Karen Gaebe is a Creative Director based in Chicago.

karengaebe@gmail.com
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My career experience is a unique hybrid of editorial design—the iconic Playboy Magazine, the prolific Chicago magazine and the start-up fashion publication, Inside Chicago—and lifestyle design as a Creative Director and Photo Art Director for national fashion and home lifestyle brands Crate and Barrel, CB2 and Spiegel. 

My passion is multi-channel, visual content creation that tells stories. Editorial fashion shoots instilled an early passion for experimentation and collaboration that continue to influence my conceptual, design and art direction process. My multi-faceted publishing experience—strategic ideation, editorial calendar planning, design and typography, production logistics/budgets and on-set/location photo art direction—brings a differentiating advantage to brands, elevating their catalogs to publications customers value and keep for inspiration and reference. With a strong eye for details and the big picture, I’m known for creating a compelling brand presence in all channels with refreshing relevancy for each customer encounter—from catalog to digital to social.

I believe success is not achieved alone. I’m a people person, fortunate to have nurtured many connections within the creative community, both local to Chicago and national. My leadership style is one of open collaboration and inspiring team ownership of the mission and work—building upon individual strengths for the greater group’s success. My senior management roles have included directing in-house designers and print production artists; collaborating with writers and editors; and partnering with marketing, merchandisers, producers, photographers, set builders, prop and food stylists, and CGI teams.