ISMAEL AYALA
Senior Creative, Raleigh, NC
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Resume

The resume of Ismael Ayala. The web design portfolio of Ismael Ayala. Art Director in Austin, Texas with 12 years experience in marketing, web design, mobile design, user experience UX, and branding.

Here’s what I’ve been up to.

For over 10 years I have led teams in visual design, branding, and marketing strategy. I take pride in being a jack-of-all-trades with a keen eye for emerging design trends, a strong work ethic, and a collaborative spirit. Chances are I have done it—and if I haven’t, I’m going to figure out how.

I’ve worked on projects for…

Experience

Senior Visual Designer
IBM August 2020–April 2024
Oversaw new product launch marketing campaigns within Blue Studio. Lead art direction for creating websites, social media, motion graphics, and paid marketing. Collaborated with agencies to enforce brand compliance and accessibility. Member of the Illustration Guild, Generative AI Art Guild, and Figma Guild.

Art Director
Hero Digital May 2018–April 2020
Oversaw the launch of multiple large-scale B2B marketing campaigns for high profile clients in Fintech, Healthcare, Software, and Government spaces. Lead art direction to produce multi-channel emails, landing pages, banners, and videos. Created multiple design systems and branding guidelines. Regularly presented work to clients.

Senior Visual Designer
OLIVER Agency October 2016–December 2017
Oversaw the art direction and branding of the client’s website and dealer materials. Lead art direction to produce emails, landing pages, videos, trade shows, and swag. Increased the click-through rate for the social and paid advertising teams by up to 6%.

Visual Designer
CreditCards.com March 2015–July 2016
Oversaw the art direction of the company’s overall branding and website. Participated in UX prototyping, market research, and testing. Lead art direction to produce responsive web pages, emails, landing pages, and presentations.

Freelance Designer
Self-employed December 2010–January 2015
Worked with a small team tasked to maintain the company website. Focused on B2C campaigns, e-commerce seasonality, and promotional materials.

Education

Savannah College of Art and Design Savannah, GA
Bachelor of Fine Arts, May 2006
Major: Graphic Design
Summa Cum Laude

Skills

  • Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office Suite

  • Figma

  • Visual Design

  • Art Direction

  • Branding

  • Social Media Marketing

  • Print Design

  • Production Art

  • Video Editing

  • Motion Graphics

  • UX/UI Design

  • Generative AI

  • Illustration

  • Email Marketing

  • Paid Advertising/Web Banners

  • Landing Pages

  • Logos Design

  • Web Design

  • Marketing Strategy

  • B2B and B2C

  • Copywriting

  • Detail-Oriented

  • Strong Writing and Presentation Skills

Recommendations

“Ismael can easily work within the parameters of an existing brand to bring fresh perspectives on how to evolve their voice. Not only is Ismael talented (which, you know, is great to have), he's also incredibly reliable. You can trust that Ismael will give you more than what's expected, and you can bank on that he'll deliver his work on-time—every time. He's a total pleasure to work with from a personal perspective. I often benefitted many times from his willingness to work through challenges, listen to all perspectives, have purposeful discussions about it, and move forward with actionable plans. In other words, you can get stuff done with Ismael—and have a good time doing it.”

David Romero
Creative Director at Demand Frontier

“I had the privilege of working with Ismael for more than 2 years. In that time, I developed a deep respect for his talent and moreover, his thoughtful approach to doing great work. In addition to having deep creative chops, he is very easy to work with. He has a great work ethic and is super detail oriented. He works great under pressure and I've never seen him miss a deadline. On a personal note—I think he's a terrific guy and would love the opportunity to work with him again.”

Rob Solomon
Founder & Chief Strategist at Hero Digital

Ismael’s involvement in helping create the design ticket template at IBM was an integral part of making our new team process work. Additionally, he is always receptive to taking on new projects. Lastly, his communication style is great! Looking forward to see what other great things he does next!

Marialaura Garcia
Product Marketing Manager at Youtube

"In a nutshell, Ismael rocks! Besides being an expert designer, Ismael's work ethics are exceptional. He is highly respected and well liked by his colleagues for what he brings to the table—and that includes his great sense of humor."

Vandana Nayak
Product Management Leader at Dell.com

“Working with Ismael is fantastic. From day one he’s showed that he’s not afraid to work hard to make sure that the final design product you deliver is nothing short of amazing. He pushes back when needed but always goes above and beyond. I always appreciate his willingness to compromise to make sure the business objectives are accomplished without losing sight of design best practices and timelines. He’s a tier A team player and we're lucky to have had him on our team.”

Danielle Carlomagno Surliuga
Senior Manager, Growth Marketing at Silicon Valley Bank

"Ismael is a talented designer with endless creativity and a keen eye for detail. He is very execution focused and always hits his deadlines; seriously! Ismael works very fast and still delivers more than you were expecting, often in the very first version. He works extremely well under pressure, and in a deadline-driven environment. He takes great pride in his work and ownership of the assignment he is working on.”

Christian Watson
Global E-Commerce Product Management Director at Matterport

"Ismael was responsible for some of our biggest projects and site redesigns. He's passionate about his work, incredibly talented, plus he brings some much needed humor to the office environment! He was a pleasure to work with and would be an asset to any company."

Jessica Seymour-Marshall
Senior Account Director at Ziff Davis