About Me
I’ve been doing design for two decades. As a journalist in high school and college, I loved writing, but was also intrigued by the process of layout and page design. Early on, I learned the principle that good design is good communication. I enjoyed the challenge of coming up with design concepts that worked hand-in-hand with expressing written ideas.
Going back to those beginnings and the first things I learned, my fundamental design philosophy hasn’t changed much: good design should be functional and useful. Good design should help communicate and convey ideas, not get in the way or distract from a client’s message.
In 1996, I went to work as a designer for Holland & Knight LLP and soon became manager of their in-house design team. In this role, I learned a great deal about managing design projects and personnel, working with teams, communicating with non-designers on their expectations for a project, training novice designers, and helping an organization move from traditional marketing to digital and web. Having been an integral part of multiple marketing campaigns and two site redesigns, I learned a lot about branding and establishing design consistency.
Around this same time, I started doing freelance design work for a variety of clients, everything from telecommunications companies, to embassies, to real estate developers, to an amateur golfer. I also worked as a freelance writer for several online publications, covering technology and the gaming industry.
In 2004, I was hired as the Online Production Manager for People for the American Way, when I helped design and build web sites to support political activism, promote special programs, and boost fundraising. I also created Flash-based cartoons and ads. Some of my work from those campaigns has been archived in the Library of Congress.
Currently, I’m the Art Director at the Center for American Progress, a think tank that advocates progressive policies and ideas. I am also working on a master’s degree in nonfiction writing at Johns Hopkins University.
I live in Washington, D.C. with my beautiful wife Yvette, my daughters Isabella and Angelina, and our yellow dog Ace. I might just be the luckiest guy in the world.
