If you are reading this website, then you might be interested in my background. So…YAY!
I’m Greg Cooper. I’ve been a Designer / Creative for 20+ years, working in Brand, Marketing, Content, and making things look good since the 90s. I love branding, creative and storytelling. I am looking to join a like-minded team to create killer projects that they are proud of. I want to share my skill set with my peers and help train team members to be the best designers they can be.
I’ve been a “creative” forever, so I know the production side inside and out: collaborating on deadlines, storyboarding the creative, executing, analyzing, and just everything else involved in telling a great story.
So, here’s mine…
I was born in San Francisco and lived all over the Bay Area Peninsula. I consider my hometown Pacifica, CA, where my Mom was a Nurse and my Dad a Fireman. So, I had a safe and well-protected childhood.
Went to Mills High School. Excelled in drawing comics on the back of my math tests rather than the actual testing.
Even then, I knew:
That math & science were, unfortunately, not in my future. BUT ART WAS!
I made a comic book as a portfolio piece and was awarded a Full Summer Scholarship to the Academy of Art in 1996. Then, stupidly, I dropped out in 1997 to start a band.
I then moved to beautiful Santa Cruz and started a garage animation studio in 1998 with some friends. Our clients included Motorola, Intel, Fisher Price & Leo Burnett. We then sold that studio in 2000.
Takeaways: This is where I got my hands-on branding skills in corporate environments. Also, don’t drop out of school for music… unless the band is really good. 😉
I became a freelance designer in Santa Cruz, CA, for about 7 years. Worked in everything from the Newspaper Industry to Advertising and Game Design with large corporate projects to small businesses. I also spent a couple of years building interactive instructional projects for Palm Inc. I still have a number of branding projects and signage in downtown Santa Cruz and some of those old Palm pilots.
Takeaways: Training myself in the fast-paced way of freelancing, pitching new clients, and managing multiple deadlines.
As a Senior Designer with the Creative Marketing Team. We owned the eBay homepage and were the in-house design team for Merchandising, Brand, and Marketing. I learned that the smallest creative project has a massive impact, with tens of thousands of views. So, don’t f*ck it up. Also, this was my first corporate rebrand project, and I loved working on it. I learned so much working for a major brand like eBay.
I met my wife Diana, and I moved back to Pacifica, CA. Actually, we say “re-met” because we dated back in the early 1990s.
But that’s another story to chat about. We currently live in beautiful Sonoma County and bought a house during the pandemic. (Which is another story to tell.) This is such a breathtaking area, and we’re enjoying exploring everything here. But, I digress…
Blinkx (RhythmOne) from 2009 to 2014—This fast-paced video advertising company experienced crazy growth through acquisitions and building its video platform. I was the Design lead for the company and its family of brands.
Takeaways: I learned my project management skills by juggling multiple brands in a fast-paced culture.
From 2015 to 2019, I worked for a number of B2B, Advertising, Coaching Talent, Security, and Networking in the Bay Area in various design lead roles with Smaato, Aryaka & Everwise.
I started a live-streaming music show based in SF called Transmissions-LIVE. With a small crew, we filmed interviews and concert performances at music clubs throughout the area. I interviewed Grammy-winning and nominated acts such as The Melvins, Reverend Horton Heat, Cracker, and Camper Van Beethoven and self-produced 14 episodes of video content before it was cool. Then Covid happened, and unfortunately, I had to shut “T-LIVE” down.
I learned my video chops by creating this show from the ground floor. I also got really good at landing these great artists, which was pretty shocking for being so new at this. I coordinated, scheduled, pitched, interviewed, and filmed all of this at the same time. I also learned that as I was getting bigger, I ran into bigger roadblocks and red tape in the music industry.
With a small design crew supporting a 45-person Marketing team, one full and one ”light” rebrand during my time there. I owned (and built) the Demandbase ABM Innovation Summit 2019 (Known as AIS). This was a huge 3-day event for the company, and I did all the customer-facing signage, creatives, stage layout, and so much more. A huge project that was unfortunately canceled due to Covid.
Takeaways: Learning how to Market to Marketers. A no-bullsh*t take on how to make bold creative decisions without being too obvious. Also. Covid.
I hope to continue that journey and be a member of your team. With my proven track record leading innovative and successful projects for companies. I am a creative problem-solver passionate about pushing boundaries at the intersection of marketing, technology, and content. I love working with kick-butt creatives on projects we’re proud to build together.
I hope you find my work and background a fit.
Thank you for your time!
Greg Cooper
415 602 3091
Portfolio: gregscottcooper.myportfolio.com
www.ideacircus.com
linkedin.com/in/thegerg
Adobe Creative Suite
Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign
After Effects, Final Cut & Premiere
Figma
Canva
Microsoft Office
Powerpoint & Google Slides
ProTools, Audition & Audio Editing
WordPress & CMS Platforms
Mailchimp & HubSpot
Google Suite
Google Analytics
Asana / Jira / Monday
Social & Ad Platforms
HTML, CSS & Basic Front End Coding
Advertising: Digital, Display & Print
Email Design
Landing Pages
SEO
Google Analytics
Campaign Strategy
20+ Years in Design
Brand & Identity Design
Website Design
Email Design
Presentations Social & Content Creation
Illustration & Cartooning
Photography
Event Booth Design
Creative Process
Design Systems
Creative Template Design
Asana
JIRA & Confluence
Monday
Creative Services Budgeting
Social & Content Creation
Copywriting
Infographics & Ebooks
Branded Storytelling
Live Streamed Events
Product Marketing Videos
Audio Recording Services
