Karl Partington

My name is Karl and I’ve been managing a number of publications and digital products as a Senior Graphic Designer and Studio Production Manager, while managing a team of creatives for over 15 years. I have a number of design awards, have managed brand assets for a number of freelance and agency clients and have been a UX/UI design lead on teams for startups developing innovative digital projects. I posses advanced Adobe Creative Suite skills, proven project management and team leadership skills and a strong I.T. and technical background in web development and I.T. resource management.

Owner and Creative Designer

ACE CREATIVE
01/2009 - Present

Director of my own creative design business, I empower small businesses and entrepreneurs with developing an inspiring, cohesive print and digital creative design.

• Conceptualize and design for colour print production including logo design, corporate branding, brochures, ads, illustrations, maps, newsletters, guides etc.
• Digital design for social media campaigns, digital marketing and responsive HTML5 digital ad design. Full Stack web development with HTML5, CSS3, Javascript, Bootstrap, MySQL, PHP and Wordpress CMS
• Provide art direction, web design, print and digital materials for various film and documentary projects in association with Diamondhead Films in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Production Manager and Senior Graphic Designer

WHISTLER PUBLISHING LP - A Glacier Media company
04/2011 - 03/2021

Managed the ethos, brand and complex information design of Pique Newsmagazine and other illustrated non‑fiction publishing through award‑winning print newspapers, magazines, ads, infographics, graphs, typography, print layouts and illustrations with a commitment to quality, continuous improvement and consistent excellence.

• Managed production meetings involving various stakeholders. Analyse and interpret market trends and other external perspectives to identify design and product opportunities that ensure brands remain cohesive, distinct, inspiring and relevant. Established direction, content timelines and ensured targets with tight deadlines were met.
• Illustrated magazine covers and mentored illustration direction for other design colleagues. In 2018 I won a national first place photo illustration award with the Canadian Newspaper Association for a Pique Newsmagazine cover design.
• Trained designer with over 20 years experience and a solid background with advanced Adobe Creative Suite Skills. Setup InDesign with complex style sheets, masterpages, import scripts and templates to efficiently maintain complex layouts. Used advanced Photoshop skills to retouch, mask, blend and enhance images. Proficient Illustrator abilities for building info‑graphics, vector illustrations, maps and more. Numerous first, second and third place design awards from 2015 to 2021 with the BC and Yukon Community Newspaper Association.
• Hired, managed and led a team of several creatives distributed across a number of publications. Empowering others, collaborating on solutions and encouraging those creative abilities in designers has allowed me to stand out and successfully lead the teams I fostered. In 2019, I received recognition for such. That year, as voted for by my colleagues, I was awarded Glacier Media’s top employee award from among 2,500 national employees.
• Designed, implemented and maintained WordPress and HTML websites. Managed the implementation and maintenance of the front‑facing Pique Newsmagazine CMS website and assisted staff with content issues and training. Created rich media, digital ads to IAB standards in both fixed and HTML5 ratio based responsive sizes.
• A systems‑thinker, I executed procedures, workflows and systems for efficient business operations among for both in‑house and remote operations such as production workflows and Mac‑PC I.T. asset management.
• Responded to I.T. issues and trained staff on procedures and office software/hardware such as Adobe CC and MS Office. Wrote scripts and complex order tracking Google Sheets and Excel spreadsheets to aid workflow efficiency.
• With a hands‑on and can‑do attitude, I worked closely with the publisher and other business stakeholders to develop marketing campaigns, business initiatives and question any current practice that delivered on the company brands.

Studio Production Manager

STUDIO E COMMUNICATIONS AND IMMERSIVISION INTERACTIVE
03/2005 - 01/2009

As senior graphic designer, I managed other creatives and projects to deliver corporate branding, print and digital products on brief. Worked with printers to deliver the highest quality print with attention to detail in a timely and cost effective manner. Created quotes, handled proofs and scheduled freelance designers as necessary.

Drove the UX UI design of websites and multi‑media projects. Created wireframes and programmed layouts in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL, PHP, ASP .NET. Coordinated and oversaw project development with outside contractors.

During this time, I was the lead UX UI designer in the creation of an online tool that delivered a web 2.0, visually rich, immersive, virtual environment for tourism, real estate, and manufacturing industries — Immersivision .com, A pre‑Google‑Street‑View, online virtual application that was utilized in approximately 20 resorts within Canada and the United States, and TripGenie .com, the online booking reservation website.

Senior Graphic Designer

THE CAMPBELL RIVER MIRROR
06/2004 - 03/2005

Designed ads from original concept to meet tight deadlines for a high volume community newspaper. Coordinated and produced special sponsor pages and supplements. Required to be a self‑starter with the ability to work autonomously.

Studio Production Manager

WHISTLER THIS WEEK VISITOR MAGAZINE
03/2003 - 06/2004

Drove production of this high quality informative weekly entertainment newspaper to promote Whistler activities, services, and events to visitors. Created complex layouts in keeping with market focus and designed ads from original concept and client guidelines. Preflight submitted artwork for inclusion, paginate and export newspaper to printer’s requirements.

UX UI Website Designer

ADVERTISING TECHNOLOGIES LTD. - eStays .com
01/2000 - 03/2003

Coordinated, designed and developed the brand and UX UI design of eStays .com. eStays was a pioneering dot com that enabled real‑time accommodation reservations for various resorts in British Columbia and Alberta. Created wireframes, templates and graphics for the lead developer. Maintained and performed site changes in HTML, CSS, and ASP. Produced marketing communications to support the brand while also collaborating with strong strategic acumen and design leadership on the the creative strategy of eStays .com

Network and Newsworld Presentation Coordinator

CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION
1991-1999

Working independently, was responsible for the accurate and timely presentation of programming airing on CBC’s main network and coordinated and managed the presentation and transmission of programs airing on the CBC’s 24-hour cable news network. Acted as a Director, Coordinator and Transmission Officer to ensure complete and current news coverage of regional, national and world events. Supervised and directed the on-air control room and crew.

• Directed and coordinated the live control-room integration of newsbreaks, business updates, interviews (talkbacks and phoners) adding Chyron supers, still store, graphic effects, and VTR playbacks into live and taped programming.
• Establish audio cue-circuits for remote guests and hosts. Coordinated lines and satellite feeds with network transmission officers and remote operators for live integration into programming.
• Responsible for making effective decisions to amend on-air programming. Make amendments to facilitate breaking news and programming changes while ensuring maximum commercial revenue. Reported any program changes, inconsistencies and misinformation in scheduling as they arose.
• Coordinated the network packaging of programs utilizing an edit suite: edited CBC and syndicated program content to ensure compliance with designated time slots.
• Produced promotional openings and teasers and managed live simulcasts in an on-air control room.
• Directed both the live and live-to-tape packaging of programs with the integration of Canadian network commercial content and programming elements with CBC brand identity (Stings, bumpers, voice-overs, credit squeezes, etc.).

While being continually engaged in learning and upgrading skills via online workshops, bootcamps and tutorials, the career experiences I've been grateful for the past 30 years was derived from the following post secondary education. 

Audio-Visual Communications

HUMBER COLLEGE - Toronto, ON, Canada
Audio-Visual Communications Honours Diploma. Comparable to Associate Degree.(1991)

Honours graduate with highest grade point average. Winner of John Davies memorial award with the highest GPA.

Architectural Technology

FANSHAWE COLLEGE - London, ON, Canada

Completed first year of program with A+ standing.