Hi
I’m a New England based web designer with a predilection for salmon sashimi. Currently I serve as Creative Director for Connecticut startup Fanzter (creators of Coolspotters and SimpleSports) and advise on other web initiatives. Here’s a summary of how I got here.
I grew up in Wisconsin but managed to shed the accent. It might come out a little bit if someone from CT cuts me off in traffic but is unlikely to happen as east coast living has cultivated a more assertive driving philosophy.
When I was 12 I found myself in Russia for a few weeks. They were still very much still into the whole Communism thing. The most colorful thing there seemed to be St. Basil’s Cathedral. Everything else was sort of drab. The Russians I met were remarkably polite, contrary to some Hollywood caricatures at the time. It was a key experience that helped shaped my world view.
Arizona seemed like a good idea for college, so I headed there at 18 and studied Computer Science at ERAU. I was flattered and delighted when they thought I was smart enough to give a scholarship, but for various reasons I turned it down and transferred to Michigan Tech and studied Mechanical Engineering.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such volumes of snow as they get in Upper Michigan. During my first year there we were graced with 328 inches of it. I only recall classes being canceled once because of an overwhelming, absurd dumping of debilitating snow. Quickly tiring of this, I participated in a national exchange program at the University of Delaware. I picked UD in part because it had the best website. I remember cramming for an exam in Thermodynamics (one of a litany classes I had zero enthusiasm for) while everyone else was out having fun. I was pulling on my hair, staring down at a sample problem, and down fell a strand of hair onto the textbook page. It was in the perfect shape of a question mark. I think it was then when I decided to ditch engineering altogether and pursue something more creative, yet still techy. I switched majors again, graduated only a year and a half late and moved out west.
I felt outclassed at my interview at a small web design agency on the east end of the Pearl Street mall. But I got the job somehow. I led projects for HP and the University of Denver and various pre-bubble startups. Then a few nut jobs flew some planes into the WTC where I had just been 9 days earlier and the first dot com bubble popped. I was the last employee let go and found myself jobless for a few months. I played hockey every day at a nearby rink, generally enjoyed the time off and tried not to think about my nearly empty bank account. Spiremedia, Denver’s top agency at the time (still?), picked me up shortly after. I led all Flash projects for them and worked with companies like Steamboat Ski Resort, Colorado Ski Country and Spyder Active Sports.
I was offered an unturndownable gig with ESPN and decided to accept it. Here I provided creative direction and implementation for editorial initiatives, created front-end UI for ESPN.com’s first ever zero-refresh scoring applications, facilitated Flash development best-practices within the company and played the role of CSS/Web Standards proselytizer. I served as Art Director until October 2007, when I moved on to pursue personal projects. Shortly after, I elected to taste life with a small startup in the entertainment/pop-culture space where I provide creative direction to the present day.