Here’s my Career Journey
After graduating from SUNY Oswego in 2008 I went out into the workforce only to discover that everyone was struggling and no one was hiring designers. I’m never one to complain about the recession but it was a tough time to be in any creative industry. I stuck around for a few years afterwards, picking up screen-printing and food-industry work where I could. For a while I was even in business for myself screen-printing in the back of my house.
That was until 2012 when I was able to convince a digital marketing firm in Norwalk, CT that I had the chops to be brought on board and learn how marketing was done in the interactive space. Although I was only there for a year, I learned more in my role as Associate Art Director than I did in my 4 years of college.
I moved back to Central NY soon after and landed a job with Time Warner Cable News (Now Spectrum News.)
There I was a part of an agile team of developers, news casters, social media experts, and I cut my teeth re-designing their content, and establishing brand standards, and redesigning their responsive website.
I made the transition to Raymour & Flanigan because I felt the pinch of Spectrum News migrating all of their creative and development services to their headquarters in Colorado, so in an attempt to stay in Central NY, I landed at Raymour & Flanigan’s IT department. If you’re unfamiliar with them, they’re the largest furniture retailer in the northeast.
Within the IT department I lead the charge to create an internal design system for our internal software, and helped facilitate these design changes across React Native, and .Net technologies.
The opportunity to start as a UX/UI designer for a new marketing firm was a no brainer. I connected instantly with the people during the interview, and the chance to work with their clients was very exciting. At Aalto Creative, I assisted with establishing UX and UI rules for lots of GreenBlue’s databases and front ends, as well as helping with branding projects for various clients around Charlottesville, VA.
Aalto was bought by ISS in March of 2022 and it’s been a dream job, working with talented developers and clients.
Resumé
Senior UX/UI Designer
RE Innovative Software Solutions - Charlottesville, VA
MAR 2021 – PRESENT
Worked directly with development teams to ensure proper handoff with designs.
Presented prototyped designs to internal and external stakeholders.
Conducted user research on behalf of clients with the intent of improving and iterating upon designs
UX/UI Designer
Raymour & Flanigan - Liverpool, NY
MAR 2018 – MAR 2021
Drive the execution of application UX/UI flows for all team member facing IT experiences.
Supporting the sales field, by conducting user research, testing.
Design, motivate, build and support the User Experience working with project managers, front-end developers, web designers, business analysts and business unit owners.
Design user experience design projects from concept to launch.
UI Designer
Charter Spectrum News - Syracuse, NY
JUL 2014 – MAR 2018
Oversaw and defined a user interface style guide for all of Time Warner Cable News products.
Developed wireframes, prototypes, conceptual illustrations and interactive designs.
Managed UX issues throughout development process.
Designed websites responsively to provide 508 compliant viewing experience across multiple
devices.
Mobile/tablet app UI design.
Graphic Designer/Digital Strategist
PROLITERACY - Syracuse, NY
JAN 2014 - JUN 2014
Structured how ProLiteracy approached their digital and social experience for users.
Developed social calendars and imagery targeted towards constituents, and adult literacy advocates.
Generated advertising and print collateral with direction from the director of marketing and
advertising.
Associate Art Director
Match Marketing Group - Norwalk, CT
OCT 2012 - DEC 2013
Developed websites, logos, print materials and presentations.
Expanded on the visual language brands such as Dannon Yogurt, and Perk Airfresheners use in their social presence.
Generated interactive experiences for such brands as Absolut Vodka, Malibu, AZO, Culturelle, and CVS.
Created new identities for Domino’s Pizza, Hilton’s Scout Program.