I began my career as a designer and illustrator
After finishing my studies at Dartmouth, I decided to pursue a career in fine arts. I moved home to San Diego, got a studio downtown and began working in multi-media art. I soon began picking freelance illustration project to supplement my income. I then moved to Los Angeles where I procured a studio in Ed Ruscha’s building on Western Avenue. I got a job as an ad designer at the Long Beach Press-Telegram newspaper. This is where I learned Adobe software and began teaching myself design.
As my design career progressed I decided to attend graduate school in order to identify any gaps in my autodidactic training. I spent a year and a half at Art Center in the Graduate Media Design program where I practiced my formal schools and learned about design research and design thinking methods. As a designer with a science and psychology background I was naturally predisposed to the User Experience practice with its foundation in research and human factors.
I had always taken a formal approach to design but at Art Center I was able to put a name to my process. I committed to a career in User Experience, however my formal design background continues to influence my work. This archive section of my portfolio includes examples of that earlier design work.
