IMAGINARY UNIT

Sébastien Derenoncourt

“Design Thinking” guided, creative solutions driven, UX, IxD, Visual, Brand & Product Director & Educator with a 25-year career spearheading and overseeing the creative and strategic direction of influential, award-winning global interactive properties, eCommerce businesses, online publishing concerns, Mobile & Social products and advertising strategies.

• Educator and thinker, engaged in expanding
  and developing the creative potential of design
  & User experience teams. Using up to date design methodologies such as “evidence based design” and other creative team processes
  to reach the apex of project success by conclusively combining business goals, marketing benchmarks and real user needs.
• Progressive expertise in multidisciplinary interactive roles, including large-scale web and user experience design initiatives, branding, marketing, eCommerce, print design & production, animation, video and photography

• Expertise leading all stages of software development, systems implementation, and integration initiatives, from requirements definition and needs gathering to overseeing concepting and design, development, implementation, and support.
• Solid understanding of numerous business and development arenas, enabling direct and precise coordination with cross-functional departments as well as executive management.
• An astute and critical mind for creative leadership, with respected team leadership skills and an award-winning design sensibility.
• Experience in a wide range of environments from start-up to global agencies, with a tendency to thrive and innovate in dynamic, fast-paced environments.

2015-present Independent Creative Consultant Various Clients,
Greater Philadelphia Area.
Art Direction/Interactive Design/Graphic Design/User Experience

• 2018-2019 UX/IxD Consultant
  Penn Medicine Center for Digital Health, Philadelphia, PA
  MOHS Department of Dermatology, skin cancer monitoring project
• 2016-2022  Brand Consultant
  WhiskeyTit Publishing, Hancock VT
  Creating, designing and systematizing independent publishers corporate identity system, and branding direction; estabishing future product direction, creating marketing material guidelines, and systematizing tone and visual language of the company
• 2019-2024  Art Director
  WhiskeyTit Publishing, Hancock VT
  Creating, designing and producing a number of book covers for this independent publisher
• 2023  Brand Consultant
  DVMS Veterinary Mobile Surgery, 
  Creating, designing and producing a corporate identity for this small mobile veterinary startup

2013-2014 Senior Creative Consultant 
Electronic Ink,
Philadelphia, PA
User Experience/Usability Consulting/Business Process Engineering/Information Design/Data Visualization/Art Direction/Graphic Design

Art Director 
Rosetta,
Princeton, NJ
Art Direction/Interactive Design

Art Director
NBCSports,
Philadelphia, Pa
Art Direction/Interactive Design/Graphic Design

Senior Designer 
GreeneTweed,
Landsdale, Pa 
Interactive Design/Graphic Design

Associate Creative Director 
Boombox NYC,
New York, Ny 
Advertising & Marketing Creative Direction

Art Director / Senior Designer 
Barnes & Noble Online,
New York, Ny 
Art Direction/Interactive Design/Graphic Design

Art Director / Senior Designer 
Nition,
New York, Ny
Art Direction/Interactive Design/Graphic Design

Creative Director/Principal 
SD/SMALLD,
New York, NY
Executive & Creative management of small Interactive Design Agency

Independent Creative Consultant
Various Clients,
New York, Ny
User Experience/Usability Consulting/Art Direction/ Interactive Design/Graphic Design

Art Director / Senior Designer 
Community Connect Inc,
New York, Ny 
User Experience/Art Direction/Graphic Design

Independent Creative Consultant
Various Clients,
New York, Ny
Motion Graphics/Video Editing/Video & Film Production/Art Direction/ Interactive Design/Graphic Design

Senior Designer
FUNNY GARBAGE,
New York, NY
User Experience/Interactive Design/Graphic Design

Senior Designer 
HOMEARTS/WOMEN.COM NETWORKS,
New York, NY
User Experience/Interactive Design/Graphic Design

Senior Designer
HEARST PUBLISHING, New York, NY
User Experience/Interactive Design/Graphic Design

Senior Designer
MCCANN ERICKSON INTERACTIVE,
New York, NY
User Experience/Interactive Design/Graphic Design

2022 – ongoing Adjunct Professor 
University of Pennsylvania: School of Design, Philadelphia, PA

• Foundations for Art, Design, and Digital Culture
• Design21: Design After the Digital2021- 2022 Adjunct Professor Moore College of Art and Design Philadelphia, PA
• Art, Life, Work: Professional Practice MFA Foundations

2019- 2023 Lecturer 
University of Delaware, Newark, DE

• Core Moving Images: Intro to Video Art
• Core Painting: Intro to painting

2014-2019 Lecturer
University of Pennsylvania: School of Design, Philadelphia, PA

• Interfacing Culture: Designing for Mobile, Web and Public Media
• Art of the Web: Interactive Concepts for Art & Design
• Foundations for Art, Design, and Digital Culture • Intro to film/Video production & post
• Video 1: Introduction to video

2015-2016 Continuing Studies Instructor 
University of The Arts, Philadelphia, PA

• Foundations for Web Design & Development
• Designing Effective Web Pages

Education

Undergraduate Fine Arts

• The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Chicago, IL
  Painting, Photography, Art and Technology (New Media/Video/Sound/Performance)

2019-2022 Masters Fine Arts 
University of Delaware Newark, DE

• Interactive, Video & Sound Installation

RECOGNITIONS:

• 2019-2020 & 2020-2021 Dean’s Graduate Scholar Awards
• 2021-2022 Think Thank EcoMaterialism Graduate Fellow. University of Delaware Centre for Material Culture Studies
• 2021 UD College of Arts & Sciences Research Travel Grant: Project “Finding Clotilda”

CERTIFICATIONS & ACCREDITATIONS:

• 2020-2022 Delaware Master Naturalist Certification University of Delaware Cooperative Extension

Higher Education

• Graphic Design methods, techniques, process & theory
• User Experience methods, ideas, process & theory
• Time & New Media Arts ideas, concepts & theory
• Video & Audio Production & Post methods, processes, techniques
• Intro to Photography methods and techniques

UX, RESEARCH, CONSULTING

• UX,IxD,UI (User Experience, Interaction Design, User Interface Design)
• UX & IxD User Research & Analysis
• Participatory Design Workshops
• Product & Service Usability & Heuristic Reviews
• Corporate Identity Development
• Viral & Social Media Advertising strategy

DESIGN & CREATIVE

• Graphic Design & Typography
• Video, Animation & Motion Graphics
• Digital Compositing & Illustration
• Digital & Film Photography
• Video pre, post & production
• Audio production and post

TECHNICAL ABILITIES

• Platforms: MacOs, Windows, Linux, Unix
• Ux/Ixd/UI/Graphic Design: Sketch App, Invision, Justinmind, Omnigraffle, Visio, Axure, Adobe Creative Suite
• Photography: Photoshop, Lightroom, Capture one pro, medium/large format analogue
• Video: Premiere, After Effects, Final Cut Pro,Motion, Davinci Resolve, Avid Media Composer, Various Analogue systems
• Animation: Cinema 4D, Adobe Animate (Flash), Painter, Blender
• Dev: Web stack (HTML/CSS/Javascript/php), Processing, Python, Arduino
• Audio: Logic Pro, Ableton Live, Audition, Various Analogue systems
• Professional Video and Audio Production equipment: Sony, Canon, Panasonic, JVC, Black Magic Design; Zoom, Tascam, Sennheiser, Rode, Audio Technica, etc.
• Lighting support/gaffer: Arri, Bogen, Lowell, etc

BUSINESS CONSULTING

• Product Development Strategy
• Brand Research & Development
• Creative Management
• Business Process Modelling & Engineering
• Marketing Strategy & Development
• E-Commerce Site Strategy & Design
• B2B & B2C mobile product, strategy, Planning & Design
• Online Publishing Strategy, Planning & Deployment

LANGUAGES

• English: 85%
• French: 75%
• Spanish: 35%