Hello, World!

Art, meet Design

When I was little, I wanted to be an artist. Many of my childhood days were spent drawing, painting, and crafting small critters out of beads and papier mâché. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized art can be found in more places than a gallery. Everyday objects, from shoes to cups to chairs, can be beautiful like art. The difference between a beautiful chair and a beautiful painting, however, is that a chair is created to serve a practical function, like providing a place to sit, rather than existing solely as a form of aesthetic expression. This intersection of form and function is the defining feature of Design and what separates it from Art.

For me, the early Internet acted as a gateway to the world of Design. I enjoyed the challenge of creating websites that were beautiful to look at but which also functioned well under the hood. As I delved deeper into “cyberspace” while taking “IRL” lessons in fine art, I realized that web design could be a potential career path. This prompted me to select an Art & Design major at the University of Alberta, where I studied a wide range of disciplines from Photography to Typography to Visual Communication Design to Art History (and also a second major in Psychology, because why not?). While studying in the late aughts, I gained valuable experience designing websites and graphics for local businesses, including in-house design for an Edmonton-based music store and contract work with a local IT company.

After graduating in 2011, the web design landscape shifted away from desktop computers to mobile devices and new techniques emerged as a result. I learned the principles of responsive web design while expanding my business to offer print design services using skills I developed during my degree. As I was learning these new techniques, I was also learning new languages and experiencing new cultures while spending significant time with my significant other in Germany, Australia, and the UK, before returning to Canada in 2019.

Today, I work independently from Winnipeg, Manitoba creating websites, graphics, and products with an eye toward the future and the design challenges that tomorrow’s technology will bring. Thanks to the magic of the Internet, I’m available to work with groups and individuals from around the globe. So let’s chat!