Hey! I made another book!
The Designer's Journey is a growing list of 1000+ goals and achievements for designers of all experience levels, disciplines, and career phases to accomplish. These items have all been achieved by peers as the design industry has exploded in the past 25 years. Check off everything you've achieved, and be inspired to set future career goals.
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Hey! I wrote a Book!
LAUNCH IT - 300+ things I’ve learned as a Designer, Developer and Creative Director. For over 20 years I have talked with fellow designers, developers and digital creatives who were asking for advice on how to launch their careers. As a Creative Director, I have mentored people on topics like work ethic, finding inspiration, creative process, skill acquisition, how to get a job, handling clients, agency life, freelance, self-promotion and work life balance. I scoured through years of old emails, interviews, presentations and conversations for any advice that I had given others. Some of those findings are loosely organized into this book.
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- .net 265 - Interview: Shane Mielke
- .net 264 - Web Design Trends 2015
- .net 261 - Design Challenge
- .net 253 - 25 Smart CSS Tips
- .net 250 - Top 50 Designers
- .net 239 - Freelance - Stand Out From The Crowd
- .net 237 - Big Question: How do you build your layouts?
- .net 236 - Big Question: Skills Designers Need
- .net 234 - 25 web development tips to boost your skills
- .net 230 - 100 Expert Tips
- Noupe - Web Design Tips From Experts for 2020
- Interview Launch It - WebGL Experience
- Podcast - Makers Of Sport - Podcast #91
- Adobe - Maintaining a work life balance
- Adobe - Stand Out and Work Hard
- Microsoft - 10 Top Developer Portfolios
- Interview - AIGA: Eye on design
- Interview - Working Not Working
- Interview - FWA Digital Pioneers then and now
- Interview - Interactive Design Archive
I am a Creative Director, UI/UX Designer, Front-End Developer, Animator, Photographer, Author, Coach, and Cyberdyne Systems T-800 Model 101 living in Southern California, USA. For 10 years I was the Creative Director at 2Advanced Studios. For the last 10 years, I have been a design and development asset for agencies around the world. I have also worked directly with clients like Blizzard Entertainment, Riot Games, and SpaceX.
I have designed, developed, or animated 40+ FWA Award-winning sites, 3 Awwwards, and 3 Adobe Cutting Edge Awards. My work has been featured in over 60 magazines including Advanced Photoshop, Web Designer, .Net, and Computer Arts Projects. I have also served as a judge for the Adobe® Design Achievement Awards for students and the prestigious FWA Site of the Year. In 2014 I was honored by .Net Magazine as one of the top 50 Designers in the world. In 2017 I published the book LAUNCH IT: 300+ things I’ve learned as a Designer, Developer and Creative Director. In 2019 I was a part of the NASA/SpaceX team that won an Emmy Award for Best Interactive Broadcast. In 2021 I published the book The Designer's Journey. I have most recently worked with SpaceX as a Principal UI/UX Designer, where I helped to design and develop the Crew Dragon vehicle interfaces used by NASA astronauts to fly into space. Those interfaces have now flown 50 humans to space!
When not reclined in front of the computer designing and developing interactive projects, I enjoy spending time with my wife and two daughters, helping my Mom on the family ranch in Silverado, Ca., CrossFit, traveling, coaching football, statistics, archiving projects, and engaging in the relentless pursuit of photography.
