Being an effective player-coach can be difficult. Establishing and adhering to a set of rules is the best way to stay ahead.
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Content I’ve created for various publications. In need of some content creation? Contact me, I'd love to work on some new stuff.
Blog
Thoughts on design, pop culture, parenthood, and how they all collide in my life.
How to use a Brand Style Guide Effectively
Let’s go over why you need a Brand Style Guide, what happens when you don’t, and how to use the guide effectively.
5 Team Building Activities for New Leadership
Are you a new leader in your department and need to bond with your team? try these team building activities.
My DC You Game Show Pitch
DC You, a now defunctcontest hosted by DC Universe asked for entries to develop content for the media giant. Here’s my losing entry.
Super. Black. A Work In Progress
Super. Black. is the Black Fandom platform celebrating heroes and villains of color in pop culture. Represent!
Headshots: A Work In Progress
Take your face, add some Carified vector magic, and you have Headshots. Have you ever wanted a sticker of your face on a thing? I got you. #illustration #portrait #headshots #graphicdesign
Dadstiny: A Work In Progress
Dadstiny, the Destiny 2 gaming community, is a group of parents who play the MMO and an ongoing passion work in progress.
A Work In Progress – Doing Muscles
2020 was a good-for-nothing hellscape of madness. But in every dark time, there are good things to celebrate. During quarantine I created Doing Muscles, a fitness motivation brand that allowed me to channel my anxieties into exercise, charity T-Shirt designs, and...
Pop Culture Graphic Design Show Design Behind The Mask Podcast launches!
Design Behind The Mask Podcast covering graphic design and user experience in pop culture fandoms launches in July 2022 The design and entertainment show covers typography, color phycology, logo design, branding, and content in comics, video games, movies and tv....
Kraven The Hunter and retconning established characters for movies
Kraven The Hunter is a Marvel villain whose sole reason for existing is to hunt and kill the biggest and most dangerous game. His obsession leads him to hunt and eventually kill Spider-Man in Kraven's Last Hunt. He's decidedly a lousy guy and one of the few villains...
Amazon and Comixology collide with disastrous design results
Digital comic book lovers are in a very justifiable tizzy. Amazon and ComiXology are now one. Actually, let me be more colorful. Amazon ate ComiXology and pooped out a crApp that currently pales compared to the original ComiXology experience. User digital comic book...
Super. Black. celebrates positive representation in pop culture. Like and subscribe to the podcast and visit https://super.black for more!
Deign Behind The Mask explores the impact of graphic design in pop culture. Visit https://designbehindthemask.com for more!
Design for the end-user, not the stakeholder.
Remember who the product is for, and make the best UX decisions for them.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Update stole my ideas!
Not really, but totally did. At the height of Animal Crossing: New Horizons' popularity in 2020, I found the product lacking in features. The longevity of the game was in question by fans since you couldn't really interact with all the items within the game. Not to...
How to build a brand and community simultaneously
I am a community manager (for lack of a better term) for a group of parents who love playing Destiny 2. It's called Dadstiny and it's a subgroup of The Dad on Facebook. When I pitched and ultimately created the group, I didn't think three years on I would still be...
The typographic simplicity of Control
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjmZejLUSQE The typographic simplicity of Control: Design Behind The Mask Can we touch on the typographic simplicity of the fantastic game Control? The video game developed by Remedy Entertainment centers around a shadowy government...
Are graphic design degrees worth it?
Let's answer the question, "are graphic design degrees worth it?" I graduated way back in 2004 (I think) with a BA in Graphic Design. Long before that, I operated as a creative services agent. I worked design jobs with public relations firms and design agencies before...
Graphic design vs UX Design – I end the debate right here.
I didn't know there was a debate between Graphic Design vs UX design. When looking for something to write about, Google told me people want to know the difference. Having done both for many years, I believe I've got you covered. It's also quite simple to...
Hue_Mun, A Brand Of Adequate Excellence
Say hi to Hue_Mun! Some of my weirdest ideas come from conversations with other strange people. One such person is Sasha Khan, co-founder of Jetsyt. We concocted a beauty brand for pretty people who could care less during one of our excellent, random conversations....
Xbox, Please check your line widths
A friend of mine asked me to review the title type of his upcoming book. I pointed out some crazy kerning issues and gave a few pointers on how to layout the title. After a moment, he responded with "Now I will never not see those space issues." To which I said,...
A guide to hiring the right designer for your project
Finding a creative partner Finding a designer is easy. Super easy in fact. Countless creative institutions (such as my alma-mater School of Visual Arts) are in the business of sculpting a writhing, roiling heap of creative thinkers and designers. If you have a project...
Greenbelt Conservancy rebrand exercise went well
A good friend of mine mentioned he was participating in a logo competition for the Greenbelt Conservancy in Staten Island. I took this as an opportunity to stretch my branding muscles and create a quick brand refresh. This is purely an exercise and in no way...
ToDo Lists In Design Apps Need To Be A Thing
I had a "Why isn't this a thing" moment earlier today while familiarizing myself with Adobe XD (Always Be Learning). I found a plugin for the app that installs a ToDo list into XD. Why isn't this just built into every design app ever? The number of times I could've...
Brainstorming a Battle Royale Game with Zombies
With the announcement of Back 4 Blood, my love of zombie co-op games have spawned yet another game idea. I used to co-host a podcast called Gamify with a buddy, Justin Jordan. On it we thought up viable video game ideas based on general topics. Some were based on...
Netflix, add fitness programs please
Who doesn't have Netflix? There are 139.26 million Netflix accounts worldwide according to their Q4 newsletter. I can't fathom the hours of endless scrolling leading to sleep these accounts have accumulated. The value of this streaming model can't be denied. I have it...
It’s for Our Sake Batman Always Wins
Who would win in a fight? Batman or some really powerful meta-being? It’s a question that has plagued mankind since an old Bruce Wayne plugged himself into the Gotham power grid and punched Superman a whole bunch in The Dark Knight Returns. Bruce came out the other...
Design products for the end user, not the stakeholders
Design is an extremely subjective field. Everyone has an aesthetic preference, so everyone has an opinion on good or bad design, especially when designing products or brands. If you check the comments of the Under Consideration blog Brand New, design professionals...
Helvetica Now has rekindled my love of the classic Typeface
I have always avoided using Helvetica due to its ubiquitous nature. It's literally everywhere. That's all thanks to its clean design and ability to work pretty much anywhere. From Verizon, to Jeep, to New York subway signage, Helvetica is a known quantity. I normally...
WWE ratings are bad, but there is hope in the Network
WWE ratings are bad. They have resorted to cutting back on Youtube content to drive fans to watch the shows live. In the age of streaming and digital content, it is counterproductive to lean so heavily into delivering your programming on cable tv. Currently, you can...
Bray Wyatt is the Creepy Mr. Rogers and I’m In
For the uninitiated, Bray Wyatt is am amazing creative talent in the WWE. He returned on WWE RAW this past Monday after a lengthy hiatus (he became a daddy!). Bray's return is enough to draw some groans from fans. Not because they don't like Bray. Quite the opposite,...
A creative career as a Sneakerhead
Countless (unless there is a sneaker census I know nothing about) men and women, young and old, would consider themselves a "Sneakerhead." Also known as a person fully engrossed in sneaker culture. I knew a man who walked with old Metro Cards in his shows to keep the...
Kevin Conroy Is the Best Batman. Period.
Sad update: Kevin Conroy, the only voice of Batman, has passed away at 66 years of age. A loss felt throughout the fandom community for sure. I ask everyone to go back and listen to Mr. Conroy's flawless interpretation of the Bruce Wayne / Batman. His work influenced...
Miami Heat branding embraces the 80’s
The new Miami Heat branding slapped me in the face with awesome. "Vice" is a bold new direction for the NBA franchise and I for one love it. The "Vice" branding is ripped right out of the 80's. These clean uniforms were designed in house by Brett Maurer. I tip my hat...
5 things I learned as a design manager
I never thought I would enjoy being a design manager as much as I do now. Going from the lone wolf designer to the person delegating work and guiding the creative vision was a stark change. I went through a lot of internal debate the moment I was managing my first...
5 Don’ts for your startup brand design
Building a successful startup with a middle of the road brand starts you on the back foot immediately. If your startup brand design doesn't stand out from your competitor pool, if your differentiator(s) are obscure or non-existent, if your creative strategy is...
Creating A Battle Royale Video Game
Battle Royale games are the new zombie games. For a time, every third game had you facing off against a ravenous horde of braindead bullet fodder. Today, however, battle royale games reign supreme. In these games, in case you are not away, you drop into an arena and...
5 simple ideas to reboot Toys R Us
Update: Looks like Toys R Us is planning a come back to North America. Via IGN, the brand management company WHP Global aims to open new Toys R Us locations ahead of the 2021 holiday season. Maybe they will take some cues from this article. Original: As my wife and I...
What the DC Cinematic Universe Could Learn from the Arrowverse
The Arrowverse has done the Justice League better than the DCEU Justice League film was able to. DC’s mad rush to compete with the Marvel cinematic money-printing machine has left its major film properties unoriginal and poorly fleshed out. Batman, Superman and Wonder...
The Dora Milaje & The Women of Wakanda
Wakanda is the most technologically advanced nation in the Marvel Universe. Yet its citizens suffer constant oppression at the hands of foreign invaders such as Namor, the Atlantean king. T’Challa, the Black Panther, splits his time between ruling Wakanda and being...
Creating Shirt Shirt, The T-Shirt Brand
Creating a t-shirt brand from scratch is a fun way to explore silly ideas you didn't know you wanted to build. For years I struggled with what simple idea could I turn into a line of clothing. The countless number of shirt design mockup filling old HDDs is staggering....
Web Designer or UX/UI Designer
Maybe its nostalgia, but I came up as a Web Designer, and I don't see that title enough these days. Better yet, I don't see a title that is as al-encompassing as Web Designer was. Today, many designers solely focus on very specific subsets of that all-encompassing...
Custom PC Build – One Year Later
Just don't be stupid on what you DL and you're fine. - PC Guru Sean That is valid advice in a day and age when being stupid is easy and celebrated. It was in direct response to a question I had about anti-virus software for my soon-to-be-built custom PC. I suggested...
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy Without Nathan Drake Is The Right Move
Adieu, Nathan Drake. We will miss your soggy half-tucks and granite grip. We bid a fond farewell to the man of a million cliff jumps and usher in a new(ish) set of treasure hunters to Uncharted, Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross. The question now is how will the retirement...
Trading Cards Changed My Life
Original article published on Fandom: Trading Cards Opened Me Up to a Whole New World Trading cards began it all At the age of 6, my wonderful mother handed a small, white, cardboard box. I was given no instructions as to what was inside, and the only indication that...
Old Man Logan & 8 Old Variants Of Popular Characters
How effective do you think you will be at 60? How about 80? 180? Superheroes and the villains they fight seem to be getting older and older with each passing issue. Despite all their abilities, they can not beat time. Old Man Logan proves, as our favorite characters...
Who Can Take Down Cersei, The Mad Queen?
Who doesn’t love Cersei? Manipulative, cunning, powerful, and unyielding, whenever she is on screen, you wince, just a tad. From her beginnings as Robert Baratheon‘s Queen to her rise to Ruler, we are always left wondering what terrible plot she plans to devise next....