About Me

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A little more about me...

The big picture:

I am a thoughtful designer who enjoys the visual side of communications as much as the technical side. After living in other parts of the country and working remote, I am continuing to find new ways to connect with my community.

Roles I have played over the years:

  • Project Manager
  • Interface Designer
  • Frontend Developer
  • Copywriter/editor
  • Video Producer/Editor
  • Graphic Designer
  • Multimedia Specalist
  • Marketing Coordinator

Why it matters:

Projects involve people wanting to solve a problem. Design projects come with a range of opinions and understandings.

Design can be approached from an almost scientific angle by following a process and understanding that no process is perfect and is rarely ever followed to a T.

I have my own opinions but I rely on best practices and a flexible process. My patience working with others and listening to them allows us to sort through the wants together to get to the needs, and eventually find workable solutions to their problems. 

Skills/tools employed:

Project Management
Customer Service
Interface Design
WordPress
Creative Direction
HTML
CSS
Analytics
Content Design
Gravity Forms
JavaScript
Video

How do I keep up professionally?

Meetups

There are a lot of ways to connect with peers in the industry. Meetup has made it easy to attend events where you can see how others are doing similar work and ask questions, network, and also connect with employers.

Having worked remote for a number of years, I was able to attend 50 meetup events with topics ranging from graphic/web design to WordPress to UX design and research.

At a Rapid Prototyping meetup hosted by Service Now in San Diego, I even won a user interface design contest using Adobe XD. It involved building a quick app that helped guide a stressed user through an emergency situation.

Publications I keep an eye on:

Favorite Speaker: Jared Spool

I’ve attended a number of events where Jared Spool not only speaks but puts on a full presentation. From start to finish, he is like a great UX design: everything has a purpose – there’s no useless fluff and it all makes sense in the end.
 
His points of view, humor, and industry knowledge put him head and shoulders above most people in the field. Makes sense: he’s a design pioneer. 

Personal interests:

  • Fitness – keeping a good gym routine allows my back to stay healthy!
  • Sports (soccer, baseball, volleyball)
  • Snowboarding
  • Surfing
  • Camping