I'm a graphic designer fully equipped with a beard.

I'm Michael Alder

Get to know me
About

What Am I About?

Not too much beard, not too little. Just enough to model a cool logo and captivate an audience.

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Brand Connoisseur and Graphic Designer from Seattle, WA

If you can’t judge a book by its cover, then it’s not a very good cover design.

First impressions are everything. From the very words chosen for the headline, to the colors used for the typography—every visual element perceived by the viewer communicates a vital story.

Take my website, for instance. What can you infer of me when you first land on the top of my page? If I did my job right, you’ll know my full name instantly, as it’s the area of the page with the most contrast that draws your eye in. Secondarily, you’ll probably notice an earth-tone, inspired color scheme. Coupled with the hero image, you might say I like the outdoors. And, from the copy nestled above the headline, you could say I have a sense of humor (or at least attempt to have one).

My website is just a small example of how I approach design. I want to tell the target audience a story.

I’ve made telling stories through visual means my career. It takes more than words to convey a compelling story and—with the clients and companies I’ve supported over the years—I’ve helped convey countless messages to their audiences all over the world.

Be it mouth-watering infographics and illustrations drawn up in Illustrator, front-end UI concepts developed in XD and even hand-coded in your CMS of choice, or even—more recently—motion graphics storyboarded in Photoshop and assembled in After Effects to add that extra wow factor to your bigger budget campaigns. I’m here to collaborate with your team to present the most compelling story to your audience!

Family

Camping

Hiking

Carpentry

Retro Gaming

Where I've Been

My Experience

I've been to a lot of place and worked with a lot of people. It's been fun so far!

  • Graphic Design
  • Video / Animation
  • Marketing / Research
2020 – Present

V2Works

Hands down, the most exciting place I've worked so far in my career. Not only have I been able to use just about every skill I've acquired over the years, I've enhanced those existing skills and applied them to the development of new ones. What else could anyone ask for? Creative briefs, brainstorm sessions, storyboards, drafts, development, refinement. In other words, no stone left un-turned until the project was perfect. The clients we have LOVE the work we put out and I thank my creative director for that. I also thank the CEO for putting my skills to the test and learned animation in After Effects in just a few days. A tough hurdle, but a hurdle overcome. This team has its stuff together and I'm growing as a designer and a person because of it.

  • Graphic Design
  • UX / UI
  • Marketing / Research
2015 – 2019

Allyis

Allyis is a certified Microsoft vendor that works exclusively in communications for certain departments at Microsoft. The team I was a part of was the Bing Ads Marketing team (now the Microsoft Advertising team), which, you guessed it, created communications and sales materials for the Bing search engine! Bing re-branded themselves TWICE during my time at Allyis and every piece of collateral that was currently in use needed to be updated on top of all new pieces constantly coming through the pipeline. While I was there, I was able to reconstruct the outdated emails that Bing was using from wide, un-responsive, virtually un-readable content to sleek, minimal, responsive content that impressed the team at Microsoft. Since nearly al the materials we created fro Bing were digital materials, I pitched the idea to break out of the 8.5x11 PDF constraints, especially on infographics to allow for a taller, scrollable format that was easily digestible and pleasing to look at.

  • Graphic Design
  • UX / UI
2014 – 2015

Puget Sound Energy

PSE was a really interesting place to work since most wouldn't think an energy company would have their own dedicated brand and communications department. Don't they just need to send out the bill? That's what I thought when I first came aboard and quickly learned that there's a whole network of customer service in various departments that send out materials and information to people all over Washington State. It was neat! I got a chance to sit in on meetings each week to figure out what kinds of messaging was going to be going out to customers and even how the weather was going to effect the lines of power going out to all the homes in the service area. That's when I also learned about the Outage Map, an app that customers can use when their power goes out and even sends out messages if power is likely to go out due to weather conditions and I had the opportunity to reconstruct it! The team there was great and I'm grateful for the experience!

  • Graphic Design
  • UX / UI
  • Marketing / Research
2012 – 2014

AdsUpNow

AdsUpNow (now Conversion Logix) was my first professional job outside of college. Even though the job was exceedingly demanding, I adapted quickly to the needs of the company and its many clients. I was heavily exposed to the online marketing world creating online ads, email campaigns and landing pages for a wide range of brands primarily from the auto and hospitality industries. I had the opportunity to rebrand the company and help expand its reach with my knowledge of the web. It was a great foot in the door early in my career!

TESTIMONIALS

I got skills

My Work

Did someone ask for a designer?

Contact

Contact

If my beard has enticed you, drop me a line and I'll be in touch!

Email

I’m easily reached and quick to respond via email

michael@thealderfiles.com

Phone

If you absolutely have to hear my beautiful voice by phone

425.582.3936

Location

I live in secret

Greater Seattle Area

Get in Touch




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