Hello,
Welcome to my design portfolio. I’m Michelle Valentin, a user‑interface–focused graphic designer creating story‑driven visual experiences for B2B and consumer audiences. I blend strong story-telling principles with user‑centered thinking to deliver clear, consistent digital products across UI design, cross-platform mobile designs, marketing collateral, and engineering‑ready assets for HVAC/BAS environments. My workflow includes interpreting submittals, translating specifications into system graphics, building components, ensuring QA compliance, and delivering final assets to engineering and field teams.
​​About Me​
My portfolio reflects that journey—rooted in curiosity, care, and a genuine love for creating visuals that help people connect with the tools and information they need.
I also enjoy collaborating with product owners and stakeholders, turning conversations and requirements into designs that support users and strengthen the broader business ecosystem. ​​I bring a design‑systems mindset, clear documentation, and the ability to translate technical requirements into polished, user‑centered solutions.
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Take a moment to browse the Graphics gallery—I hope you enjoy the experience.
​​Professional Achievements:​​​​​​​​
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Design Award:
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An Illumina Platinum Winner in Graphic Design, The Artist’s Call for Justice features a powerful black‑and‑white silhouette crafted through layered photo manipulation and transformed into a compelling final artwork. View Gallery Photograph.
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​​Recommendation Letters: ​
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US Bank: Lisa Sileo, Web Content Specialist
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Siemens: Eric Flores, Project Manager
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Resume:
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View and download resume in pdf
Education:​
Kent State University Master's Degree in User Experience Design My graduate education at Kent State University equipped me with specialized skills in: User research, usability testing, interaction design, and information architecture, complemented by design thinking methodologies and hands‑on prototyping and wireframing. Technical Skills: Figma & Adobe Creative Suite.
The Illinois Institute of Art Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts Developed academic projects showcasing digital interfaces, marketing visuals, product graphics, and multimedia experiences across platforms including graphics, video/audio, web designs, and print communication. Technical Skills: Adobe Creative Suite · Wix · Figma · CMS · HTML · JavaScript · FTP
Robert Morris University AAS Degree in Web/Graphic Arts Designed and built website interfaces and graphic arts projects within a media concentration. Technical Skills: Adobe Creative Suite · HTML · JavaScript · Visual Basic Applications (VBA) · CMS · FTP
Core Competencies:
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UI / UX Design:
Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, Component Asset Libraries, Prototyping, Interaction-Responsive Design
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Technical Design Tools:
AutoCAD, Revit, Desigo, Internal Design Systems, Micrographics Insight
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Front‑End & Digital Production:
Co-Pilot / AI Generative Tools, HTML, CSS, Email Campaign Platforms, SalesForce, CMS Management
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Collaboration & Workflow:
Jira, Confluence, Wrike, LucidChart, FigJam, Mural, Blue Beam
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Communication & Presentation:
High‑Impact Slide Design, Documentation, Style-Guides, Accessibility Standards
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Research & Analysis:
User Surveys, Usability Insights, SEO Analytics
Professional Experiences:
U.S. Bank Corp.
Online Banking
Chicago, IL | UI / UX Designer | 2022 - 2025
Served as the primary UI / UX team member for the Consumer Shop, focusing on Home and Personal Loan products, while also contributing as a secondary UX partner for Home Lending Sales, Wealth, and Auto product teams.
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Developed high‑fidelity, human‑centered prototypes and translated complex workflows into intuitive user experiences that aligned with both business ecosystems and customer needs. Collaborated closely with product owners and marketing teams to deliver cohesive, effective design solutions for enterprise financial applications, creating scalable user flows and refined, high‑fidelity prototypes that supported strategic product goals.​
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Explore my case study and UI / UX projects.
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Key factors:
Focus on mobile design with understanding the user’s goals and context, then translating those needs into a clear, intuitive interface that works beautifully within the constraints of a small screen. Adopted the enterprise experience designing human-centered, scalable digital products for financial services. Maintained US Bank brand standards while using Figma to design storytelling intuitive page layouts and develop custom components. ​
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​​Duties includes:
• Design prototypes for desktop, tablet, and mobile—leveraging Figma for responsive user experiences.
• Build custom illustration imagery, libraries, and component assets for global, scalable design usage.
• Participate in user testing, pain-point discovery research, A/B testing to validate and improve usability.
• Analyzed SEO data and recommend actionable design improvements.
• Defined wireframe flows and high‑fidelity prototypes to communicate user journeys and design concepts effectively.
• Applied WCAG 2.1 accessibility standards to ensure compliant, inclusive, and user-friendly digital experiences.
• Adapted product features across media platforms to optimize usability and user experience.​
• Collaborated directly with product and business line teams to align design outcomes with strategic goals.
• Leveraged CoPilot / AI generative tools to recompose imagery and refined content for high‑impact presentation materials.
• Generate high‑impact presentation slides and prototypes that clearly communicate complex products and ideas.
• Authored clear documentation for interactive tools, reusable components, and design system standards.​
• Developed style guides for developers: zero-height elements, grid layouts, ratios, and error messaging.
• Partnered with third-party vendors and developers to implement and enhance dynamic product features.
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Software knowledge:
Figma, Co-Pilot / AI Generative Tools, Jira, Confluence, FigJam, Mural, Research Survey Tools, PowerPoint Slides, CMS Management, HTML, CSS, Adobe Creative Suites, Accessibility Standards & SEO Analytics.
​Siemens
HVAC Engineering
Mt. Prospect, IL | UI Graphic Engineering II, GIS-MW Specialist | 2017 - 2022
BAS Automation, Smart Infrastructure | Engineering Division.
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Applied engineering submittals to develop and implement design systems for clients across O’Hare Airport, healthcare facilities, military bases, educational institutions, and manufacturing plants. Partnered with cross-functional teams, off-shore team to ensure clarity, consistency, and user engagement. Evaluated customer customization requests to maintain compliance for both new builds and migration projects.
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Explore my UI Graphic Engineering projects.
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Key factors:
Reviewing submittals, translating specifications into clear system graphics, building reusable components, performing QA and compliance checks, and delivering final assets to engineering and field teams form a continuous workflow in which technical requirements are interpreted, visualized, validated, and handed off for implementation, ensuring that every graphic accurately reflects the project scope, supports system functionality, and is ready for installation and commissioning.
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Implemented HVAC and fire‑safety floorplan automation interface graphics for enterprise-level building systems.
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Developed integrated energy‑dashboard panels to support, monitor data and review performance visual insights.
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Generate custom menus for kiosks-control point system.
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Build custom components, illustration for library and marketing team.
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Created energy focused dashboard slides to support clear, data driven presentation.
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Provide technical support to field operators, visit job sites, and remote to client server.
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Worked closely with the PMs to engage designs solutions.
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Review project scope, migration quotes, and submit change orders to PM.
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Review designed submittals-specs and provide QA graphic feedback.
Software knowledge:
AutoCAD, Desigo - Internal System, Revit, Micrographics Insight, Wrike, CMS Management, HTML, CSS, LucidChart, Blue Beam, PowerPoint Slides, Adobe Creative Suites.
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Digital Design & Marketing
Contract Experience
Chicago, IL | Digital Email, Web, Graphic-Print, and Marketing Designer | 2015 - 2017
My design experience with various real estate brokerages includes work across commercial and residential real estate, print collateral, digital marketing campaigns, healthcare communications, and investment‑focused creative work. The job listings below offer a clear view of the positions I’ve held as a Digital Email, Web, Graphic‑Print, and Marketing Specialist, highlighting the breadth of my experience across these disciplines.
Explore my graphic design projects.
Newmark Digital Email Designer / Marketing Coordinator Commercial Real Estate | Chicago, IL | 2017 Designed and formatted digital assets imagery for e-blast campaigns, ensuring brand consistency and audience engagement. ​ Duties includes: Created high-end commercial brochures, RFPs, flyers, and booklets for retail and real estates. Pulled and integrated building stack data to support accurate graphic implementation, improving visibility of floor availability and occupancy for sales teams. Software knowledge: CMS Email Campaign System, SalesForce, HTML, Adobe Creative Suites.
24/7 Real Estate / Hartland Insurance Senior Lead Designer​ Real Estate / Investment Firm | Woodridge, IL | 2015 - 2016 Collaborated with the regional sales team as a graphics consultant, developing customized visual assets to support product promotions. Designed print collateral—including product line materials and conference booklets—aligned with brand standards and strategic marketing objectives. Duties includes: ​ Weekly graphic ads for TV commercials ensuring high-impact visuals for broadcast. Create consultant booklets to maintain brand consistency and client-facing materials. Negotiated with vendors to manage production timelines, pricing, and quality control. Software knowledge: Adobe Creative Suites, Mail-Chimp
PERL Mortgage, Inc.  Digital Email Designer​ Real Estate | Chicago, IL  | 2016 - 2017 Designed custom e-invites, set up automated email campaigns, HTML coding, SalesForce submissions and trouble-shoot failed submissions reporting. ​ Duties includes: Utilized CRM platforms: Act-On, JUNGO, PrintSF, ExactTarget to manage e-mail campaigns on SalesForce. Designed prints and digital assets and customized fillable online pdf forms. Maintain Realtors profile websites. Software knowledge: SalesForce, HTML, CMS Platforms, Adobe Creative Suites
Coldwell Banker Marketing Graphic Designer​ Real Estate | Elmhurst, IL | 2015 ​​Enhanced property imagery and developed virtual tour campaigns to support digital marketing efforts. Acted as a graphics consultant for the regional office, tailoring visual assets to local market needs. Duties includes: Design property sheets and prints for showing. Create and pull database for mailing distribution. Maintain Realtors profile websites. Software knowledge: Adobe Creative Suites, Video-Photo Editing, CMS, Constant Contact
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New Life Covenant
Non-Profit Organization
Chicago, IL | Senior Lead Designer​ | 2009 - 2015
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Designed custom print materials—including invitations, pamphlets, and annual conference booklets—tailored to each event’s theme and audience. Created branded apparel for ministry teams, blending purpose-driven messaging with thoughtful design. Developed video graphics for weekly sermons, supervised live production, and managed video archiving for ongoing access.
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Explore my Graphic Design / Print projects.
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Duties includes:
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Delivered large-scale prints: hanging street banners, property signage, bus stop posters, and bench ads.
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Designed storefront window decals and vehicle graphics to extend brand presence across physical spaces.
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Created print collateral for local campuses, maintained six affiliated websites to ensure cohesive branding.
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Managed staff and interns, recruited volunteers, and coordinated promotional events.
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Negotiated vendor pricing and oversaw production budgets to ensure cost-effective, high-quality outcomes.
Software knowledge:
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Adobe Creative Suites, Video-Photo Editing, HTML, Web Design
