Professional Profile

I am an enthusiastic, open-minded and professional Graphic and Web Designer with great experience in the Printing and Brand Marketing Industries, Web Design and Web Technologies, who enjoys being part of, as well as leading, a successful and productive team. Quick-learner with a very positive and professional attitude which allows me to grasp new ideas and concepts quickly, and to develop innovative and creative solutions to problems. I'm able to work well on my own initiative and can demonstrate the high levels of motivation required to meet the tightest of deadlines. Even under significant pressure, I possess a strong ability to perform effectively. Non-smoking person able to overwork if job requires. Good ability, aquired in advertising works, to analyse and build the psychological profile of the client in purpose of meeting their needs.

Objective

Now, I am looking to build on my extensive range of technical skills within a suitable challenging role. Looking forward to enhance further professional development and with clearly defined objective of unleashing the boundaries that limit my creativity and knowledge and also the limits of the country where I'm not able to give my best. Ready to prove myself over the Internet, if its needed, to make the first step in bigger engagements and assure employmers that there is no doubt about their decision.

Web & Graphic Design

Photoshop is the program which probably follows me every day, on every place in last 14 years. It doesn't matter if I am on holiday, editing photos or at work or I'm just at home and designing some invitation for me or my friends, Photoshop is always around. The first version I used was v4.0 and every other version I waited with lots excitement and after widely exploited. During the time I found myself completely working with shortcuts. I am in process of preparing some tutorials which I will put on youtube soon.

As a hardcore Corel Draw user, it was hard to me to accept Illustrator as a main vector editing tool. But in last 6-7 years, since Adobe started with releasing Creative Suite collections I was "forced" to start using it. Now I'm enjoying its tools almost as Photoshop's.

Sometimes I regret because I started and stayed on ActionScript v2, but actually I can't find any common problem which can't be resolvable with this version. Sometimes it's a full Flash sites, but usually it just help me to give life to some parts of the site or make some banners.

Whoever worked with HTML/CSS editing knows that it is impossible to work in WYSIWYG systems. If you ask me, Dreamweaver is mostly used as HTML editor. Almost never turning Design Mode. On the other side, there is always free application as Notepad++ or Firebug add-on for FireFox which usually gives me better controling and making of preview of sites, so in quick "repairs" I usually do not turn on Dreamweaver at all.

Good experience with both & all new revisions.

As a beginner, I usually used CMS systems as a easiest way to create websites. Now, I rather start from the blank, but still think that Joomla and WordPress can be very usefull if the clients need their own site managment.

Several Shops made in this systems and many modifications in them. Very powerful CMSs for quick begining of online trade.

Still not perfect in this, but currently in the process of learning. Now I realize that many things I could do easier and without help of Adobe Flash.

Similar situation here. Without these two, today it's hard to say that you are in web designing & developing.

Many texts read on these theme. But I am sure that I know how to optimize code for web crawlers, how to submit sites and, of course, ways to bring it closer to top of the search engines. Google Analytics and Web Master Tools are my familiar enviroments.

Pre-press

Similar interface as in all other Adobe's products makes experienced user to easy get throught it. Was same for me.

I've used it for a year.

My first vector software and first graphic software generally I've started using it when version 6 appeared 16 years ago. Finding myself very proficient in this, but I am using it less frequently lately since Adobe Illustrator started to be my main software for vector drawing. Anyway I still think that some things could be easier done in CorelDRAW.

Very expensive and not so much used imposition software. During my career I used it for fast and good book imposing and preparing print plates for imaging.

Other

One of my first love in life are movie special effects. But I went in some other direction. Anyway, I had chance to work with this Adobe's product and to do some simple projects.

During my filmmaking phase, I've used Premiere Pro for video editing. I found it as a simplified version of Photoshop for moving images. As in all other Adobe's product, very experienced and very proficient with interface.

Very simple piece of software, but very powerful in combination with other Adobe's product, for DVD authorizing. Done plenty of DVD menus in it.

Also one of my first loves. Maybe not so good in animation, but for modelling and texturing, I'm far better then average user.

And without Microsoft's most popular office suite of application, I didn't want to finish this list. Anyway, I had experience in working with it starting from Word, Excel, Powerpoint, over the Access and Publisher, then to making some simple VB scripts for extending their capabilities.

The list is not definite. There are many applications which expand my abilities and make my work faster and easier like many Photoshop plugins (Alien Skin Xenofex, Eye Candy 4000, Noise Ninja, some AV Bros plugins etc.), Acrobat plugins (Quite Imposing and Box of Tricks and unsurpassed Enfocus PitStop) or software for video editing (TMPEGenc, Virtual Dub), or little helping graphic tools like Cool 3D, everyday file manager Total Commander (which I have been using since DOS version), font managers as Extensis Suitcase, Abby FineReader for the best OCR results, software for sound editing, system care and many others.
In the end - It's not so much the software, as the talent behind it. However, I am extremely keen and willing to undertake any further training in order to develop and improve on my existing skills and experience.

Monthly advertising magazine in Belgrade. Offering advertising in forms of TV advertising, newspaper adverts, company memorandums, company calendars, business cards, posters, billboards and many other. During the 10 years of the its business the company has never received any complaints, always meeting the schedules and deadlines, achieved by my imposing discipline and management to ensure punctuality and dedication of the workforce. I worked as a part of the whole system (commercialist, designer, delivery system organization). Required the big assistence of IT Skills in using Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw and Microsoft Office products. Established good relationships with other colleagues and Partners in the business as well as clients who recommended my advertising services to other companies.

I started to work as a professional photo editor in the biggest Belgrade Photo Shop. In that time Adobe Photoshop reached the version 5.0 and definitely became the best software for image editing. My job was to retouch the photos, adjust the color balance, sharpening details and very often to have challenges such making skin softer on models photography, removing or adding elements or persons on the scene, making people (usually Serbian celebrities) younger, adding the hair, removing dewlaps and flattening the faces. That position enabled me to met the first generations of digital cameras, professional photography and learn the best tricks from the greatest Belgrade photographers.

Belgrade's printing company orientated on business cards, memorandums, accounts etc. First touch with techonology of printing on T-shirts, lighters, pens. That company also was specialized in badge production.

One of the biggest Design Studio in Belgrade. Works with Delta company, Banca Intesa, Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler Serbia, FedEx, BFPE (Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence) and some big Serbian companies like GSP (City Transport), Partner-inzenjering, EUnet etc. My job consisted of graphic design, packaging design, working with film and CTP technologies, inventing interesting promo-materials (like changeable mousepads, cube-notebooks, exclusive envelopes, unusual boxes etc.)

The main Serbian advertising company. Publishing two weekly magazines - one for car selling and the other for selling real estates. Worked like the main operator in the graphic studio where I showed my abilities to lead the team and organize the work. I rebranded both of the magazines giving them new look & feel. Also I helped on site creating and logical structuring.

Company with very long tradition in printing industry. Founded meny decades ago since it worked with old scanners for filming, but now, with hi-tech equipment stands for the best graphic studio which offers, beside designing, CTP technology services. Among the creative works, my duty was also to prepare files for print plates, imposing books, working with RIP etc.

Located in the center of the Belgrade, the graphic studio with very busy enviroment. Oriented to print and web design. Working mostly with clients who had short terms as their priority. Probably the most dynamic and most interesting work place in my career. Quit working due the relocating in Britain.

Worked on several projects for them. The biggest one was multimedia presentation on CD done in Adobe Flash about life and work of our late patriarch Pavle, Head of The Serbian Orthodox Church. Tha last one was a photographing, stitching and creating the virtual presentation with 360-degree panoramas for Serbian Monastery Fenek

Education And Training Attainments

2008 Course of hand drawing and sketching

2008 Training for Computer Network Systems and Installing VoIP devices in Balkan VoIP Company

2007 Adobe Flash training course by Istok (Belgrade)

2006-2007 Belgrade Academic Film Center – Film Directing Course

2005 Blind Typing Course

1999-2001 Belgrade University of Technical Science – area: New Computer Science
Sample modules: Applicative Software (AutoCAD and MS Office), Databases (MS Access and MySQL), Hardware (Printers and Power units), Multimedia Software (HTML, Flash), Programming (C++), Networking, Operating Systems, Math etc.
Graduated on Multimedia Designing.

1995-1999 Electrotechnical High School
Graduated from Analogue-Digital Conversions

• During my professional career I had the opportunity to work with some very famous world's and Serbian brands which gave me their unconditional trust earned during my work for them. Some of them are: Serbian Orthodox Church, USAID, Mercedes Benz, Handball Union of Serbia, EUnet, Pharmanova, Pexim, Modni studio Gajić, BFPE, Banca Intesa, Delta Generali, FedEx Srbija, Apple in Serbia and many more.
• I was involved in the editing and publishing of a school magazine when I was 15 years old and since then i found out that I have creative flare when it comes to graphic design. That job let me have the first touch with vector drawing (in that time very popular Corel Draw 6) and bitmap editing (Adobe Photoshop 4.0).
• My experience and love for photography brought me right to the top of Desktop publishing. The combination of vector graphic knowledge and bitmap editing software made printing theory easily accessible and very soon made me confident enough in the eyes of my employers to make my tasks more challengeable (from business cards, one-color forms, simple flyers to brochures, billboards, catalogues, package, etc).
• I designed City Transport tickets which were in use for 4 years and many people found that their design really represented the image of Belgrade. Tickets were in everyday use by 3 million commuters.
• If the project gives me more freedom in design, I like to use unusual designs. The best example is the tour campaign of the band I used to play with. The unique image of the tickets, posters and flyers had more attention than our music! The booklet for our demo CD was a big hit too. Parodying the bands which represented the genre of music we played, people immediately knew what kind of product they were buying.
• Another exhibitionist type of work was on Movie Directing course which I finished few years ago. For promoting the final graduating works in that school I made the posters and also a little exibition in the cinema hall with screenshots from movies, describing the plot and presenting the authors. I made DVD (with designed menus in Adobe Encore) with prints on disk layout, DVD covers and little brochures in it. My movie was the winner in the class selection. I made the documentary movie about my bend, where I used a lot of static photos which was specially adapted to follow the visual style of whole movie.
• I worked with some of the biggest companies in Serbia as well as worldwide where the jobs were strictly defined following the corporate identity manual. I have always met the criteria and delivered to the highest standards. I also assisted to less experienced employees on press machines to successfully find adequate color replacement if the color producer is not presented in the region.
• In my career I made many corporate logos. SPAUST logo for Italian company, SKZ MERANO for Serbo-Italian and NDS Cartrends logo for German seller are the some of my favorite.
• I've created the official multimedia disk about life and work of our late patriarch Pavle, Head of The Serbian Orthodox Church.
• Working in desktop publishing requires at least knowing something about the relations in costs between materials. The prices may differ from seller to seller, but in case when I have all needed information I can calculate the final price and approximately time needed to finish the job. I am able to find the best solution to lower the costs and if the client is unsure what is the best solution for his company I am able to present the items which will affect the price in positive or negative way. If I have access to company stock, I am able to decide what of the goods are scarce and to make right order according to the needs
• In previous period I have worked with all type of design, starting from simple corporate styles with block objects, over the colorfully and childish look to specific styles like grungy and dirty arts or, now very popular, floral, pattern designs. Since I finished a course of hand drawing it helps me expand my creativity more and in the case I need clipart or sketch I can do it by myself. In the same way I can adapt the designs to the type of press and to variation of surface. I have usually worked with the most often types of printing - screen and offset. But I also have experience with other types like relief print (which I still like to use for getting luxuries effects), etc. I expertise making the paper die cut forms for creating boxes and other types of packaging.
• It is my belief that I possess very good communication skills and have the ability to communicate with individuals on all levels, irrespective of their age, cultural background, differences etc. I enjoy working as part of a team and am of the opinion that the skills and experiences of each individual only serve to enhance team performance and in doing so create and maintain an efficient and effective team. It is also my opinion that a crucial part of my role is to value and respect the contributions and opinions of my colleagues and to demonstrate a high level of respect at all times. I consider myself to be a team player and enjoy working as part of the team as well as using my own initiative.
• One of my favorite hobbies is photographing. I like the play of shadows, highlighting in dark ambient and experimenting with long exposition. I was the official photographer to several Belgrade music bends and photographing of live concerts and shows is my biggest passion. I have a small studio at home where I get good diffuse lightning with one box two lamps and a few papers. With small handy tripod and my digital camera I am able to make pictures which look like they were made in a professional studios.
• I am very proficient in computer hardware, detecting failures, replacing the parts of the system and installing new hardware. I've never had problems with hardware usage and I have a lot of experience with scanner and printers in range of home to professional. Also I am able to adjust setting to make hardware work the best optimized and to give the best results (calibrating devices, adjusting descreen options, setting the tone curve etc). Also, I have expanded knowledge of computer networking and setting up small office network (LAN).
• I have been interested in IT since I was 7 years old (in 1987 I started with ZX Spectrum) and that knowledge and experience enables me to easy resolve and define any problem which can be found in computer systems.
• I have high skills in Multimedia area (combining graphic, video and sound in interactive presentations). Wide range of knowledge and theory in any aspect of digital graphic, video and sound and also understanding and having experience with 3D Design, Programming, Database applications, Hardware, Electronics and many hours behind me in experimenting with new information technologies.
• I play the bass-guitar

My Videos

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• One Day with Telenor (2008)
• Inside the B-Side (2007)
• Zvezdane staze (2006)
• Zvezdane staze (edit) (2006)
• Rock'n'Roll in Belgrade during the Sixties (2010)