2011 JM Creative Portfolio Roundup
* Hover and click the full-screen button for gallery bigness!
Did you know that in March of 2011 I left my Big Advertising Job and went solo? Well, I did – and I gotta tellya I'm pretty happy with the change. I shed most of the dead weight and anxiety that comes with being a "Digital" VP/CD, and rediscovered some of the basic stuff that's made me successful (and sometimes dangerous) as a creative partner.
Funny thing. As I was narrowly escaping the trappings of Big Advertising, I was winning my first Hatch awards for - of all things - some banner ads I designed for an auto insurance giant.
Wow. After years of pushing on creative tech, multidisciplinary design, and innovative creative process, my first-ever industry awards came from two BANNER ADS. Ooohh the...um, what is that? Irony? Poetic justice? Whatever. The Hatch bowl is a handy place to store guitar picks and cable adapters.
More satisfying than any award has been the experience of meeting with a huge variety of Boston's small businesses and expanding my view of what's happening in this crazy old town. Working for big agencies can be satisfying and enriching in many ways - but also very insular. From inside the walls and cultures of the Big Name offices, it's sometimes difficult to recognize just how much creative business is churning all around you, all of it propelled by nothing more than people looking to try something different.
Somehow I convinced a bunch of them to work with me, as evidenced in the gallery above. Of course I can't show everything I created or worked on in 2011 – but these snapshots illustrate a range of different roles and skills that I'm proud of.
Highlights for me included strategy visualizations for iFactory, some inspired logo/ID work for a new social/mobile app called Kibits on behalf of Holland-Mark, an infographic (about trains!) for Home Front in D.C., and an interactive experience for The Big Studio that somehow actually manages to make learning about small business retirement plans kind of fun (not pictured, sorry, client confidentiality dont'cha know).
These are just a few of the projects, places, and faces that I've encountered so far as a ux/creative consultant, and I'm grateful for every chance I've received to help these companies out.
2012 is already looking fantastic. All around me are awesome things to inspire the creative mind. The Avengers movie will finally be released, an unexpected addition to Stephen King's Dark Tower series is forthcoming, and the mighty, all-powerful and undefeated VAN HALEN are not only touring with David Lee Roth, they're releasing a new record – on vinyl.
All this, and it ain't even February yet.
Thanks for reading – and stay tuned any way you like, just choose a channel at my about.me page!
