I am a freelance web designer currently living in San Diego, CA. In March of 2018, I was honored to graduate from UC San Diego with a Bachelor’s of Science in Cognitive Science, specializing in Human-Computer Design & Interaction. While my academic path wasn’t exactly linear - I transferred from the University of Oregon in 2014, and changed majors multiple times at both schools - this also meant I was exposed to many various methodologies and philosophies aiming to explain some aspect of the human experience. At some point, I noticed similar currents running through seemingly disparate academic disciplines. One such recurring idea, highlighted by my studies in cognitive science, psychology, sociology, and anthropology, was the powerful idea that empathy is among our greatest attributes - that our collective ability to understand the emotional states of others drives us to create tools, develop technologies, communicate effectively, and potentially challenge the status quo in an effort to solve real problems. I emphatically believe in human-centered design as the key to developing inclusive technology. By designing with human experience & emotions in mind, we create in a way that assures ease of access & use to as many people as possible. I hope to use my training in design, cognitive science, computer science, psychology, and philosophy to not only solve problems, but solve them in the best manner.
Beyond my undergraduate experience, I was lucky enough to work for a local San Diego startup called GoSite, a B2B SaaS company that got its Series B funding shortly before I joined as a Sites Product Specialist. For the first few months at GoSite, I helped clear hundreds of backlogged request/complaint tickets (via HubSpot) including: custom website edit requests that fell outside of the functionality of the in-house website builder using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, discovering & developing new integrations between GoSite tools and 3rd party platforms like SquareSpace, GoDaddy, and Wix, updating DNS records to push sites live to a client's domain, creating & administrating client custom-domain email accounts via the company's Google Workspace Reseller Account, purchasing domains & updating DNS settings via Google Domains and Amazon Web Services, communicating with escalated customers via phone, text, & email interactions, finding workarounds for existing bugs within the GoSite platform, designing & editing WordPress websites for legacy clients, adding our tools to websites built on 3rd party platforms, and helping plan future product updates with the Product & Engineering teams given my unique combination of design-facing and customer-facing experience. After that, I changed roles to work as a Technical Escalation Specialist, a kind of liaison between the Customer Experience & Product teams. In that role, I was additionally responsible for converting HubSpot bug report tickets from the Customer Experience and Customer Support teams to Jira tickets with additional information relevant to the Product & Engineering teams, compiling data for the Product & Engineering teams on the most common types of bug reports using Jira, HubSpot, & Excel, answering internal product questions from the Customer Experience & Support teams, and aiding in employee education regarding both our products and the Internet in general.
I have also had a few freelancing opportunities in which I was thrilled to showcase my skills to my clients, and to see the joy in their faces as I brought their ideas to life. I've designed websites & logos for startups and a non-profit organization, and I’ve even had the opportunity to create a few album covers for a close friend of mine. Prior to that, I had the honor of working as an instructor - and later, lead instructor - for iD Tech Camps. I taught at several locations, namely: Stanford University, UC San Diego, and CSU San Marcos. The courses I taught, all interactive & project-based, were week-long introductions to various tech-related skills like using object-oriented programming in Java & basic PhotoShop techniques to make MineCraft mods, learning basic map design & story flow mechanics in video games, & creating a cool standalone web application. We were even able to teach kids as young as six years old the basics of programmatic thinking using Scratch (a "visual programming language" developed by MIT). Apart from the invaluable real-world experience of operating within a team and communicating clearly with clients, I also learned the importance of patience, how to teach for different learning styles, and how to plan for the unexpected. Working with kids was fulfilling and hilarious, but also unpredictable and often exhausting. By learning to adapt to these conditions and by being as transparent as possible, in 2015 I helped lead my team at CSU San Marcos to being the highest-reviewed iD Tech location in California.
Outside of design, I like to express myself creatively through making music, taking pictures, and voraciously consuming culture of all media types. I love blues & jazz, rock & rap, house & techno, hikes, collecting vinyl records, watching movies, listening to podcasts, writing songs, reading anything & everything, and using all of the tools available to me to build useful stuff and create beautiful things.
Scroll down for my résumé, a quick breakdown on my past projects, & finally some contact information.
La Jolla, CA / March 2018
B.S. Cognitive Science
Specialization: Interaction & Design
Minor: Philosophy
[Transferred from the University of Oregon in 2014]
Dean's List - Spring 2013
Dean's List - Winter 2014
The New School - Parson's School of Design
Healthy Materials & Sustainable Design Cert.
Completed May 2020.
San Diego, CA / October 2021 - Present, March 2018 - November 2020
Completed numerous web development & graphic design projects for businesses from industries as varied as apparel, international management consulting, healthcare management, musicians, etc. Responsibilities have included web design & development (with HTML/CSS/JS, Bootstrap, and platforms like WordPress & SquareSpace), logo ideation & design, designing & editing banner ads for social media campaigns, data visualizations, and illustrating album cover artwork. Through these experiences, I have further developed my graphic design & web design skills by taking design concepts from ideation to implementation, leading client presentations, communicating effectively with stakeholders, and listening to constructive criticism from mentors & clients.
San Diego, CA / May 2021 - October 2021
All previous responsibilities, plus: converting HubSpot bug report tickets from the Customer Experience and Customer Support teams to Jira tickets with additional information relevant to the Product & Engineering teams, compiling data for the Product & Engineering teams on the most common types of bug reports using Jira, HubSpot, & Excel, using Zapier & Excel to analyze PCI compliance for all current clients while automating the tool for future use by the Finances team, answering internal product questions from the Customer Experience & Support teams, aiding in employee education regarding both our products and the Internet in general, and filtering Feature Request tickets and suggesting potential feature updates to the Product team.
San Diego, CA / November 2020 - May 2021
Helped clear hundreds of backlogged request/complaint tickets via HubSpot including: custom website edit requests that fell outside of the functionality of the website builder tool using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, discovering & developing new integrations between GoSite tools and 3rd party platforms like SquareSpace, GoDaddy, and Wix, updating DNS records to push sites live to a client's domain, creating & administrating client custom-domain email accounts via the company's Google Workspace Reseller Account, purchasing domains & updating DNS settings via Google Domains and Amazon Web Services, communicating with escalated customers via phone, text, & email interactions, finding workarounds for existing bugs within the GoSite platform, designing & editing WordPress websites for legacy clients, adding our tools to websites built on 3rd party platforms, and helping plan future product updates with the Product & Engineering teams given my unique product and customer experience.
San Marcos, CA / May 2015 - August 2015
Responsibilities included creating lesson plans and teaching various tech-focused courses for students aged 7-17. During my time as lead instructor, our location received the 4th highest reviews in the country and 1st in California. Acted as point-of-contact for parents, trained in administering medication and first-aid care, as well as mediating camper behavioral issues and organizing games and activities.
Courses Taught: Introduction to Java Programming (ages 13-17), Mobile Game Design using Stencyl (ages 10-12), Adventures in Game Design w/ MineCraft (ages 7-9).
Various Locations / May 2014 - August 2014
Taught introductory courses covering topics in programming and game design at the Stanford University, UC San Diego, and CSU San Marcos locations. Responsible for overseeing lesson plans, student progress and project scope, and instruction for 8 students in week-long courses.
Courses Taught: Introduction to Java Programming (ages 13-17), Intro to Programming: Scratch & Java (ages 10-12), 3D Game Design w/ MineCraft (ages 10-12), Adventures in Programming w/ Scratch (ages 7-9).
Eugene, OR / September 2013 - December 2013
Grader for CIS 122 - Introduction to Programming.
Project-based class, taught using Python.
Responsibilities included grading student projects
and providing feedback to facilitate learning and
understanding.
San Diego, CA / May 2012 - September 2012
Handled transactions, kept eating area clean, helped to prepare food, handled customer interactions at a pizza restaurant during my senior year of high school.
[references available upon request]
Worked with former Nike designer & outdoor industry veteran George Nelson to design, implement, & launch the debut website for KANSEPT1, a cycling apparel company. My client had a very specific design vision in mind, so my job was to make that vision a reality, while offering advice when necessary. My responsibilities included: registering the domain, maintaining DNS records, administrating custom domain-based email addresses through Google Workspace, registering a Google Business Account, creating the initial inventory infrastructure through the Shopify platform, choosing & customizing a Shopify theme to match my client’s aesthetic specifications (including coding & editing HTML, CSS, & JavaScript/jQuery directly), optimizing site architecture for SEO & accessibility, and running educational workshops to help my client & his team become proficient with the Shopify platform. Feel free to check out KANSEPT1 Cycling Apparel here.
Designed, implemented, and launched an eCommerce website store for a women’s equestrian clothing and accessories brand. This client had a specific vision for her store, which meant custom designing and coding to ensure her vision was met. The design process was iterative and involved multiple revisions and continuous collaboration. The most important components of the effort was fulfilling the client’s aesthetic vision, building a usable website, and creating an online experience focused on the customer’s journey. Throughout this project, I utilized specific design communication techniques and critical thinking. I also worked diligently to fulfill the customer’s demands without compromising user experience and functionality. The site can be viewed here. (Link no longer available due to the business partners parting ways.)
Aided Ken Carbone, a graphic designer & artist living in New York City, in an implementation of his designs into an easily-maintainable SquareSpace website for an international consulting firm. My specific responsibilities included creating the site, choosing a malleable & appropriate SquareSpace theme, assistance in certain design elements such as color theory & typography, the creation & delivery of a PowerPoint template & letterhead, technical assistance & asset generation for client presentations, site migration & technical back-end, and effective communication with the client across multiple timezones. The site can be viewed here.
Project for an upper-division Cognitive Science & Design course focused on Interaction Design; the semester's project theme was to focus on the topic of 'smart cities'. With a team, we designed and implemented a prototype web-app to provide contextually useful location-based information like maps, tickets, identification documents, weather & traffic updates, credit card payment, local news & political information, and a calendar function - all in one convenient location. This was prior, or at least contemporaneous, to the introduction of Apple's Wallet feature and other similar applications. For our efforts, we received an award for the Best UI Design in the class. UCSD - Fall 2016 - COGS 120: Interaction Design.
github page >>
This project consisted of designing a logo and aiding the client with the creation of a brand identity for a nursing home & rehabilitation center in Reno, Nevada. The logo was designed to be versatile, printable, and identifiable, while evoking the beautiful natural beauty of the Reno area. As one of the few locally-owned nursing homes, my client was particularly interested in incorporating a reference to the Sierra Nevadas. Below are some samples of the logo in action.
Created a logo for a data-driven marketing consulting company. The owner of Data Sensations wanted a logo that fit her desire to be a “no-brainer” when it came to hiring her for marketing consulting work. I interviewed her to better understand her design preference, bringing forward “successful” logos from within the marketing world and other industries to narrow the options. We chose the color orange to represent strength, growth, and opportunity.
Collaborated with a friend & local musician, LoudlyJ, to ideate, design, & illustrate several album cover artworks for various singles & albums. Below are some examples.
