PROFESSIONALLY I am a web designer and front-end developer. I've worked in a variety of enterprise level and open source platforms, CMSs and other frameworks over my professional web career which began in 2007. I specialize in UI/UX design that is functional and beautiful across all devices. I'm experienced in designing a project from start to finish; taking a project through many stages including concept, hierarchy, wire-framing, prototyping and then front-end development with interaction design. I also have experience with branding, vector graphics, print design and other artistic crafts. I am currently exploring more with SVG animations and other new animation technology available to browsers.
PERSONALLY Beyond my work, I have a lively and quirky personality which aids in my love of laughter and smiling. I enjoy yoga, hiking, gardening, herbal medicine, cooking and anything else that connects me with nature. I've studied and taught yoga through an international organization and have certificates in Hatha yoga, restorative yoga, gentle yoga and Ayurvedic cooking. I enjoy traveling and have visited many countries around the world. Artistically, I have dabbled in acrylics, silk painting, beading, candle making and Celtic knots and ropes. I also like to relax with friends online and play board games, team games and have recently started playing Minecraft, primarily for the design and logic components of the game.
CODING APPROACH I primarily use CSS 3, HTML 5 and jQuery to build the front-end design and interactions. I prefer to structure my code with future features in-mind even if it means taking more time upfront to save time later. Primarily, the project I've worked on are either PHP or ASP.Net, but I have experience working with other back-end languages and frameworks. As I am often both the designer and developer of a project, it gives me insight into how something can be built while I'm designing it. This does not limit my designs however! I often end up challenging myself by coming up with concepts that aren’t straight-forward for development.
EDUCATION I took an early interest in creating computer graphics. At the age of 11, I could sit for hours and hours to create pixel artwork in MS Paint. I loved to calculate the colors to create gradients of colors. At age 12, I discovered CSS and HTML and proceeded to learn it by deconstructing the code of sites that I thought were interesting. I started to make my own websites for friends and had ran several sites by the time I was in high school. I took courses in programming in both high school and college. My strong interest in art lead me to study and earn my BFA in Visual Communication Design at the University of Washington. It was then a natural progression for me to become a web designer as this combined my degree with my interest in web development.