Orange tabby cat lying on its back with paws in the air, die-cut sticker style
Application / Senior Art Director / Smalls

KRISTA
NELSON

Creative direction. Brand systems. Work that performs.

Role / Pitch

spec 00

I direct designers, sign off on creative before it ships, and treat social and performance work as its own craft, not just another channel. That's exactly the role Smalls is describing.

02 / Core Strengths

Spec sheet.

Creative & Design Direction

01
Brief designers, review their work, and push it until it's actually on brand.

Social & Performance Creative

02
Write the scripts, shoot the footage, and edit the final cut. Years of paid social ads, start to finish.

UX/UI Collaboration

03
Give real feedback on websites, not just “looks good.” Think about how people actually use them.

Photography & Content Production

04
Plan shoots, direct them, and edit the results personally.

Brand & Physical Touchpoints

05
Design packaging and build a brand's presence in person, not just online.

Creative Team Leadership

06
Brief and direct 2 fully remote designers across 29 client brands, reviewing work and making the final call before anything ships.
03 / Work Experience

Proof, not promises.

Ask, approach, result. That's it.

Paid Social · Performance

Paid Social Ad Performance

Ask
Make ads that actually make clients money, not just ads that look good.
Approach
Wrote the scripts and edited every ad myself. Built each one around a real acquisition target.
Result

Duct Brothers, Ad 1

$67.97 CPL

Target: Under $100

Hook
A question people think they already know the answer to. Turns out, even new homes get duct leaks. The surprise keeps them watching.
Concept
Built around a real news clip for instant credibility.
Watch

Duct Brothers, Ad 2

$81.82 CPL

Target: Under $100

Hook
Opens on 'Were you surprised by what you found at my house?' while holding an object nobody can place. Curiosity does the rest.
Concept
Also anchored by a real news clip for credibility.
Watch

St. George Escape Rooms

7x ROAS

Hook
Reframes the offer. You're not just solving puzzles, you're in a room built to look incredible.
Concept
Backed by real customer quotes about their favorite rooms.
Watch

Plush Paws

$39 CPA

Brand's best in 30 days

Hook
'My eight-year-old dog found his ball, something he couldn't do a week ago.' A real story, in the owner's own words.
Concept
First-person customer story instead of a product pitch.
Watch
Instagram profile feed grid showing follower growth
Growth Test

0 to 5,000+ followers in 30 days

Ask
Wanted to prove the growth strategy actually works, starting from nothing.
Approach
Built a brand new Instagram account from zero and ran it like a real test: studying hooks, watching what people actually stop for, posting with intention instead of just posting to post.
Result
5,000+ engaged followers in 30 days. From zero.
Short-Form Video · Revity Marketing

A reel that traveled: 222K views

Ask
Get more people to notice the company Revity.
Approach
Wrote, filmed, and edited a short-form video built around a hook framework.
Result
222K views, 3K likes, 5K shares. Real visibility for the brand.
Brand Ownership · 2023 to 2025

EarResistibly Cute, sole creative authority

Ask
Build a jewelry brand from scratch: the product, the packaging, and how it showed up in person.
Approach
Made every creative call, from the packaging design to how the booth looked at markets and pop-ups.
Result
A brand built and run solo. Identity, packaging, ecommerce, and retail, all one creative vision.
04 / Website & UX

A website with a job to do.

One full site redesign, before and after, with real UX thinking behind every change.

Website / UX · Full Site Redesign

South Utah Valley Animal Shelter

Ask
Redesign a shelter website that listed dogs like inventory. Make it actually drive adoptions.
Approach
Rebuilt the site around emotional storytelling instead of raw data.
  • Personality tags instead of clinical stats.
  • A live countdown for how long each dog has been waiting, with the line “Be the reason her waiting ends.”
  • A first-person quote from each dog, plus a compatibility breakdown.
  • Kept the honest information, like why a dog was surrendered, but reframed it so it reads as forward-looking instead of a warning label.
Result
A warmer, more persuasive adoption experience. Every page works toward one goal: get this animal adopted.
System
Built repeatable rules for photography, dog profiles, personality tags, and adoption messaging that carry across every animal on the site.

Homepage: Before / After

Dog Profile Page: Before / After

05 / Photoshoot Experience

Different brand, different brief.

Three brands, three different goals, one process behind all of them.

Photography · Original Nutrition

Reframing wellness

Ask
Make a supplement feel like part of a healthy life, not just something for people trying to get ripped.
Approach
Built the shoot around quiet, everyday moments: meditating, real fruit, an evening ritual at home. No gym, no post-workout shots.
Result
A brand story that feels like wellness, not fitness.
Photography · Q Sciences

Pleasant, soft, friendly

Ask
Make the lifestyle photos feel warm, not clinical.
Approach
Shot around real moments between real women: genuine smiles, studio lighting, easy body language instead of stiff product-in-hand poses.
Result
Photos that feel like a friend recommended the product, not an ad.
Photography · Plush Paws

Shelter dog partnership

Ask
Shoot car seat covers in a way that didn't feel like generic product photography.
Approach
Partnered with a local animal shelter and cast shelter dogs who needed homes as the models.
Result
Photos with heart, and a little extra good for some dogs looking for a home.
06 / Where I'd Start On Day One

Real Observation

Smalls is moving Meta and paid social from a hybrid agency model to fully in house. The Paid Social Manager role owns the channel itself: budget, bidding, targeting. The Senior Art Director role leads the creative side, exactly the writing, filming, and editing work already done for years. That's the day-one contribution this role needs.

07 / Direction & Leadership

Strategy first.

Set the creative direction, give designers room to solve the problem, then step in with clear feedback when the work needs sharpening.

How Creative Decisions Get Made

  • Recognizable beats repetitive. A brand should flex without losing itself.
  • Performance doesn't excuse bad creative. The best ads sell and strengthen the brand.
  • Direction should make people better. Give people a clear problem, room to solve it, and feedback that actually helps.

Chameleon Colors / before / after

Original Designer Draft

After Creative Direction

Direction: warmer, more autumnal palette, a real photo anchoring the hero instead of a gradient, and event photos replacing the icon checklist.

Nitro-Pak winter campaign / before / after

Original Designer Draft

After Creative Direction

Direction: reorganized the email from a flat product-and-price grid into three real customer scenarios, in the car, on the go, and hunkering down at home, each paired with the right kit and a bolder, benefit-driven headline.

Teenology Clear Skin Ahead / before / after

Original Designer Draft

After Creative Direction

Direction: replaced a generic stock photo collage of random teens with a single authentic selfie-style photo of a real teen holding the product. Did the same with the testimonials, swapping an awkward carousel with empty side-cards for clean, individual blocks pairing each quote with real, ingredient-styled product photography.

08 / My Cats

Three cats. Zero exaggeration.

The one job requirement already covered.

Ginger and white cat named George in a loaf pose on a dark surface.
George
Long-haired orange tabby cat named Lily with colorful yarn draped across her, sitting on a red bag.
Lily
Grey tabby and white cat named Mario sitting on a couch, looking up at the camera.
Mario
09 / Experience

Snapshot.

  1. Aug 2021 to Present

    Revity Marketing

    Marketing Strategist | Creative Lead

    • Direct 2 fully remote designers across 29 client brands
    • Provide final creative approval across paid social, email, web, and organic campaigns before client delivery
    • Concept, script, and direct Meta creative against acquisition targets
    • Own email and social strategy across the client roster
    • Lead UX feedback and photoshoot planning across client work

  2. 2023 to 2025

    EarResistibly Cute

    Founder & Creative Director

    • Owned brand identity, product design, and packaging from day one
    • Directed photography, social content, and paid ads for the brand
    • Ran the online store and the retail presence, from the ecommerce site to booth design and the customer experience at markets and pop-ups

  3. Jun 2019 to Aug 2021

    Halftee Layering Solutions, Lindon, UT

    Marketing Director

    • Owned social strategy and campaign planning
    • Directed and shot photoshoots
    • Designed email, ad, and social content

  4. Feb 2018 to Mar 2019

    Clear Task Solutions, Orem, UT

    Digital Marketing Manager

    • Managed social platforms
    • Grew a client's Facebook following 262.6% in a year
    • Built the company website
10 / Skills & Tools

Reference.

Creative Leadership

  • Creative Direction
  • Art Direction
  • Designer Management
  • Creative Review
  • Branding

Performance Creative

  • Concept Development
  • Script Writing
  • Paid Social Ads
  • Short-Form Video
  • Video Editing (CapCut)

Brand & Campaigns

  • Packaging Design
  • Photoshoot Direction
  • Campaign Strategy
  • Email Marketing (Klaviyo, MailChimp)
  • SEO/SEM
  • PPC
  • GIF Creation

Digital Product

  • UX/UI Feedback
  • Web Design
  • WordPress
  • A/B Testing

Tools

  • Photoshop
  • Illustrator
  • Lightroom

Nine into ten. I'm in.

Bringing this same energy to Smalls: clear creative direction, strong brand instincts, performance-minded work, and yes, three real cats waiting at home. Let's talk.

Let's Talk

Plus three cats available for consulting.