About Me
I named this page "About Me," because I thought you may want to really know a little bit about me personally and my thoughts about design and marketing.
About Me Personally
I'm a wife to a great guy for 30 years and mom to two Millennial children—one son and one daughter. I am lucky to have both my parents in good health and sound mind.
Don't believe everything written about the Millennial generation. Both our kids are independent, fun, responsible, working, full-time adults. They keep my husband and I current on how to talk, act and not become two old fogies. Which is very helpful in my line of work!
I have to admit, I am passionate about the creative side of life. Whether it's a brilliant novel, lovely flower, nice glass of wine, or just sitting in a public park and watching folks go by.
My office/home is located just outside of Philadelphia, PA. I love Philly, I am not native to Philly, but I have grown to love it. Philly definitely lives in the shadow of NYC, which is really a shame because our theater, museums and sports teams...ROCK!
2008! Phillies Win the World Series! We are there! Crazy exciting!
Hmm, did I mention I love baseball. Here's why I love baseball, it's so mathematical! 9 innings, 9 players, 3 innings, 3 strikes, 3 bases...it goes on and on. To me, it's not a slow game, there is always something going on. Pitching, catching, swinging, batting, running the bases, etc. And, the most unusual feature of baseball, is that the managers and coaches wear a baseball uniform, just like the players! Imagine if other sports' coaches showed up dressed like the players—football! basketball!—that would be really weird.
About Me and My Road to Graphic Design
My vocation is graphic design, but my avocation is painting (oils). I graduated from Temple University Tyler School of Art with a concentration in Painting. Well, one thing led to another and I ended up working for a small graphic design firm in Philadelphia soon after graduation.
Looking back, I never really enjoyed the days of cutting, pasting and darkrooms. It is so crazy, cuz today in 8 hours, I can do the work that required 10 designers 3 days to complete in the 1980s! Honestly, I love designing more today than ever. So many options, so many tools. It's pretty awesome.
I eventually ended up running art departments within corporate marketing departments . NutriSystem, Penn Mutual Life Insurance and Mercer Consulting. When I discovered that I could do this designing thing on my own, I used my corporate network and started my design business.
It's been a pretty cool run. Lots of changes and developments over the years. In 2013, I partnered with Hubspot and that was a big step forward. Designing for inbound marketing is a great avenue for me, as I hate waste, commercials, and anything spammy!
About Me Professionally
Today, my design clients are mostly corporate and financial. Graphic design is at the heart of all my work. Because, no matter how you dice it or slice it, from logos to social media, to powerpoint images to website design. It all comes down to thoughtful, meaningful design. I take pride in the quality of my work. I take pride in getting to know my clients and their audience. Mostly, my work is about communicating the right message to the right folks.
I am thankful to all my clients, past and present, who have allowed me to be part of their business. I look forward to new challenges, new technologies and most certainly new clients!
Fine Art - My Journey Back to Painting & Sketching
After many years away from the painting easel, I rebooted my passion for oil painting & sketching in 2016. Since rejoining the art community I have built a fine art following, sold paintings, been blessed with awards & honorariums and rekindled my zeal for making art. It has been an honor to serve so many people with my art.
I'd love for you to take a peak at my artist website - https://christinatarkoff.com
““I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with Christina Tarkoff over the years. We’ve used Christina for print and digital design for my company, and had such a good experience, that we now refer her services to our client base of financial advisors as well. She’s a true pleasure to work with! Very flexible, creative and client-focused.””
““Art of Inbound has partnered with us to target & streamline our marketing efforts. We have decreased our monthly marketing spend and increased new customers. We can now track our ROI so that we don’t waste our time and our money.””
““Christina delivers targeted creative design services — on time and within budget, every time. Strategy to concept development to execution... Christina has what it takes to get the job done right. From establishing brand guidelines to developing out-of-the-box ad concepts, PowerPoint templates, logos/icons and other marketing- and lead generation-focused design/layout initiatives, Christina is reliable, easy to work with, responsive and a great resource to know. I strongly recommend Christina for the full compliment of marketing communications and creative design services.””
“Christina went above and beyond to find out what we were looking for, which would have been difficult for other designers, because at times we weren’t sure how to describe what we wanted. Christina made several logo suggestions to us, ones that we asked, and some that she thought would be appropriate and her suggestion to do something just a bit different than we asked hit the nail on the head.
In all, Christina designed our logo, website, letterhead, business cards and a brochure for new and prospective clients describing our firm. Her work ethic and desire to go above and beyond provided us with great materials. Many clients have commented on the professional website and brochures we have with her help.
Christina was also very friendly and professional through this entire process, and even after. It is always a pleasure to hear from her, and just recently she helped us by changing our logo to fit technical specifications to apply on client statements. She is fast, efficient, and always reliable.
I highly recommend Christina to anyone looking for help with branding their firm through websites, logos, etc.””
““Christina has developed our logo, marketing materials and website. I highly recommend her services – she has used her creative skills and understanding of our business to create institutional quality work. She is very responsive and has met deadlines and delivery requirements. Oh- and her rates are VERY competitive…””
““Christina is very professional and dependable. She provides design ideas for our annual report covers each year. She is willing to listen to our ideas and always comes through with a creative design even though she’s been helping us for over 10 years!””