Nice to meet you! I am a multi-disciplinary designer, creating visual and experiential artifacts that invigorate well-known and emergent brands. I live and work in Detroit, currently serving as a Creative Director at Jones Knowles Ritchie. Please reach out if you’re interested in making stuff together.
Most of the work shown on this site is the product of fantastic collaborations featuring lots of talented people. I’m so thankful to have been a part of these projects, and especially for the lasting relationships that came from them.
Background & Approach
I started out at o2, where I learned UI & visual design, front-end & server-side code, motion graphics & 3D animation, and how to apply those mediums to in-person experiences and installations.
I took that experience to Digitas, where I collaborated with and directed teams on small- and large-scale projects as SVP of Design, leading our global brand design practice. This included everything from leading projects and pitches to developing several processes & tools to help our clients understand what they stand for, how they can stand out, and how to objectively evaluate design decisions to deliver distinctive brand identity work.
JKR is a dream job – a chance to build and evolve culture, be mentored by some of my favorite design luminaries and most importantly, to make some really cool stuff for lots of household names and cultural icons.
What I Believe
Art is for yourself. Design is for everyone. Art expresses a personal, subjective idea. Design solves objective challenges for diverse communities. I love working with people who see and think differently than I do, and developing processes to push myself and my teams beyond our personal style. It’s through that commitment to listening and exploring that we can discover unexpected territories—work that feels unique to a given client’s story.
Design transcends mediums. Best practices & principles of a given medium can be learned. Design intuition is what I am continually sharpening and seeking. Combined with a relentless and resourceful attitude, it empowers us to solve a challenge from the perspective of a connected multi-channel experience.
Less cooks, more impact. Lean, multi-disciplinary teams break down silos and foster a nimble, collaborative culture that produces the type of seamless design solutions brands need today.
Design without craft is nothing. It’s one thing to make fancy-looking spec work; it’s a whole other challenge to sustain executions over time that look just as good as the vision your clients fell in love with. I’m always looking for ways to automate our processes with templates, apps, design “jigs”, etc.; anything that helps us execute with craft and consistency.
Stay humble. Acknowledging other people’s achievements, being gracious and sharing opportunities doesn’t undermine your own success. It creates a safe space where people can share unexpected ideas and candid feedback, without worrying about work being judged or stolen.
Stay hungry. Projects are won when the people working on them are constantly thinking about how to keep pushing, exploring every possible avenue, and won’t stop until it’s perfect. My goal is to be just as energized after ten rounds of feedback as when we got kicked off.