I'm your friendly neighborhood Spiderman.
If I did have a superpower, it would be my indestructable belief that we can make anything happen and then find a way to get it done. I love to coordinate, plan, motivate, ...and even document! I love to be hands-on. I also love to get people set up with the right tools and find processes to keep them moving. I believe in transparency among teams, so that people can make informed decisions using their expertise to achieve results. I rebel against authority that exists only to uphold bureaucracy.
When I was in college, I had a question to answer: how was my art going to become my career? I loved painting, drawing, sculpting, but I didn't see myself as a gallery artist. A friend who worked at a local magazine invited me to work as a graphic designer with her, putting together ads and page layout. I had never considered graphic design before, but I was excited by the prospect!
Graphic design turned into Product Design, User Experience Design, User Interface Design, Web Design, Service Design. Having the opportunity to grow my digital design abilities with Cantina, a digital design agency, allowed me to try applying the principles of design across so many industries and spaces. At Cantina, I met others who thrived off of problem-solving, and discovering how technology can change our lives.
In 2017, I gave myself a year to pursue fine arts. I had felt a loss during all of my digital design years not making physical things with my hands. I spent the next year exploring all of my options for creative productivity, and in 2018, I spent a few months learning how to build props and interactive spaces at 5 Wits, now Box Fort. I was able to apply my abilities as an artist with creating environmental scenery and some creative fabrication.
In the fall of 2018, a new opportunity appeared: to direct the creative and product user experiences and visual designs at BevSpot, a B2B software that tracked food & beverage inventory from vendor to consumer. Here was an opportunity to really infuse a company with personality and delight, something that is too often overlooked in software. It was demanding and delightful, and I worked with fantastic and talented people. We got to solve some incredibly challenging interaction problems, some of which I still don't understand how we were able to untangle it all ;).
That brings me to 2020, when my artistic abilities really met my product design skills at GSN Games, working on the WorldWinner product. At the end of May 2021, WorldWinner was sold to Game Taco, where we added white-label services as an offering. Here was an industry where I could apply both halves of my brain, and it has been so fulfilling.
I'm not done yet though, there's still so much more to learn and do! Incredible experiences are bigger than can be found just on your phone screen. I want to widen people's worlds and perspectives to create positive behavioral change. Thank you for taking the time to get to know me. My experiences have shaped me, and I thought that you might get a better picture of who I am through them.
--Stevie
FRIENDS CAN CALL ME STEVIE