Barbara van Wyk - Creative Director, van Wyk

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Work Background

Wunderman ThompsonCreative Director

Nov. 2021 - Nov. 2023South Africa · RemoteI freelanced for Wunderman Thompson, spearheading a brand refresh for one of their larger clients. I worked with their strategists, designers, developers, and account execs and managed to deliver work that truly delighted the client. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to visually transform the way a brand communicated their values, offerings, and services.

ShopCreatifyCreative and Strategy

Sep. 2019 - Oct. 2021At ShopCreatify, an agency specializing in building and maintaining high-converting e-commerce stores, I formed part of the executive team and managed several clients and a small team. I provided strategic consulting, project scoping, design, and front-end development services. I particularly enjoyed the deep dive into e-commerce during a boom in the industry - this was a brilliant learning opportunity.

van WykCreative Director

Jun. 2016I offer research, strategy, branding, visual design, and front-end development services to clients in a variety of industries worldwide. I prefer to work with socially, morally, and fiscally responsible mid-sized private companies who grow with me, or established corporates who know what they want and are willing to take advice about what they need.

Helium AdvertisingCreative

Jan. 2016 - May. 2016Johannesburg Area, South AfricaAt Helium, I was involved with strategy, visual design, and front-end development for various campaigns for First National Bank and enjoyed becoming certified in Google Web Designer and DoubleClick Studio, as well as experimenting with in-browser motion and interaction design and learning more about planning for users with deprecated digital tools. This was a good opportunity to bridge knowledge gaps re crafting subtle yet impactful messages within fairly strict guidelines.

Brooke Pattrick PublicationsDesigner

Sep. 2014 - Dec. 2015Johannesburg Area, South AfricaI was tasked with rebranding Brooke Pattrick - a well established publishing house focusing on infrastructure and the built environment - as well as reworking some of its titles (printed magazines and corresponding apps). I created individual brands for several magazines as well as for the publishing house itself. This involved improving data visualisation, interactivity, and readability, and aligning digital versions of the various magazines to their printed counterparts. I also assisted with art, copy, and implementation for web and email marketing campaigns. Feedback on the work was very positive. After completion of the rebrand, the company merged with another leading South African publisher (Interact Media Defined) in an effort to increase the scope of their work.

Future GroupManager - design

Oct. 2012 - Aug. 2014Johannesburg Area, South AfricaI ran the Future Group’s design studio, handling the bulk of their concept work and constantly working to maintain/improve their various projects in terms of branding, visual design, and strategy. I worked on several prominent magazines, some websites and some advertising accounts. I reworked several of their products and received extremely positive feedback. I focused on both detail work and curation, and ensured that every aspect of the products produced - from copy, to art, to finishing or implementation - went smoothly and had a good result. I managed the internal and external design staff, and received positive feedback on the performance and attitude of the team.

Double U MediaSenior Graphic Designer

Jan. 2011 - Sep. 2012Centurion, GautengI managed design work for up to ten accounts concurrently - in general, working on the visual identities of and advertising/marketing material for each client. My duties included supervising market and client-specific research, conceptualising and implementing print and digital artwork and planning and implementing interactive presentations. The scope of work included everything from illustration to code, making this a wonderful start to a multi-disciplinary career.