Scout James

Resume

Highly skilled designer, coder and leader with extensive experience in delivering assets across print and digital media spaces. Art director and project manager adept at collaborating with diverse teams to create impactful web experiences, physical objects, branded spaces, and more.

Skills

WordPress

HTML & CSS
Adobe Suite
Project Management
Automation
Art Direction
Writing
Social Media Management
Content Calendar Creation
Branding
Stakeholder Communication

Tech: CSS/HTML, WordPress Development
Design: Adobe Suite, Canva, Others

  • Creative problem-solving and conceptual thinking
  • Tactful, efficient coordination, excellent communication and client relationship management
  • Skilled & engaging writer, able to write ‘in character’ within a brand’s voice

Experience

Design Generalist, Freelance

2007–present, New York & Los Angeles (Part-time, 9 years; Full-time, 7 years)
2007-2019: Freelance. 2019-2022: DBA as Hiya, Scout.
2023: Split practice into Typecoast for web dev for arts & science clients, and Ansgar, a design workshop for print and book design.

Project Management & Art Direction
  • Oversaw complex print projects, including book development, where I often provided conceptual input, helped organize chapters, guided creative direction to achieve compelling aesthetics, executed meticulous typography, and then worked with print services to ensure a perfectly-calibrated physical product
  • Led cross-functional teams, collaborating with illustrators, composers, coders, videographers, and motion graphics artists to create engaging assets and media beyond my own artistic skillset
  • Performed Project Manager functions, coordinating outsourcing efforts, communicating deadlines and project phases, sourcing and negotiating rates with subcontractors while ensuring quality deliverables within a predetermined budget
  • Developed communication protocols and boundaries with clients, tactfully establishing preferred meeting schedules and channels of communication, and managed client expectations, establishing clear project boundaries and effectively addressing scope creep through assertive communication and strategic renegotiation
  • Performed in the functions of art director, providing expert guidance to creative teams, fostering collaboration, serving as liaison and translating client feedback into actionable revisions, and elevating the overall quality of deliverables
  • Built trusted relationships with businesses and individuals, earning recognition as an equal and expert partner in strategic decision-making processes, and helped clients leverage the design process to clarify organizational goals
  • Devise content calendars and social media assets for clients
Design & Coding
  • WordPress community: participated in WordCamp conferences; helped found LGBTQPress affinity group; and contributed to typography code on the Twenty Twenty Three theme
  • Designed assets (presentations, social media templates, brochures, EPKs, advertisements, mailing list campaigns) for diverse brand identities, from austere philanthropic foundations to edgy theater companies; adhered to strict brand guidelines or worked in more imaginative adaptations
  • Coded responsive design solutions to hundreds of websites, using CSS3 and HTML5 best practices to create unique website layouts within CMS’s
  • Rescued scores of poorly-organized WordPress websites, significantly improving security, speed, accessibility and UX design
  • Designed on-site signage within brand guidelines using die-cut technology and vinyl lettering, precisely installing that signage or facilitating remote installation where necessary
  • Implemented automated systems using project management software, automation apps, and APIs, streamlining application processes and enhancing project management efficiency
Select clients include:
  • Dr. Tanya Harrison (Mars scientist and mission operations specialist) — web design, brand design
  • Dr. Nina Lanza (Mars ChemCam PI, and Space and Planetary Exploration in Space and Remote Sensing Team Lead at Los Alamos) — web design, brand design, presentation design, blog editing, content calendar management 
  • NANCY (film) — billboard on Sunset Strip + various ads
  • Simon & Schuster (author Lisa Genova) — web design
  • Abrams Books/Overlook Press (Halley Feiffer) — cover design
  • Off the Common Books (Nanette Walsh) — book design
  • Pulitzer-Prize winning cartoonist and writer Jules Feiffer — web design
  • Hundreds more, including Hulu (on-screen graphics for an upcoming documentary on Black Twitter), ArtsBoston, the Sapientia Initiative, author Steve Silberman, and others

Recruiter & Content Assistant, The Hired Guns

2010-2014 (Content Assistant) & Apr. 2021–Apr. 2022 (Recruiter), part-time

  • Used LinkedIn and social media to find talent for competitive tech jobs
  • Interviewed talent and hiring managers to write pithy talent pitches, job descriptions and direct messages to connect talent with hiring managers
  • Wrote tweets of interest to the audience (tech-adjacent jobhunters), worked with CEO to revise, uploaded & scheduled tweets in bulk, interacted with community, and improved Twitter metrics
  • Curated an events board, and assisted with Hired Guns Academy classes
  • Managed materials for the Hired Guns blog, designed blog category icons, and worked with guest authors on approving stylized author avatars

Education

Wesleyan University — BA, History

  • Took courses in dance, graphic design, nonfiction writing, creative writing, earth sciences (including Geomorphology with Dr. Martha Gilmore & Dr. William Herbst)
  • Graduated with High Honors and won the Robins Prize (best European History thesis) for Over Lunch: Lord Halifax, Anthony Eden, and the Fictions of Appeasement
  • GPA: 3.48 (Name at Graduation: Michael James)
  • Transferred to Wesleyan after a year at Colorado College

The Juilliard School — MFA, Drama

  • While primarily performance-focused, courses also included Playwriting, Poetry and Pedagogy
  • Founded The Citizen-Penguin, an online, underground student newspaper at Juilliard, for which I designed the brand, built the website, wrote articles (see https://citizenpenguin.com/wsj/), and worked with contributors to create content across divisions and platforms (which included video content, podcasts, and a digital art zine)
  • Served as Resident Assistant for three years in the dorms, creating (and sometimes leading) general-interest programming in history, design, music and astrophysics

Trying to Learn: French, Python, Swimming and Sketch Comedy (currently in Advanced Lab at the Groundlings School)