Northern Star Media
Description
As the Lead Ad designer at Northern Star, I oversaw the comprehensive design output of the entire advertising department alongside additional marketing projects. My role encompassed managing diverse projects, from client advertisements to in-house marketing materials. Alongside this, I made a measurable impact in improving our branding and improving the consistency of our brand guidelines.
Role
Lead Ad Designer
Active
2022 - 2024
Advertising / Marketing / Print Design | Social Media | Content Design | Adobe InDesign
Client Ads
Under my title, my main responsibility as Lead Ad Designer was designing the ads that were requested by our clients. I designed ads for over 15 clients in the DeKalb area, with clients ranging from the restaurant industry to local bookstores and gyms.
Publications
Alongside my main responsibilities designing advertisements for our local clientele, a significant aspect of my role involved managing and spearheading the design and production of printed materials published by the Northern Star. Specifically, several projects I was tasked with designing were the housing guide and marketing kit. I worked on these from start to finish, ensuring that they were produced well and in alignment with our publication's standards.
Marketing Kit
The marketing kit is a comprehensive guide for customers to get a better understanding of the rates for purchasing ad spaces/resources through our company. It also serves as a resource for customers to learn more about the Northern Star, providing information such as what publications we release and when we release them.
Housing Guide
The housing guide is a yearly publication that is published for students who are looking to find places to rent. They have all of the property information in the DeKalb area available to them in their hands. I created and organized the entirety of the publication, including many of the ads featured in it, and created the grid system which features all the housing information in the DeKalb area.
Sports News Branding
One of my greatest achievements was developing and maintaining a new branding identity for the sports news division, developing a highly comprehensive design system that included typography choices and a color palette system. I also took the lead in designing marketing collateral and social media graphics with consistent messaging. Below are images of the graphics I created during this project.
Promotional Materials
In addition to annual publications, the Northern Star promoted various events taking place on the NIU campus. As the Lead Ad Designer, I was fully responsible for creating and designing any necessary promotional materials that would be required for these events, which included items such as flyers, social media ads, and website graphics.
