This is a long story (I get carried away, sometimes), I hope you like to read...

An Artist and a Designer

Within our so-called civilization we have professions of every kind; doctors, nurses, preachers, teachers, architects, policemen, judges, lawyers, sports heros, administrators, managers, accountants, polititians, truckers, drivers, ship captains, pilots, singers, musicians, entertainers, butchers, bakers, chefs, waiters, builders, gamers and candlestick makers.

Out of that list I'm not qualified for any of those positions.   I can be an artist, designer or writer.  That's about it.  I pretend I would be a great actor, but there is no proof, either way (though no one knows the act I put on daily).

I made decisions that affected the rest of my life when I was around six years old.  Nothing went as planned.  I was going to race cycles and cars.  I would endeavor to be a fast Formula 1 driver and race at Indy.  And I was full of talent.  Unfortunately, my family was dead-set against me.

My family was full of great professionals, a lawyer dad, teacher mom, doctor, art designer and architect uncles, a mayor and a teacher as grandfathers, a teacher and musician grandmother, an artist grandmother.  

Everyone there had great responsibilties, at least to me.  But I was not well suited to meet most any of these responsibilities.  And I genuinely enjoyed racing.  No one could beat ever me on my Schwinn bicycle until I was all grown-up.  My younger brother finally beat me when we were on mountain bikes after his wedding.

I really wasn't the responsible sort, I liked to induce levity into every situation.  Very few people got me.  My own father actually took me for a rebel, sometimes even a clown.  

My father had to scratch and claw his way to the top, or so he liked to make people think.  He was smart, though.  He just didn't care about others.

I think that he lost all his faith in me once I was electrocuted by a wall socket.  The right side (I think) of my vision went completely white and didn't return for a bit.  Of course, I recovered just fine, but the story seemed to scare him all his years, much more than it scared me going through it at the time.  It was only for more than a few moments, all I could see was white.  I suppose the left side of my brain may have rebooted.

But art had always been a part of my life from an early age.  I loved the masters and when growing up in NYC I was able to attend children's classes at the Museum of Modern Art every Saturday and go and see the works of my heros, like; Vincent Van Gogh, Rembrandt van Rijn, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Auguste Rodin, Leonardo da Vinci, Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, Francisco Goya, Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Peter Paul Rubens, Norman Rockwell and others.  After my introduction to fine art, my father introduced me to DC and Marvel comics just to get me to read more.  I also specifically enjoyed Peter Max's commercial art.

New York is the capital of culture in North America, and it was good to grow-up there.  But my family moved back and forth from the midwest, going to Omaha, Nebraska, in Junior High and I finished my last year and a half of high school in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Unfortunately, I was kicked out of the house once I graduated American Motorcycle Institute and could not convince my father to send me to the Rhode Island School of Design, as I had planned.  And even though I tried to get to college shortly afterwards, I wasn't allowed to go until I was at least 24 years old. because my attorney father made too much and would not declare my independence, even though I was living on my own.  

Moving back out west I gained a love of American artists Georgia O'Keeffe, Harvey Dunn and others.  

I attended South Dakota State University when I was 25 and had a great love for film.  After a couple of years there, I went back to Connecticut in order to try to get to film school at NYU as a resident.  Unfortunately, it took another 10 years before I wound-up finally back in college at Augustana in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, pursuing an art degree.

After college, I ventured to create a website in order to expose the world to my talent.  Then I wound-up designing websites for one of the teachers, and then the atheletic conference.  I had a steady stream of clients for a long time after.

I have been designing websites ever since.  Not always full time, as the crash of 2008 was particularly hard on my business.  

After being injured on my part-time job at the Sioux Falls Kohl's at the Empire Mall in 2012, I had to promise my doctor that I would find a sitting job.  This is it.

Although I am slightly disabled, my former employer, Kohl's, has stopped sending me the disability checks that I'm supposed to be getting.  So I have to visit a lawyer once again. 

But if I am going to continue to design websites professionally, I have to do it right.  Because there are actually plenty of wrong ways to design a website.  That's why I looked for a good alternative to hand-coding every line of HTML and CSS.  I am now testing software that allows for advanced features.

At my heart, I am an artist.  I had to learn how to code websites because it was the proper way to design.  Now I am experimenting with all sorts of new software and design techniques that police my code for me.  

That is not to say that all the software I use is great.  In a way, it's a peice-mail operation.  I still have to rely on my knowing what I'm doing.  That's why this site is an experiment in design.  

But just like you, I am glad that software is starting to move forward and allow the designer to design (instead of always coding), the writer to write, the artist to create.  But the design software I use for this website gets out of the way of the designer and uses advanced framework templates (the latest Boilerplate version).

Still, I am only the designer.  No one cares as much about your online portfolio as you do.  I design and develop a template that simply frames and communicates your message.  The message is still yours, but as a marketer I can create new branding opportunities.  

Nevertheless, I concentrate on the design.  The business is responsible for the content.  Content which could be pulled out of any text (email, adverisement, brochure, mailings, etc...) where you are describing your business and operations.  I simply tool your content into a marketable, positive image that you can stand behind.  To accomplish just that, I design a well branded, professional and positive theme that is designed to compliment your business and message.

In short, your business is not only the inspiration, but the focus of your website's design.  As it should be, so that you can concentrate on your business.

As a marketer, I know how to communicate your message, as long as you can convey that message to me.  Together, with my art education, design experience and marketing skills, we can promote your brand with finess and pride.

Since it is your message, you are responsible for the content.  I am the designer, I make it work.  Together, the work we do results in an extraordinary web pressence.  I'll punch it up, make it work, frame your message in a great interface.  But I will need your input.