Dafna Ben-Gera was born in Moshav Zofit, Israel. After serving two years in the Israeli Army, Dafna traveled to the United States to Study Advertising and Graphic Design. After receiving an Associates degree in Advertising Art from Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland, Dafna moved to Los Angeles to study Communication Arts at Otis College of Art and Design. While at Otis Dafna was a member of the Otis Design Group. Her clients at ODG included the City of Los Angeles, Fashion Business Incubator, and LACMA.
Upon receiving a Bachelor of Fine Art degree in May of 2000, Dafna went to work for Rotor Communications (A “dot com” company.) At Rotor She designed Flash animations for interactive web broadcasts. Some of the companies she designed for include Turner Broadcast Network, ZDTV, and Red Herring.
In 2001 Dafna started with MGM’s Theatrical Online Marketing department as their in-house web-designer. Dafna’s focus enabled her to design banner ads, newsletters, e-cards, and websites for over 30 Campaigns including Oscar, Golden Globe, and other award-winning movies. And while Dafna has specialized in entertainment-related campaigns, she also designed the official corporate website for United Artists, and did other corporate web design for MGM.
“Most of the time, when I talk to someone about one of my sites, they have the idea that there is some ‘team of people’ that must have built the site; and that I worked on a part of it; and they’ll ask ‘So exactly what part did you do?’ I just tell them: ‘What you see is me.’”
As the sole in-house web-designer in her department, Dafna’s duties at MGM included: meeting with the marketing department to evaluate its’ goals for each site; coming-up with concepts to convey the campaigns’ marketing strategy; developing comps; outlining content; and art-directing. While these duties are the basis for starting production on a website, her main duty was to be the person working on the computer creating the content. Dafna’s strong design skills and her proficiency with industry tools including Macromedia’s Flash, and Adobe’s Photoshop, Illustrator, and ImageReady, enable her to efficiently translate marketing concepts into successful campaigns. In addition to saving precious time, Dafna’s “one chef in the kitchen” approach has proven useful in maintaining a consistent/cohesive feel throughout her sites. Her “easy” personality style has also proven to be a great time-saver when working with programmers.
After four years with MGM Dafna decided to start her own graphic design company. (Superlicious Design) Her main motivation was the freedom that would come with being her own boss. “I didn’t want to have to work in the same office all the time.” says Dafna, “Its nice to be able to pick the projects I work on. I choose the projects based on who I want to work with, and I do the projects that look interesting, so I’m always working with nice people and it stays fresh.” Since 2005, Dafna has and continues to design projects for some Hollywood’s top full-service design agencies, and leading creative marketing firms. “Working with these firms from time to time gives me a chance to design for really large national campaigns without having to give-up my smaller clients.” Dafna’s passion for graphic design. Their projects are really fun.” Since graduating among the top of her class in 2000 Dafna’s work has earned her a excellent reputation in the industry and with her substantial client base.
From small projects, to large campaigns, Dafna’s portfolio is diverse. Her entertainment campaign work includes websites for art house films like “Pieces of April”; foreign films like “Osama”; comedies like “Barber Shop”; and critically acclaimed films like “Hotel Rwanda”, banner ads for blockbusters like “Legally Blonde” (1 & 2), newsletters for Walking Tall and DeLovely, and e-cards for Jeepers Creepers. By consistently producing high quality content while meeting all of my deadlines, I have earned an excellent reputation in the industry.
