freelance) | 09/2023 - Present

One Venture Group | Atlanta, GA

Ideate campaign level creative and concepts that span across paid, social, OOH and digital spaces.
Craft in-store activations for various product launches, workshops, employer recruitment, tradeshows and brand engagement.
Build out proof of concept visuals (3D) presenting to client and key stakeholders for approval.
Provide direction that is suitable for project budgets, timeframe and engagement goals.
Design and collaborate using software tools like Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, Google and Microsoft Office suite for internal team use.

Creative Lead (Freelance) | 11/2023 - 04/2025

Thank God It’s Natural | Chicago, IL

Established a brand identity in 3 months refreshing all collateral both in print and digital spaces increasing overall visual presentation and customer engagement .
Created an updated design system to perform across all digital platforms as well as in-store activations.

Updated brand guidelines to reflect newly established brand elements and brand strategy.
Created a Product Knowledge Guide for more efficient training of products for in-house sales, marketing teams as well as third-party vendors.
Redesigned the website to be more efficient in customer transactions which resulted in a 25% boost in online sales.
Crafted In-Store Activations (Ulta, Sally Beauty, Boots UK) as well as leveraged experiential design for various product launches, hair and international trade shows.

Senior Graphic Designer (Freelance) | 04/2022 - 10/2023

House of Cheatham | Atlanta, GA

Served as Lead Designer crafting overall collateral in print and digital design mediums for brands housed under the House of Cheatham umbrella exclusively Aunt Jackie’s Curls and Coils™, Originals by Africa’s Best, Africa’s Best and Texture My Way™.
Created successful marketing campaigns that increased customer engagement by 50% in 6 months.
Utilized Adobe Creative Suite for creating designs, layouts, and other visuals improving brand standard guidelines.

Design Director | 03/2023

LOOP Mobility | Austin, TX

Increased art department efficiency by 20% in 2 months, resulting in improved project turnaround times, as Design Director of 10 creative team members.
Led design team in art direction to a 25% increase in customer engagement in social and digital channels within 30 days.
Oversaw multiple projects from conception to completion to ensure brand consistency across a full customer journey through activations, email marketing, social engaging assets and paid advertisements in 30 days, resulting in a 10% increase in online sales by motivating the design team to follow a strict deadline.
Developed a new design and brand strategy that improved the company’s creative assets by 20% in the first year, resulting in a 10% increase in consumer engagement by collaborating with the Creative Director and VP of Marketing.
Oversaw all digital design projects from beginning to end, leading design strategies and creative innovation to drive customer preference.
Managed design team workflow activities such as assigning tasks, coordinating between multiple stakeholders, and organizing digital asset libraries while keeping track of design progress and deadlines.

Art Director | 04/2022 - 02/2023

LOOP Mobility | Austin, TX

Collaborated with VP of Marketing, Creative Director, and team to completely rebrand the company in 6 months.
Led team of designers to develop original art directions for original campaign development across Product, Social, Activations, Paid, and Owned mediums for a major national retailer, resulting in a 20% increase in sales.
As Art Director, improved creative output by 25% in 6 months, resulting in a company-wide increase in customer engagement, by training and managing design talent to uphold LOOP design standards.
Developed design systems for production team asset development by establishing standardized processes, guidelines, and templates, resulting in enhanced collaboration, increased productivity, and the seamless creation of high-quality design assets, improving the company’s return on investment.

Senior Graphic Designer (Contract) | 11/2021 - 03/2022

LOOP Mobility | Austin, TX

Served as Lead Designer crafting overall design in print and digital design for LOOP creating successful marketing campaigns that increased customer engagement by 25% in 3 months.
Led and trained the Jr. Design team of who included graphic, production and motion designers to uphold LOOP brand standards and stay up to date with design trends.
Utilized Adobe Creative Suite, Figma and other current software for creating designs, layouts, logos and other visuals compliant with evolving brand standards.

UI/UX Designer (Contract) | 09/2018 - 01/2019

StreetSense | Washington D.C Metro Area

Problem solved common design challenges by applying user research, best practices, and design trends to create website and email prototypes for the client.
Translated business requirements into process flows, wireframes, and responsive, mobile-first visual design mockups, improving user experience by 33%.
Developed user-centric designs that increased user engagement for a variety of real estate, food and entertainment establishments.
Achieved user feedback satisfaction ratings of 95% for all projects.

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE

Mid-Level Designer | 10/2016 - 06/2018

Bayard Advertising | New York, NY

Creative Lead | 09/2014 - 01/2017

Sisterhood Showcase | Memphis, TN

Executive Assistant | 07/2020 - 02/2022

Pray March Act | New York, NY

Ministry Assistant | 07/2020 - 08/2021

Renaissance Church | New York, NY

Office Manager (Contract) | 09/2019 - 11/2019

Security Scorecard | New York, NY

EDUCATION/CERTIFICATIONS

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Interdisciplinary Arts and Design Studies | 2013

University of North Texas | Denton, TX

SheCodes Basics | SheCodes | 2022