
Expertise
Creative Direction
I have 14+ years of experience directing designers and creative teams. My creative direction experience involves all mediums, although I specialize in digital design.
Branding
I have created or established quite a few brands over my career. I specialize in logo design, trademarking, advertising, and marketing products and services.
Marketing
I have been in the marketing and advertising industry for 20 years and have worked with many local, regional, and national clients.
Graphic Design
I love graphic design. Whether I’m doing a t-shirt, skateboard, billboard or golf ball — I’m all in.
Product Design
I love human centered design, ergonomics, and seeing an idea come to life through prototyping, iterating and execution.
Video / Filming / Editing / Motion
I have a real passion for storytelling, and film is a wonderfully expressive medium. I have directed, filmed and edited dozens of pieces over the years.
Web Design
I launched my first website in 1998 at the tender age of 17. Since then, I have designed or art directed hundreds of sites of all shapes and sizes. Check out my work section for some samples.
Front-End Development
Front-end development is my specialty. Solving UI/UX problems through thoughtful front-end design and development. I prefer Webpack, but I know Gulp and Grunt just as well. I prefer Sass, but I know Less too.
Javascript / Node / Vue / React
I have more than 12+ years of experience writing Javascript. I prefer writing vanilla JS (ES6), but I know jQuery and many other libraries. Vue is my favorite framework, but I know React too.
CMS / Craft
Craft is probably the most developer-friendly CMS around if you want a completely custom site. Squarespace (like this site) gets the job done, and Shopify reigns supreme for e-commerce. I have also been experimenting with headless content management and static site generators like next and nuxt.
PHP / Laravel
I switched to Laravel (from Rails) back in 2013 after a long hiatus from PHP. Laravel just feels right and is a pleasure to work with — probably why it’s one of the most popular web app frameworks around.
The Full Stack
I'm proficient with most Linux server varieties. Ubuntu is my favorite. I've managed servers at Media Temple, Rackspace, AWS, and Digital Ocean since the beginning. I would technically be considered a full-stack developer — although I still identify as a digital designer.
My Tools
I work on my iMac by day and my Macbook Pro by night.
I design logos in Illustrator.
I design page layouts with InDesign.
I do all my digital art in Photoshop.
I design my websites in Sketch, and I prototype them in Invision and Adobe XD.
I use Omnigraffle or Sketch for sitemaps and application flow charts.
I use Sublime Text for all my coding needs.
I use Vagrant for local development… Docker if I'm feeling young.
I use Git for version control on Github and Bitbucket.
Just Node.
All the things come via npm.
I use Webpack with Mix for front-end compiling.
I used to use Grunt and Gulp.
I use Sass for styles and Vue for Javascript logic.
I use Bootstrap and Bulma, or I use my framework called Frunt.
Sometimes, I use jQuery for quick prototyping before I refactor the code into ES6.
I use Vue with Vuex and Vue Router or React for SPA's.
Static websites get generated with Nuxt or Next.
Web apps get built using Laravel.
I use Craft for content management.
I use MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and Redis for data storage.
Sometimes I use GraphQL to interface with my data.
I use Shopify for e-commerce.
I use Squarespace if I need something done quickly.
I use Unity for game development, AR, and VR.
I use Maya and Cinema4D for 3D work.
I use Premiere, After Effects, and Audition for audiovisual work.
I used Basecamp to manage client work for years. I use Notion now.
I use Google for docs, sheets, email, and searching for stuff.
I use Bear and Grammarly to write prose.
I read a lot of books and listen to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks.
I can draw using a pencil or pen.
I use my face to talk and my hands to type.