Here we go again

September 4, 2011

Rummy would be proud

That’s right, folks – I’m back in BK (ahhhh – my bike!), it’s labor day weekend, and the Caribbean Day Parade is about to rock this place. Never being all fun and games, I’ve been scrambling to prepare for another eighteen credit semester at ITP. One of my proudest achievements in preparation is this stand-up desk that I built earlier in the week. I’ve been wanting to try a workspace like this out for a while, but for whatever reason I’ve found it nearly impossible to find any option that is neither five inches too short nor a prohibitively expensive adjustable Steelcase/GeekDesk (which look ridiculously awesome, though). Why hasn’t IKEA busted some of these out for the masses on a budget?

Whatever the reasons for the lack of supply, I made this badboy with some 2×3 from Home Depot and some Alvin cutting mats for the surface. I did have to go to IKEA for something - in case I get tired. I’m pretty happy with it so far, but I think I need to slap another cross bar in there for a foot rest. I keep trying to stick my foot to rest on something that isn’t there. Funny feeling. Did you know that Donald Rumsfeld is a huge advocate for working in a standing position, and is in fact featured in the Wikipedia article for Standing desk? I’ll try to refrain from watching Fox news whilst standing.

Ok, ok. I know you’re dying to hear about the line-up of classes, so here goes:

  1. DIY Health, taught by Steven Dean
  2. The Pattern in the Noise, taught by Jake Porway
  3. Urban Experience in the Network Age, taught by Adam Greenfield
  4. Product Poetry, taught by Gary Natsume and Peng Zhao
  5. Understanding Genomes, taught by Yasser Ansari
  6. Future of the Infrastructure, taught by Art Kleiner

The only one with a syllabus thus far is Future of the Infrastructure, but let’s hope for the best. I think there’s a pretty nice balance of my interests here in the schedule, and hopefully focussing on the disciplines of these courses I will not only learn a lot but be able to sculpt my thesis project which will be the focus of my Spring 2012 semester. No pressure, though @_@

x

Hi there. I'm a design & code creative living, working and studying in sunny Brooklyn, NY. I'm currently finishing my thesis project at ITP and looking forward to what comes next.

Keywords: Design, User Experience, Interaction Design, Product Design, Visual Communication, Branding, Processing, Data Visualization, HTML, CSS, Javascript, Python

CV - download cv (pdf - 180kb)

Contact

Education

2010.09 — 2012.05 (expected)

Master of Professional Studies
Interactive Telecommunication Program (ITP) Tisch School of the Arts, New York University

2010.09 — 2004.05

BA Visual Communications with minor in Art History
The George Washington University
Graduated Cum Laude
National Society of Collegiate Scholars
Spring 2003 semester at Sydney University, AU

Work Experience

2012.01 — present

Interaction Designer & Developer, SumAll, New York, NY

I'm currently working on an amazing data product with an incredible team here in SoHo. Check us out!

2011.06 — 2011.09

UX Designer, Microsoft Bing, Bellevue, WA

Worked with design, editorial, dev and program management teams to scope, design and develop prototypes for soon-to-be-released Bing.com feature during a summer internship. The internship culminated in two presentations of the feature prototypes to senior leadership at Microsoft as well as the Bing design team.

2007.02 — 2010.08

Graphic & Interaction Designer, Empax, Inc., New York, NY

Created a range of environmental, print and interactive materials to promote nonprofit clients and their causes. responsible for designing and presenting brand strategies, identities, print collateral, environmental signage, animation, user experience and interface, content management system setup and third party plug-in and data integration, search engine optimization, user analytics and testing.

2006.12 — 2011.08

Freelance Graphic & Interaction Design Consultant, New York, NY

Worked as a sole proprietor with various clients from retail, music, film, nonprofit, real estate and technology industries to create and improve existing brand and user experiences across many platforms and media.

2004.04 — 2006.01

Graphic Designer, The George Washington University Communication & Creative Services, Washington, DC

Worked with project management and external production vendors to deliver a range of print and interactive material related to university publications and communications initiatives. responsibilities included design and implementation of print collateral, posters, animation, environmental signage, web publication and press checks.

Selected Publications

2011.07

Freakonomics (Web),
“What Would it Be Like to Climb 26 Years of Federal Spending?”

2011.04

Flowingdata (Web),
“Physically climb over budget data with Kinect”, by Nathan Yau

2011.02

Logo Lounge 6 (Book),
by Catharine Fishel and Bill Gardner, Rockport Publishers - Gedenk Logo

2010.12

“A Bartender That Pours The Perfect Shot, Every Shot”, by Matt Buchanan

2009.11

Basic Logos (Book),
by Index Book - The 2007 Gotham Awards Logo

2008.10

Print Magazine,
“Dialogue: Martin Kace”, by Steven Heller - The Alliance for Climate Protection Website

Selected Exhibitions

2010.12

ITP Winter show 2010, NYC

2011.04

Data Viz Challenge Party, hosted by Eyebeam and Google, NYC

2011.05

ITP Spring Show 2011, NYC

Other Experience

2006.01 — 2006.12

English Teacher, NOVA Japan, Kure-shi, Hiroshima-ken, Japan
Taught and mentored students of all ages and abilities in small to medium-sized classes to improve proficiency in english linguistics and conversation.