Maddie McCutcheon

I have been an entrepreneur since I was in middle school. Making others happy through my work was what I always wanted to do with my life. I started a business in my school's cafeteria where my classmates would give me the name of a Pokémon they wanted, and I would draw it for them. I had multiple sheets of graph paper organized with the student's names and what type of Pokémon they wanted. With the amount of orders I had, I’m not even sure if I ever finished all of those commissions – I'm sure a classmate of mine is missing a Pikachu. The seed of this early commission work is what set me on the path I'm on today. 

My name is Madelyn McCutcheon or Maddie. I'm a graphic designer specializing in illustration and layout design that uses organic shapes and unique color schemes to create branding and signage for clients. When making my designs for my clients, I make sure that the branding fits their mission and matches the business's personality. I do extensive research so that the final product matches what the client needs. This emphasis on research and attention to detail I started with my business in middle school. You’d be surprised how critical middle schoolers can be about their Pokémon. I have a history of using Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and XD over the last three years of work I have done in and outside of college.

I worked previously with Project Woman’s team as their graphic designer and event assistant for their 2022 DIVA Night. During my time with Project Woman, I designed and laid out RSVP signs, programs for the event, and signage for specific event tables. I attended daily meetings with the event coordinator and presented my prototypes to her making sure to get approval for changes. I am confident with my skills in Adobe Creative Cloud, including Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign, which I used to create the designs needed for the event. I got a brand style guide from the coordinator to ensure I used the appropriate colors for the signage and the correct logo – especially since they recently re-branded. I also learned the organization’s process for getting event sponsors and how to properly communicate with them to acquire certain assets for signage and raffle baskets.

I have graduated recently with an Associate of Applied Business in Graphic Design from Clark State College in Springfield, OH. In the program, all of the students were required to have Adobe Creative Cloud for the courses. I used Adobe Dreamweaver to create Wordpress, Bootstrap, and HTML websites for my Web Design courses. In many of the projects we did in college, I have done layouts that incorporate both vector and raster elements. In an ad campaign project, I combined images of both people in yoga poses with illustrated elements behind them to fit the branding of the company. During my time at Clark State, I worked for the Clark State Design Collective to collaborate with clients to create illustrations, layouts, and designs for their brands. One of the clients was Project Jericho, a nonprofit organization in Springfield that works with youth and the community to make the arts more accessible in the community. We met with them, discussed their needs and wants  and narrowed down what they were looking for with their project. I thumbnailed, prototyped, and finalized a infographic and poster for their Project Jericho Library. My design was selected to represent the organization. I also worked as a project manager for some of our other projects as well. My team and I worked together creating concepts, giving each other feedback on our designs, and checking in to make sure that we were all on track for the deadline of the assignment.