I believe collaboration is the key to achieving remarkable results. A dedicated team of talented people working towards a common goal can create something people will naturally embrace and happily share.
Hello, again
(because of the home page)
Born and raised in the great state of New Jersey, with a quick 16-year stop in beautiful Colorado, I continued west and eventually landed in sunny San Diego, California.
While here, I’ve enjoyed a dynamic career as a creative director, art director and designer for over 15 years, leading and mentoring multidisciplinary teams through countless diverse projects.
And I’ve worn many hats – sometimes out of necessity, other times from curiosity. But they all contributed to a multifaceted skill set that I eagerly put to work, with a hands-on approach, alongside my team.
from Legos to logos
I’ve always been fascinated with anything that involves creating, designing or building. In all forms and mediums, from Legos as a kid, to logos as an adult, woodwork or web work – if it’s a project, I’m in. Making something is always extremely rewarding, and it never gets old.
My career journey started in 3D modeling, animation and video editing. I originally learned web design and development to showcase my 3D work online, but it soon became my full-time job, and 3D became a hobby.
Graphic design was part of my formal training. This expanded to branding, strategy, positioning and packaging through years of corporate and collaborative experience – eventually touching nearly every marketing medium. Natural leadership ability unified it all, laying the foundation for what became my current career as a creative director, and often, art director as well.
Who am I?
I already know – but here are some handcrafted traits for you to know me a little better.
Empathetic Leader
I’m only as good as the team around me. Being approachable and readily available to all team members is a given for me. I help people to be at ease by promoting open conversation while providing effective leadership and mentoring, which in turn, enables our success. I work with the team, not above them. From initial ideation to project completion, there’s no greater reward than leveraging my skills along with a team of talented creatives to drive tangible results.
Brand Raconteur
The best brands are grounded in stories told through design and messaging that establish emotional connections with people. I’ve helped tell many different brand stories for health products, technology, skin care, supplements, digital services and even companies themselves. Each time, the goal is for the content to resonate with the audience enough that it stays with them long after they’ve engaged with it. The stories that stick ultimately help to drive conversions and sales.
Happy Communicator
I genuinely enjoy collaborating with people and making honest, authentic connections. Listening to others share their ideas, thoughts or concerns, helps me contribute more effectively back to the team. I will frequently ask questions to spark an opportunity to hear another point of view. Understanding a new opinion can help reinforce a chosen solution or determine if the focus should be changed. With so much work now happening remotely, strong communication is even more important, and I continually strive to put people at ease with positive interactions.
Efficiently Organized
As a human, I’m not perfect and have flaws like everyone else – organization isn’t one of them. I’ve always had innate organizational skills and a deep attention to detail, enabling outstanding results for complex projects. While I do inspire others to deliver high-quality work, pursuing perfection endlessly is an exercise in futility. My sharp project management skills allow time and resources to be used efficiently and effectively, ensuring tasks are completed successfully. I’ve implemented countless processes that streamlined projects and positively impacted teams and companies, setting many boss’s minds at ease.
Highly Adaptable
I’ve had accomplishments across so many different industries, platforms, mediums and channels that were made possible mostly because of my curious nature and heightened ability to rapidly grasp new ideas and concepts. Absorbing the information and being open to change, has been the key to staying current and recognizing opportunities. Plus, I’m always eager for training and ready for constructive feedback along the way, in order to adjust for the best outcome.
Dynamically Loyal
I love to grow and change with companies. Truth be told, I’ve had only two jobs over the past 15 years. Both of which only ended because of company downturns and resulting layoffs. There were plenty of freelance and contract projects to broaden my exposure, but suffice to say, I’m a very loyal employee. The takeaway – I don’t quit. Whether it’s a job, project, or hobby, I approach it with a positive attitude, enthusiasm and complete commitment.
Insatiably Curious
If you’ve read the other areas of this site, you’ll know I have a hearty appetite for knowledge in all forms. This effortless drive to seek information not only perfectly compliments, but is the foundation of, many other traits I’ve listed above, like adaptability. The icing on the cake is that by proactively improving, it benefits companies, teams and projects with new ideas, views and concepts that further the overall goals.
How can I help your team?
Big picture - I use stories, concepts and research to strategically drive brand messaging with elegant yet powerful design and engaging campaigns.
Branding
I've led the branding at different companies for dozens of products and services across a wide spectrum of industries.
Strategy
Researching and collaborating to develop a brand's story, voice and identity is essential and always enlightening.
Campaigns
It's exciting to see positive engagement for a new brand after working hard to get key messaging to the target audience.
Design
At the heart of my career has always been a solid foundation, strong principles and great experience with the many types of design.
Packaging
My jam. Multiple vendors and ever-changing processes are involved in launching successful packaging - I help companies streamline this unique world.
Well-versed in the different set of rules, my strong knowledge in print has produced catalogs, magazines, brochures, event displays, flyers and more.
Web
Having built many sites myself,
I can code enough to be dangerous - but I've happily overseen UX/UI experts for large-scale projects.
Photo/Video
I enjoy directing photoshoots and working with video editors to produce the exact content needed for a project.
Copywriting
Whether informing, persuading or entertaining, I write and guide writers to create memorable brand experiences through storytelling.
Click any name to view the full testimonial
But don't take my word for it...
"Sean is such a talented Creative Director who I really enjoyed working under during my time at Youngevity. He has the innate talent of balancing profound concern for people with equal attention to the task at hand. He is conceptually creative and strategically-minded and also has the skill and experience to take a concept and execute it with a craftsman’s attention to detail. He is sharp, direct and honest.
Sean truly is a wealth of knowledge in his field and has a positive upbeat attitude for anything that comes his way. A true go-to guy. Stay cools and calm under pressure and under tight deadlines. As a visual designer on his team, I felt confident having him as our creative leader as I felt supported by him.
I recommend Sean as someone who has the rare ability to blend creativity, insight and opportunity to any organization and would love to work with him again in the future."
"Sean is in my opinion one of the best in the business. It's hard to find a truly talented graphic and web designer in the same company, and even harder to find that in just one person.
No matter what our need Sean was able to produce amazing results in little time, never missing a beat. Add to that a great attitude and superior communication skills and you can't go wrong hiring him for any of your creative work."
"I've had the pleasure of working with and reporting directly to Sean Walker on many product packaging and other design projects over the last few years. He is a very organized, thorough, and detail oriented Creative Director and provides clear and constructive feedback on all design concepts which results in a smooth workflow.
He also has extensive knowledge creating FDA compliant labels and ensuring those standards are met. Sean understands all production and printer processes from start to finish. If I ever had questions on a project, he was able to provide me with solid recommendations and solutions. He is also a very experienced web designer and gives great input on all UX/UI projects.
I am proud of the new and rebranded design work we have collaborated on together in a workspace with many different verticals including but not limited to supplements, coffee, essential oils, skincare / makeup, etc. I highly recommend Sean - he is easy to work with and has the knowledge and experience to lead any company's creative team."
"In my nearly 30 years as a creative professional, Sean is one of the finest Creative Directors with which I’ve had the pleasure of working. In my experience at LifeWave, Sean has continually provided exceptional direction to in-house designers, production artists, web programmers, project coordinators, as well as contracted freelancers.
As the Content Manager at LifeWave, I report directly to Sean on a daily basis to ensure the consistency and quality of all projects, as they relate to established brand standards. With his calm demeanor and thoughtful interpersonal approach, he naturally inspires outstanding creative output from our team. As a result, our marketing initiatives reflect a commitment to the LifeWave brand, while readily driving enrollment and bottom-line sales in the over 100 countries where our products are sold.
As a global company with several thriving markets in the European region, all LifeWave marketing materials are translated into seven different languages respectively. What’s more, it’s not unusual for our company to run several promotions and extended marketing campaigns simultaneously. Under Sean’s capable leadership, we can always count on producing work that reflects his high standards, while remaining faithful to LifeWave’s brand and company mission.
I’ll end this on a personal note. In my experience, personality is of equal importance to any job skill when deciding on a candidate. This is yet another area where Sean excels. Always positive and encouraging, Sean naturally raises the energy level and enthusiasm of our team. It’s truly a pleasure to work for him each and every day, and I highly recommend him to any company in any area of business."
"I consider Sean to be an exceptionally competent marketing design professional, but also a team-builder and manager who always accomplished the mission, no matter what levels of pressure were being applied. If I were again in a position to hire Sean, I would not hesitate, and would enthusiastically include him as part of my team.
It is my pleasure to provide a reference for Sean Walker, whom I have known and worked with for 11 years. As President of LifeWave, Inc., I hired Sean in early 2006, in the capacity of Creative Design Manager. In that capacity, he was given responsibility for all marketing media for the company, including web design & development, packaging, logo design, event collateral, marketing literature design—in short, all of the graphic and web needs of the company. He did an excellent job of establishing design themes and standards, and gaining design control over all public representations of our company.
From 2008 on, the company experienced rapid revenue growth, and Sean’s responsibilities evolved from that of a designer to that of a Creative Director. As part of the company’s growth strategies we asked Sean to build a larger team to function as a truly professional creative force in the company.
This team had responsibility for all marketing activities and support for the business, which was serving the US market and multiple foreign markets around the country. This necessitated Sean and his team to ensure:
• All marketing imagery and messaging was consistent and coherent around the world • All materials were translated into the approximately 10 languages necessary and compliant with local regulatory requirements in all markets • Strict version controls were in place • Adherence to budget requirements • Success measurements of marketing campaigns • Web analytics were studied and used for improvements • SEO strategies were implemented across all web properties
There were, of course, many other detailed requirements of the position. But importantly, Sean grew with the company. He started as a Creative Design Manager, and became the Director of Marketing. The company’s entire image and identity in the marketplace over those eleven years were a result of Sean’s personal design work, as well as a result of Sean’s guidance and direction of the very professional team he assembled."
"Sean was, and continues to be, one of our top graphic and web designers. His professionalism and quality can always be counted upon.
With Sean, you know the job will always be done on time and will exceed expectations."
"Sean was a tremendous mentor and friend during my short time in the industry. I first worked with Sean on various projects where he was both an inspiring leader and competent teacher. Sean is always open for creative ideas while putting forth his own. We worked closely together on many 3D Design and Web design projects.
I always found Sean to be open to my opinions and constructive criticism and always willing to give his when I asked. I feel like it's very important to work closely and openly during creative projects and it was always nice to have someone who was so inspiring and excited to bounce my ideas off of.
I'm honored to be able to work with Sean on such high profile projects knowing he'll put forth his best and always be open to creating something great! It was a pleasure working with him."
When I'm not launching brands, you'll find me:
Playing guitar, hiking, making art, mountain biking, watching movies & series, building things, seeing live music, admiring art, reading, pretending to be a photographer, trying new food, critiquing store logos and product packaging, gawking at new technology, 3D printing, traveling, exploring, finding adventures and being curious.
As you can see, many of my personal and professional interests intertwine, and perhaps this innate affinity for all things creative is my greatest strength. I’m passionate about my job because I genuinely love doing it, and I think this positive energy is clearly reflected in my attitude and body of work.