I love Jesus, my wife, and design. I do my best to keep them in that order, too. I’ve been designing since 2002 (give or take). Within that span of time, my personal definition of ‘design’ has changed dramatically. What used to be a means to make something that simply looked cool, has changed to a much more effective and satisfying out-look. I believe that a designers first and foremost responsibility is to listen. Being able to listen carefully to your clients needs, then analyze and interpret them into a feasible solution.
Design is more than simply being creative (though it is part of it). Design is about understanding people and how they react in certain scenarios. Design is conveying a message and making a blatant statement while you’re doing so. Design is about finding order and following process. Design is smart. That’s where I’m at now. I’m guessing that I’ll have a different opinion in 5 years from now though.
About Me
I’ve been married to my wife Jen since 2006. She means the world to me. She’s an artist (and lifestyle/fashion blogger) herself and is a constant inspiration to me. We also have a little girl named Rowan who I’m very much in love with. I’m pretty sure she’s also going to be a designer someday. Mostly because I plan on forcing her into it… along with hockey, surfing, skating, snowboarding, piano/guitar and a few other things I know she’ll thank me for later.
In 2010 I decided to make a drastic change in my career. Rather than working to fulfill someone else’s vision, I decided it was time to start fulfilling mine. I co-founded Iron to Iron, a small web design and development company. Since our doors have opened we’ve had the great pleasure of working with some really amazing clients while creating work that has encouraged us to stretch our abilities and philosophies. We’ve had a great run so far and I’m excited to see where the future takes us.
About the Site
This site has been around since 2006 and has been through 4 variations since. It started as a portfolio site to help me land a job when we moved to Hawaii and again when we moved to New York. On the version prior to this I incorporated a blog as an after thought. I posted to it sporadically, but always felt that it didn’t support the text as well as it needed to. So now I’m here. I’ve recognized the importance of writing about design rather than simply posting my work to a portfolio. It keeps me in check and allows me to contribute to the design community, which is something I feel strongly about.
The format of this site was inspired by one main concept, ‘design explanation’. I love looking at and creating great work, but understanding the reasoning behind the work is even more satisfying to me. So I decided to put a strong focus on it. Along with Design Explanation, I’ve also put a focus on Design Practice & Photography. These are the three categories in which I’m most interested in writing about, so why not plant a flag and get to work.
If you’re interested in learning more about me or this site, you should follow me on twitter, or dribbble. You should also feel free to shoot me a note; even if it’s just to say hi: encrg.others [at] gmail [dot] com
