• The Offswitch: Always-On Design Thinking & Creative Direction by Alan Segal

     

    Creative Direction, Digital Experience Design & Content Strategy by Alan Segal

  • Brand Creative Director,

    Content Strategist/Copywriter,

    Art Director/UX Designer,

    Producer, Photographer, and...

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    Alan Segal

    On staff with creative agencies from New York to New Zealand (Saatchi & Saatchi, Chiat\Day, and McCann) or in-house for Fortune 500 enterprises including Walmart.com, I balance problem solving and design thinking with hands-on skills to develop media that works for my clients.

    Doing business as The Offswitch since '01, I've worked as creative director, producer, writer/content strategist, art director/visual designer, and website developer. I assemble virtual project teams as needed, working directly for clients or through their marketing agencies.

    In '12-13, I was Digital CD at Saatchi & Saatchi X (P&G, Quaker). In '14, I managed content and design as Executive CD with Corporate Visions (AT&T, Motorola, Cisco, others). And from 2015 through 2021, I worked in-house with Charles Schwab and Wells Fargo as a senior content designer to develop cutting-edge digital experiences, products, and services on both mobile and desktop platforms.

     

  • PROFESSIONAL SERVICES OFFERED BY THE OFFSWITCH

    From Strategy to the Finer Points of User-Centered Content Design, Art Direction & Production

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    COMMUNICATION STRATEGY & PLANNING

    To start, let's talk — assess your situation, and clarify your business objectives and communication needs. Once our strategy is set, we'll agree upon a project plan — a scope of work, schedule, creative brief, and budget — to hit your objectives. We'll truly partner with you, not just tell you what you want to hear (unless it also happens to be the truth). Our clients appreciate our deep experience, radical candor, and realism, leading to smart and effective work delivered on time and budget.

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    CONTENT STRATEGY & COPYWRITING

    Messaging matters. Content is king, from naming and information architecture to headlines, taglines, and the simplest phrasing of calls-to-action. Of course, words can have deep, various meanings — and impact. So, what we edit out may be just as important a strategic decision as what we leave in. Taking great care to craft the right content in the right context, we'll tell your story with a mix of wit and wisdom — humanity and authority — building emotional connections between your brand and your audience.

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    EXPERIENCE DESIGN & ART DIRECTION

    We create attractive, effective user experiences and visual designs that maximize your message and media investments. There's no medium or visual challenge — big or small — we haven't seen before, from art-directing sublime fashion ads for Saks Fifth Avenue, to designing the first Toyota.com, animating infographics and data visualization, developing mobile apps and ecommerce for Fortune 50 brands, and more.

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    PHOTOGRAPHY, ILLUSTRATION & BRAND IMAGERY

    Whether your brand needs original photography, stock images custom-altered for your needs, or other compelling visuals from hand-painted to vector-based, we're masters at giving your business a unique, memorable, and good-looking face. We have created dozens of singular photomontages and brand-iconic images for clients over the years — and pride ourselves on staying current with techniques and technologies including artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance visual impact.

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    TECHNICAL PRODUCTION

    Whatever the medium or business need, we have the technical resources (or know the right vendors) to execute your campaign, launch your site, or deploy your app. From launching database-driven marketing and media campaigns to developing content-rich sites and apps with ecommerce and social APIs, we can do it (and do it well) — so you don't have to.

  • CLIENTS PAST & PRESENT

    Financial/Professional: Charles Schwab, Wells Fargo, MasterCard, CapGemini, Union Bank

    Tech/Energy: Google, Microsoft, Logitech, SanDisk, Sun, HP, Intershop, Autodesk, Cittio, CygNet, EFUEL

    Automotive: Nissan/Infiniti, Toyota/Scion, Mitsubishi, AAA, National Car Rental, eBay Motors

    Telecom/Media: Samsung, AT&T, Telecom New Zealand, Qwest, DirecTV, Cricket

    Retail/Ecommerce: Walmart.com, Peets.com, Saks Fifth Avenue, Teleflora, LandsEnd.com

    Consumer Goods: Kellogg's, P&G (Gillette, Pantene, Old Spice, others), Quaker

    Nonprofit: IFP/Gotham Awards, SF Parks Trust, Community Action Marin, Tamalpais-Strawberry Preschools, SPARK Foundation, ArtSFest, Classical Recording Foundation, EdventureMore

    Education: Art Institute of CA-San Francisco, SF State, SkillSoft

    Healthcare/Pharma: Roche, Boehringer Ingelheim, Accu-Chek (J&J)

    Web/Online Services: eBay, Acclaim Subscriptions, Habitudes.info, Blurb.com

     

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