About » Who Am I?

Obligatory Introductory Blurb.

Being from a military family, I’ve lived in several places in my life so far—I was born in San Antonio, TX, moved to Oklahoma City soon after that, then back down to Houston, TX for a short stint while my father went overseas to Korea. I spent the majority of my formative years in California, in a city called Moreno Valley. After graduating from high school there, I made the decision to return to Texas to attend Texas A&M University, and though I didn’t graduate from there I gained a lot of experiences that helped me shape my life for the better. It was there that I began to develop my interest in web design, and ever since then I’ve had an insatiable hunger to learn all that I could about the subject. The majority of the work I’ve done has been in web-based programming since I was previously a computer engineering major at TAMU, but I was always more interested in designing than programming. Taking this interest even further, in the summer of 2003 I decided to enroll in American Intercontinental University to complete my bachelor's degree, eventually earning my degree in visual communications.

What are some of your strengths?

My most significant strength is my ability to absorb technical knowledge and understand difficult technical concepts. I’ve always been fascinated by mathematics, and I think my ability to think logically gives me the ability to break complex concepts down into smaller more easily digestible parts that are easier to comprehend. I am also a person who thinks in terms of contingencies, particularly when it comes to working with a team. I will ask the tough questions in a group setting that no one else will; all in the interest of trying to assure that a plan of action is sufficiently thought out in order to prevent poor performance in the future.

What are some of your weaknesses?

I have a difficult time dealing with things that are not essential to helping me achieve my specific goals. This isn’t necessarily narrow-mindedness; I prefer to think of it as disdain for non-essential distractions that hinder or delay the completion of an intended goal.

Describe an accomplishment of which you are particularly proud.

Through dogged determination, I received my first collegiate degree. It has been a long, bumpy road, marked by confusion, success, failure, happiness, sadness, and lessons, but it finally happened and I’m grateful for it.

What did you enjoy most in your academic experiences?

I have been afforded the opportunity to explore a wide range of subjects, including design, engineering, computer science, physics, psychology, and mathematics, and I’ve appreciated the lessons that each of these courses have taught me about the world around me. Mathematics particularly, is the basic foundation of almost every discipline, and having had classes in three levels of calculus, differential equations, and discrete mathematics has given me a new perspective on how the universe operates.

What personal attributes do you feel are necessary to succeed as a web designer?

Web designers must have the ability to assimilate information and create useful interfaces out of it. Therefore, web designers are information architects. To go along with the ability to assimilate, the designer also needs to be able to organize data and imagery, and have the creativity to do it in a way that is both pleasing and understandable for the user. The most important ability for a designer is the ability to capture the essence of whatever it is they will be designing, whether it is a personal, corporate, educational, or news web site.

Describe your ideal job.

My ideal job is one in which freedom is given to pursue projects in my own way, allowing me to be as creative as possible to complete it. I prefer to work on projects that are conducive to being given an aesthetically pleasing treatment. The wages or salary from the job should be such that I am able to pay all of my bills, pay for groceries, and pay for my school loans and allow me to save money at the same time. My co-workers should be cordial, friendly folks without ulterior motives.

Do you plan to continue your education?

My current plan includes obtaining another degree, preferably a B.A. or B.F.A degree in a program that has a heavy emphasis on traditional art skills (drawing, animation, painting, photography) and also covers three-dimensional computer generated art. After completing this degree, I plan to pursue an MFA degree so that I can teach art and design at the college level.

What does success mean to you?

Success is what happens when you’ve reached your goals, whatever they may be. My personal goals include becoming a well-respected designer/artist, raising inquisitive and creative children with my future wife, and influencing the lives of others by being a teacher, mentor, and advisor to chidlren and up-and-coming designers.

What do you think is a realistic 3 year plan for yourself?

In three years, I think it would be realistic to have the completion of my second bachelor’s degree in my sights. By that time, I also plan on having a portfolio with award-winning work that will get me noticed throughout the design community. I don’t plan on having any significant career advancement in the next three years after I get hired by a firm, because I understand that those things take lots of experience, particularly if you desire to become an art director or a senior web producer. Therefore, I will put those goals off until later when it is apparent that my skills have increased to the point where I could actually be considered for such positions.

Describe your artistic work methods.

For me, everything starts out with brainstorming. I like to write words and create doodles on paper to flesh out my ideas, and then from these bits and pieces I compile storyboards that put the main ideas into better focus. Then, working from the storyboards, I finally get on the computer and proceed to create a rough draft of the final work. After some critiquing of the rough draft, I will go over the design once again and take personal notes on things I like and don’t like, and then finally I begin working on the finished piece.

What decisions are easiest for you to make? The hardest?

If I am the sole decision maker, I prefer not to have to make decisions that will affect a large group of people unless there has been some kind of consultation with the group about the decision. Therefore, I tend to have a hard time making decisions for a group of people that I’ve received no input on. The easiest decisions for me are the individual decisions I make about my personal and professional life, mainly because I don’t have to consider external desires in those situations and that makes me feel better about making a quick decision.

What is the most important decision that you would make differently if you were to make it again?

As much as I enjoyed my college experiences and appreciate the successes and hard times experienced there, I would make some changes about some of the paths I took in the beginning of my college experience. First and foremost, I would have followed through on my desire to study architecture instead of engineering. Engineering was much too restrictive and methodical to be enjoyable for me; in architecture I think there would have been fewer restrictions on creative problem solving, which suits my personality very well.