I’m a hands-on Creative Director, Art Director, Illustrator and Maker with over twenty years of professional experience and a track record for creating thumb-stopping social creative and developing high-performing teams. So yes… I’ve been around the block a few times; and starting my career post-grad in a small town and exhausting all the creative roles there meant that I learned a lot—but the job titles I had never matched what I did. I led all Creative for Dippin’ Dots, Inc. for over five years—and helped develop “Minion Madness Cookie Dough” as a co-branded tie-in with Illumination Entertainment when the first “Despicable Me” came out—but my title there was only ever “Designer.” I’ve driven initiatives for scalable digital creative solutions in addition to leading custom social content and video productions that resulted in double-digit sales increases. My career began in print design and gave me a strong grounding in production specs and “doing work right the first time” to avoid costly reprints. I’ve championed the power of social and new media; leading the launch of Facebook for Dippin’ Dots, Inc. (2007) and TikTok for Arby’s (2018) and The Home Depot (2022). I empower and challenge my teams to think strategically—not just creatively—as we work to elevate the brands we touch and make content that resonates with our audiences. I enjoy passing along what I’ve learned and teach new shooting, editing and software techniques to my teams on a regular basis to help everyone develop new skills. I’ve worked freelance, long-term contract, in-house and agency-side as a single contributor on a larger Marketing team as well as a Creative team leader and mentor—hence the number of titles that don’t accurately reflect the job I was hired to do. I identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and proudly bring my whole self to every role. I’ve won awards for my work, including a Cannes Silver Lion and a Shorty Award for Art Direction; but the one that means the most to me is the HOW Design award for the wedding invitations I created for my husband and me in 2014.
Semplice
Header Graphic - The Home Depot - Organic DEI Content - 1920x540

Organic DEI Content

Trade School work for The Home Depot | 2023-2024
The Home Depot - AAPI 2023 - Small Acts of Doing by Lindsey Cirmotich

Lindsey's original "Small Acts of Doing" sketch that inspired all of the other Associate graphics

I've had the privilege of working with Lindsey Cirmotich on several projects including The Home Depot's TikTok channel launch and the PPG campaign where she oversaw everything for Glidden. She is an amazing illustrator in addition to being one of the most talented hybrid Creatives I know.

We were also both on Trade School's D&I Council, so we became "the team" who got tapped for all-things-DEI-content for The Home Depot's Organic Social team beginning in 2023.

Starting with a sketch Lindsey did for Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month in 2023, we've been slowly introducing batches of The Home Depot Associates illustrated for each heritage month along with a graphics package of corresponding color bars and frames that can be used on social media.

We've worked very closely with both Trade School's / Guided by Good's and The Home Depot's DEI teams to make sure the Associates we show and the activities they are doing are celebratory of a cultural heritage and not demeaning or degrading in any way.

The Team

Scott Hunt - Creative Director, Paper Craft Artist, Photographer

Lindsey Cirmotich - Art Director, Illustrator
The Home Depot - AAPI 2023 - Associate Version

Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2023

The one that started it all...

In 2022, Lindsey and Jennifer Barclay came up with the idea of using the national flowers from every Asian / Pacific Island country as a nod to The Home Depot's Garden Center, one of the most-photographed spots in any The Home Depot store. It was colorful and celebratory and made sense for The Home Depot to do something like celebrating culture through gardening.

In 2023, we were asked how to kick that up another notch; and I suggested we do a similar execution of national flowers, but with cut paper.

More specifically: paint swatches.

Lindsey did a sketch of the overall idea, and I had a chance to pull out my Maker skills to execute it.

Everything was hand-cut from Behr and PPG paint swatches except for the background; that was a single sheet of peach-colored paper from Sam Flax. I shot two different versions: one with the Associates included and one with just the florals in case anyone felt the Associates were too "cute."

The paper photographed much more pink than peach, so I had to do a small amount of color adjusting on the background for the final.

NOTE: I do not recommend using paint swatches for finely-detailed paper craft unless you have stock in X-Acto. I went through almost two dozen blades on this project alone.
The Home Depot - AAPI 2023 - BTS #7
The Home Depot - AAPI 2023 - BTS #8
The Home Depot - AAPI 2023 - BTS #2
The Home Depot - AAPI 2023 - BTS #4
The Home Depot - AAPI 2023 - BTS #6
The Home Depot - AAPI 2023 - Floral Version

Pride 2023 In-Feed Video

We were asked to execute two different pieces for Pride Month in 2023; a 1:1 in-feed video unit and a graphics package that could be used across social and internal communications that included a 1:1 in-feed static post.

The in-feed video was executed mimicking the viral trend of paint-pouring / dripping. We added a Paint Stirrer to get a little branding into the video.

I made a HUGE mess all over my desk on attempt #1... and the paint stick I used was... gross... by the end of the pull.

The final video was a combination of the actual paint-pulling video I shot and some clean-up animation done in After Effects where I also added the "Happy Pride Month" graphic.
The Home Depot - Pride 2023 - Paint BTS
The Home Depot - Pride 2023 - Associate Post 1x1
The Home Depot - Pride 2023 - Associates
The Home Depot - Pride 2023 - Graphics Package GIF

Pride 2023 In-Feed Static Post & Graphics Package

Turns out the Associates Lindsey illustrated for Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month were a hit... so we were asked to do more of them.

Using the theme of "Building Community with Pride," Lindsey had this set of Associates working to assemble the words, "HAPPY PRIDE MONTH."

She then took the colored pattern from each of the letters and created frames and other graphic elements that could be layered on top of photos with the individual Associates to create Organic social content throughout the month.

I should point out that at the time I had cyan-colored hair, so I take it as a huge compliment that Lindsey found a way to get me into the set.
The Home Depot - Hispanic Heritage Month 2024 - Associates

Hispanic Heritage Month 2023

Lindsey did SO MUCH RESEARCH guided by Trade School's Communications Strategy team to make sure there is a good cross-section of every group we were asked to make Associate graphics for.

She studied the skin tones, hair styles, body types, jewelry—you name it. 

This was also the first set to include an autistic Associate - he's the one wearing noise-cancelling headphones at work to aid with sensory overload.

This month's graphics package again included a set of Associate illustrations and frames / color bars corresponding with the heritage month's core colors.
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Wanna find me elsewhere?

Take a look at my cut paper artwork that has moved its way over to Instagram, or connect with me on LinkedIn.
Instagram
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LinkedIn
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