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About Dawn Shepard

Hi, I’m Dawn Shepard, a content graphic designer.

My Specialties are:

• infographics

• charts

• animated gifs

• illustrated maps

• supporting graphics

• layout

 

I’ve been a professional graphic designer since 2008, but it’s always been a part of my life.

 

Design thinking is in my blood, and I’ve been lucky to be a part of some awesome projects.

 

I worked at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. With the collaboration of IHME and The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), we created six infographics for publication. At IHME I also designed charts and graphics for use in countries around the world. Collaborators included: GAVI, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH, Inter-American Development Bank and Salud Mesoamérica.

 

Being an infographic designer for MSN.com (Microsoft Network) was amazing. I designed for the Entertainment, Causes, Money, MSNnow, Healthy Living, and Weather channels on the site.

 

Working with SEO agencies, like Builtvisible and Moz, creating infographics and visual assets really let me push design.

 

To top it off, I was lucky enough to work with Rand Fishkin for his book cover design and inside illustrated charts.

 

Q&A-01Am I Good Fit for Your Project?

Graphic design is a broad term. Here’s what I do and don’t do as a designer.

What I do

After Effects

I love to take a chart and animate it in After Effects. I even took a class on it. I can also move things around, like zoom into maps or help explain a website. I usually start in Illustrator, layer it out, and then import the file into AE where I manipulate individual layers. Here’s an example.

 

Illustrated Charts

I can illustrate charts by hand or by using the computer. I either create the chart myself using illustrator or have one given to me.

 

Charts to be inserted into a blog post

One of my specialties. I can create images of charts for print, websites, blog posts, magazines, books, and reports.

 

If you have a chart you made, I can give it an upgrade

There are several routes to go, 1) we work together to find a file format that I can open in Illustrator, then I update the chart, 2) I recreate/redraw the chart in Illustrator, 3) you give me the data, and I use it to make the chart in Illustrator.

 

If you aren’t sure what chart to use, I can help you pick a chart and make it for you

Telling the story of your information can be hard to figure out. I can help.

 

Other supportive content

I can illustrate concepts, illustrate maps, show processes, help with typography, and layout. Sometimes all content needs is space and grouping to help the reader understand it.

 

Create from a brand guide or work with an existing brand

It’s one of my superpowers. I love working with existing brands to create content that matches.

 

I can help with brainstorming or coming up with an idea

I love problem-solving, and I’m a great listener. For me, it starts by asking questions and listening, then brainstorming options, then narrowing down to ideas to iterate.

 

Think of every project as a gift that will shed light on the world

I take the power of design seriously. I come from a design perspective of, “how can I help?” When you have a medium that can reach so many people you have to respect that power.  

What I don’t do

Last minute work

Design takes time. The way I work is with a design brief, and it’s a strategic process. I collaborate with you to create. If you’re contacting me for the first time because your designer just dropped out and you need something done by tomorrow, I’m not a good fit.  

 

Web design, CSS or HTML

 

Stop motion or live action animation

 

UX/UI

 

Interactive Data Viz

I can think in terms of filters that reveal, on-off switches, etc. but I need someone else to code it.

 

Charts with lots of data, like an Excel sheet of 10,000 data points

 

logos

 

Brand creation

 

If you want to get in touch, please contact me here.

Thank you!