Heather van der Dys
ALWAYS CREATING
After Graduating Magna Cum Laude with my BFA from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2011, I was privileged to feature in the roving art show around Dallas, Texas, and interned professionally under a local photographer. Then I served as a Creative and Communications Director for three years before becoming a freelance artist/designer and beginning a custom solution design and development agency.
My main passion is to bring ideas to life. I love working with businesses, visionaries, and innovative individuals. For my personal work and touch, I am influenced by a love of logic, engineering, travel, and nature.
My profession is as a designer, tackling projects across the web and print, including UI/UX and Product Design. As a side hustle and hobby, you can see (mainly on my Instagram feed) a love for hands-on mediums involving mostly watercolor and large murals. After living over 6 years in Eastern Europe, my style has evolved to take cultures, colors, and simplicity into this season of my fine art and design principles.
My Career and Story
How This Crazy “Talent Stack” Found Me
When I say “Talent Stack,” I am quoting from others. It is simply how we “Combine a bunch of skills [and experiences] in a way that makes [all of us unique and] extraordinary.” I entered the professional arena armed with a distinctive amalgamation of skills and experiences—a talent stack that has evolved over the years. I came into the work world with art fundamentals, business strategy education, printing experience, and lighting knowledge. This was “stacked” on top of my driven work ethic, multi-tasking, and sales experience from working my way through college the previous 4.5-5 years. I also started with the skills or talents of organizing, 3D visualization, and quick learning/adaptation. I graduated high school and college with almost perfect grades, had remained 1st-2nd chair in the band throughout college, and had never applied for a job I didn’t receive. Needless to say, I was barely in my 20s, and as I learned lessons and came into the working world, I realized many things about the workspace and career/business development.
My first job in my BFA field was as an apprentice/assistant under a small business owner, and maybe that is why, still to this day, I love working B2B (business to business.)
As I transitioned to my role as a Creative and Communication Director for a church, I honed my skills in digital engagement, branding consistency, efficient design, project management, timeline planning, team leading, business budgeting, and paid marketing(digital and print.)
Then, in 2016, my family gathered our love for music, art, children, small businesses, local community, and adventure. We moved to a remote village in Romania and started our own consulting company where we could have the flexibility to help run church camps, tutor children, and much more. Running this consulting firm through ups and downs taught me about client relations, product design, wireframing, UI/UX, consulting/contracting, brand management, brand guidelines, social media marketing, copywriting, app development, website management, content management, data illustration, packaging design, menu design, responsive design, and work-life balance. Also during these 6 years overseas, I learned basic front-end development from my spouse as we juggled multiple projects at the same time. Working with non-profits also added to my talent stack by planning events, marketing events, leading worship, photographing events, multilingual web management, filming content, editing and translating video, and translating content. The time traveling and the time in entrepreneurship also allowed me to teach, which is the best way to learn and reinforce knowledge. I taught intro classes to Excel, Microsoft, HTML, digital security, web design, branding, crafts, painting, watercolor, and budgeting.
As we transitioned back to the United States (Still traveling back and forth as time allows) I helped co-found an LMS and employee engagement software company and started freelancing as a Digital Scribe (also known as a Digital Recorder or illustrative Notetaker).
I have since continued contracting and freelancing for multiple clients. I design and develop user experiences, landing pages, and application designs.
