*Ok, the above chart isn't an exact breakdown of my work, and there is a fair amount of overlap, but you get the picture :)
About
I work for a wide variety of clients in the arts, labour and community justice sectors. I love visual design, communication strategy, writing, and social change and trying to figure out how to balance all 4. Through site audits, "peace of mind" care plans, and web design services, I focus on easing the difficulties you have in managing and growing your web presence.
My focus
Relieving client “pain points” is my favorite part of the work, whether it’s building a membership section for a site, dealing with design issues, improving the security or speed of your site, developing a customized “back-end” for easier site administration, setting up an e-commerce platform, strategic consulting, or simply building an ideal reading experience for users as they learn about issues that matter.
Client and user-centric
“Soft skills” are also very important in my work with you. Listening. Building rapport and engaging with honesty and clarity. I recognize the risk you are taking in committing to a designer or developer and my goal is to help you reduce it as much as possible.
Our joint aim in working together should be to provide the best possible experience for your users (or members or customers) as they are the reason you’ve committed valuable time and resources to build a web presence in the first place. It’s less about our preferences as the client and the designer/developer, and more about ways we can work together to get users to engage with, and find value in, the web functionality we produce.
My background
Before diving full-time into web communications, design, and development 5 years ago, my work focused on research, writing, and political organizing (as well as some part-time web communications). I’ve worked for a wide range of organizations and individuals such as the Polaris Institute, Canadian Union of Public Employees, and even had an unusual but rewarding experience working for consumer advocate Ralph Nader many years ago. These experiences inform my approach to web communications and help me immensely in the planning and research that is fundamental to good web design and development.
My writing on this site combines all of these influences and experiences as I cover web design and development trends as well as writing and research on political and social justice topics.
For me, this work isn’t simply about making a living – it is also about finding opportunities to build capacity with organizations fighting to make change in the world. I see the web as a crucial platform for your communication on these issues, so I work tirelessly to ensure the your information is as findable, valuable, manageable, and shareable as possible.
