I started 'Make the Day' in order to bring my creativity to the community space. An artist born in USA, now based in Aarhus. I've lived in Denmark for over a decade. I speak English and Danish fluently. There are no limits to our creativity when we make the day together! Say hello, just reach out for bookings and inquiries below.
Hej, I'm Day
Professional Competencies
• Visual concept development and storytelling
• Illustration and graphic design for print and digital
• Aerial hoop, fire and LED performer
• Adobe Creative Suite, Sketch, Invision, Figma
• UX and UI design
• Digital rapid prototyping
• Animation, motion and interaction design
• Copywriting: creative and UX/UI
• Creative digital marketing strategy
• Conceptualizing, organizing, leading events
• Hand drawing, painting, and all physical visual arts
Education
2010 - 2014
University of Florida
B.Sc. Advertising // Concentration in graphic design
Professional Experience
2023 - 2024
Aarhus Women's Shelter
Volunteer
2021 - 2024
Wunderman Thompson MAP (now VML)
Digital Designer
2020 - 2021
Bain & Company
Digital Designer
2019 - 2020
In June 2019 I decided to take my creativity and apply it to the work day flow, or as I like to think of it 'People UX'. As Chief of Happiness at Vertical Strategy I focused on the people behind the innovation, how their working methods could be optimized for creativity and collaboration. My biggest project was the complete redesign of Vertical HQ. I also focused heavily on our company culture by organizing meaningful and fun team building events along with creating opportunities during the workday for bonding. Our team's wellbeing is paramount to our success so as light-hearted as Chief of Happiness may sound, it has some serious benefits!
Vertical Strategy
Chief of Happiness
2017 - 2019
Advice A/S
Digital Art Director
2015 - 2017
Vertic A/S
Junior Designer & Copy Writer
2014
Creuna A/S
Art Director Intern
2012 - 2014
Miss Dayna's Private Art School
Owner // Teacher
2023 - Present
Make The Day
Owner / Designer / Artist
I started 'Make the Day' in order to bring my experience and creative vision to the cultural community space. As a freelance designer, performer, and event creator based in Aarhus I work primarily with cultural organizations such as KØN Museum and Institut for (X).
I am volunteering as support for the women and their children who live in the center for women who have suffered domestic violence. I have been paired with a woman, out of mutual interest, as her mentor and moral support.
With the brain of a consultancy and the heart of an agency, we are a digital leader focused on developing advanced marketing solutions for some of the most admired brands including, The International Olympics Committee, HBO, SAS, and more. I am the lead designer for our client Klarna, a Swedish bank and digital shopping platform. Working closely with their global brand team, we design marketing campaigns that deliver results on their targets by testing, measuring, and applying data-driven design choices to our campaigns. Walking the line between the Klarna brand guide and pushing the creativity of the messaging to excite the consumer is part of my daily fun!
As a digital designer on Bain’s innovation team called ADAPT, I lead the design role on fast-paced projects working closely with technologists, engineers and digital leaders, to conceive and develop entirely new products, services and experiences for global brands. Fast-paced design of the components needed to test hypothesis in the market; new brand identities, advertisements, websites, apps. Consulting on design strategy of new business ventures and digital products. Design execution for MVPs Conducting user research interviews
I work on a talented and experienced digital design team that handles both commercial and public clients on projects large and small. I work with Sketch, Figma, and Invision along with the Adobe Creative Suite to take projects from conceptualization to launch. On certain projects I enjoy full responsibility for the direction, design, and communicating the creative vision to the clients directly, while on other projects I work as a part of a team. I was the lead designer for Bristol Myers-Squibb, who we developed a range of products for including an identity for their immuno-oncology line. My tasks range from designing websites and other digital products to developing brand identities from the bottom up to designing full campaign packages. The kinds of projects include; corporate sites, web based applications, mini-campaign sites, e-commerce sites, mobile apps, social media assets, animations and more.
As a designer and copywriter at Vertic, I developed concepts for digital marketing and digital SaaS products for the tech, pharma, and healthcare industries. Created concepts and designed for VR, AR, Apps for mobile and tablet, corporate websites, complex web applications, web banners, and more. Successfully pitched ideas and projects to potential clients. Worked with global brands such as SAP, GE, Maersk, Novo Nordisk, SimCorp, Eli Lilly, Danfoss, and more. Consulted on UX and problem solving for complex web applications like SimCorp E-learning and Danfoss City. Created the name, concept, and wrote copy for the ‘Go with Maersk’ graduate program. Client facing for all phases of the projects, from pitching to presenting, taking feedback, and working with the client to achieve their vision.
References
"When Dayna came into the SimCorp project a month into a quite chaotic design phase she really turned the design phase around. From the first designs, she kept a critical mindset that ensure that potential errors were spotted and avoided at an early stage. On SimCorp this is crucial because of the complexity of the solution, so this has really had a positive impact on the timeline. On top of that, I am very pleased with the quality of the design that Dayna provides. So is the client, and he is no pushover."
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- Patrick Meyer, Project Manager
"Beyond the visual design elements, I valued your contribution in refining the messaging - both as a sparring partner and independently. This is a particularly useful skill when dealing with the nuanced language of pharma marketing, and I was impressed how quickly you were able to pick up the subtle differences in this kind of messaging. Finally, due to the lack of resources on the PM side, I asked you to join in the pitch call to assist me in walking the client through the final design and concept. For me, this was perhaps your most impressive contribution to this pitch, as a good design or concept can fall flat if it is not presented eloquently. Without having much client facing experience you articulately presented your sections with confidence so that the client understood the rationale behind the designs, messaging and chosen tactics.
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All in all, I very much valued your contribution to winning this pitch with Genzyme as it is a large campaign and an important account for Vertic. Most of all, I appreciated your ability to go beyond the visual design and contribute further to the overall pitch, including interacting with the client. I look forward to pulling you into future client pitches this year"
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- Christopher Hedquist, Senior Account Manager
