Skills Overview
Projects
My projects tend to concern the inevitability of objects, consideration for the objects themselves, and using objects to tell stories or create experiences with the people that use them.
I don’t discriminate, and headphones are as appropriate as sex toys.
Prototyping
I try not to let my skillset constrain how I design. Rather, I design and figure out how to prototype it later.
Doing this allows gives me constant opportunities to learn new skills, and be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Composites
I’ve used composite materials for many projects and models. It taught me about the limitations of them, but also the strengths.
I’ve come to see that it's not impossible to mimic industrial processes on your kitchen table.
Model Making
In many cases, a model has been essential in illustrating a concept.
When the model has the effect of passively creating interaction, such as a flower asking to be picked or a game asking to be played, I think the value of models is shown.
Sewing / Textiles
I worked in clothing alterations seemingly by accident, but it gave me confidence and speed in professional sewing.
Combined with experimenting with custom textiles, this allowed me to broaden my range of prototyping skills.
3D Modeling
I was taught SolidWorks, and taught myself Rhino and Blender.
Modeling for me is not just about industrialization of an object, but a tool to overcome material limitations.
Rendering
Although rendering can create unreal scenes, I like to focus on recreating mundane details.
3D Animation / Simulation
To further illustrate concepts, I use Blender to create simulations for interaction, or for abstract visuals to accompany projects.
Virtual Reality
While rough, I have experience using Unreal Engine to create custom, VR environments and experiences to enhance or accompany projects.
It's also been useful in visualizing large scale projects, rather than costly and time consuming models.
Sketching
I’m honestly not very good at ID sketching. But I like to doodle. Sketching has often felt more like a tool to illustrate a concept, rather than sell it or prove it.
Illustrating
Illustrations have felt necessary almost as an album cover to projects.
The assets also scale well for when mediums change unexpectedly, and contribute to my library which can be used in animations and storytelling.
Animation
Storytelling has been at the core of every successful project I’ve had, and likely every decision made.
To better tell stories, I like to use simple animations to quickly build worlds, and demonstrate the journey of using and interacting with things.
Sometimes I just make them for fun.
Research
Once I dressed up as an elderly man, bound my joints to mimic a limited range of motion, and spent the day like that.
Whether it's surveys or imitating the elderly, I find the right decisions become clear during the design process.
Woodworking
I built my only furniture piece, a door and mirror, on my bed in my tiny apartment.
I also learned that even though you can buy a giant forstner bit from Amazon, boring through a tree trunk takes a long time and is ultimately not worth it at all.
Sound Design
Recently, sound and music have become central themes in my projects.
As such, I’ve begun to teach myself different methods of sound design, and data sonification.
This has produced two albums, and an umbrella speaker.
