You probably have never heard of me. And that's ok. I don't blog, or speak at conferences, or make my opinion known on all the tech sites. I'm a graphic designer, and I prefer to let my work speak for me. Since this is my web site, however, and since there are a billion designers out there to choose from, I'll tell you a bit about what makes me different.
I began as a print designer, mainly because I'm over 30 and web design didn't exist at Drexel during my time there. I'd like to think that this was to my benefit, because we spent the majority of our time focusing on key elements of design regardless of the medium — typography, composition, color, and texture. We got to work with our hands, draw, paint, sculpt and sketch, and spent very little time on the technology of it all. Granted, I had to learn about that on my own a few years later, but I think that's my first distinguishing factor, a foundation of pure graphic design education.
What else makes me different? My experience in various roles and environments. I made a point through my career to experience as many different environments as I could, so I could absorb as much as I could on a daily basis. I started in print, at ad agencies and such, then moved on to a "dot com" where I learned how to hand-code clean HTML (my mentor was meticulous!). Practiced that at home and became a user experience designer/front-end developer on an in-house team at a huge corporation. And then I was picked up by the talented team at Happy Cog Philadelphia. There, I was given the opportunity to take on many different roles and learned more there than in any other place or position. At any given time I could be an art director, a supporting designer, an information architect, a writer, working side by side with incredibly passionate clients.
It was hard for me to leave such an amazing environment and creative bunch, but when I moved to San Francisco, I was excited to strike out on my own. And that's where I am now. Working from my home office under constant supervision from the cat, drawing every day on the years of experience I've accumulated, and from my print design roots.
Hopefully you skipped this, and went straight to the artwork. But if you did survive this diatribe, I hope you'll check out my portfolio, it's a much better speaker than I am.