Hey there! 👋 My name is Dakota and I'm a Creative LeaderDesigner with a passion for building cool things.

I'm Dakota 👋

I'm a professional designer based in New York. I found graphic design at an early age, knowing from that day forward that design would be at the forefront of whatever I would do. My parents instilled in me the desire to leave things better than I found them and to always strive for improvement...

Dakota working at whiteboard

My experience

Over the last 15 years, I have had the pleasure of working with a large variety of companies, design agencies, and universities. Along with working directly with many clients through my freelance work, I have worked alongside some amazing designers and art directors at various top design agencies and have played key roles working cross-functionally at various tech startups.

Freelance Designer
DKTB Design Logo
DKTB Design
Mar 2008 — Now
Lead Designer
SportsCastr Logo
SportsCastr
Mar 2017 — Dec 2020
Designer
SportsCastr Logo
SportsCastr
Jul 2016 — Mar 2017

Recent work

Check out some case studies below or click any of the buttons to filter case studies by type.

My education

Eastern Washington University

2012 - 2016

Cheney, WA

I received my Bachelor of Arts degree in Visual Communication Design from Eastern Washington University where I also completed a Minor in Business Administration. At EWU, I was on the Dean's List for the majority of the semesters and I was also awarded the Outstanding Student of the Year from the VCD faculty in 2014. I was selected to be a Teacher's Assistant / Tudor for the Program Leading to University Success for both Web Design and Visual Communication Design courses.

University of Washington

2011 - 2012

Seattle, WA

Prior to EWU, I attended the University of Washington where I was an undeclared undergraduate on a full academic scholarship that I earned by achieving academic success during High School. While at UW, I volunteered at the University District Food Bank, helping stock shelves, organizing inventory, and assisting customers through checkout.

Wilbur High School

2007 - 2011

Wilbur, WA

I graduated from Wilbur High School where I was an active member of the school, sports, and community. I received the Senior Project of Excellence for my senior research presentation on childhood cancer, part of which I volunteered for multiple years for the Corinna Felker Drive for Cancer helping raise money to provide assistance to families struggling with a child battling cancer. I also volunteered for local little league sports as a referee, umpire, and line judge at different times, as well as helping build a new baseball field.

Ideals

Here are some of the ideals that I have picked up over the years.

Create clarity out of chaos.

Out of chaos often comes clarity. The phoenix rising from the ashes. A story as old as time. The truth is sometimes you have to create chaos in order to arrive at clarity.

Done is better than perfect.

Rather than endlessly striving for perfection, your time and energy is better spent focusing on the next thing. It's about what is best for the client, not what is best for me.

Strong opinions, loosely held.

I believe that while you should have strong opinions, you should also be open-minded when faced with new information. Revise and repeat. A balance of conviction and flexibility.

You either win or you lose learn.

I understand that failing is a process of growing. It doesn't matter that you fall, it matters that you pick yourself back up, learn from it and keep going. Growth can get messy.

Stay curious.

There is value in being curious. It's a fundamental trait that drives learning and personal growth. Having curiosity in a wide variety of areas leads to unexpected ideas and connecting dots that you may have missed otherwise.

Zoom in. And out.

It's equally important to look at the big picture as it is to focus on the details. Attention to details is important, but if you stay zoomed in for too long, you can get lost in the sauce and lose sight of the overall vision.

Under promise and over deliver.

Setting realistic expectations with stakeholders is an important aspect of design in the real world. I prefer to over estimate the amount of time/budget to pad for any problems that may arise, and delight the stakeholder if everything goes right.

Skills

Branding & marketing

Branding
Logo Design
Business Cards
Stationery Design
Branded Merch
Iconography
Naming
Brand Strategy
Visual Design
Illustration
Custom Emojis
Presentation Design
Packaging Design
Product Mockups
Video Overlays
Graphic Design
Digital Content Creation
Video Editing
Sound Design
Design Thinking
Advertising
Marketing
Market Research
Social Media Content
Social Media Marketing
Vehicle Wraps & Decals
Copywriting
Naming

Product design & development

Web Design
User Interface (UI) Design
User Experience (UX) Design
Typesetting
Page Layout
Information Architecture
Sitemaps
Wireframing
Product Design
User Flows
Design Systems
Prototyping
Webflow
Augmented Reality
Artificial Intelligence
Front-End Web Development
HTML
CSS
SCSS
jQuery

Management & leadership

Art Direction
Creative Direction
Design Leadership
Design Management
Interviewing
Hiring
Training
Product Management
Big Picture Thinking
Attention to Detail
Problem Solving
Organization

Tools of the trade

Illustrator icon
Illustrator
Photoshop icon
Photoshop
InDesign icon
InDesign
Sketch icon
Sketch
Figma icon
Figma
Balsamiq icon
Balsamiq
InVision icon
InVision
Zeplin icon
Zeplin
Webflow icon
Webflow
Sublime Text icon
Sublime Text
Visual Studio Code icon
VS Code
Codepen icon
Codepen
Github icon
Github
Google Sheets icon
Excel
Sheets icon
Sheets
Docs icon
Docs
Pages icon
Pages
Powerpoint icon
Powerpoint
Keynote icon
Keynote
Trello icon
Trello
Basecamp icon
Basecamp
Premiere Pro icon
Premiere Pro
After Effects icon
After Effects
Capcut icon
Capcut
TikTok icon
TikTok
Icomoon icon
Icomoon
Slack icon
Slack
Zoom icon
Zoom
Google Meet icon
Meet
Dropbox icon
Dropbox
Dropbox icon
Drive

Want to get in touch?

Reach out if you have any questions or if you're interested in working with me.

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