Client Stories: Senior Director of Design at Adobe Shawn Cheris

Can you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about what you do? 

I'm Shawn Cheris and I'm a Senior Director of Design at Adobe. I work in our centralized product design group, where I lead a cross-discipline organization of roughly 100 people that focuses on the overall experience of Adobe products—design systems, brand, icons, illustrations, and content. I also oversee our engineering and prototyping teams. If Adobe makes it, my team has a hand in it.

What motivated you to get a new headshot?  How old was your previous headshot?

My old headshot was taken by a colleague about 7 or 8 years ago. It was a fine and served me well for a years, but it was a little out of date (I'm a lot grayer now). I wanted something a little more dramatic and modern that represented who I was and, more to the point, what I actually look like now.

In what ways do you think your new headshot has impacted your business, visibility or job search? 

I haven't had a chance to use it for public engagements yet, but I'm excited to have something that represents who I am now vs. a decade ago.

Have you received any feedback on your new headshot?

People have definitely noticed and given compliments. There are a ton of digital contexts at work where your headshot is a stand-in: Slack, email, video conferencing, and others. Even at small sizes it has punch and contrast.

How important do you think a professional headshot is for someone in your field? 

Pretty important, I'd say. In addition to the day-to-day work contexts, I publish articles and do public speaking from time to time, not to mention my social media presence. It's the avatar that represents you, so you might as well invest and make it a good representation.

What advice would you give to someone considering getting a new headshot? 

Do it. It feels great to have a good representation of yourself out there.

Were you nervous or uncomfortable with the idea of having your photos taken and if so how was the experience in the end? 

I wasn't nervous and the experience was great. Jeff was set up and ready to go when I got there, and we had a good back and forth between my ideas and his experience and expertise.

How did you prepare for your headshot session, and do you have any tips for others on how to get ready for theirs?

I'm a designer and I got kind of nerdy about it. I took screenshots of LinkedIn and other contexts where I knew my headshot would show up. I took examples from the S72 website and mocked them up in situ to see what worked the best. That helped me pick the right background and give Jeff some direction on what kind of shots I wanted.

The day of, I made sure I arrived early, well-rested, and well ahead of time so I wasn't stressed and I could be present and feel confident.

How was your experience working with S72 for your headshot session?

Great! Jeff was super professional and easy to work with.