Thank you for coming to my site! This is what it's all about.
I am a web and graphic designer. I was trained in traditional Graphic Design then fell in love with the web. I have a Bachelor’s in Graphic Design with two minors in Advertising and Web Design. Because of my education, I have met a lot of very talented Colorado designers, and hope to meet more.
Not only do I know my way around the Creative Suite programs, but I can smoke a mean pork shoulder! If you’re unfamiliar with that, think pulled-pork sandwiches.
On a scale of 1 to 5, where a 5 is impeccable
Teamwork Skills
Communication
Client Work
Hygene
On a scale of 1 to 5, where a 5 is well-versed
Illustrator
Photoshop
InDesign
I really enjoyed my educational experience. When I wasn’t trying to outwit the weather of Southeastern Idaho, I was running between campus and the printer. The instructors of the design program I attended all had Master’s Degrees from Art Center of Pasadena, and years of industry experience. We had weekly visits from artists from companies such as Blue Sky, Microsoft, Tether, Inc, and more.
Critique played a very integral part of my education, as it should anyone’s education. I wouldn’t be the lifelong student I am today without an appropriate amount of emotional detachment from my work. However, maintaining that cool distance from my work to be able to accept and implement critique was taught early on. My instructor had us turn in three foamcore mounted posters, and put them on the critique wall. We were then told to identify the weakest design, and tear it up and throw it away. So we did, and I kept the scraps to remind me to always have the ability to take a step back and produce the best quality work.
My educational experience has taught me to view being a designer as being an eternal student. This means I see each project as an opportunity to learn and sharpen.
On a scale of 1 to 5, where a 5 is impeccable
HTML
SASS/CSS
JavaScript
WordPress
JSP
Bootstrap
PHP
As mentioned above I went to school for Graphic Design, and took web design classes while I was doing it. Once I graduated, I got my first job at a Denver-based Web Design company where I was introduced to the world of pre-processors and git repositories by their Senior Designer. It. Blew. My. Mind. It was a total life-changer, which sounds cheesy, but it really was and I had no idea how I went for so long writing CSS the way I did!
Once that concept of nesting rules with SASS sunk in (it was love at first sight), I was introduced to a collaborative, version-controlled development environment. After that, I never looked back, except to laugh at the way I used to do things. Now I have the combined skills of a Front-end Web Developer and Graphic Designer, which has been extremely useful.
