Jessica Dacher - Designer

Name: Jessica Dacher
Address: San Diego, CA, USA
Telephone: +1 407-233-3331

Accomplished art director and designer for the children’s market. History of creating successful, award-winning books for iconic publishers.

Overview

My love of art and design flourished from an early age. With a background in painting and drawing, a fondness for pattern, bright color and playful imaginations, I naturally found my way to designing and art directing books for children. Now, as a freelance designer and former Senior Children’s Designer at Chronicle Books, I have over twenty years of experience in publishing.

———

Working with clients like Disney, Jimmy Patterson Books (Little, Brown), Scholastic, Sterling, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Peaceable Kingdom, and Girl Scouts of America, I art direct and design unique covers and interiors, activity books, book-plus, and gift projects. My skills also include creating marketing collateral, collaborating with licensors, building schedules, generating budgets, overseeing vendors, manipulating images, color correcting, and typesetting.

———

I look forward to working with you to bring your project to life!

Services

Cover Design

Typography

Book Interior Design

Languages

English

Fiction

Children's

Non-Fiction

Children’s Non-Fiction

Certifications

University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, B.A. Fine Art, 1997
The Art Institute of Florence, Lorenzo De’Medici, Florence, Italy, 1996

Awards

Communication Arts Illustration Annual, Art Direction
Print Regional Design Annual, Design

Work experience

Freelance Designer and Art Director

Self-employed

August, 2004 – Present (over 18 years)

Provide complete art direction, design, and production for clients including Chronicle Books, Jimmy Patterson Books (Little, Brown), Disney, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Scholastic, Sterling Publishing, Peaceable Kingdom, and Girl Scouts of America. Consistently acknowledged for creating and delivering high-quality books, packaging, ads, and marketing materials on schedule and budget.

Senior Designer, Children’s

Chronicle Books LLC

September, 1999 – January, 2004 (over 4 years)

Designed and managed complex book and non-book projects from concept through completion, proofing, and color correction in a fast-paced, deadline-oriented environment. Extensive art direction of illustrators, photographers, and outside designers. Generated new project ideas while continually focusing on providing
unique and innovative design solutions. Spearheaded technology evaluation and support efforts for the department.

Production Support Assistant

Williams-Sonoma, Inc.

January, 1999 – September, 1999 (8 months)

Designed and coordinated marketing collateral while assisting with production on specialty catalogs. Supported creative department by providing technical support to production staff.

Designer

Aquent

January, 1998 – January, 1999 (about 1 year)

Rendered temporary design and production services for staffing agency.

Design/Production Associate

Probe Inc.

June, 1995 – December, 1997 (over 2 years)

Directly responsible for designing and managing projects including pricing, photo manipulation, layout, typesetting, and creation of print-ready electronic files.