I have many years experience in multiple design mediums, but my passion is web site design.
2000 – Present
Sr. Web Designer
Northern Tool + Equipment Company — Burnsville, MN
Multi channel, niche retailer of power tools and equipment.
As a Sr. Web designer with NorthernTool.com I am the site "Architect" and take ownership of the user-experience. I have been involved in the strategic decisions that have affected its growth for the past 8 years and actively take part in ALL aspects of day-to-day ecommerce functions, including user-interface design, page template design, content management, category management, promotional design, usability design, site functionality, customer service, email marketing design, affiliate marketing design, onsite search and navigation, and search engine optimization.
1999 – 2000
Web & Graphics Specialist
Hometime Publishing Inc. — Chaska, MN
Project-based home improvement television production company which airs on Public Television and syndicated on many cable television markets.
As the creative person at Hometime I was responsible for the design and content of the website, print collateral, corporate creative services, Mac systems technician and department manager. When I started with Hometime I saw great potential in the growth of their direct-market sales channel by utilizing the website. I was able to help improve the website creative, layout, branding and content to make it one of the top how-to project-based sites on the net. I also redesigned the Hometime Study Plans for some of their most popular television series, which became some of their best-selling print materials on the website and in their television ads. Finally, I improved the efficiency of the department by performing initial hardware, software, and network assessments, then recommending and implementing improvements in these areas.
1998 – 1999
Design Consultant/Contractor
Dollars & Sense Magazine — Edina, MN
Thomas Law — Eagan, MN
Medtronic — Shoreview, MN
Paper Magic Group — Minneapolis, MN
I spent two years as a contract designer working for small, midsize, and large companies in the greater Twin Cities market. I was exposed to a number of opportunities in print, pre-press and web. One of my greatest accomplishments was as a pre press consultant for Dollars & Sense Magazine in Edina, MN. I was recommended to the owner from a print vendor contact I established earlier in my career. His magazine, a coupon-based sales magazine distributed within the Twin cities, was printed out-of-house. The owner wanted to bring the production in-house. I spent time evaluating his magazine's production processes, assessing where we could save operating and production costs and production time. I then devised a plan to bring his pre-press production and design completely in-house so we could go directly to the printer with our digital files. I set up contacts with a pre-press hardware and software distributor and contracted a local vendor for IT support. I bought all the necessary pre-press hardware, work stations, software, storage media and network systems to become fully self-functional, all without missing one deadline for the magazine. Return on investment was immediate. I spent the remainder of those two years with him as his pre-press production manager and worked with the designer on every ensuing magazine, never missing a deadline, and saving the client thousands of dollars in print production costs. To this day the magazine is utilizing my in-house pre-press process.
1995 – 1998
Sr. Catalog Designer
Northern Hydraulics — Burnsville, MN
Before Northern Tool + Equipment evolved into it's current identity it was known as Northern Hydraulics. Initially, I was hired on contract, but was asked to come on-board full-time after only 3 months. Within the 3 years of working on Northern's catalogs I was promoted rapidly through their 3-level designer tier and was a Sr. Designer by 1997. I was an integral part of their newly created business-to-business catalog division. As a Sr. Designer I was also a project manager and coordinated the largest master book in the history of Northern at that time. I gained valuable experience in the trenches of catalog production and design. My responsibilities included meeting strict production deadlines, coordinating multiple versions, improving departmental production processes, designing photo shoots, traveling for press checks, and many of the other baptism-by-fire experiences of catalog production.
