So... what do you do again?

I'm a web designer. I know that sounds like a generic label, so if you prefer, you may also call me a front-end web developer, an interaction designer, a CSS guru, a usability ninja, or creative overlord. But really, I'm just a web designer. A lot of people (many of you, my friends and family) have asked about what it is I do exactly. I shall tell you!

I work for a company called Lead Media Partners. They're based out of South Jordan, so the commute is kind of a pain, but well worth the drive (and really not too bad considering I usually work from home 1 or 2 days of the week). We specialize in lead generation. Primarily for private online universities like University of Phoenix, DeVry University, Eagle Gate College, etc. We help connect students with schools we think will best match their interest by providing a database of accredited online college degrees. Prospective students can browse by study area, degree level, or location and our website, DegreeSearch.org, will attempt to match them up. Depending on what we know about the user (where they came from to get to our site) will determine which of our pages we send them to. Here's a few screenshots of some of the pages I've designed for DegreeSearch...




Designing websites gives me lots of opportunities to work with some great tools like Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash. It's fun to use both sides of brain at work. I'll do my mockups and design in the aformentioned programs, and then open up Dreamweaver to code some handcrafted xhtml and css. If you go to Deseret News or The Salt Lake Tribune online, some of the flash ads I've built are running on each of their pages. Right now, I think our health care ad is up. Looks like this:

I also did the flash on our company's website:
I really love my job. I work with some really great people. My bosses hired me on almost two years ago, and it's really been a blessing. They've been very accommodating with my crazy schedule trying to get through school and have given me periodic raises to help support my growing family. I get to work with another great designer, Joseph LeBaron, (we make up the "design team") who has taught me a lot about visual communication. He has also helped me perfect the art of seeding with David's Jalapeño Hot Salsa Sunflower Seeds, and is a seasoned Halo 3 player (comes in handy for the occasional lunchtime mayhem).

Besides work and school, I try to fit in a little bit of freelance design on the side. Here are a few screenshots of some of the recent work I've done:

Illuminate By Carly - Professional Skin Care & MakeUp Design in Utah

Studio 9 - Audio / Visual Studio in Roy.

Vehicle Zoom - Simple Dealership Management Software

Trust in Chariots, formerly Civil Difference. Website's not done yet, but we've got a sweet logo. Props to Matt Gibb for drawing the wings.

I also have a personal website with a portfolio and stuff, but I haven't updated it for a few years, so it definitely needs some work.

Cadence Design - Affordable Utah Web Design

Well, that's about it. I'm trying to slow the freelancing jobs down right now as my final semester of school is encroaching, but I'm excited to do some more side work in the future, and enjoying the work I can do at LMP right now.

Fin.