Hello, Respectfully, Dax J. Castro

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1 Hello, My name is Dax Castro and I am a web and graphic designer with over 13 years experience. I have been using the Adobe Creative Suite for many years. In fact, I have been using Photoshop since it version 4.0 and consider myself an expert user. I currently own a licensed version of CS5 Master Suite and I am a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals and am very versed in all aspects of web design, photo editing and development using Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash and have done some video editing in Premiere. I used Dreamweaver primarily and design sites using CSS and html. I do have some XHTML experience and have installed many Javascript and PHP applications. I am well versed in Wordpress and have created several custom themes for clients. I can work with Flash Actionscript 2.0 and have developed several software mockups through flash animations that demonstrate how to use their software. I have a strong print background and have designed marketing pieces for large national and small local campaigns. I understand 4-color printing and what it takes to produce a print-ready piece that will meet all standards for production. I have worked closely with clients one-onone to develop their ideas into marketing pieces that put the client s best foot forward while meeting their marketing goals. I am also skilled in SEO and have been providing optimization for my clients for over 8 years. I previously worked as an art director for an advertising agency where I provided SEO for a wide variety of law firms and was responsible for tracking and maintaining their campaigns. I am a team player and really like to work collaboratively and never get my feelings hurt when my designs are criticized. It just means I didn t ask enough questions going into it to get a clear picture of what the client wanted. I am very personable. I am organized and am used to fast pace production. I know I could be a valuable asset to your company and would love the opportunity to sit down with you and see if we are a good match. I have a web portfolio online at and I and I also have a small flash animation highlighting my experience which can be viewed at I can be reached anytime at if you should have any questions or would like to schedule an interview. Thank you very much for your time. Respectfully, DC Dax J. Castro

2 Work Experience Proposal Writer/Coordinator - KOO Construction, Inc., West Sacramento January 2010 to August $50,000/yr KOO Construction was a construction management firm with three offices nationwide. As a proposal writer and coordinator, my duties included creating marketing proposals, presentations, the company website and graphics for multiple pursuits from beginning to end. At times my workload included as many as 14 pursuits at one time. My creative design and copy writing included taking existing generic copy and modifying it to be specific to the scope of work for a particular pursuit. Graphics Specialist II - Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., Sacramento, California February 2007 to October $72,000/yr As Senior Marketing Coordinator my duties were, but not limited to, proposal strategy meetings, assisting in development of win-plans with the proposal team, sub-consultant coordination, and document preparation using Adobe Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator. I was a regional trainer for Adobe Indesign and was also the Sacramento Web Captain responsible for designing and maintaining our Sharepoint Intranet site. In addition, I was responsible for creating marketing materials for our office and managing the day-to-day marketing requested from each department. I was required to travel on occasion to help with marketing efforts from other offices. Art Director - EMC Advertising, Roseville, California June 2006 to February $60,000/yr As Art Director, my position required strict attention to detail and proofing. A clear focus on color, layout and balance was important to our clients and therefore was at the forefront of my daily tasks. In my department, I was responsible for managing projects and collaborating with the other graphic designers, tracking projects and dealing with over 40 law firms nationwide in developing their creative marketing pieces to include: business cards, yellow page advertisements, websites, video translation for web, search engine optimization campaigns and direct mail marketing pieces. Senior Graphic Designer - Sign Technology, West Sacramento, California August 2000 to June $40,000/yr My responsibilities included training junior design staff, delegating and overseeing their projects, interacting with clients and sales staff to produce artwork for brochures, large format prints for displays, handout literature and various media for several of the nation s top home builders. Additionally, I created sales office layouts (interior design) concepts using 3D imagery as well as graphic proposals of custom-designed furniture displays for sales offices for model home tracks for the top five new home building companies. In creating these items, I took concepts and created designs based on color, market, demographic and marketing purpose to be output by a third party printer, or in-house large format color plotters or color laser printers. DC Senior Graphic Designer - Capital Printing, Sacramento, California December 1998 to August $35,000/yr I was solely responsible for producing all of the newsletters, business flyers, advertisement and related print material for our customers. Attention to line screen, artwork density, color trapping, quality and editing customer-generated files were key in producing the proper artwork for the printing side of the company.

3 Training, Skills & Capabilities Certificate Training 8 hours - Photoshop Mastery - Sacramento, CA 6 hours - The Power of Persuasive Proposals - San Francisco, CA 8 hours - The Pursuit to Win Strategies - Forth Worth, TX 24 hours - Relationship Based Sales Training - Sacramento, CA 8 hours - Defensive Driving, Sacramento, CA Software Skills Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Advanced Level Adobe Indesign CS5 - Advanced Level Adobe Illustrator CS5 - Advanced Level Adobe Flash CS5 - Advanced Level Dreamweaver CS5- Advanced Level Adobe Premiere - Intermediate Level MS Office Suite - Advanced Level Additional advanced skills in various 3D, Web Design, and Search Engine Optimization Software Military Experience Basic Training - Fort Dix, NJ Advanced Individual Training - Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD Active Duty Dong Du Chon, South Korea Honorable Discharge 1992 Associations National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) Society for Professional Marketing Services (SMPS) Hobbies Cub Scouts - Cubmaster Boy Scouts Assistant Scoutmaster DC

4 Experience Matrix Duties & Responsibilities KOO Construction Jacobs Engineering EMC Advertising Sign Technology Capitol Printing Employee Management P P P P n/a Multiple Projects P P P P P Tight Deadlines P P P P P Vendor Coordination P P P P P Client Meetings P P P P P Concept Development P P P P P Marketing Strategy P P P P n/a Copy writing P P P P P Editing/Proofing P P P P P Trade Show Coordination P P P P n/a Proposal Coordination P P P P n/a Logo Design/Branding P P P P P Print Design P P P P P Web Design P P P P P Large Format Printing P P n/a P P Software Skill Set Indesign P P P P P Photoshop P P P P P Dreamweaver P P P P n/a Illustrator P P P P P Flash P P P P n/a Corel Draw P P P P P MS Office Suite P P P P P Sketchup P P P P n/a HTML/CSS P P P P n/a PHP/JS P P P P n/a *n/a Not appicable to work duties

5 5757 Plaza Drive, Suite 100 Cypress, California USA Fax January 29, 2009 Subject: Dax Castro s Performance at Jacobs To Whom It May Concern: I worked with Dax Castro for several months in the summer and fall of 2008 following the acquisition of Carter & Burgess by Jacobs. Dax was originally with Carter & Burgess in Sacramento, where he worked as a graphic designer and proposal coordinator. During our time working together, I found Dax to be conscientious, hard working, and supremely talented. He worked collaboratively with his partners in outside sales and operations to create professional, well-written proposals that emphasized a strong understanding of client needs and the value our team could add to those clients programs. In light of the current market conditions, I recognize there s reluctance, if not an outright inability, to bring unproven or unknown staff on board. However, in my opinion, Dax would make an excellent addition to any firm or agency. He s a quick learner, exhibits great listening skills, and is a supremely talented graphic designer. Dax also embodies a great deal of personal integrity and character; when he promises to do something, you can be certain he will follow through. Unfortunately Dax s position with Jacobs was eliminated last fall. The decision was purely an economic one and had nothing to do with Dax s character or job performance. I encourage you, as a prospective employer, to give Dax an opportunity with your company or organization. You ll find he s not only a consummate professional, he s also a gem of a person. I d be pleased to answer any questions you may have. Kind regards, Jeff Crawford, Regional Inside Sales Manager Jacobs Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.

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