things I do / stuff I like
Hey. I’m Ziad. I’m cool and I design stuff, and I help other cool people to design stuff too.
I’m currently taking on limited freelance projects while looking for a full-time gig. If your company is looking for a Creative Director (or Head of Brand, Head of Design, HMFIC, or whatever you want to call me) please jump to my portfolio, resume and client list.
( Pssst…If you’re looking for my 100 Day Project, look here. )
Occasionally communicating in the third-person to make him seem much more important than he really is, Mr. Ezzat is a visual designer and creative team leader with a degree in Economics. Wait, what?
Until quite recently, he served as Creative Director for an asset management firm in San Francisco and lives in scenic Oakland with his lovely wife and their three ridiculously demanding cats.
In addition to design and economics, his personal interests include reading, music, motorcycling, photography, travel, cats, and oxford commas.
You probably know what a graphic designer is, but what in the wide, wide world of sports is a Creative Director?
A symphony conductor of sorts, sans the tux. And the applause. And the timpani. Damn it.
Lack of orchestra not withstanding, I lead teams of designers, developers, illustrators, photographers, video producers, marketers, copywriters, editors, and all sorts of other wacky creative types into making beautiful things together.
I make strategic decisions to help my team create the strongest work possible within the ubiquitous, often ridiculous constraints of time and budget.
I preach the brand. I police the brand. I am the brand.
I get my hands dirty. I push pixels, write copy, code html/css/php/js/rofl/jk/lol. I crop, nudge, filter, and blur. I live and breathe Adobe Creative Cloud. I dream in CMYK. I bleed 1/8″ on all sides.
I research everything. I stare at cool stuff. I read all the blogs—that’s right, all of them. I keep up with the trends. I avoid the fads. I consume as much beautiful design work I possibly can in order to create the most beautiful design work I possibly can.
At work, I herd cats figuratively—at home, literally.
While it’s likely clear by now that don’t take myself too seriously, I take my work very seriously. I truly love doing what I do, and after umpteen years I still get a rush from wowing colleagues and clients with something new they didn’t expect, or teaching my team all the tricks and techniques I’ve learned and honed over the centuries. I hope that love and obsession reflects in my portfolio.
Salient Partners is an asset management firm with approximately $14 billion in assets under management. Based in Houston, Texas, Salient also has offices in San Francisco and New York.
Epsilon Theory is Dr. Ben Hunt’s ongoing examination of the narrative machine driving human behavior, political policy and, ultimately, capital markets. Peppered with personal anecdotes and pop culture references, the Epsilon Theory newsletter, website, and podcast never fall short of insightful and entertaining.
We unveiled this branding internally at a firm-wide event in Houston in January 2017. You can take a peek behind the curtain at the story and design rationale here:
Forward was an asset management firm based in San Francisco with approximately $5 billion under management. It was founded in 1998 and acquired by Salient Partners in 2015.
Linzee International was a commercial printing, mailing, and design agency. Linzee served organizations of all types and sizes, from small, local non-profits to global, Fortune 100 firms.
