A few words.

Summary

2020-Present | Æ3r, Founder/Creative Director
2019-2020 | NewDealDesign, Director of Experience Design
2012-2019 | Fuseproject, Principal Designer
2009-2012 | ÆtherBureau, Founder/Creative Director
2007-2009 | Razorfish, Associate Creative Director
2005-2015 | Dynamophone Records, Founder
2001-2005 | Grey Worldwide, Art Director
1988-2001 | Curium Design, Founder/Creative Director
1986-1990 | Bennington College, BA Music Composition

TL;Dr

I believe in the constant process of growing and learning. My entire professional career has been guided by seeking out new approaches and ideas, new tools and markets and always at the base of it, a great desire to not only create something new but ultimately better.

Through this lens, I have gained tremendous experience and expertise in all aspects of digital design: UX, IA, UI, IxD, and most importantly, I have been able to gain a rich perspective on the the integration of technology and what it means to our daily lives.

Æther Bureau
After several years of working at design companies, under a renewed version of Æther Bureau, now simplified (?) to Æ3r, I have returned to consultancy. I prefer to have greater and more direct impact on companies success, and can offer a deep knowledge and expertise working directly with clients. Focusing on the integrated nature of Brand Experience, I  can string together a coehsivebrand story from UX strategy, UX, Web, mobile and product design, in addition to old-school brand reach: Logo, brand systems, environmental and collateral expressions. Brand experience is no longer siloed in a ‘print’ or ‘digital’ world- it is across all touchpoints, and this is where I excel.

NewDealDesign
I had the opportunity to run the Experience Design practice at NewDealDesign, a San Francisco based product design studio. I was able to help an amazing team of designers build more meaningful solutions, while adding my ongoing narrative. (which if you are reading this, you’ve probably gotten a feel for what that is.) A young team of  7 talented system thinkers and doers working on a great holistic range of integrated and digital products for the real estate, health and consumer product industries.

Fuseproject
Over the previous 7 years as Principal Designer, I have had the great opportunity to help build a digital practice at Fuseproject, a product design studio. Integrating digital expertise has been paramount in our rapidly growing tech-hungry culture, where every object must be connected. We endeavor to allow technology to be invisible and integrated and create experiences that are natural – as well as pushing for authentically digital and delightful.

I’ve helped grow a team from the ground up of talented, insightful and aware UX, IxD, IA and UI designers. Our practice is constantly integrating with brand experiences, ID interactions as well as deep Strategic understanding for our clients. Because of the companies desire to make an impact, I have been able to gain expertise in IoT, Smart Home, Robotics, as well as a wide range of consumer products and services.

Some of the clients I have had the honor to support are: August Home, British Gas, Cobalt Robotics, Fluidigm, General Electric, Herman Miller, Intuition Robotics, Kodak, PayPal, Samsung, Western Digital, and many more.

Ætherbureau
Before working at Fuseproject, I created and ran a virtual Brand Experience agency for over 3 years. With the accessibility of (then: 2008) new collaborative tools, I was able to work with writers, developers and designers on containable projects. Our services included Logo, Brand, Packaging, Web, and (early) mobile. This was an ideal time for me personally, as I had a newborn daughter that I wanted to spend crucial time with.

Dynamophone Records
What began as a branding experiment turned into a key milestone in my 40’s. In 2005, while living in London while my wife earned a graduate degree, I wanted to explore how brand experience affects the way we consume music. In the early days of digital distribution, I became fascinated in the tactile need for objects, and endeavored to offer releases that were cohesive in story, nice to hold but easily accessible via digital channels. Additionally it gave me the opportunity to design, produce and develop each projects concept, artwork, manufacturing, marketing and distribution. Over 10 years I released 38 albums. Packaging was often handmade, or eco-friendly and efficiently shippable. Of course this was also a great venue to release several of my own albums, as well as producing and mastering many of the releases.

The Agency Years
Throughout the early 2000’s I spent time expanding my expertise in digital as an Art Director at Grey Worldwide and Razorfish. At Grey, I received a few awards for the extensive branding work we did for a health insurance platform for BlueCross/Anthem called Tonik, as well as work for McAfee, Symantec, and many others.

I spent 3 years as an ACD at Razorfish, helping them grow their advertising offering. We received several awards for digital campaigns for Washington Mutual,  and several others.

Curium Design
In 1988, while still in college, I began designing for clients with the help of my sister and my Mac Plus. Starting with publication design, I expanded my offering to brand work and business systems. After graduating in 1990, We opened an official studio in San Francisco, and quickly grew our practice to include digital marketing and early stage websites (html 1.0!) For 12 more years we expanded to include CD-Rom and other interactive platforms to our design offering. Some clients back then included: Wired Magazine, Berkeley Systems, Brainwash Cafe, DNA Lounge, SF Art Institute, Art Academy, Bennington College,  and many other small businesses.

School
In 1990, I received my BA in Music Composition at Bennington College, a small liberal arts college in Vermont. I began apprenticeship at a few printers and graphic design shops, while composing music for dance and art installations.  I Spent my teens living in Santa Rosa, California, where I attended Junior College (studying Graphic Arts and Painting) while in High School. Most of the time, back then, I was either making music, painting or driving my scooter around Sonoma County.