Karen Jones

My lifelong passion has been in communicating ideas in the most interesting and effective way I can. After graduating from Columbus College of Art and Design with a degree in Illustration, visual expression was my vehicle of choice. I began my early career as a storyboard artist and illustrator; evolving as I explored other ways to tell stories – writing picture books, articles, newsletters, poetry and plays. The common thread in all of my creative pursuits has been an avid pursuit of learning and fostering wonder through story. My trajectory into animation and all its myriad forms seems inevitable, adding the powerful and compelling communication tools of motion, sound, and time to my arsenal of visual and linguistic skills.

In 2017 I completed graduate studies at North Carolina State University in the College of Design with a concentration in Animation/Emerging Media. I was a full-time instructor at Wake Technical Community College in the Advertising Graphic Design Department, Adjunct Professor at UNC-Greensboro in the New Media and Design department as well as a Multimedia Designer for NC State Distance Education and Learning Technologies Applications (DELTA).

I currently work for the Kenan–Flagler School of Business at UNC Chapel Hill as a Graphic Instructional Designer, creating visual design for faculty lectures, interactives and graphics.

Selected Honors | Awards

• SAS, Summer Teacher Institute, June/July 2019
• North Carolina State University, Department of Art + Design, Excellence in Research and Scholarship Award, 2018
• North Carolina State University, Outstanding Graduate of the Teaching and Communication Certificate, 2018
• North Carolina State University, Poole College of Management Consumer Innovation Collaborative Scholar, Lead Designer in a selective, competitive academic-industry research collaborative focused on user experience.
• North Carolina State University, Graduate Student Association, Award For Conferences, November 2016
• Presentation & Publication: Sign Me a Story: Shared Reading in American Sign Language with Interactive Animated Narration, The
• Future of E-Books, NordiCHI, Gothenburg Sweden, Oct 2016
• Ignite Creativity Fellowship, Visual Art Exchange, Raleigh NC, July 2016
• International Reading Association, Teacher’s Choice Award/Illustration, One Odd Day, 2008
• International Reading Association, Teacher’s Choice Award/Illustration, My Even Day, 2008
• Independent Publishers Association, Moonbeam Award, Bronze Medal, ABC Safari, 2008
• Bank Street College, Top 100 Children’s Books, Author/Illustrator, ABC Safari, 2008
• Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Don Freeman Grant, Runner-Up, 2006