How We’re Linked/How it Works (The New Business Model)

We’re the next generation of business. 100% digital. Our tribe is connected through centralized web based servers, a project management system, visual ftps, video chat, phones and telepathically. Well, maybe not telepathically, but we’re connected. We just don’t share a bathroom, a coffee maker, and brick and mortar. Nobody seems to miss having a cubicle. Creativity doesn’t happen in a cubicle.

What does this do for you, our esteemed client? We’re not spending money on an office, so we’re able to offer you highly competitive pricing. We’re also able to pay our creatives more than your average agency would, resulting in top quality employees who provide lightning fast turnaround. We collect the best and work to keep them happy and growing.

Message from Ann Macdonald: Welcome to the new site and the launch of Rouge24! As you may have read, we’re a 100% web-based design shop. And we run our schedule in a slightly different way than the traditional design shops. We realized that our people with the client relationships do their best work during daylight hours and prefer to work a traditional schedule. Our creatives on the other hand, seem to be the happiest and most productive at night. Thus, the path of least resistance seems like it’s an excellent fit for everyone, both clients and staff. Have a look around, and thank you for taking the time to visit!

Bios

Ann Macdonald, Founder and Chief Creative Officer
Ann has nearly 15 years of experience as a design and development maven working across the diverse but related fields of advertising, package design, 3D artistry, interior design, and magazine editorial design. She’s worked as a Creative Director or Art Director for such companies as Rodale Press, Atlanta Magazine, Cartoon Network, and WordWorld LLC. Recent and current clients include Wal-Mart, DirectTV, Dell, Hyatt and Kirin. Ann is known for assembling crack teams of Creatives willing to go the extra mile. She is drawn to colleagues and clients who possess cross disciplinary knowledge and thirst for more. When immersed in any project, Ann’s diversity of interests and skills all work together to form a more balanced whole, providing unique and top notch results.

Ann holds a degree in Graphic Design from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She currently resides in North Carolina with her three dogs, but you never know where you may find her. In her spare time, Ann may be on a long hike in the woods or designing and building a new home!

Diana Projansky, Director of Production and Business Development:
Diana has over 10 years of experience leading creative production teams from the product concept development phase all the way through to on-shelf final product. Her production teams are known for bringing projects to fruition on-time and on budget without sacrificing the magic of the product along the way. Much of her experience is in the kid’s interactive space, and she has produced games, toys, and video for such companies as Sesame Workshop, Scholastic, and Fisher Price/Mattel. Diana has spent considerable time forging new partnerships with both vendors and clients and sourcing new technologies to help her team increase their productivity and creative ideation. She has a background in psychology, research, and education from Purchase College and Fordham University.

In her spare time, she is avid yoga practioner, consistently turning upside down for a brand new perspective on the world. Diana resides in NYC with her husband, two cats and impending daughter.

Testimonials

• Ann is a thoroughly professional director with a cool detail-oriented 
  approach to creating under tight deadline. If you want to make it 
  through a tough situation, you want this true team leader working at 
  your side calmly juggling several projects simultaneously while 
  creating spectacular design solutions. The bottom line: she is a 
  seasoned director who knows how to deal with any design situation with 
  humor, resourcefulness and superior technical insight and skill.  May 
  13, 2008
  - Graham Halky , Creative Director , Word World
  
  
• Ann was a pleasure to work with at WordWorld as she is not only extremely creative, but talented and determined to succeed with any project put on her plate. She is a visionary with extensive experience in branding, creative direction, consumer marketing, publishing, etc.  Her creative expertise in what's required to execute coupled with her organizational skills (and humor!) make working with her truly delightful.  I would work with Ann on any and all future projects. January 5, 2009
  Jessica L. Hopp, Licensing Director, WordWorld, LLC

• Ann is a dream to work with. She's brilliant, insanely hardworking, 
  and she brings out the best in all those around her. I am privileged 
  to count her as a client and as a friend, and I would work with her 
  again in a heartbeat.  March 12, 2009
  - Amy Bogda , Creative Consultant , Ann Macdonald Design
  
  
• I cannot recommend Ann highly enough as an art director and designer. She is talented, hard-working and unflappable. I’ve worked with Ann on staff at a monthly magazine (Atlanta Magazine) as well as created a startup with her (Cartoon Network Magazine). She is a rare breed of designer who is both immensely talented and ego-less. By this I mean she is adroit at turning a creative, editorial discussion into a spectacular visual rendition of those ideas. However, when issues come up, or things need to be changed for editorial clarity, she makes the changes without a creative battle. She has the rare skill of being able to assert her creative voice while keeping the goal (a successful, strong finished product) at the forefront. If you’ve ever worked with a diva creative director, you know what I’m getting at: Ann — as beautiful and talented as she is — is no diva. March 13, 2009
  - Heather Johnson, Editor-In-Chief of Cartoon Network Magazine

Philosophy

Go Green! No Commute. No office power, gas, water. We’re all using home studios we’d have even if we went to a day-job. So we’re eliminating redundancies. Expensive redundancies that aren’t vital in this particular field or in today’s climate. We believe in giving our clients options. When discussing the specific needs for a project, we are always conscious of ways we can reduce waste and ultimately reduce production costs for our clients. Sometimes a slight modification to a dieline, resizing a magazine, or evaluating a color palette can reduce the environmental impact of production. We’ll never push a client into a green option, but we’ll always present you with some eco choices to consider.