About
I am a Certified Usability Analyst (CUA), freelance XHTML/CSS coder, and work as a Web Specialist for a national healthcare related corporation. Outside of my full time job, I focus on the design and layout of clean, affordable and effective standards compliant web sites on a freelance and per project basis.
I'm available for front-end web design/development in Chicagoland and elsewhere via telecommuting. My resume is available with additional examples of my work to be added as I finish my first freelance projects.
My resume is available in the following formats:
[ PDF | MS Word | HTML | ASCII text ]
So, why porcupine29? Back in the early days of amazon, google, yahoo, monster, and others, I was doodling mascot ideas for a web site. I thought a porcupine would make a funny mascot. I drew a few porcupines, then simplified one of my sketches to be easily rendered with vector graphics. The word is easy to remember and spell, so I added my age to the end and thought it sounded like a distinctive domain name.
Biography
I studied the fundamentals of art and design in school, and learned the traditional non-digital methods of design, back in the final days of keyline paste-up. I've always been a creative thinker and interested in computing since my dad and I worked on his succession of Commodore computers in the 1980's. Like many, I was eventually drawn to the web by its combined use of design and technology.
I've spent the last year getting up to speed on standards based web design and development, search engine optimization, and digital photography and image optimization.
Lately, I'm educating myself on RSS, XML, PHP and MySQL. These technologies are fast becoming the most effective widely used on the web. I'm anxious to add the use of these languages to my skill set in the very near future.
Prior to my current day job, I worked in libraries. There I learned a lot about the effective and user-friendly organization of information. My understanding library cataloging still influences the way I organize data, on my computer, the web and everywhere else. I also gained insight into the ways people think when trying to find information.
I even spent time as a Shift Supervisor, or partner, at Starbucks. There I learned about the importance of being a customer facing business and sincerely caring about their "user" experience. At Starbucks, I managed teams of other partners and learned to quickly resolve conflicts.
I'm currently employed as a Web Specialist at a national corporation involved in the healthcare industry. I've learned a lot about corporate politics and culture, and have developed excellent skills at multi-tasking. I'm working with a colleague to push for a web standards compliant and usability tested redesign of our corporate web site. But, I look forward to outside projects where I can be free to use the skills I've developed over the past few years.
When I'm not sitting in front of a computer, or reading up on cascading style sheets, I love to travel with my wife, eat great food and watch movies (or at least reruns of our favorite TV shows from the 80's).
I'm available for front-end web design/development on a freelance and per project basis.
Education
University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)
I started college as a painting major, but wanted to learn more about the artists who came before me. I ended up with a degree in the History of Architecture and Art. I focused on Precolumbian and Early Christian and Byzantine art. My courses also included Japanese art, the Italian Baroque, and the history of furniture and interiors.
I returned to UIC for some post-graduate courses in physical anthropology and archaeology before finding full time work at the Field Museum.
Illustration
While on staff at the Field Museum, I took several courses in scientific illustration from renowned illustrator, Marlene Hill Donnelly. It was fascinating to learn the techniques of the scientific illustrator and combine them with my fine art skills. The courses taught me new ways of observing and presenting information.
College of DuPage (COD)
In 2003, after completing 36 hours of classes, I earned a certificate as a Web Technician from a local college. I completed courses in HTML, JavaScript, design, logic and structured programming, and digital imaging.
Tufte
Recently, I attended an Edward Tufte all-day seminar on the design and presentation of information. It was time (and money) well spent. Many of his ideas were general enough to apply to any industry, but he did spend some time on computer interface design, including the web. His books are worth a thorough read.