Don Widmer
Owner / Designer · Widmer Designs
San Diego, CA
In My Own Words
“Exceeding goals… building and leveraging key personnel relationships… taking initiative to manage graphic operations and creative procedures – Specialize in Creative Design, Art Direction and Product Design.”
Hands-on visionary with advanced graphics & visual development expertise; strong skill set in managing, analyzing, and implementing complex procedures & detailed marketing initiatives. Excellent time management and resource skills to implement strategic administrative and operational initiatives to enhance product, quality, client service and overall bottom line performance. Polished interpersonal and rapport-building skills to significantly enhance growth, profits, and return on investment.
Work Experience
Owner / Designer
Widmer Designs1995 – Present
• Currently designing protective clothing and gloves, for the Baseball, Football, MX, Golf and Paintball industry, including Gear bags, Casual Apparel, Tees and Accessories. • Clients include Under Armour, Callaway, Taylor Made, Top Flite, WDP - Angel, Maui and Sons. Squadra, Pirana Z Racing and Stupid Fast Racing. • Recent accomplishments include Ice-T’s new rap album cover for Body Count.
Senior Designer
Fetch for Pets2022 – 2022
Senior Product designer for pet-centric Licensed Products. Soft goods design, Packaging design, End-to-End product development. Product/Project Management, including collaborative brainstorming, product reviews and team building. Licenses include: Star Wars, Disney, Warner Bros., Universal, Pixar, Scooby-Doo, DC, Marvel, Minions, Looney Tunes, Dr. Seuss, Peanuts, Friends, etc.
Principal Designer
Infantino2018 – 2021
Principal Designer / Senior Product Designer - https://infantino.com/ Principal Designer - Tasked with creating innovative Electronic toys and Gear for 0 to 48 month olds. In-house lines include: Go Gaga, Mainline and the new flagship line of toys, Truly Dear. Conceptual and Industrial Design. Product Development from Ideation to Packaging. Mentor to PD staff and Creative Services. Keyshot, Adobe CS/CC, Mac/PC
Creative Director
Seven20 / Underground Toys USA2016 – 2018
Creative Director and Principal Designer - Brought on board in April 2016 to create and implement an entirely new in-house Product Development department for all Plush and Homewares, including building and maintaining project tracking software (TeamWork). Responsible for on-boarding all product designers, graphic designers and project management. Charged with delivering a fully functional PD department in less than 6 months. Principal plush designer for Licensed plush brands of SuperBITZ™, Heroez™, Heroez Clipz™ and Mega Heroez™ for Star Wars, DC and Harry Potter. Instrumental in defining and implementation of “Pinache®” Homewares line of licensed product for Star Wars, Marvel, DC and Harry Potter, Doctor Who and Hello Kitty. Maintain open and creative liaisons with all active Licensors.
Art Director
Savi Customs2012 – 2015
• 100% Made in USA sublimated apparel manufacturer, served as an Art Director and Principal Designer of an ever-expanding art department; increased workflow 30% to 45% annually. • Customers include NHRA, Don Schumacher Racing, John Force Racing, Mizuno, Lego, Budweiser, Audi, Thor MX, and Stupid Fast Racing. • Ensure the highest quality product is achieved each and every time, whether its 1 piece or 1,000, utilizing , through rigorous quality control and an art and print department that consistently brings home top industry awards. • Focused research implemented creative and persuasive techniques tailored to client’s specific needs.
Art Director
Squadra Inc.2006 – 2010
• Served as a Senior Designer for all custom sublimated cycling, triathlon and athletic apparel. • Customers included K Swiss, Callaway, Zoot, Nike, Swobo, USAT, Challenged Athlete Foundation and Electra Bikes. Created dramatic and original designs for high profile companies that shaped and defined their market place for lasting equity to their consumers; increased workflow 12% to 14% annually.
VP Product Development & Design
K2 Licensed Product2004 – 2006
• Served as the Design Director for all aspects of new product development and designing. • Licensed work included Disney, Nickelodeon, Scooby-Doo, DC Comics (Superman, Justice League, & Batman), Universal Studios, Hershey, M&M’s, Warner Brothers, NFL, MLB, Eddie Bauer, Nextel, Motorola, Coors, Coca-Cola and NASCAR. • Created K2’s first cross platform, in-house, design studio to support our other K2 family of companies, i.e. JT USA, Adio, Stearns, and Rawlings.
Art Director
JT USA / Brass Eagle1998 – 2004
• Designer and Director of all creative functions for JT USA, Brass Eagle, Viewloader and Paintball products. • Created all in-house brand advertising, catalog and websites; personally designed all JT, VL, BE soft good products, i.e. gloves, pants, jerseys, gear bags, shoes, casual wear, packaging and in-store POPs; increased the bottom line from $7m to $21m in three years.
Art Director
No Fear Inc.1994 – 1997
• Director and Senior designer for all casual T’s and textile designs; created the in-house design department. • Expanded their forward thinking “attitude” tees that made "No Fear" a household name. • Increased the T-shirt revenue from $10m to $90m in four years.
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