AIGA Portland Board Members
"For the last 18 years I have used my skills as a designer and writer to create engaging and informative experiences for a wide range of platforms including print, web, mobile, CDs, and DVDs.
Most recently, I have written and designed product documentation, websites, mobile applications, and marketing collateral for several Fortune 500 companies. My past clients include Qualcomm, Nike-through Creative Assets, Intel, Adidas-Salomon, Oregon Public Broadcasting, Helen Keller International, KMHD, Oregon Ballet Theatre, and Rock Mama Films.
I believe that design can change the world for the better, and am passionate about educating current and future designers.
I'm looking for opportunities to use traditional techniques, as well as cutting-edge technology, to produce creative media."
Kristin is an experienced art director and designer specializing in identity design, brand development, and communications design. As a Portland board member since 2003, her past board focuses have included membership and sustainable design. In 2005, she brought AIGA and WorldStudio's Urban Forest Project to Portland. She currently heads the in-house design group at Oliver Wyman Leadership Development, an international management consulting firm. She is also the Creative Director for ORLO'S Bear Deluxe Magazine, a publication of art and the environment which has been recognized by PRINT's Regional Design Annual and Seattle's Bumbershoot arts festival. Before moving to Portland, Kristin worked with DaCapo Press and Perseus Publishing, with titles she produced gathering acclaim from the New York Times and PRINT magazine. She is a published poet and essayist, and has taught and lectured in the creative field at primary, graduate, and professional levels. She’s continually energized by and proud to be a part of the active, talented, and articulate Portland design culture.
The Creative Director at Verse Digital Design Group prior to forming Collective Incorporated in 1997, he later evolved that concern to become Pinch. A Design Office. in Portland, Oregon. Hillerns studied journalism at Blair Academy and Princeton University and architecture at The University of Idaho at Moscow. His experience in working with startups to Fortune 100 firms has defined his counsel in approaching business issues through the considered development of brand identity, information systems, exhibit design, and social media. In addition to his role on the executive board of directors for AIGA Portland, Hillerns and is a chapter representative to AIGA's Center for Sustainable Design. An advocate for regional design, he created Designspeaks, a small-talks series dedicated to advancing the conversation about design in the Pacific Northwest. Hillerns teaches interaction design at Portland State University, is on the board of Re: Active, a projects-based design education program for underserved youth, and is a collective founder of The New Communicators, a collaborative convergence intended to explore the evolution of discussion. Hillerns writes extensively about design as a process and contributes to juried exhibitions and panel discussions on the subjects of speculative work and the role of design in society. Hillerns is a member of ICOGRADA and The Type Directors Club. And while he'd much prefer being on the river to writing about it, Hillerns is the Conservation Editor for Westfly, an online journal serving the western fly fishing community. He lives on the property adjoining Pinch House with his wife, Lisa, and their three sprouts.
Erik Ratcliffe is a rare bird indeed. He started adulthood in the civil engineering industry as a draftsman and a site designer; after a decade or so of that, he broke camp and set himself up in the Linux industry where he did all things technical, co-authored a very long Linux book, and followed the dot com wave to stock-option-millionaire status only to lose it all when the market crashed in the early 2000s (not his fault). He walked away from Linux a few years later and entered the University of Utah as a graphic design major. He earned a BFA in 2007, and immediately afterwards he and his wife traded arid Zion for moist Portland.
Since moving to Stumptown Erik has kept busy with Portland AIGA as a general purpose volunteer, a dMob greeter, a DesignSpeaks event co-chair, and is now the Portland chapter Treasurer. He currently works as a graphic designer at LaCie in Hillsboro and has been known to do freelance work around the Portland metro area as well as in Utah. Erik keeps Portland AIGA's finances in order as well as inspiring and getting inspired by the wonderful design community in and around Portland.
Angela Reat is an accomplished graphic designer with 14 years of experience in the U.S. and abroad. She currently specializes in identity and branding for the food, beverage and hospitality industries. After graduating from San Francisco State University, her wealth of creative experience comes from working with clients such as Disney in LA, The United Nations in Rome, and as an Art Director for the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). However, it is the small projects that often capture the heart, and Angela has had the pleasure of helping numerous individuals launch their dream companies – clients with stringent budgets but lots of enthusiasm.
Angela is currently active in branding and peripherals for the nationally recognized wine and restaurant arena in Portland. It is a vibrant and competitive scene in which innovation and craft walk hand in hand. Her approach, and her results, are in-sync with this industry’s marriage of tradition and creativity. It gives her great pleasure to represent her clients’ products in a striking and memorable style.
Melissa Delzio is a freelance graphic designer and creative entrepreneur. She has over 5 years of experience producing print and web graphics for international and local consumer brands alike. Professionally, Melissa strives to evolve the greater creative community she is a part of. She actively volunteers to strengthen the local Portland design scene, and works to promote a secondary goal, which is to create experiences in which the general public is exposed to and made more aware of design thinking.
With that intention in mind, she initiated and lead a team that brought Cut & Paste, the international digital design tournament, to Portland in 2007. Through the team’s efforts, over 700 people turned out to watch chosen local designers battle in this unique design tournament. In 2008, Melissa founded a book project that promotes design and storytelling on the topic of Portland. OUR PORTLAND STORY is a project that sought submissions of short stories from average Portlanders describing one thing they love about Portland, and paired those stories with different local designers who graphically bring the tale to life on the page. Altogether, the book will create a cross-section of community views and values told through personal stories and graphics. Our Portland Story hopes to have a published book by 2010.
Melissa Delzio graduated from Northern Arizona University with her BFA degree in Visual Communications. She has been involved in AIGA to some capacity since her college years, and is thrilled to now be the Volunteer Chair for AIGA Portland. She is dedicated to helping to get more designers involved in this historic and inspirational organization.
Heather is a spirited interactive professional with nearly a decade’s worth of experience delivering high-quality client solutions. She has worked in both start-up, corporate and agency environments servicing both b-to-b and b-to-c clients. A business-minded, strategic thinker, Heather skillfully merges client and audience goals and marketing best practices to develop effective and dynamic digital marketing and user experience solutions for her clients. She is a proven leader, with a demonstrated ability for managing people and processes, as well as establishing solid cross-departmental and client relationships.
"I am an advocate of being the change you want to see. My dedication to AIGA is born out of a sincere and passionate belief in the importance of design. In support of this belief, I strive to educate the larger business community about design and provide valuable education and mentorship opportunities to the design community."
A graphic designer with over 20 years of experience, Lisa began working on interactive CDs in the early 90s and websites in 1995. Currently, she is a Principal of Yulan Studio, a marketing communications firm specializing in web, interactive and print. She began her career as a freelance graphic designer after earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in design from the Kansas City Art Insitute. Her next steps were as senior designer for a design studio, followed by a multimedia programming position, a stint as corporate art director for a Kansas City architecture/engineering firm, and ultimately, as co- founder of her own firm in 1999. Lisa has received a variety of awards throughout her career for the design of publications, advertising, interactive CDs and websites. As Sustainability Chair, Lisa is committed to promoting sustainable design practices within the design industry.
Dave has been a web designer almost as long as there has been a consumer Internet, starting with his first web site in 1997. With experience in such diverse fields as consumer electronics, entertainment, tourism, agriculture and manufacturing, Dave refers to himself as a “method designer,” providing top-notch creative ideas by getting to know a client’s business first. As Design Director at Pop Art, Dave has worked actively on the Freightliner Trucks and Leatherman Tool Group accounts. Dave earned a B.A. in Art and Journalism from the University of Iowa. As the Communication Chair for AIGA, Dave is trying to give a new voice to this historic design organization by utilizing new communications vehicles from e-mail to RSS.
Nicole received her BA in Art from Idaho State University in 1999 and her BS in Graphic Design from The Art Institute of Portland in 2003. She spent the next four years at Ellington Leather working her way up to Accessory Designer and Lead Graphic Designer, while branching out with a variety of freelance gigs. Currently at Pacific Northwest College of Art, she's well-versed in generating creative and sustainable solutions to benefit the students, the faculty and staff, and the College. In her free time, she stays entertained with rock concerts, a 1927 fixer home and two frisky pups. Nicole is excited to be a voice for students on the board, and to help connect them with the variety of opportunities AIGA can provide.
Joaquin comes to the AIGA Sponsorship Chair position with over 10 years of experience in the internet field. A small business owner for the past 6 years, he has worked as a web designer, programmer and manager which has given him a breadth of experience he brings to AIGA, as both the custodian and advocate for the AIGA web properties. He has worked with industry leaders such as Verizon Wireless, 76 Lubricants, 20th Century Fox Studios, American Suzuki Motors as well as numerous internet start ups. Joaquin joined AIGA Portland with the desire to support the design happening in Portland (and AIGA nationally), using the latest technologies possible. He is still as passionate about the internet and the related technologies and services (Facebook, twitter, etc) as ever and he hopes to bring that enthusiasm to the rest of the chapter.
AIGA Username
metaltoad
Tiffany is a graphic designer with Aquent in Portland. She formerly worked as a graphic artist at WHPacific and Montana State University, where she was also the Senior Associate for the Montana State University Leadership Institute. She has earned many awards and honors, including being inducted into the Mortar Board National College Senior Honor Society in 2005 and serving as their Vice President from 2005-2006. Since moving to Portland, she has been active with the Portland AIGA chapter serving as the Career Tools Event Chair. Tiffany earned a BFA in Graphic Design from Montana State University’s College of Arts & Architecture. As membership chair, Tiffany works to bring people together to celebrate and promote the importance of design.
