About

Everything about this world is in flux. Keeping up with changes in technology, culture, politics and even your own field means constant adaptation and adjustment. This blog chronicles my development in my interest of social media, and how I can push the needle further.

Here’s my back story: I graduated from the University of Michigan in the early 90’s with a BFA concentrating in Graphic Design and Photography. I immediately took work at a small ad agency in middle Michigan were I received my first dose of reality of working in Corporate America. This was just as Macintosh computers were being put to use in the design field on a large-scale, which I received no training with at school. I had to adjust quickly, learning design AND production on a machine I wasn’t familiar with. This is when email was still not utilized by anyone lower than a director level and considered a non-essential tool for the office. Around this time, I also started a hobby that was scoffed at by the higher-ups at my workplace: web page layout and animation.

Fast forward 3 years and I landed at a small design shop in Atlanta, specializing in corporate communications, specifically Annual Reports. I was handed a large project and was expected to manage vendors from start to finish. This meant I worked with copy writers, photographers, printers and clients, as well as managing the entire creative process all along. I began receiving requests for interactive versions of print projects. Now that I look back these seem rudimentary, but at the time they dazzled the audience. I received a Show South Gold Award for a website for Project Read, and I remember the owner of the design shop saying back then, “You should consider going into interactive, that is where the money will be.”

Since then I have worked with both interactive and print, in small design shops, large agencies, and even in-house departments. A few years ago my thoughts turned to the changes on the web and where it was headed and noticed relationships were changing. They were no longer one way, shouting matches for our attention; they were becoming increasingly multi-channel communication streams, and marketers were wondering how to get in the conversation. Thus, my interest turned and yet another adaptation.

So, here I plan to start conversations, ask questions and get perspective. I look forward to the journey.