Creative Administrator

Hello, my name is James Arthur.  I set this site up as way to keep track of my work and creative experience, and make it easy for those I might work with in the future to navigate my experience based on information they may be curious about.

I consider myself a "creative administrator".  In both areas I have well over a decade of experience.  On the creative side I'm versed in graphic design and music production.  On the administrative, I have years of experience each in project management, team supervision, human resources, AR/AP, billing and collections, marketing, social media, event coordination and more.

You can learn more about my general work history here, or check our my design or audio portfolios, or feel free to peruse my skill set summaries below.

You can download my resume on the right, or just reach out and contact me.

Summary By Skill Set

Graphic Design

I’ve been immersed in real world design applications across a wide facet of need since I started at Kinko’s in 1995.  They had a great training program then and during downtime I was able to work with folks in the digital department learning Photoshop, Quark, and the more challenging aspects of Microsoft Office products in print.

I’m very aware of design for print versus design for screen (web) and well versed in design for either/or/both.

See a sampling on my design portfolio page.

Project Management

Project Management is something riddled throughout my career in both print, event planning, and volunteer management.  The most focused project management experience was at Copy Cop when I was the “Master Scheduler”.  I helped design and implement a system that ran a team which managed work coming in from 14 print stores for development in our production center.  It was highly variable, tight deadline, and had to be very liquid.  

At the time, we managed using Outlook, Printsmith, handwritten forms and Excel spreadsheets, but I’ve since sidestepped into using various cloud software options to manage and collaborate with various individuals, contractors, clients, and companies.

If there is one thing I’m aware of with project management, is problems come up, and I’m equipped to resolve them calmly and with everyone’s best interest in mind.

Web Design and Administration

Several years back I approached someone to help me build a website.  They told me it would cost $3500.  After that I delved into various site-builders and CMS’s like Joomla and Wordpress to build custom-like sites on the quick for myself and my clients.

I’m very comfortable implementing, hosting, FTP, and know how to work my way around HTML and CSS.  I’ve also been taking online courses in Ruby on Rails and Python to help further my understanding of developing web applications.

You can see some examples of recent websites I’m working on and building now on my web portfolio page.

Customer Service

If there is one tenant through my experience where I have really excelled it’s Customer Service.  I have a strong intuition regarding clients needs and take all of the extra steps necessary to ensure I understand where they are coming from.  If your objective is make sure your customers have an extraordinary experience, then I’m your man.  If you want someone to stall them from getting up the next level in your queue, then please skip on to the next application :)

Print, Mailing Services and Quick-Copy

Printing has been the backbone of my career.  I’m familiar with every aspect of quick-copy, offset, finishing, and outsource services.  This deep understanding has come in handy in many marketing and design efforts in various projects.  

Supervisory and Administration

My first supervisory experience was when I was 15.  I was terrible at it, as the next youngest person was 26 and I had no idea what I was doing.  To get the job done, I learned it was best to implement systems that eliminated the opportunity for human chemistry (good or bad) to get in the way of efficiency and progress.