Maxistentialism

My design philosophy is simple. Ask all the right questions and listen to the answers. Add nothing more than is required. Tell a story. Remember to have fun.

“Design is how it works.”
- Steve Jobs

“Real work gives joy. False work breeds despair.”
- The Tar Gibbons

“Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood.”
- Daniel Burnham

“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.”
- Carl Jung

“I didn’t get into design to be an artist. To me, an artist creates things to evoke emotion. Being a designer goes a step further than that, not only trying to evoke emotion but trying to make a reaction. It is very objective-driven, and that’s what makes it interesting.”
- Mike Davidson

The best way to get to know about my design is to take a look through my portfolio. If you think that I can help you with your job, send me a message.

Superpowers and Secret Weapons

Superpowers

• Web Expertise - Getting online can be an intimidating process. With hosting, domains, and software there’s a lot of moving pieces to consider. I’ll set this all up for you, so you can focus on what you do best.
• Hand-Written Code - I lovingly write my websites by hand in semantic XHTML and standards-compliant CSS.
• Simple Design - Bad design asks, “What else can I add?” Great design asks, “What else can I take away?” Bad design says “Look at me.” Great design says, “Look at this.”
• Custom Wordpress Themes and Installations - For almost any project, free, open source Wordpress is the best content management system available. From blogging to managing a photo gallery to creating an entire social networking service, Wordpress will put you in control of the content of your site, and make it super-easy to make changes and additions over time.
• Strategy and Usability - If your visitor can’t find a feature on your website, it doesn’t exist. I believe that simplicity is the key to usable design, but just to be sure, I design in wire-frame and conduct usability studies to make sure regular people can use your site easily.

Secret Weapons

There’s no single medium to reach everyone, so while I think the internet is a great place to start, it’s not the end. I use the right tools, so from storefront signs to streaming video – there’s nothing I can’t make.

• Adobe Photoshop - The bread and butter of great design, Photoshop is the digital equivalent of a blank sheet of paper and your imagination.
• Final Cut Pro - The “big gun” of video editing, Final Cut Pro is the most powerful video and sound editing software available to consumers and is used to edit many studio films.
• Adobe Illustrator - Vector graphics and logo design, great for print materials like signs.
• Adobe InDesign - Used to layout print material from newspapers to business cards to brochures, InDesign is an industry standard for print.
• Adobe Flash - Animation and motion graphics for film and web.

A list of things I have made (from design to printing): Press kits, brochures, business cards, t-shirts, bumper stickers, car magnets, podium signs, posters, lawn signs, rally signs, web videos, television commercials, websites, blogs, social networking websites, online organizing tools.