Nice to meet you!
I’m Jake Fout, a veteran and award-winning designer, art and creative director. I’ve been working professionally for over 18 years with years of experience in both corporate and agency worlds.
I take a human-centered and strategic approach to finding the best solutions for design and content.
Through digital, print, video and experiences, my goal is to create assets that are not only on-brand and visually engaging, but clearly and effectively communicate a message.
Please take a few minutes to click through my portfolio so you can get a better idea of my capabilities. I’m always open to discuss my thought process behind each piece of content I’m sharing here.
In my day-to-day, I live in Fayetteville, Arkansas with my husband and our two sweet dogs, Bayou and Nola. My spare time is filled with collecting vintage or rare items like old branding, still and film cameras, movie memorabilia (especially Jaws!) I also love hosting and planning parties, cooking, documentaries, working in my gardens and swimming as often as possible.
I love to travel and do so as often as I can. In June of 2022, my husband and I spent nearly a month traveling across Greece and Turkey. In July of 2023, we’ll be traveling to coastal Croatia.
RESUME
Resume can be downloaded by clicking here.
WORK EXPERIENCE
Packaging Design Manager | Jupiter Prestige Group - Onsite at Walmart | Bentonville, AR | September 2013 - Present
Develop brand identity and package design for ten Walmart general merchandise private label brands. Responsibilities include conceptual design, package design, photography art direction, artwork production, building and maintaining style guides, photography guides and mock-up guides. Work directly with product development and brand teams, copy managers and key suppliers to create and maintain brands and brand identities. Work directly with photo studios and stylists to capture compelling and appropriate product photography for packaging. Acted as senior designer on four brand refresh projects.
Design Manager | MANA | Fayetteville, AR | September 2011 – September 2013
Creative direction and copy writing for all MANA’s physician and clinical communication campaigns. Responsibilities included developing and designing advertising, collateral pieces, direct mail, internal communications and identity materials. Provided direction for photographers, videographers and interactive designers. Assisted with planning, public relations, advertising, graphic design and web development. Managed social media content throughout Facebook, Twitter and YouTube platforms. Produced, filmed and edited “MANA HealthyTV” physician educational videos. Coordinated, wrote and designed monthly internal newsletter, MANAnotes. Assisted with marketing of MANA Charitable Fund, the giving arm of MANA.
Freelance Designer | Fayetteville, AR | 2005 – Present
Work on a wide variety ofprojects, including magazine ads, posters, direct mail, logos/branding, website design, event branding and social media. Work with photographers, web designers and videographers to create individual projects with great design aesthetics. Manage and collaborate on projects from concept to completion.
Instructor | New Design School | Fayetteville, AR | August 2012 – May 2013
Instructed the Collaboration Studio and Design Studio classes on how to work together to create design solutions for a real client. Skills for working in a team were honed through application by solving design problems that would require both team and individual solutions for collateral pieces in a chosen design campaign. Students learned about design briefs, target audiences and concepts. They gained basics for design fundamentals in the areas of materials, layout, typography, color, photography and illustration. Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat were used to help the students build a foundation for these design tools.
Marketing Director | The Jones Trust | Springdale, AR | February 2009 – September 2011
Designed and managed entire marketing plan, including collateral materials, website, social media and overall brand management. Determined and managed the marketing budget. Acted as liaison with media outlets to ensure proper messaging reaches the broader community. Oversaw planning and execution of special events. Worked within the community to build relationships with individuals and businesses that helped support the mission of The Jones Trust.
Art Director | The C3 Group, Inc. | Fayetteville, AR | June 2005 – August 2008
Developed creative campaigns for clients and their brands. Supervised and directed in-house design team of up to five members on all projects, from initial concept development to final production. Managed client relationships, ensuring client satisfaction at all levels of interaction. Managed creative budget, which included employee salaries, contract labor and vendor expenses. Developed organization, growth and strategic goal plans with Media Director for company creative staff. Provided on-site art direction for photography and video shoots. Performed routinely such creative duties as professional graphic design, production file preparation, file management and project management.
EDUCATION
Digital Media/Avid Film Editor and Avid Certification | Portland, OR | 2001 – 2002
University of Arkansas at Fort Smith | Fort Smith, AR | 1996 – 2000
University of Arkansas | Fayetteville, AR | 1995 – 1996
SKILLS
Adobe Creative Suite CC, Microsoft Office
HONORS
GD USA Magazine, American Package Design Awards “Best Of” Private Label Packaging | Published April 2015
Graduate, Fayetteville Leadership Class 26 | 2013
Chamberlain Scholarship Recipient, Association of Fundraising Professionals | 2010
Best of Show Addy Award, Electronic; Silver Addy Award, Print Campaign – Art Director | 2007
Best of Show Addy Award, Interactive – Art Director | 2005
Gold Addy Award, Print – Graphic Designer | 2003
References are available upon request.