Dave Who?

I am an Art Director, Interactive Designer/Developer and Digital Artist. I am a “UI-Guy” by choice, it’s what I like, it’s what I do. I am well versed with any aspect of the user experience whether that be from a design, development, direction, management or marketing perspective. I pride myself on being able to see the big picture without losing the details and feel there is a place for both pragmatic and creative thinking with every project.

Thats enough of the elevator pitch. This site is the “un-design” of my portfolio to display some of my work. Rather than drabble on about myself or my work I’ll just hit on a few points in the Q&A below.

So whats up with the site ‘design’?

The design (or lack thereof) is really just so that I could have a simple way to display some of my work without getting so hung up on the ‘wrapping paper’. And lets be honest, designers are their own worst client and I’m no exception. I HATE doing work for myself because I can get hung up on trying to make it “too cool” or using all of the latest technology, when really all that’s required is an easy way to view the work. Thats why most designer portfolios get a redesign once a decade… because we suck as clients. Therefore I chose to remove the ‘must be the coolest design ever imagined’ requirement from the project scope.

Why WordPress?

Its easy to maintain, reliable, and does a great job of separating the data from the presentation so when the next decade comes and I want to redesign I dont have to re-enter all the data again. The hope is that by using this platform I will update/maintain my portfolio on a more consistent basis. Oh yeah, and its free… I like free.

Is this really all the work you could come up with after 14+ years?

Uhh no. I dont freelance much (at all) anymore but when I did, a lot of the work was under NDA/non-advertise/non-compete agreements so some of those projects cant be displayed. Other freelance work either isnt a current representation of my abilities, no longer online, or its just old. I do have a 9-5 (or more accurately a 7-6) job and do a lot of design and development everyday. Not everything I do daily is ‘portfolio material’.

Aren’t you just a ‘Flash’ guy, whats with the HTML site?

Granted, a lot of the freelance work I have done has been all Flash based, but let me be clear. Much like a mechanic isnt defined based on his toolbox, I am not defined by the tools I use. I think Flash was a great platform that allowed me to express an idea without compromise and deliver a more immersive experience than HTML could ever hope to do. That being said I was coding HTML/CSS/JS by hand long before – and during the time – I started working with Flash. Flash was just a tool, like jQuery is just a tool. I wont go into my disappointment with where the Flash platform has gone here. I will say that technologies will come and go, and if you are stuck being defined by any one of them you are doing yourself a great disservice.

Did you write every single line of code for this site?

No, absolutely not. I’m a fan of not reinventing the wheel and not too proud to say if a code library/framework has already been created to do something I want to do, I use it. Why anyone gets hung up on the need to write everything from scratch is beyond me. That being said, this awesome template of supreme eye candy you see before you (sarcasm) was coded by me. I did however make use of LESS, jQuery, isotope, reveal, modernizr, jReject and colorbox libraries. I am also using the Diavlo Book, Lobster and Icomoon webfonts.

Wait a minute, are you a designer or a developer?

Do I have to be either or? I realize that nowadays people are choosing to become becoming more ‘specialized’ as an information architect, a Photoshop artist, an HTML/CSS coder, or a Javascript developer, etc.. When I started in this industry you were either a front-end or back-end guy. I have always worked hard to make sure I stayed capable of being able to deliver the entire UI. Whether it’s brainstorming, to concept, to mock-up, to art direction, and finally to production ready code I’m very comfortable with every aspect of the UI. If its on this side of the server, thats my gig. I think its important for the designer to be able to understand information delivery and usability when they are creating a mock-up. It’s equally important to understand if/how something can be coded while they are working in Photoshop. And when the picture has to become reality it’s inevitable that pixels will change when converted to a coded page/widget/application and therefore the UI developer/coder needs to understand what pixels can be altered without losing the integrity of the design.

It’s also a nice balance for me. I can float back and forth between Photoshop and code which allows me to not get too burnt out on either. Thats just the way I was taught and thats how I continue to progress in my career.

So this all tells me nothing, who are you?

I’m just a guy with a lot of tattoos that likes crayons a little too much. A father of two awesome kids, husband to a wife that lets me think I’m cool, a devoted Boston Celtic fan, youth basketball coach, horrible guitar player, wannabe mechanic, and all around nice guy (subject to change/debate/opinion). If you need more professional info feel free to check out my LinkedIn profile.

Hey you sound like a cool guy, wanna be Facebook friends?

Thanks but no thanks. Nothing personal, I just try and keep my personal life and professional life as separate as possible.

Still need more info? Really?? Ok, well feel free to shoot me an email.