Christi Leeson, UX/UI & Creative Director: Resume

My Work Experience

UX/UI Strategist & Creative Direction

I’ve been incredibly lucky to have a rewarding, expansive career. I’ve created some exciting and transformative projects with incredibly talented and dedicated people on my teams.

Christina Leeson
5414 Pinehurst Dr, Wilmington, DE 19808
Work with me!

Experience

Creative Director, UX/UI Strategist

Avosette – Wilmington, DE
Jun 2022 – Present (2 years)

Highlighted Project: ToTrade – Elkins Park, PA

View Case Study: Branding & Digital Product Build

The Challenge

Create brand, logo, and website to achieve goals:

Place Owner as Seasoned Professional
Provide Education including: live classes on zoom, office hours, blog, and newsletter
Ability to Capture Leads for Sales
Increase Engagement of Audience to purchase: classes, private consulting
Phase 2: Community & User Admin

Contributions

Style System & Branding

Creative Direction
Project Management
Logo treatments
Desktop & Mobile views
First Read treatments

Navigation
Blog Architecture & Design
Form/eCommerce elements

UX/UI Strategy

Strategically used UX tools throughout the design process including:

Competitive Audits
Personas

Interviews
User Testing

ToTrade - Creative Direction, UX/UI, Digital Design, Website Design

Prototypes

Created prototypes demonstrating:

Responsive Resizing of elements
Navigation flows

eCommerce purchase/registration flows

Copy

Content strategy and creation with a focus on User Experience and Search Engine Optimization.

Assets

Style System
SVGs of icons

Hand-picked Image Gallery for present and future use

Mood Board
Site Map

Skills: Marketing · Adobe Creative Suite · Style System Creation · Content Strategy · Figma · User Experience (UX) · Trello · Responsive Web Design · Web Design · SEO · Logo Design · Project Management · Visual Design · UI Design · UX Strategy · UX Research & Testing · Prototyping, Copy Writing/Editing

Website & Graphic Design Coordinator

Delaware Nature Society – Hockessin, DE
September 2013 to Present (9 years)

View Case Study: Website Migration

The Challenge

Ensure robust online presence and effective branding materials to fulfill mission. Report on website metrics to support grants.

Contributions

Creative Direction

Contributes creative direction toward organizations marketing materials and online presence. Creates and/or reviews assets to assure brand alignment across departments. Provides Canva templates for staff to contribute print materials and ensures brand alignment.

Staff Training & Design Reviews

Advises departments from a design and marketing perspective. Creates visual deliverables for social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Reviews submitted videos for quality and branding alignment, prepares, and publishes.

Digital Product Manager

Works with a team to achieve optimal branded user experience within WordPress and Blackbaud Altru frameworks. Creates visual design with UX optimized copy editing. Oversees programmer as needed. Ensures success across major platforms and devices. Tracks website metrics, collecting and summarizing data and trends. Optimizes content for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Creates and maintains Google Ads for Nonprofits. Chooses and creates photography and optimizes content to reflect diversity to assure visitors see themselves reflected and feel welcome.

DelNature - Creative Direction, UX/UI, Digital Design, Website Design

Project Management

Proposing and oversaw the migration of Delaware Nature Society’s main website from iMIS to the more versatile WordPress platform. This saved the organization time and money and increased SEO.

Efficiency and ROI Contributions

Researches, introduces, and implements technical improvements such as WordPress, Trello, LastPass, Google Analytics and Webmaster tools, and more. Utilizes Adobe Suite (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop), now including new AI features.

Copy Editing and Copywriting

Helps ensure highly-aware framing, grammatical correctness, brand consistency, and engaging, concise content in website and printed materials. Ensures scientifically-accurate sources.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) Committee Member

Supported equity and inclusion of people of color, LGBTQ, neurodiverse, differently-abled peoples, and those of varied economic realities. Optimizes content to reflect diversity and ensure all know they are welcome.

Remote Working Experience

Worked fully remote March 2020 through late 2021 with positive reviews. Has worked hybrid remote since then.

Skills: Creative Direction · Marketing · Adobe Creative Suite · Vector Illustration · Typography · Content Strategy · User Experience (UX) · Diversity & Inclusion · Google Ads · Google Analytics · Bootstrap · Trello · Social Media Marketing · Copy Editing · WordPress Design · Email Newsletter Design · Responsive Web Design · Adobe InDesign · Adobe Photoshop · Adobe Acrobat · Microsoft PowerPoint · Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) · Video Editing · Search Engine Optimization (SEO) · Print Design · HTML · CSS · SEO · WordPress · Logo Design · Graphic Design · Illustrator · Social Media · Advertising · Proofreading · Staff Admin Training

Website Design & Development

Trellist – Wilmington, DE
April 2011 – September 2013 (2.5 years)

Creation of responsive frontend coding, CSS, UX/UI, and graphic design for digital designs and email campaigns. Served small businesses, nonprofits, and large financial and pharmaceutical institutions.

Website Design, Development & Project Manager

Yikes, Inc – Philadelphia, PA

December 2000 – April 2011 (10.5 years)

Worked with clients directly to lead them through the process of kickoff, architecture, website development, and content implementation. Created innovative website designs with effective user experiences implemented with the help of the programming team when needed. Also created logos and other graphics. Skills used regularly were: project management, UX/UI, SEO, website design using Adobe Suite, hand-coding HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS. Worked within databases and with PHP. Helped teach website design classes for at-risk communities.

“Marketing can make or break an organization. Her talent has moved Delaware Nature Society forward often. I enjoyed working with her for many years.”

– Helen Fischel, Principal at HFF Environmental, Former Director of Education at Delaware Nature Society

Education

B.A in Illustration, Minor in Animation

Rhode Island School of Design – Providence, RI

September 1995 to August 2000

Skills

Creative Direction
User Experience (UX)
UX Strategy
UX Research
UX Design
UX Writing
Interactive Architecture
Intentional Framing

Style Systems
Brand Design
Style Guide Design
Marketing
Video Editing
Copywriting & Copy Editing
Infographics
Trello

Figma
Adobe Suite
Fundraising
WordPress
Responsive Design
HTML/CSS
Social Media
Photography

Organization Types
Non-profits
Small Businesses
Financial Institutions
Pharmaceutical Companies

Volunteer Leadership & Fundraising

OUTdooristas LGBTQ Women’s Outdoors Social Club

June 2019 to Present

Founded this hiking and social group for LGBTQ adults within the local area to create a fun, healthy, supportive venue to meet and build community. Organizes and leads successful (average of 10 attendees per week) bi-weekly hikes and brunches year-around. During the early pandemic, ran online Zoom meetups. Holds fundraiser twice per year to cover costs. Ensures an inclusive and supportive community ethic.

Ukraine Fundraiser

March 2022

To help a friend from Ukraine, designed a “Support Ukraine” shirt gift and planned a virtual social event, promoted on Facebook, to quickly help raise over $800 within 4 days.