About — Pocket Creative Freelance Graphic Design

Meet Megan

Pocket Creative is freelance designer Megan Cutler, a graphic design and production specialist focused on supporting creative teams and small businesses.

I began working professionally as an agency and in-house designer in 2012. I honed my skills designing retail catalogs for independent stores nationwide, annual and bi-monthly magazines, theater playbills, packaging, branding, and a variety of other print and digital marketing collateral.

In 2017, I launched my freelance career from my home-base in Portland, Oregon. My freelance work has included clients in real estate, education, finance, healthcare, and government. Because so many clients benefit from a designer with both print and web skills I pursued additional web design courses in 2020 to round out my knowledge base.

As an analytical, highly detail-oriented problem solver, I provide knowledgeable, dependable, and efficient service while supporting the design needs of my clients. As the designer in their back pocket, I am dedicated to showing up, filling in the gaps, and making sure they have what they need to meet their goals.

I am available for both individual projects and long-term contracts, and work remotely with clients in the Portland area and beyond. View my resume HERE.

Recommendations

I’ve had the pleasure of developing wonderful working relationships with design professionals from a variety of companies and am incredibly grateful when they choose to share nice things about working with me!

“
Working with Megan was an incredible experience. 
 
 Her communication strengths and understanding of the intricacies associated with complex projects (and the management that goes along with them) added great support and value to the entire team. She asks insightful questions of her agency partner (for which I was her point person), proving she understands clients’ needs and also where to clarify goals or improve outcomes. 
 She is incredibly responsive and upholds deadlines, a project manager’s dream. Combined with her design skills and understanding of book/magazine layouts, her skills add up to all things amazing! Megan has great intuition and talent, and is mutually supportive to her agency partners and clients. 

—Heather Blaha, Senior Project Manager at Henry V Events | 06.03.20

“
I have enjoyed having Megan on our creative team for nearly four years. She is an extraordinary graphic designer and employee. 
 
 Along with her excellent design and organizational skills, she has a great work ethic with a keen intellect and problem solving ability. Along with being the primary catalog designer for our busy marketing company, she has expanded her skills to doing product photography, hand lettering and helping with art direction. 
 Because of her creative talents and leadership abilities, I promoted her to Senior Graphic Designer and would recommend her to anyone looking for a first class designer. 

—Gail Westberg, Creative Manager at The Parable Group | 11.30.15

“
With just minimal direction, Megan conceived, designed and delivered two distinctive yet beautifully coordinated show images for a pair of world-premiere plays with Northwest Theatre Workshop. Throughout the process, she communicated clearly with me and my team, met every deadline, and maintained her pro bono schedule with grace and professionalism.
 

—Wayne Harrel, Northwest Theatre Workshop | 02.24.17

“
Over the last two years, I hired Megan for multiple design projects at PRB. I worked with Megan on a variety of projects such as policy briefs, fact sheets, presentations, and interactive PDFs. She consistently delivered high quality work on time and on budget, and was flexible with each round of revisions. I highly recommend Megan! 
 

—Jessica Woodin, Senior Designer at Population Reference Bureau | 12.21.19

“
I worked with Megan multiple times over the past couple of years. She has been a consistent go-to designer for one of our larger accounts. 
 
 Not only is she always spot-on in her design, but she is just plain fantastic to work with. I’ve been repeatedly amazed at how Megan can set up a project for success by nailing down the design direction at the onset. She’s handled numerous projects for us that had demanding design challenges and growing scopes, but she has delivered client satisfaction every single time. 
 She is extremely organized, is always on time, and on budget. She’s reliable and a joy to work with. I highly recommend hiring Megan! 

—Nancy Franzino, Senior Traffic Manager at Henry V Events | 05.22.19

“
As Megan's supervisor and co-worker for over two years, I watched her rapid development and growth with admiration. She demonstrated a fine work ethic and learned new skills on practically a daily basis. Her design sense served The Parable Group through many media including print, digital, and packaging. 
 
Despite her adeptness in a long list of computer skills, perhaps her defining trait is her ability to focus on a task and see it through to completion with excellence. Meg would be an asset to any corporation that wants to insure quality in its design and its creativity.
 
—William Whitney, Artistic Director at The Parable Group | 12.07.15

View these recommendations on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/meganccutler

Skills

Design

  General

   Typography 

   Page Layout 

   Visual Hierarchy 

   Logos & Identity 

   Icons 

  Print

   Publications 

   Catalogs 

   Print Marketing Materials 

   POP Signage 

   Packaging 

  Digital

   Digital Marketing Assets 

   Website Design 

   Wire Framing 

   User Personas 

   Site Maps & User Flow

Technical

  Software & Apps 

   InDesign 

   Photoshop 

   Illustrator 

   Acrobat Pro 

   Squarespace 

   Powerpoint 

   Asana • Basecamp 

   Adobe XD • Figma 

   Atom 

  Other

   Image Retouching 

   Interactive PDFs 

   Prepress (Offset & Digital) 

   Data Merge 

   HTML & CSS

Additional

  Professional 

 Ideation & Iteration 

 Writing & Editing 

 Style Guides 

 Visual Research & Mood Boarding 

 Stock Imagery Sourcing 

  Personal 

 Creative & Analytical Thinking 

 Project Planning & Strategy 

 Accuracy & Attention to Detail 

 Flexibility & Communication 

 Time Management & Organization 

 Cost & Deadline Awareness

Experience

Since starting out as a professional designer in 2011, I have gained experience working as an agency designer, in-house designer, and freelancer. View my complete RESUME HERE.

Agency

The Parable Group | San Luis Obispo, CA
While at the marketing agency The Parable Group, I designed catalogs, POP signage, and other marketing materials to support promotional sales for 200+ retail stores across the US.

In-House

Artslandia Magazine | Portland, OR
While working in-house at Artslandia Magazine, I designed and produced features for Artslandia’s annual and quarterly arts magazines and playbills for Portland-area arts groups.

Freelance

Pocket Creative | Portland, OR
As a freelancer I have worked with local and national brands including Bowflex, The Population Reference Bureau, KinderCare Education, LitART, and Premiere Property Group.

Things I enjoy

While graphic design is a big part of my life, it certainly is not the whole picture! Here are a few other things I enjoy (and am always down to chat about).

Charlie the Corgi

Charlie is a dedicated home-office corgi who enjoys cuddles, meals, and speedily herding other dogs at the park while they play fetch. He’s ridiculously photogenic and quite the charmer — check out his Insta @charliethecorgipdx!

Adventuring

Whether it is a sunrise hike to a mountain peak or kayaking in Alaska, I enjoy experiencing any combination of sky, water, and mountains. Living in the Pacific Northwest provides ample opportunity for adventuring.

Science Fiction

My love of science fiction began with watching Star Trek and reading A Wrinkle in Time as a child and continues to this day. Recent favorites include The Expanse (TV show AND books), the Wayfarers series, and the Broken Earth trilogy.

I’ve done the rounds as both an agency and in-house designer and now utilize the skills and experience I gained in those jobs to help support my freelance clients.

As Pocket Creative, I strive always to be the designer that has your back.

Getting to know you…

You now know a little about me — I’d love to learn a little about you!

Drop me a line and we’ll figure out whether Pocket Creative is a good match for your design endeavors.

Ways to get in touch

Email

megan@pocketcreative.design

Message

Contact Form