What I Do

Many times people ask me what I do for a living and I tell them User Interface Design, or Graphic Design or Web Design. All of those things are true, but they don’t REALLY get to the nuts and bolts of what I do on a daily basis. I’ve made this list split into different disciplines, so that you as a employer, client or reader can know what it is I’m capable of.

A lot of things fall under the umbrella of Design. It’s usually broken down into capabilities such as the following:

Branding and Identity

I’ve helped design logos for clients using word play, typography, brainstorming sessions, sketching, word association exercises, and more to get to the essence of what the company or business is about.

Print Layout , Production and Photo Manipulation

Pretty much any print collateral you can think of, I can create for you. These would include business cards, letterhead, brochures, longform publications, annual reports, canvas artwork, signage, newspaper ads, billboards and more. On top of this, I’ll work with printers to make sure that your files are correctly “preflighted” so that you won’t have any costly issues regarding color, size, etc.

Art and Photo Direction

As a graphic designer, you sometimes have the luxury using photographers and getting exact shots of what your clients want. I’ve done this on numerous occasions, and have a wealth of knowledge on the subject. Composition is key, where I’ll show you rough sketches of the idea that we’ll use and then the three of us, you as the client/employer (if you have time.), myself and the photographer can do the shoot together.

Motion Graphics

Just recently, I’ve started working in motion graphics, taking my knowledge of traditional layout, and incorporating that with creating animation. While I’m still learning, things I’ve worked on include designing LED animations for stadiums, animations for trade shows and events and more. As the lines between television, the internet and mobile devices blur, I see this being a segment of business that will move and be more important.

Web Layout , Production and User Testing

A lot of things fall in this category, and I can bring your project from start to finish in the following areas. I’ve designed large scale and small scale sites, from data collection, helping collect user requirements and use cases to desigining the site’s menu structure to helping implement and develop the site using CSS and HTML. Couple this with project management, maintaining milestones and production timelines and sign offs, and together, we’ll get it done.

I am not a programmer, but am familiar enough with the concept behind it, and know enough about it to know what’s necessary in facilitating a project. I always check with programmers prior to giving a client a site, to make sure that it’s indeed feasible from not only a design standpoint but a programming standpoint.
During the development process, I have come to use what’s called an Agile Development Process. This, to me, makes the most sense in current environments, and accounts for a lot less headaches during the development process.

Lastly, I feel that it’s extremely important, as early as possibly to do user testing. This includes doing internal testing with your fellow employees but more importantly with the users of your application if you can. This will help you in the long run, because really, you are desigining something for them, and the more feedback that you put back into the application the easier it will be for them, the more intuitive to your users it will be, and the less revisions, releases and bug fixes you will have to do.

Project Management

Because the nature of my work is 100% deadline driven, it’s only a necessity that I help facilitate as much as possible the projects that I’m working on. I’ve found that the best way to do this, is to have set milestones, deadlines and have everyone agree on them. During the process, if there needs to be any changes to anything, it’s easier to make these critical decisions the more things you nail down at the beginning. As a client or employer, you shouldn’t be expected to have to follow up and see how things are going with the project you’ve given me. It’s my job to maintain schedules, production timelines, materials and cost, so that you don’t have to.

I hope this gives you a more complete picture of my capabilities and helps you in your decision for choosing to work together on projects or employ me full time. If you have any questions regarding any of these, please email me at aronoff(at)gmail.com