What have I been doing?

I am currently the Senior Web Designer in the marketing department of SMART Technologies; an international company based out of Calgary that is the global leader in interactive whiteboard technology. I have been with SMART for over two years, starting with the company in April of 2006.

My responsibilities have been to maintain SMART's family of 20+ websites, create an assortment of web marketing materials, completely redesign out dated sections of the company's main websites, and create a variety of mirco-sites to promote tradeshows, events and product launches.

In my spare time, I have taken on a few contract websites to allow myself to constantly explore many creative directions and continue to grow as a designer.

I have also been trying to draw a lot more regularly and have plans to do commissions in the near future. One of my short term goals is to get myself on deviantART and see if that doesn't ignite a fuse underneath the artsy side of me.

How did it all start?

I was born on October 23rd, 1982 and arrived in Canada soon after. I've lived in Calgary all of my life and for as long as I can remember; I've loved to draw. What started out as chicken scratches and doodles on pieces of scrap paper has turned into a love for art and design.

In 2000, I enrolled at Applied Multimedia training centers where I studied graphic arts and 2D/3D animation techniques. After graduating with a Diploma in 2002, I did some contract work as a Graphic Designer with a variety of small companies around Calgary. I kept pursuing a job in the digital animation industry, but soon realized Calgary was just too small of a market (at the time). Either that or I just wasn't very good. I like to think it was the former.

Wanting to learn more about the graphic and web design industry, I applied to the New Media Production and Design program (NMPD) at SAIT Polytechnic (or as it was called at the time, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology). I completed the program with honors in 2006.