I’m a storyteller.
I’m an energetic team leader and collaborative team member, with expertise in the creative direction and design of diverse brands across all platforms and channels. I'm a hands-on builder of creative teams who inspires innovative problem solving, clean, bold visuals, engaging content and efficient results, always with a clear understanding of audience, and always on time and on budget.
I am currently Creative Director with Foundry360, an award-winning content marketing agency, where I collaborate with a diverse collection of clients (Bank of America, Home Depot, Capital One Travel, Regions Bank, John Deere, and Mars, to name a few) while art-directing, designing and managing digital and interactive projects, custom-published magazines, motion graphics and other collateral.
Prior to my current venture, I was Art Director of the Exchange section of the Wall Street Journal, the Art Director for the nonprofit Chess Life and US Chess Federation, as well as Digital Design Lead in charge of the creation, production and distribution of design solutions for the Hearst Enthusiast Group, which is made up of three distinct brands: Popular Mechanics, Bicycling and Runner’s World.
Before that, I led the art departments of a few other very well known, beloved brands. Entertainment Weekly. Runner’s World. Spin. And while these are the three brands where I was Design Director, that work is but a small sampling of what I’ve accomplished over my career. There are more brands (and therefore, much more work) to consider. Rolling Stone. Sports Illustrated. People. Discover. American Kennel Club.
Before going pro, I attended and graduated from Parsons School of Design in NYC, majoring in Communication Design (with an unofficial minor in Philosophy). This is where I learned from the best of the best in the business, and the camaraderie and competition I enjoyed with my peers sharpened my vision and created a drive that continues in my work every day.
It's also fun to note that during this time (along with my creative partner-in-crime) I wrote, directed, produced, and acted in an Off-Off-Broadway performance piece called "Big Cheesecake," complete with originally choreographed dance sequences.
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My invitation design for the Parsons Communication Design Senior Show was chosen and sent out to the design community across the country.
On the backlot set of "Sons of Anarchy" for the Entertainment Weekly cover shoot. Photograph by Art Streiber
I've mentored graduate students and run workshops at Columbia University, and have conducted design lectures at NYU, as well as University of the Arts. I've instructed Computer Graphics at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, PA, focusing on Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop, as well as foundational graphic design principles.
I was one of the seven Design Directors on the panel for the sold-out Society of Publication Designers (SPD) Speaker Series "For the Love of Entertainment Weekly," and I was chosen to participate in "The Art of Rolling Stone," a one-day conference devoted to the design, typography and photography of Rolling Stone. I have received numerous awards from SPD, American Society of Magazine Editors, Society of Illustrators, and American Illustration.
I'm also a scrappy entrepreneur. As much a lifestyle change as it was a fresh challenge, I took a planned-pause from the "known" to try my hand at the "unknown." I dove into entrepeneurship and launched my own BYOB painting party business in the Lehigh Valley, PA. After three action-packed years of managing, marketing, instructing, funding, building and learning, my studio was acquired by Painting with a Twist (the industry leader), which long story short, now means that I can again focus 100% on what I love and do best. Design.
On a personal note, I live with my wife, two sons and two cats (Vincent and Jules) in Pennsylvania and practice Transcendental Meditation and kickboxing. I love books and collect all things pop culture, I follow Philly sports and love zipping around town in my Mini Countryman. But most of all, I just love solving problems.
Thanks for looking. Now let's start talking!
Kory
Kory
"My Pop Life" Popular Mechanics, July/August 2020.