This is the portfolio site for the Illustrator/Designer Don Friesen, founder of 1+4 Studio.

Don grew up in a small town in Manitoba, Canada and soon after graduating moved to Toronto. After years of working as a web designer in Toronto he was offered a web design gig at a New York firm and now lives in New York City.

Starting out in illustration, Don later moved into web/graphic design and has sold art work to various clients as well.

He is currently working as a freelance illustrator-designer and is constantly trying to further his knowledge in new media and illustration. This site, for example, was built using the popular Wordpress software.

During his years of online experience, Don has worked with video and encoding for multiple platforms, is skilled in Photoshop and continues to merge those skills with his traditional art techniques.

Planned and designed the architecture and layout of dynamic backend driven sites which increased the adaptability for new marketing strategies which lead to increased revenue.

GUI and design of the older sites were not meeting the company’s needs. I addressed this with upper management and was entrusted to improve and maintain them as I saw fit. This allowed for easier adaptation and improved efficiency when implementing new marketing strategies and client requests for site changes.

Managed a design department that was responsible for improving all the websites and content for the company. Conducted interviews and hired some new people to mix with the designers and developers that were already there. This new improved department had fewer individuals than previously but by changing the responsibilities of some of the designers to better suit their skill set I increased the morale and productivity of that design department and made it more financially efficient.

Worked with a company's biggest revenue-generating client with the marketing department to design banner ads and online graphics with an eye for quality after web compression and with eye-catching movement. Increased the click-thru-ratio, which lead to increased sales.

Built client and supplier relationships and was able to arrange a cut in cost from one of our biggest clients by almost 50% while maintaining the majority of content we needed from them.

Planned and designed the site for a small high-end glassware and furnishings company. The site was given a positive mention in Wallpaper Magazine when they did a small story about the company.

Freelance Web Design/Development 2004 – 2009

- Designer/Developer for a medium sized online entertainment firm
- Designed and Managed the CMS driven e-commerce sites
- Worked on the Online and Print ads, Full Page Ads and Online Marketing
- Video editing/encoding for delivery on multiple platforms
- Customer Support for Website and Customer Billing Issues

Web Development Manager, Webkrew Inc. 1998 – 2003
- Lead Designer and Manager of the Web Development Department
- Designed and Managed the building of over 80 database driven E-commerce Websites that were using a proprietary CMS - Managed the Production Workflow of Designers and Content Developers
- Worked with Marketing on Banner advertising and a variety of Online Visuals

Site Design, Esprida Corporation 2002
- Freelance web site design for the company’s online presence.
- Their site needed to portray a tech savvy business while still be easy to navigate and understand by the average user.

Site Design, Decades Arts Design 1999
- High-end Glassware and Furnishings Company
- Worked with the Proprietor to Design the site Based on his Requirements

Online 3D Comics, Py Communications 2001
- Entertainment Company needed a 3D Comic-style Story for their Sites
- Designed, Developed and Co-wrote the Stories Based on Guidelines given by the Company

Site Design, Junkmusic 1998
- Site for a Music Producer and DJ
- Client Needed something Young and Creative in Design and Layout
- Site included Audio Tracks and News about Upcoming Projects

EDUCATION/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
Fundamentals of Project Management - Skill Path Seminars
Web Development 1998 - University of Toronto
Interactive Web and New Media 1996 - Humber College
University of Manitoba: BFA

COMPUTER/SOFTWARE PROFICIENCY:
• HTML (hand coded) • CSS • Javascript • PHP
• Photoshop • Illustrator • InDesign • Dreamweaver • Flash
• Wordpress • Powerseek • Joomla • Drupal • Microsoft Office
• knowledge of After Effects, Premiere and Final Cut Pro
• Video editing/encoding experience for multiple platforms
• Understanding and capable of MAC/PC troubleshooting and problem solving