Market Refined Media & Publishing : Meet MRM: Carol Poortvliet

Hi I’m Carol: God girl, grace lover, Apple loyalist, jigsaw puzzle enthusiast and frequent connoisseur of Haagen Dazs chocolate ice cream.

I’m a simple small-town, country girl with a passion for honest hard work and Jesus. I was born and raised in rural North Carolina and now live in Greensboro, NC with my husband and two teenage daughters.

I’m a very detailed oriented person, love being organized and drool over office supplies. I get excited when school supplies start to fill the store aisles in early August. I’m also a perfectionist.

Professionally I have worked as a graphic designer for universities, commercial printers and design firms. In 1999 I became a full-time freelance designer so I could be a stay-at-home mom. During those freelance years, I worked mainly with individuals in ministries across the U.S. I began working with Mandy Roberson around 2017. And while I have been blessed to create for so many wonderful clients over the years, I like collaborating with the other MRM team members to produce top-notch products under the MRM name. I pride myself on listening to our clients and finding creative ways to meet their needs.

Her Specialties

Currently my MRM specialties include website design, social media graphics and printer-ready pieces such as PDFs and author one-sheets. Print work is my passion and I hope to have more opportunity to create promo and publishing pieces.

I’ve worked in the design industry for almost 30 years, always as a designer but in a variety of settings such as commercial printing, university marketing departments and small design firms. One big change during my time, though not surprising, is the move from graphics created by hand to predominantly computer-created graphics.

Another big change, again not surprising, is the move from print graphics to web graphics. With the introduction of the internet to a broad population, the need for printed material reduced drastically, bringing a decline in published materials (magazines, books, educational brochures/manuals, etc). This has really impacted how designers think and create.

I have a heart for women to recognize their significance and that God has created them and loves them with an everlasting love.

Her Recent Projects

Tracy Steel website – site design
Wendy Pope “Hidden Potential” book release – book webpage design
Patricia Holbrook “12 Inches” Bible study release – study launch page
Coming Alive Ministries website – created site graphics
Abby McDonald “Shift” book release – book webpage design
Julie Sanders website & logo – design
Tracy Steel “A Redesigned Life” book release – book webpage design
Dana Wrinkle website – site design and social media cover graphics
Wendy Pope Word Up website and logo – site design, logo design and social media cover graphics

Her Education & Training

I have a B.A. in Art with a concentration in graphic design from Meredith College. But since computers were just being introduced in the design field my senior year, much of my technical knowledge and skill is self-taught. With almost 30 years of professional experience in the design industry and a wide variety of design roles, I’ve garnered a lot of design, computer and printing knowledge. During college I worked as a traditional typesetter where I developed my love of fonts. I’m a stickler for letter spacing and kerning. My experience in commercial printing helped me to understand the steps necessary for a design concept to become a finished product. And working in a university environment really molded my understanding of marketing and communications. It also gave me the opportunity to work alongside distance learning educators where I gained basic html and website development skills. My most rewarding professional experience, outside of owning my own freelance business, was my position as a graphic designer in the marketing department at Regent University. There I gained a true sense of how God could and would use my design skills to help others grow in their relationship with Christ.

I’ve attended numerous conferences and seminars over the years in print and web design, color application, Photoshop and marketing. I primarily create in Photoshop, InDesign, QuarkXpress and Illustrator.

I don’t follow many specific designers but rather browse the web periodically to see what styles are trending and appealing. Some of those that I follow are:

Dineen Miller, graphic designer
abduzeedo.com
creativebloq.com
Print Magazine
VivaLaViolet.com

Little Known Facts About Her

I met my husband online when a friend posted my “profile” on an online billboard at Seattle Pacific University where my husband was the school newspaper editor. I was working at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. My husband did not realize I lived 3000 miles away and invited me to get coffee.
I love jigsaw puzzles and when I have the time, I will complete 1-2 large ones per week. Puzzles help to reign in my mind that is constantly in gear.
I love the beach, but hate the sand and heat. I would be perfectly content to spend the day enjoying the ocean from a deck or balcony or large picture window.