Monkeypiece Theater 2 Event Poster
Onion Austin Expansion Event Poster
Design isn’t just about the icing on the cake. It’s also about asking the fundamental questions like: should this be a pie instead?
The intent of this site is to encourage a conversation.
About Me pages can be drab, boilerplate affairs, and this one's no different. Just kidding! But I'm going to try to do it differently than ones I have done in the past. Interview style!
SO HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DOING THIS?
Wow. A long time. Decades.
your site says you're a design generalist. what's that?
Through sheer career longevity and a degree of stick-to-it-ness, I've had the opportunity to work on a broad variety of projects and disciplines including:
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Visual Design: creating graphics, layouts, and visual assets
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UX/UI Design: designing user experiences and interfaces
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Branding: working on logos, brand identity, style guides
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Web Design: designing websites in collaboration with developers
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Print Design: Books, newspaper, magazines, office materials
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Product Design: helping shape digital products across the full user journey
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Interaction Design: focusing on how users interact with a product or system
And sometimes even: illustration, motion graphics, copywriting, music composition or voiceover work.
can you describe the kinds of places you've worked at in the past?
Absolutely. Through the course of my career, I've worked in:
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Large corporate monoliths as a part of a robust product design team
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Super cute boutique studios with small-but-mighty teams
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Start-ups who needed a one-person design shop to help them get to the next level
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Small business owners needing help realizing their dreams
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New departments within established companies seeking to expand into new product areas
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Non-profits needing discounted and pro-bono work
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Remote teams with international partners
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Classrooms in Brooklyn
are you familiar with design software?
Yes. Yes, I am.
There are often requests for designers to quantify the specific results of their contributions to a project. What are your thoughts on this?
It’s not always easy for designers to quantify their impact. Results often take time, and we’re usually already onto the next project. Still, designers are focused on outcomes. Even if we can’t always show a specific percentage increase, we can point to improvements in things like usability, user satisfaction, or how clearly something communicates.
are you an expert with every single design application ever invented?
Probably not. But! The variety of projects I've worked on have allowed me to become comfortable with many of the commonly used industry standard programs. I also taught Design Procedures 1&2 at Pratt, which helps familiarize students with design tools and the role they'll play in their career.
And if there's something I'm not familiar with, I can get up to speed pretty quickly. Any designer worth their salt needs to be able to adapt and learn new things, especially where industry tools are concerned.
what's something you've learned over the course of your career?
A designer is not an island. The process of moving through a project requires one to interact, and reasonably so, with all different kinds of professionals and unprofessionals alike. Finding collaborators who are friendly, fun to work with and respectful can really make the process something special. See also: It's not just the destination, it's the journey.
anything ELSE?
Versatile, adaptable, and willing to try new things: these are not only the qualities you want in a romantic and/or financial partner, but also what you should expect from your designer.