Kevin Smith.Contact

Graphic design · web · marketing

I turn complex work into clear, useful, finished communication.

I'm Kevin Smith, an award-winning hands-on designer and creative operations lead with 25+ years of experience across brand, web, print, campaigns, and digital products.

Explore selected work View résumé
25+years creating
9national GDUSA awards
6–8person team led
BauBox integrated brand and product presentation
First Awakenings restaurant website
Himalayan Coffee packaging design
Artists' Honeymoon publication design
AVAILABLEfor hands-on creative,
content & marketing roles

Choose the evidence most relevant to the role

Three ways to review my work.

Hiring for a hands-on designer, a web and marketing contributor, or a creative-operations partner? Start with the work that maps most directly to the position.

01

Design & Production

Brand systems, editorial hierarchy, packaging, proposals, presentation thinking, InDesign, preflight, and vendor-ready delivery.

Start with BauBox and Artists’ Honeymoon 02

Web & Marketing

Responsive web design, content organization, campaign assets, SEO fundamentals, analytics, testing, and launch support.

Start with Hale Kai Lana and First Awakenings 03

Creative Operations

Briefs, scopes, estimates, schedules, team and vendor coordination, stakeholder reviews, QA, and dependable delivery.

Start with the production workflow
Adobe Creative Cloud
✦
Brand systems
✦
Web & SEO
✦
InDesign & production
✦
Campaign delivery
✦
QA & coordination

Selected work

Strategy is only useful when it ships.

Every project below is selected to show the work employers repeatedly ask for: clear hierarchy, brand consistency, production discipline, web fluency, stakeholder collaboration, and reliable delivery.

01

Integrated B2B brand and sales system

BauBox

A premium product story carried through digital, print, packaging, and sales presentation—with one disciplined visual language at every touchpoint.

My roleCreative direction · Brand applications · Web · Print production
What this demonstrates
  • B2B communication
  • Cross-channel systems
  • Sales collateral
  • Production delivery
Brief

Create one premium B2B story that could move confidently between physical samples, sales material, and the web.

Deliverables

Brand applications · Sample packaging · Sales presentation · Website

Constraint

Different formats, production vendors, and viewing contexts had to feel like one system.

Result

A unified physical-and-digital sales system with consistent hierarchy, typography, and product positioning.

02

Long-form editorial design

Artists’ Honeymoon

A visually structured publication that organizes substantial historical material through repeatable grids, typography, pacing, and print-aware image treatment.

My roleEditorial design · Art direction · Layout · Print preparation
What this demonstrates
  • InDesign workflow
  • Long-form hierarchy
  • Templates & grids
  • Proofing & preflight
Brief

Make substantial historical and visual material readable, navigable, and compelling across a long-form publication.

Deliverables

Cover direction · Interior system · Image treatment · Print-ready files

Constraint

Dense source material required repeatable page logic without flattening the character of the content.

Result

A consistent editorial system that supports pacing, hierarchy, and production from cover through interior pages.

03

Brand system across package and web

Hale Kai Lana

A Kona coffee identity extended from physical packaging into a content-rich website, maintaining recognition across very different formats and production constraints.

My roleBrand design · Packaging · Website design · Production
What this demonstrates
  • Brand consistency
  • Packaging constraints
  • Digital translation
  • Typography & color
Brief

Extend a distinctive Kona coffee identity from shelf-ready packaging into a content-rich digital experience.

Deliverables

Brand design · Packaging · Website design · Production files

Constraint

The same identity needed to work across tactile materials, product information, photography, and responsive screens.

Result

One recognizable brand story carried from physical package to web experience without losing its visual character.

04

Hospitality website and content experience

First Awakenings

A photography-led website that gives restaurant visitors the information they need quickly while preserving the warmth and recognition of a longstanding local brand.

My roleContent organization · Web design · Development · QA
What this demonstrates
  • Audience priorities
  • Responsive design
  • Content hierarchy
  • Launch testing
Brief

Help restaurant visitors reach practical information quickly while preserving the warmth of a familiar local brand.

Deliverables

Content structure · Interface design · Development · Responsive QA

Constraint

Photography and brand character had to support—not obstruct—high-priority visitor tasks.

Result

A focused hospitality experience organized around the information prospective guests need before a visit.

05

Visual ideas built for real production

Campaign & packaging systems

Distinctive campaign, event, and retail work shaped around audience, format, materials, and vendor requirements—not just the screen it was designed on.

My roleConcept · Illustration · Packaging · Vendor-ready files
What this demonstrates
  • Campaign concepts
  • Retail communication
  • Environmental scale
  • Print production
Brief

Turn distinct audience and product needs into memorable visual ideas that could survive real-world production.

Deliverables

Campaign concepts · Illustration · Packaging · Vendor-ready artwork

Constraint

Each solution had its own scale, materials, finishing, and reproduction requirements.

Result

Expressive work prepared around the practical demands of event, retail, packaging, and print production.

06

From brief to approved delivery

Creative operations

At Pixels, I led a 6–8 person multidisciplinary team while staying hands-on: translating needs into scopes, coordinating people and vendors, managing review cycles, checking production, and delivering the finished work.

My roleIntake · Scope · Schedule · Stakeholders · Vendors · QA
What this demonstrates
  • Concurrent priorities
  • Review systems
  • Team coordination
  • Final quality control
Brief

Move concurrent client work from an often-ambiguous request to an approved, producible, and correctly delivered result.

Deliverables

Scopes · Estimates · Schedules · Review cycles · Proofs · Vendor coordination

Constraint

A 6–8 person team, outside specialists, clients, and production partners needed clear handoffs and accountability.

Result

A repeatable operating path from intake through proof, approval, production QA, and final delivery.

Capability set

Creative judgment.
Production discipline.

I bring the range of a studio and the accountability of a hands-on teammate. The goal is consistent: understand the need, make the message clear, and carry the work through.

01

Brand & campaign design

Brand identities and scalable visual systems carried across advertising, social, sales collateral, packaging, presentations, environmental graphics, and print.

02

Web & digital experiences

Responsive websites and landing pages combining visual design, content organization, HTML/CSS, WordPress, usability, SEO fundamentals, analytics, testing, and launch support.

03

Editorial, presentation & production

Information-rich publications, proposals, decks, books, and collateral built with disciplined typography, grids, templates, preflight, proofing, and production accuracy.

04

Creative operations

Project intake, briefs, estimates, schedules, priorities, stakeholder reviews, vendor coordination, revisions, quality assurance, budget awareness, and delivery.

Working method

A visible path from request to result.

Good creative operations make room for better creative work. This is the practical system I used to keep client, team, vendor, and production decisions aligned.

  1. 01Discover

    Clarify the audience, business goal, content, constraints, and definition of done.

  2. 02Frame

    Turn needs into a brief, scope, estimate, schedule, responsibilities, and review plan.

  3. 03Design

    Build concepts and systems, present the reasoning, gather feedback, and refine.

  4. 04Produce

    Coordinate content, collaborators, formats, vendors, technical implementation, and revisions.

  5. 05Verify

    Proof, preflight, test, check brand consistency and accessibility, then secure approval.

  6. 06Deliver

    Release organized final assets, support launch, and carry useful learning into the next cycle.

Recognition

9

national
GDUSA awards

Recognition across graphic, package, web, app, and digital design from 2014 through 2024.

2014 GDUSA Graphic Design award badge
2014Graphic Design
2015 GDUSA Package Design award badge
2015Package Design
2016 GDUSA Graphic Design award badge
2016Graphic Design
2017 GDUSA Graphic Design award badge
2017Graphic Design
2018 GDUSA Web Design award badge
2018Web Design
2019 GDUSA App Design award badge
2019App Design
2020 GDUSA Graphic Design award badge
2020Graphic Design
2024 GDUSA Digital Design award badge
2024Digital Design
2024 GDUSA Website Design award badge
2024Website Design
Best of Monterey County finalist badge
Local recognitionBest of Monterey County finalist
Kevin Smith, designer and creative operations professional

About Kevin

Experienced judgment. Dependable day-to-day execution.

I'm a multidisciplinary graphic and digital designer based in Pacific Grove, California. For 15 years, I built and led Pixels Graphic Design in Monterey, serving businesses and community organizations across brand, web, print, publications, advertising, and ongoing marketing work.

I directed a team of 6–8 designers, developers, production staff, and outside specialists while remaining hands-on in concept development, design, revisions, testing, production, and final quality control.

I'm now focused on an in-house individual-contributor or creative-operations role where I can bring both experienced judgment and reliable execution to a collaborative team.

Core toolsInDesign · Illustrator · Photoshop · Figma · WordPress · HTML/CSS · Google Analytics · Search Console · Microsoft Office

Available for the right team

Let's make useful work
and finish it well.

kevin@smithspixels.com Download résumé