Biography

CATHERINE R. GONZALES

 

• I am a Generalist with a passion for designing and developing interactive applications, games, and multimedia projects that have innovative, unique inspiring ideas, informative, or captivate consumers through both physical and virtual art forms that include images, words, or graphics.

• I am a highly motivated, passionate, creative, and a strategic thinker with nearly 25 years of experience in design and development. I have a vast experience in 2D Art, as well as UI and UX application working on world class level, web sites, games, and product design with large and small internationally distributed product teams.

• I am a skilled and detail oriented designer with a passion for quality and creativity. I thrive on challenge, and want to be part of a team that strives to inspire each other daily to push boundaries and produce best in class products and experiences.

 

Download:

• Resume

Professional Qualifications

• UI/X Designer
  • As a designer on the User Experience team, I worked closely with the Product team in an Agile/Scrum workflow to design visually compelling and highly usable both desk and web applications.
  • Produce exceptional and great strategic designs and user-experience decisions related to the core, and new functions and features.
  • Plan and conduct user research and competitor analysis.
  • Provide Interpreted data and qualitative feedback.
  • Identify design problems and device elegant solutions.
  • Determine information architecture and create sitemaps.
  • Facilitate the client’s product vision by researching and translating concepts into user flows, wireframe, mock-up, and prototypes that lead to intuitive user experiences.
  • Responsible for creating and applying interactive and visual design principles on codes for a positive and cohesive user experience; such as: Game panels, navigation, text field, buttons pieces, icons, logo, and marketing templates.
     
• Game Artist
  • Create art in a wide range of styles from realistic to cartoon, from start concept to implementation in the game.
  • Conceptualize, design, and create stunning (2D) in-game visual effects (modeling, texturing, animating, lighting, shader, etc) by using available tools in a real-time engine.
  • Create high quality texture content for the game world (textures and other related maps or images for mapping 3D objects).
  • Create character concepts, environments, and backgrounds.
  • Create game HUD interface and menus.
  • Good knowledge of 2D editing tools, like Adobe Photoshop, Flash or Illustrator, delivering exceptional quality 2D assets.
  • Effectively contributing to the art pipeline while understanding target platform constraints.
     
• Art Director
  • Web Development
    • Proficiency in conceptualizing creative and visual ideas with the client and ensuring that they are in line with branding requirements.
    • Creating mock-ups of the site for the client's approval.
    • Creating a suitable color scheme or incorporating the client's color scheme into the design.
    • Establishing design guidelines, standards, and best practices.
    • Good understanding in maintaining website both appearance and content by enforcing content management systems and standards.
    • Designing buttons and other controls for the site.
    • Tracking communication design ideas using user flows, structure, process flows, site maps and wireframe.
    • Fixing any functionality issues, including the removal of "dead links".
    • Responsible for updating, maintaining and backing up the site.
    • Proficiency in graphic design software including Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and other visual design tools.
    • Proficiency in front-end development web programming languages such as HTML and CSS, JQuery, and JavaScript.
    • Good understanding of search engine optimization principles.
    • Proficient understanding of cross-browser compatibility issues.
    • Up-to-date experience with international web protocols, standards, and technologies.
    • Adaptable and willing to learn new techniques.
       
  • Corporate Marketing Collateral
    • Experience with logo design, typography, color, web layout design, print production, image selection and package design.
    • Stay on top of all trends and maintain best practices.
    • Present completed ideas to clients/team members.
    • Manage and delegate responsibilities to other designers and provide directions.
    • Take work from concept to final execution within deadlines.
    • Cooperate with the rest of the creative team across different types of media.
    • Understand marketing initiatives, strategic positioning and target audience.
    • Produce sketches, storyboards, roughs to visualize ideas.
    • Generate clear ideas and concepts in tandem with the copywriter.
       
  • Storyboard Artist
    • Finalize written and verbal descriptions of a sequence from the Director/Game Producer.
    • Draw storyboards that depict the action, camera placement, and acting of the characters in that sequence.
    • Tone, refine, delete, or create dialog where needed.
    • Present the storyboards to the director and other members of the story team for approval.
    • Create new drawings to fix and change sequences throughout the production process.
    • Create and pitch alternate story solutions to the Director/Game Producer.
       
  • Prototyper
    • Proficiency in building and iterate rapid prototypes for both user interface and product presentation.
    • Refine and change ideas over several cycles.
    • Have a solid foundation from which to ideate towards improvements by giving the client a clear picture of the potential benefits, risks and costs associated with where a prototype might lead.

Personal Skills

• Active involvement in the game creation process by interacting with the design team.
• Thorough understanding of digital/traditional and Graphic art techniques.
• Versatile and prepared to tackle many different kinds of tasks, ranging from creative challenges to mass production.
• Self-motivation, excellent communication and organization skills, team spirit, and proactivity.
• Positive attitude with the ability to receive and provide objective feedback.
• Ability to multi-task and to adapt easily to change.
• Meeting project deadlines/milestones.
• Work on a weekly cadence and help scope technical work appropriately.
• Always involve and collaborate with the team in imagining ideas, seeking feedback on works-in-progress, and executing ideas to help pinpoint which elements/variants work best and whether an overhaul is required.. 

 

Experience

• Game Designer and Developer
  1. Team Lead
  2. Blacksmith Interactive Games Limited
  3. January 2020 up to present
      
• Game Designer and Developer
  1. Team Lead
  2. iSolution Games Ltd. - Canada
  3. Feb 2012 - Jan 2020


• Game Designer - Freelance
  1. Team Lead Artist
  2. Media Vision - Canada
  3. Sep 2017 - Dec 2019


• Art Director - Freelance
  1. SupAR Games
  2. Sep 2017 - Dec 2019


• Adjunct Instructor – Game Design
  1. Trios College - Canada
  2. Sep 2016 - Sep 2019


• Adjunct Instructor – Game Development
  1. Ryerson University - Canada
  2. Sep 2016 - Dec 2018


• Game Artist
  1. Dark Wing Studio - USA
  2. Jan 2013 - Feb 2015


• Game Artist
  1. Galaxy Forge Games - USA
  2. Sep 2012 - Apr 2013


• Storyboard Artist
  1. Tim Horton - Canada
  2. May 2010 - Mar 2011


• 3D Artist
  1. Papelmeroti Inc. - Philippines
  2. Oct 2009 - Dec 2009


• UIX Designer and Developer
  1. SolutionQ - Canada
  2. Nov 2007 - Oct 2009


• Web Designer and Developer
  1. Riptown - Canada
  2. June 2007 - October 2007


• Web Designer and Developer
  1. Bedbug LLC - Canada
  2. Mar 2005 - May 2007


• Digital Artist and Animator
  1. Cyclotonxl - Canada
  2. Nov 2004 - Feb 2005


• UIX Flash Developer
  1. Autodesk - Canada
  2. Jul 2004 - Nov 2004

 

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