My first foray into enterprise software was with a piece of inventory control, routing and customer relations management software. It was built under my company "MutchCo Developments" and targeted at the construction and waste management sector. It was proven to reduce fuel costs with its unique routing system that relied on an algorithm built to try and solve the travelling salesperson problem. It used NFC and RFID tags to provide a rigid inventory control which was routed through custom hardware to an Android phone and back to the server side in real-time. It had three major version releases over three years and is still in use today.
Farcast is a new podcasting platform that focuses on both the podcaster and the listener. It uses a subscription-based monetization model that reduces the dependence on advertising while also providing key insights about the audience. During my tenure with Farcast I wrote some of my favorite code of my career. This included a recommendation service that used a four-dimensional graph and PostGIS spatial queries to provide the user with fast, rich recommendations based on their and otherʼs listening habits. It was also my first time building a JWT-based authentication system that had to communicate with multiple different clients, including the Android app that I had a huge hand in designing and building. Our design language was simple, monochrome and straight-forward, giving way to the podcastʼs album art while also making a clear minimalist statement.
Paywallz is a SaaS based paywall that allows publishers to monetize a multitude of different content with minimal setup, from magazines to webinars. We faced a huge number of challenges while building this platform in an agile, rapid cycle. The most arduous of these challenges was building the external JavaScript widget that was loaded onto the publisherʼs website, this was solved with vanilla JavaScript, AWS CloudFront and a lot of CORS testing. I was also responsible for building the backend API/service that handled the payments for all subscriptions by communicating with our payment processor Stripe. Lastly, I also provisioned and maintained the AWS infrastructure and CI/CD (Jenkins, CircleCI) for the entire platform.
My biggest dilemna in web design has always been intuitive navigation: I find modern navigation styles too often come across as clunky and cumbersome. Instead of shying away from this problem, I decided that my portfolio website would highlight the duality of navigation and discovery. Each bubble represents a significant part of my career: they beg the user for interaction and only via curiosity (or maybe frustration) will the user discover the content beneath. The pastel colors and gentle animations are inspired by my love of minimalism and muted palletes.
Fin-Wall Site Services is a local, family owned company that has been thriving in Southern Alberta for over 25 years. For the design of this website I took inspiration from the landscape and the era in which the company was founded. I used retro graphic design and strong typefaces that give the user a sense of the companyʼs values. I kept the design of the logo simple and came up with a 2D rendition of the company's patented wall-support technology, something the founding family has remained proud of throughout their lifetime.
HQ Mini is the Android piece of the GPS Police puzzle, it allows companies to monitor their fleet of vehicles from anywhere in the world on almost any Android device. This app used MapBox for itʼs map rendering and provided data points such as current speed and location of the vehicle as well as total engine hours in real-time to whomever in the company had permission. It used REST APIs and JWT authentication for backend communication.
Kurrent Motion is a hula hoop company I had as a client during my time in New Zealand. I managed their branding, logo design and print media. This poster and brochure were created to be used in cafes and on ad boards, they feature a simple design and imagery that focuses on the active nature of the client's work. I used playful and elegant typefaces that have the same character as the circus roots the client emerged from.
I was born in Vancouver in 1990 which is where I started to develop my design aesthetic influenced by Canadian West Coast styles and forms. In my early 20ʼs I spent 4 years living in New Zealand and traveled throughout Japan and Peru which had a lasting impact on the way I approach web design. I pride myself on my minimalist, muted, succinct designs and straight-forward user experiences. Iʼm self-taught in JavaScript, C#, golang and Java and continue to thrive in the fast paced nature of each ecosystem. Iʼm a capable software developer with 7 years experience in the industry which began in 2011 while working as an analyst in Calgary AB, from there I started my own company and saw it through until 2016 when I moved back to Calgary. Since moving back Iʼve worked for startups and freelanced, during which time Iʼve continued to hone my design skills. The collective problems we face in the industry (and my morning coffee) are what get me up in the morning, and the anticipation of solving these same problems makes me excited for the future.
Oireas.com is an Irish language website dedicated to keeping the gaelic language alive among current generations. During conception, my research of typical Irish themed websites turned up what I expected, orange and green, celtic knots and handwritten typefaces. I decided my design had to strike a balance between paying homage to these traditional design languages and modernizing them. I, of course, kept the green but updated it with the candy-floss version shown in the background above. I used a modern version of a handwritten typeface for the accent font, but chose a simple, straight-forward sans-serif for the rest. I took inspiration from the first letter of the name and created a circular focal point that draws the eye in, which reflects common themes among celtic imagery. The website focuses on enticing the user into learning through gamification and simplicity while also presenting an easy, frictionless call-to-action.