Résumé & CV

Creative Director · Brand Identity & Web Design · Illustration
Columbus, OH · phillip.weasley@gmail.com · weasleystudios.com · linkedin.com/in/phillipweasley

Download résumé (PDF)Download teaching packet (PDF)

SUMMARY

Creative director who builds brands from the logo up: identity systems, typography, color, photography direction, and web design. Manages cross-functional teams of up to 15, art-directing each project and partnering directly with clients. Also a published illustrator and book designer, and Adjunct Professor of graphic design and illustration at CCAD.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

• Designed 33 ground-up brand identities and websites start to finish since 2025 for retail clients across the U.S. and Canada; part of 70+ retail sites worked on since 2022.
• Post-launch performance compared with the preceding 30 days (90 at Willis Furniture): engagement time more than doubled at Critelli Modern (+114%); visitors from search rose 68.6% at Giorgi Bros.; Google search impressions rose 135.7% at Andrews Furniture; visits ran 40.7% longer at Willis.
• Art-directed and illustrated Coalescence: A Holiday Collection (Signe-ture Publishing, 2025), designing the typography and book layout that tie its seasonal stories into one visual identity; one of four published book and tabletop-game titles.
• Develop designers on the job and in the classroom: mentor junior designers at R&A, and as CCAD faculty lead guided a Design Concepts I student team to a 2025 ADDY Award.

EXPERIENCE

Web Creative Director
R&A Marketing · Columbus, OH | 2022–Present

• Manage a cross-functional team of up to 15 designers, developers, and website coordinators, including hiring and performance reviews; set the creative vision and lead critique and revision rounds.
• Develop brand identities through visual research, moodboard exploration, and detailed sketches or mockups; establish guidelines that carry the creative direction through production.
• Partner with each client from onboarding through launch and beyond: lead kickoff calls and brand questionnaires, present and defend design decisions, and run post-launch reviews; manage how finished work is presented internally and externally.
• Design custom layouts, graphics, and UI/UX, bringing the grid, hierarchy, and typographic care of publication design to responsive web.
• Led two custom features from UX research and analysis through interface design, now live on several client sites: an interactive furniture room planner and a promotional-banner system for campaign creative.
• Use AI for site performance audits and to build custom WordPress plugins for clients and their customers.
• Giorgi Bros. Furniture: built a brand system on the family showroom’s history (since 1933) and hands-on service, and turned the owner’s “radically simplify” brief into a less-is-more look with generous white space and a 7-item navigation, down from 30+. Launched in 45 days. Case study →
• Critelli Modern: gave the contemporary sister store its own identity beside a heritage flagship: the line “Modern style, within reach,” a Savvy Designer persona, a Geologica and Roboto type pairing, a slate-and-grey palette, and a homepage led by its top categories. Case study →

Adjunct Professor
Columbus College of Art & Design · Columbus, OH | 2022–Present

• Develop emerging designers through critique and portfolio reviews in foundations and upper-level graphic design and illustration courses.
• Developed foundations-level drawing and graphic design courses; earlier taught community art courses as Instructor (2019–2020).

Founder & Principal
Weasley Studios · Illustration & Art Direction | 2013–Present

• Art direction, illustration, and book layout for four published titles: Coalescence (Signe-ture Publishing, 2025) and the tabletop games Manor of Dread, Cities of Myth, and Wennen.
• Character design and visual development for Adventures of Rosemary Bunny and Kat Epieces, a children’s book series in development (PERL Publishing). Illustration work →

EARLIER EXPERIENCE

• Graphic Designer & Marketer (contract), BBCO Architecture · Columbus, OH · 2021–2022
• Lead Designer & Fabricator, Fabric Farms Interiors · Columbus, OH · 2021–2022
• Studio Artist, Brick Box Studios · Columbus, OH · 2020–2021
• Administrative Assistant to the Chair, Columbus College of Art & Design · 2016–2018
• Client Success Manager, Advertising Design & Sales, Angie’s List · Indianapolis, IN · 2012–2014
• Illustrator & Graphic Designer (intern/part-time), Gallery Go · Remote · 2012–2014

EDUCATION

• MFA, New Projects, Columbus College of Art & Design; focus: creative direction and hands-on production of immersive digital media projects
• BA, Graphic Design & Media Arts, cum laude, Southern New Hampshire University
• Certificate of College Art Instruction, Columbus College of Art & Design

RECOGNITION

• Professional Artist Grants, Greater Columbus Arts Council · 2023, 2024
• Artist Residency, A.I.R.GENTUM · Seville, Spain · 2019
• Exhibitions & press: shown in the U.S. and Spain, including the Evansville Museum and The Barrett Art Center; covered in The Columbus Dispatch

SKILLS

• Brand & creative direction: brand strategy and identity systems, art direction, photography direction, brand voice and messaging, design systems
• Design: typography, grid and layout, editorial and book design, web and UI/UX design, UX research and analysis, wireframes and mockups
• Illustration: traditional and digital illustration, concept art, character design, visual development, painting (oil, encaustic, watercolor, acrylic)
• Tools: Figma; Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop; Ziflow; WordPress, Elementor, and WooCommerce; GA4; AI tools for site audits and plugin development
• Leadership: team management and hiring, client partnership and presentations, mentoring and critique, project management, curriculum design, grant writing

Full CV

The complete record for galleries, residencies, and faculty searches: teaching, exhibitions, publications, and press.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Adjunct Professor
Columbus College of Art & Design · Columbus, OH | 2022–Present

• Foundations: Introduction to Illustration; Introduction to Graphic Design; Digital Design Lab
• Upper level: Design Concepts I (Graphic Design); Intro to Drawing for Entertainment Design (Illustration); Character and Environment Designs (Illustration)
• Pre-college outreach: College Preview – Illustration
• Faculty lead for the Design Concepts I student team that won a 2025 ADDY Award
• Developed foundations-level drawing and graphic design courses
• Teaching portfolio →

Instructor
Columbus College of Art & Design · Columbus, OH | 2019–2020

• Introduction to Drawing (Adult)
• Art & Storytelling: Visual Storytelling in Narrative Art
• Art for Me, Art for We: Art for Social Activism
• Exploring Fiber Art: An Introduction to Contemporary Applications of Fiber Art
• Ceramics Survey: An Introduction to Ceramics Methods and Practices

Instructor, Saturday Morning Art Class
Columbus College of Art & Design · Columbus, OH

• Drawing and design courses

EDUCATION

• MFA, New Projects, Columbus College of Art & Design · Columbus, OH; focus: creative direction and hands-on production of immersive digital media projects, start to finish
• BA, Graphic Design & Media Arts, cum laude, Southern New Hampshire University · Manchester, NH
• Integrated Studio, Painting/Drawing/Illustration, Northern State University · Aberdeen, SD; study abroad in Dublin, Ireland
• Coursework, Painting & Illustration, Herron School of Art + Design · Indianapolis, IN

CERTIFICATES

• Certificate of College Art Instruction, Columbus College of Art & Design · Columbus, OH
• Leadership Certification, Aberdeen Area Chamber of Commerce · Aberdeen, SD

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

• 2021 · CCAD MFA Thesis Exhibition · Beeler Gallery · Columbus, OH
• 2020 · CCAD MFA Virtual Thesis Exhibition · online, Columbus College of Art & Design
• 2020 · Margins (juried) · The Barrett Art Center · Poughkeepsie, NY
• 2020 · Failure (juried) · The Vanderelli Room · Columbus, OH
• 2020 · Inside & Out (juried) · Promenade Gallery, 400 W. Rich · Columbus, OH
• 2019 · Our Stories Are Not Ghosts (solo, juried) · Seville, Spain
• 2019 · 46th Mid-States Craft Exhibition (juried) · Evansville Museum · Evansville, IN
• 2019 · DAMNED: Exhibition of Enlightened Darkness (12th annual, juried) · Tangent Gallery/Hastings Ballroom · Detroit, MI
• 2019 · Chroma: Best of CCAD (juried) · Columbus College of Art & Design · Columbus, OH
• 2019 · SOFA: Connect, group site-specific installation (student advisor) · Chicago, IL
• 2018 · Addition & Subtraction · Byers Gallery · Columbus, OH
• 2018 · Home Alone · Byers Gallery · Columbus, OH
• 2017 · DAMNED X: Exhibition of Enlightened Darkness (10th annual) · Tangent Gallery/Hastings Ballroom · Detroit, MI
• 2017 · Social Thoughts · IU Kokomo Union Street Gallery · Kokomo, IN
• 2014 · Twin Cities Pride Art Show: Intersections · Intermedia Arts · Minneapolis, MN

PUBLICATIONS & STUDIO PROJECTS

• Coalescence: A Holiday Collection · Signe-ture Publishing · 2025. Art direction, illustration, graphic design, and book layout.
• Adventures of Rosemary Bunny and Kat Epieces · Emma Recher / PERL Publishing · 2024. Art direction, character design, and visual development for a children’s book series in development.
• Buckeye Transplant Services · 2022. Illustration and graphic design.
• Manor of Dread · Lucky Dice Publishing · 2019–2020. Art direction, cover and interior illustration.
• Cities of Myth: Friends and Foes · Realmwarp Media · 2019–2020. Art direction and layout design.
• Wennen: The Lunar Rabbit People · self-published on DMs Guild. Writer, designer, and illustrator.
• Aberdeen Area Chamber of Commerce · 2012. Marketing illustration and design.
• body tales · collaboration with German artists Mirjam Elburn and Crauss, 2021–2022, for publication in Saarbrücken, Germany.
• Illustration work →

GRANTS, RESIDENCIES & HONORS

• 2024 · Professional Artist Grant, Illustration/Design · Greater Columbus Arts Council
• 2023 · Professional Artist Grant, Illustration · Greater Columbus Arts Council
• 2019 · Artist Residency · A.I.R.GENTUM, Seville, Spain
• 2019 · Graduate Enrichment Grant · Columbus College of Art & Design
• 2018–2020 · Graduate Scholarship · Columbus College of Art & Design

PRESS & REVIEWS

• “Review – Manor of Dread” · Rogue Watson · June 5, 2021
• “Review – Manor of Dread” · The Kind GM · April 1, 2021
• “Online show to feature art of different mediums” · Roberta Gedert · May 28, 2020
• “Is it Underwear or is it Art?” · Andrew Christian · May 8, 2020
• “CCAD Master of Fine Arts student has work in two upcoming exhibitions” · Columbus College of Art & Design · October 21, 2019
• “HighBall creativity on display” · The Columbus Dispatch · October 11, 2019
• “Our Stories Are Not Ghosts” · The Giraldillo · September 14, 2019
• “Artist Phil Weasley exhibits his work on touch and the queer universe in Seville” · Castilblanco de los Arroyos · September 12, 2019

SERVICE & LEADERSHIP

• Faculty Mentor, TTRPG student group, Columbus College of Art & Design. Professional development for student members.
• Founder & Facilitator, Q-Kids · 2020–2022. Founded and ran an independent tabletop role-playing (TTRPG) group promoting diversity and accessibility.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators
• International Sculpture Center