Case Study
Elementary School Communications Strategy
Roles & Responsibilities
Leadership, strategy, Website content and maintenance, e-newsletter, print collateral
Description
As the head of communications at Sunnyside Elementary School, my committee forms a bridge between the parents, teachers, and staff. I've evolved the communications strategy to meet the needs of a very diverse community, including both people who work in silicon valley and others who don't have email or know how to use a computer.
San Francisco public school have a lottery system. Schools compete for applicants in a high-stakes lottery. Good public outreach and messaging is essential.
We manage a website, distribute a weekly paper and electronic news packet, maintain a Facebook page, publish a monthly newsletter, and create many fliers and other promotional materials. We're proud to report that our email newsletter has a 60% readership rate.
As a member of the art committee I also publish the school literary journal. A project that collaborates with teachers to be an extension of classroom curriculum.
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Web Application Development
Roles & Responsibilities
Naming, Logo Design, Software Product Design, Research, Scoping, UI Design, Visual Design, Content Development, Front-end Development, Ruby on Rails Implementation
Project Type
Branding, Web Application
Description
Academic Partnerships hired Zeitgeist software development consultancy to build 'Yelp for Online Education' to help would-be students navigate the overwhelming number of programs available.
I was involved from the outset, starting with naming the project and creating a logo. After that, the team and I translated the concept and client's objectives into the functional specification of the web application. My domain expertise in online education came in handy for data analysis, competitor research, information architecture, feature design, user flows, wireframes, messaging, and content strategy. Next came visual design. In parallel, developers had been building the application with a sql database on a Ruby framework. I jumped in and coded the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and then learned enough Ruby to build templates.
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Online News Multimedia Features
Roles & Responsibilities
Content strategy; Arranging interviews, photo shoots, and video shoots; Directing video editing, Design and development, Copywriting, Journalism
Project Type
Multimedia / Interactive
Description
The Academy of Art has the largest and most sophisticated online degree program available. Their online learning platform is unique in the industry and very complex, making it challenging to market. My task was ongoing development of website content.
In response to the need to inform the audience and market in a subtle way, I initiated a quarterly news feature to showcase the students and faculty. I sought out stories that were appealing and illustrated the calibre of the program. Then I played journalist: gathering footage, arranging photo shoots, conducting research, and interviewing participants, writing the articles.
With these materials I created multimedia galleries for placement on the homepage. These were created in a variety of ways including Flash Catalyst and pure HTML/CSS/JavaScript.
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Roles & Responsibilities
Art Direction, Photo Shoot Direction, Project Management, Design, Image manipulation
Project Type
Print Collateral, Book Design
Description
I live in the best neighborhood ever. To show my love, I do pro bono design work for community events and initiatives. I collaborated with a local photographer/ stylist to create event posters and a cookbook published as a fundraiser for our library. The cookbook was a great success.
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Roles & Responsibilities
Content strategy, design and development, CMS migration and maintenance, copy writing
Project Type
Website, CMS, Content
Description
As a web designer-developer at AAU's Cybercampus, I wore the hats of marketer, journalist, multi-media producer, and designer-developer. My role required a wide range of skills to assess needs and address them.
In addition, I inherited a legacy website in a CMS gone to seed. As part of the redesign team, we spec'ed a new CMS, redesigned, re-wrote, re-coded, and migrated the site. Once implemented, I took over CMS maintenance and development of new content.
Launch Website 
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Council on Aging Annual HICAP Guide
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Roles & Responsibilities
Art direction, Information design, Form-factor specification, Layout, Data management, Print liaison
Project Type
Print Publication, Information Design
Description
The "Health Insurance Counseling & Advocacy Program" guide is used by COA's counselors to advise seniors on purchasing Medicare plans. Since 2007 I have produced this really complex, annual publication. My job is to take the current year's pile of data and develop a format that makes it understandable to COA's clients.
This is information design at its most geeky fun with, beleive it or not, a large usability component. Presenting masses of complex tabular data that will inform an individual's access to healthcare requires in-depth understanding of the context, user, usage scenario, production technology, and sensitivity to the content.