Born in Detroit into an automotive family, I’ve always known of NGK. Sponsoring teams and supplying parts across all levels of racing, it was hard to go a Sunday without seeing NGK’s iconic logo. They are the gold standard of ignition on winning cars, performance cars, and (very likely) the OEM supplier of your car.
When a Creative Intern position opened up, I jumped at the opportunity and rose to the top with my experience in automotive marketing. NGK’s US office had the need to uphold quality visual work across mediums while the Marketing Manager was on maternity leave. And I was more than happy to fill that gap.
Experimental packaging design for Laser Platinum series of plugs
With a community of over 300k diehard gearheads on Facebook, it was essential to interact with and moderate the audience on a constant basis. Social media assets needed to engage an automotive audience, while appearing cohesive with the advertising agency’s (Donor) Art of Fast campaign.
Which, speaking of, was valuable to see the agency relationship from the client’s side. Frequently participating in meetings and bringing a brand perspective to campaign pitches, allowed for a strong understanding of agency presentations and set me up to create on-brand social media assets.
The most frequent of jobs was creating detail-orientated cutouts. Each spark plug had two detailed photos that needed to be meticulously removed from the background. Using my Adobe Photoshop skills, this insanely detailed and manual job was repeated hundreds of times. I mean just look at all those curves and details!
These cutouts were essential for website and promotional materials shipped to dealers nationwide. These included posters, calendars, and POS countertop mats. My detail-oriented eye was able to catch a mistake (not mine) on a proof in time to save $29,000 in losses.
When a series of complex technical videos needed to be compiled, I was able to bring my video skills to the table. Making the most of the company’s Windows Movie Maker (shudders), a series of educational and instructional videos were created, still accumulating views to this day.
Visuals weren’t just for external use, but internal too. Bringing a spirit of constant improvement to newsletters and other areas of design around me, I worked to implement clean designs across the board.
Icons for internal newsletter
Icons for company anniversary certificates
What struck me most of my time at NGK was the pride in work. The pride in creating the best, sponsoring the best, and representing the best. A trait that I continue to bring to my work, and will bring my best to work for you.
