About
What I can do for you
I feel my ability to deeply engage in both client and user needs technically, while also understanding the importance of creative expression and aesthetics of design helps me to create digital experiences that let users engage with brands. I can think, I can create, I can make art, applications, specifications, and experiences that are functional, profitable, usable and useful to businesses and their users alike. I give emotionally to projects, their people and the process.
User Experience design and strategy samples (ie. wireframe, information architecture, user flows, personas, heuristic evaluations, content strategy etc.) are available on a request only basis out of respect for client privacy. Thanks for understanding.
I am available for projects. Feel free to contact me. I’m sure, if anything, I would enjoy the conversation. Take care.
Working at HART
I am currently the lead User Experience Architect at HART. I have also had many years of experience in a lead visual role as Senior Interaction Designer. We do plenty of projects and my duties run from start to finish. In a typical project my duties may vary, but usually involve researching users, reviewing analytics, planning content strategy, designing experience and usability flows, creating specifications, creating information architecture, wireframes, and personas, depending on client needs of course. I also, as needed still dable in creating interface designs, cut up and process templates. I enjoy stepping back into that role occasionally, although my main core involvement in the design side of things is in a mentoring role.
I have worked in most digital mediums and have experience in projects that integrate with multiple platforms and channels. I have enjoyed working with clients such as La-Z-Boy, Johnson & Johnson, DePuy, The Ohio Lottery, ProMedica to name a few.
The Unabridged Version…
When I was a kid I grew up on a farm in rural Ohio. The road I lived on was Township Road 553. My roots were the inspiration for the name of this website. No matter where I am I will always remember where I came from.
My dad loves electronics and computers and his eagerness got me interested at an early age in the digital world. I began my coding on a Tandy then swiftly moved up to a Commodore 64. Video games and programming little programs the didn’t really amout to much but simple animation of a blinking square. It was all fun, new, invigorating.
My grandmother was the inspired artist. She was a master at all of the the things that people of the older generation did that my generation fell to forget. Handpainting ceramics, knitting and crochetting intricate designs from simple thread to beautiful clothing and doilies. As a single mom, my hardworking mother would drop me at the ceramics shop where my grandmother worked. I would look forward to those days of painting with my grandmother, as this is where my love of art began.
These two deeply ingrained interests have been with me and helped shape me as my life progressed through college at Ohio University where I graduated with a Marketing Degree and minors in Audio/Video Production and Telecommunications Management. I had a degree now. I also had an inner desire to explore the world.
After college I traveled the US, but was mainly based in Flagstaff, AZ. I had the opportunity to see the world through my own eyes and form my own opinions of the people and places I have visited.
Why all of this exploring was happening the internet was growing from a seed to a sequoia and computers were changing from a slug to a racecar. My interests were reinvigorated when my friend got his new Pentium 333 and he showed me all of the amazing things that were possible on this new and interesting device. This wasnt like the computers in college that had a blue screen and yellow text. These could let you paint and print and share, even if a an amazingly remedial level compared to today, it was a jump to me, at that moment.
I finished my travels and reinitiated my studies and got another degree after moving back to Ohio. This time in Interactive Media. I lived to consume everything that I could on the internet, digital, art, animation, 3D, you name it. I was eating it up. I began making web pages for friends and family and continued to hone my skills over years to become the Senior Interactive Designer and UX lead at Hart Associates Advertising.
My life has come full circle. I am kinda doing the same things as I did as a kid, When I was playing with my dads computer and making art with my grandmother. I still get paid in milk and cookies too, which is nice…;)