Oregon surf, Reed and Bode Oregon surf, Reed and Bode

About

I design and make things for a day job and in my personal life – I care about balance, simplicity, and refinement. I enjoy traveling light and spending time on the beach with my family and friends. Get in touch on LinkedIn .

Process

I see design as a fundamental practice exploring the needs of the customer, stakeholders, and the limits of technology to create products and services that are compelling, useful, lean, and profitable. My skill sets and approach allow me to work in an interdisciplinary fashion blurring the lines between graphic design, user experience and user interface design, front-end development, and business strategy.

Specialties:

  • HTML, CSS, Adobe Illustrator, People Centered Design
  • Ride or die collaborative teammate
  • Design of all kind

Here is a rough outline of how I might start a new website project.

Existing UX research:

  • Conduct an exploratory, internal background study (might not need to do this since many of us on the team have years of institutional knowledge but could still be helpful)
  • Educate and enable others
  • Conduct usability testing on key products
  • Work collaboratively to determine future priorities

Existing site:

  • Accessibility
  • Branding
  • Components audit
  • Information architecture/user flows
  • User profiles

UX research:

  • Understand our users: internal, external, mix of both
  • Goals must be defined
  • Keep scope small/manageable so you do not have too much data to weigh/too much to consider
  • Decide what insight do we want to gain
  • Take time to thoughtfully plan

New site:

  • Accessibility
  • Atomic design
  • Branding
  • Components library
  • Content design
  • Prototypes (low and high fidelity)
  • Reusable components
  • Information architecture/user flows
  • User profiles

Everything all the time

Don't do each phase of the project once. Refine and edit every piece of the design and build, always. Everything in the production environment is unfinished, and finished. Every possible piece of the web project is happening all at once. Live that way and nothing will frustrate you. Everything that happens will be something that you've seen before.

Make something of value

There have been many challenges working for Seattle Colleges along the way. But one thing that always makes the work worthwhile is what we do. The city colleges are an open door for all people to begin to make their life better.

A few sketches designs from Reed and Val A few sketches designs from Reed and Val

Balance

I grew up drawing and reading comics, playing basketball, and swimming, listening to music and cooking with my grandma. When I make sure to indulge in life and create balance, my work is much better.