As a kid, I always had an eye for design. I paid attention to ads and magazines, and in high school I took every art class possible, including photography and graphic design. In college, I majored in Graphic Art with a minor in Marketing before making the jump UX Design.
I moved to Pittsburgh, PA to self-study UX design alongside my best friend, who was getting his Master's Degree in Human Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon. Siphoning knowledge from him, his classmates, and every available online resource I could, I learned enough to receive a job offer at a healthcare startup in San Francisco, called Hale Health.
Fast forward to today, I've had an exciting career shipping dozens of products and features at companies large and small to customers all around the world.
I don't have a formal design education. Instead, I developed my skills with two decades-worth of self-education and small-time graphic design gigs. Tutorials, demo files, community resources, design blogs, and message boards all were key factors in my ability to learn. Since the community was paramount to my success, I feel that I should contribute to it and help those who are trying to learn.
Over the years I have attended and hosted numerous design meetups, participate in hackathons, helped moderate the 18,000+ member Designer Hangout Slack community, distribute helpful design resources, and operated as a Community Advocate for the prototyping tool Pixate, which I created a library of 14 projects over 26 video tutorials for on YouTube - for free.
I grew up watching films that showed a brighter future. Shows like Star Trek painted a picture of a utopic world, and promises of a connected and technology-proficient era.
I expected the future I lived in to be filled with high-tech gadgetry that enhanced humanity, and when I look around me, I see a lot of that work happening. Advances in quantum computing, robotocs, artificial inteligence, virtual and augmented reality, self-driving cars, and space travel captivate my imagination and give me hope. I see opportunities for me to leverage my skills and do my small part to make this world a better place.
I know - that sounds a little frilly. I'm just passionate about a prosperous future and believe that ethical technology can give us that future.
We aren't as far away as we think.
If you like my work and would like to collaborate on a project, talk about design, show me something cool, or just want to say hi – I would love to hear from you.
Running an event? I'm available for panels and speaking engagements.
Trying to get your foot in the door or move up the ladder? I'm open to mentorships with junior designers.
